Has anybody tried the "Back to Eden" style of gardening?

[Dave A]

I'm not getting much yield out of my gardening efforts, seeds don’t come up, some of the plants that do come up will die before producing anything. I started looking around and saw this on a prepper site. It will cost me about $200 to cover my garden with 4” of wood chip mulch so I thought I would ask before jumping in.

Back to Eden video - https://vimeo.com/28055108

Thanks,
Dave

 

[bobjones223]

Wow....I am so out of the loop.

I just couldn't figure out how gardening in a fig leaf would make a difference?

 

[Restroyer]

Wow....I am so out of the loop.

I just couldn't figure out how gardening in a fig leaf would make a difference?

Ha Ha...you beat me to it!

 

[NightFisher]

frankly, if you want huge yields, raised beds worked great for me.

 

[eldirector]

First time I've heard it called "Back to Eden".

We've mulched flower beds for, well, ever. Keeps the weeds down, keeps the moisture in, and decomposes into some fairly rich soil. Don't really mulch the veggies like that, but we till in a LOT of similar mulch/compost every year. Wood chips/shavings and straw from the chicken coop/run, leaves from the trees, grass clippings, ash from the fireplace, and anything else that can break down into decent soil. We just don't pile it on top, between the plants, like this. Though, as fast as the weeds are coming up after this rain, I'm considering it!

BTW: already harvested our first round of broccoli and cauliflower. Started getting a few radishes and a little celery as well. Everything else is coming along nicely.

 

[two70]

frankly, if you want huge yields, raised beds worked great for me.

Yes, raised beds make a huge difference, especially for harder to grow vegetables.

 

[JettaKnight]

Can someone explain it in a nutshell?



And FWIW, I was confused and thought of the movie Exit to Eden, and since I had her pop in brain, I demand that you all see it too.

 

[twfshelton]

yes, and it did not work as advertised.....I had an old farmer till with a tractor, then layers of newspaper, then 4 inches of mulch. I had to weed as much if not more than before. no super yield, I tried for just the 1 year and it is now just a jungle. I switched to raised bed.

 

[1DOWN4UP]

I too feel wood chips promote weed growth..I let my garden weed over in the spring,till it 3 times,and lay down 3 layers of newspaper,and a layer of straw.I plant most stuff,and layer newspaper btwn rows,and than straw.It keeps weeds to a minimum and holds moisture.I still get some weeds,but keeping up is manageable

 

[PistolBob]

I mulch my garden with nothing but grass clippings from the lawn and sheets of newspaper. Keeps the ground and soil moist, requires less watering and whenever I need fishing worms I just pull up a sheet of newspaper and grab a dozen and go.

 

[churchmouse]

Can someone explain it in a nutshell?



And FWIW, I was confused and thought of the movie Exit to Eden, and since I had her pop in brain, I demand that you all see it too.

 

[littletommy]

Can someone explain it in a nutshell?



And FWIW, I was confused and thought of the movie Exit to Eden, and since I had her pop in brain, I demand that you all see it too.

I was just thinking the other day about how long it's been since I neg repped anybody!

 

[BigBoxaJunk]

The problem with gathering gardening information is that it's all really dependent on your conditions, like soil type (sand/silt/clay), soil pH, drainage, climate, and amount of sun.

If you're on a poorly drained clay, like me, and you put on a heavy mulch, you're likely to make things too wet unless you're in a really dry year. If you're on a well-drained sandy soil, you pretty much can't mulch too much.

Raised beds can take care of the drainage issues and if you want, you can even haul in new soil, peat, or finished compost so that you have better soil than you started with. Some of my beds have clay soil, left over after the house was built that I've amended with lots of organic material, my newer beds have topsoil that I got from a landscape place.

I built some raised beds about 15 years ago and saw a dramatic improvement in production and ease of care. I've added more raised beds over time, and I now have a total of 11 beds 4 X 20 ft. Of course I have to water the raised beds more when it's dry, but I never get "washed out" anymore with plants sitting in water for days after a big rain.

I also use mulch on any bare ground in my beds. I use straw on tomatoes, carrots, and some other things, and I use composted leaves for everything else. I get all the leaves I can from my yard and my moms yard in the fall and I put them in a circular "pen" made from green garden fencing, about ten ft in diameter with loose leaves to fill it and bagged leaves covering the top to keep them in over the winter. In the late spring, I get in and empty all the bags and mix everything up. It makes a great mulch and I lay it on thick.

Besides the leaf bin, I have several other compost bins. Lots of garden experts will tell you not to compost this or that, but I compost every kind of plant waste from my place, except wood, since I don't have a chipper. I also add as much kitchen waste that we have to the compost, pulled weeds, thinned vegetable plants, grass clippings, canning waste (of which we produce lots in the late summer and fall). I try to to over-think composting. It all goes into the bins, I mix it when I feel motivated, when I don't, I don't. In the spring and summer, I take the compost and screen it into a wheel barrow, throwing the coarse stuff back in a bin and put the screened compost in the raised beds. The one thing I have learned is that when I have a big bunch of canning or food waste to put in the bins, I make sure that gets mixed in with the rest of the compost really well, since it can rot and smell if you leave a big glob of stuff on top of the bin. And, mixing that stuff in well helps the rest of you compost break down better.