Wow! This is totally too much like work. Someone at the park is hand turning their entire plot. Or they are trying at least until they drop. If they marked out beds versus walks, they would only do maybe 60% of the work. Or they could cover the beds with shredded leaves, and let the worms do the work.
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| And they have just started |
Here is one of my beds. Never been tilled. Leaf mulch and other organics applied on top. Volunteer worms greatly appreciated. Wood chips are added to the paths as needed. Every couple of years the chips are raked away and the two inches of great black soil created underneath is shoveled off to beds. Then the chips are put back down.
No till. Little toil. Works great for me. For more on No Till and Wood Chips, please see:
http://fromseedtoscrumptious.blogspot.com/2012/04/no-till-gardening.html
http://fromseedtoscrumptious.blogspot.com/2011/11/gardening-in-wood-chips.html
http://fromseedtoscrumptious.blogspot.com/2011/03/gardening-with-wood-chips.html
http://fromseedtoscrumptious.blogspot.com/2011/03/water-water-everywhere.html
I don't think I've seen many weeds, either! :) I would love to try this method in my garden. But it's pretty big, and feels overwhelming to get started! I have some areas where grass persistently grows, and I can't seem to get rid of it. Any ideas??
ReplyDeleteHi Alica,I take it that your comment about weeds refers to my bed. There are actually very few weeds, because they don't get sun from being covered in would chips or mulch/leaves. What weeds there are pull very easily from the improved organic soil. And few weeds this year, means few weed seeds, so even fewer weeds next year. You can probably get wood chips delivered free by contacting tree surgeons in your area. They may be paying dumping fees, so would love to drop chips for free.
DeleteFlipping eck that does look like hard work and it has to be said that the soil looks pretty darned rubbish at the end of it, it looks like solid clay? That is gonna take a whole heap of soil improving.
ReplyDeleteBet they wish they'd decided on your method lol.
Thanks for sharing
Linda
Linda, you are right, it is solid clay. What is accomplished by just flipping it over? My plot when I started did not even have that thin brown layer on top seen in the middle photo. After four years of organic additions, I now have a 4 to 6 inch layer of beautiful soil on top of that nasty clay. Let the worms burrow down into the clay to turn the soil.
DeleteGeorge, you are right that is way too much work! I hope you keep the photos coming on their progress. Hopefully they will chat with some of the other gardeners like yourself and ask for advise.
ReplyDeleteIsn't it nice to have garden weather again? I finally put in some tomatoes the other day.
That soil just looks like pure clay and it's awful. Same like ours when we started. We did turn to get air into the soil and then mixed double the volume of compost and peat moss and vermiculite to make it useable. we didn't have time to wait 4 years to for worms to make a decent bed to grow veggies. still a lot more work to be done with it but at least something can grown on it now.
ReplyDelete