Plants get their carbon from the atmosphere not the soil. Carbonaceous material is valuable because it eventually turns into humus which does not feed the soil as such but forms a matrix round soil particles which enhances the texture and usability of pretty well any soil.
I've use this method in my home gardens for years. I have developed very rich soil in my veggie garden. I asking have a fruit garden, shrub garden, and several perennial gardens. Whenever I need to plant a small to large section, I start with cardboard or paper and work my planting medium upward. The brown paper bags from grocery stores tear easily to fit excellent around plants to smother weeds without using pesticides.
@betterworldsolutions Not sure i understand the question but most your arobic composting organisms dont rob nitrogen. They get energy by converting complex nitrogens into simple nitrogens which your plants need. I myself would let it age some to actually get the compost going.
@betterworldsolutions Ideally the bed is constructed in the Autumn for use in the spring. All greens material used in the bed is nitrogenous so there is an excess of added nitrogen. The bed is not a windrow, although there may be some composting that is not the intention behind a no dig bed
well made vid, but have to say, M&B , i'm not yet a convert. Sure ,I reckon a lot of traditional digging is superfluous but, Surely all that hay and cardboard will suck a lot of nitrogen out of the soil as it breaks down , and i have found that in England at any rate mulches just make a haven for slugs and snails that then come out at night and eat the veggies;
@barkershill The design shown is for liberating new areas but can also be practiced on existing vegegardens which are on sandy soils or over used, the idea is to build up humus. As there is no/little nitrogen in the soil the nitrogen in the bed will supply the nitrogen required i.e. there is no net loss from the soil only addition. Eventually the bed will only require mulching rather than rebuilding every year - see previous comments. Molloscs will always be a problem!
@MykRushton You say you can plant sraight into this stuff , where does the nitrogen and other nutrients for those plants come from?? Im all for mulching with compost , im just saying there seems to be no nutrients available the way you are doing it.
@barkershill All the carbonaceous (brown) and nitrogenous (green) material added to the bed is plant based. The material therefore contains all the nutirients needed by plants to grow
@MykRushton Sorry, what i was trying to say was .As you will know, Plants can only assimilate nutrients from organic matter once it has been broken down by soil dwelling micro organisms into water soluable forms. which obviously takes a while,as carbonaceous material initially robs the soil of nitrogen. and there you are putting growing plants "ready in 6weeks" into a bed of hay grass etc.the same day its made. these plants would obviously suffer a severe growth check to put it mildly.
@psychobunny32 very good point. Ideally all material brought onto site should be composted before use to remove/breakdown any toxic components (add local soil to facilitate this removal/breakdown. Material from site with a known history can be used directly
I've never had a vegetable garden before, but I'm looking around at the options. Do these need to be completely rebuilt every season, or can they be "topped up" with organic matter?
@melissahburt For the best results build the bed in the autumn (plenty of material) and plant in the early spring and beyond for harvesting in the spring/summer/autumn. The following autumn build a new bed on top of the original bed and repeat the process. Over time you will end up building an area of rich humus and mature soil. Some people are planting a green manure on the beds after harvest and are using this as the first green layer of the next bed build
I used cardboard and layers of browns and greens. In my city, people throw out leaves, grass and limbs in the spring. I took these bags and sorted them at the community garden, then laid them down. I put in summer squash, cabbage & zucchini and everything looks great. So far so good. Thanks for posting this!
This might be a dumb question, but if I’m building up 10 to 12 inches of organic material, how worried do I need to be about overlapping the cardboard? (Or even using cardboard?)
Also: How many inches of grass clippings can you use without risking compression and release of ammonia? If I allow grass to completely dry should I treat them as straw? Clippings are probably the easiest materials I can find.
@fidovonsydo No such thing as a dumb question only people brave enough to ask it :o) A weed matting like cardboard is required if you have deep rooted species to deal with, such species will easily penetrate deep mulch if they do not meet with a physical barrier they cannot penetrate. An often missed point about the cardboard is that it acts as a water retention layer preventing water passing straight through the mulch to the soil below - esp. useful in free draining soils
@fidovonsydo Use of grass clippings and results are variable depending on moisture content, species, soil type, season, temp etc... If possible allow the grass to dry and treat as hay/straw. 30cm of hay will require a weed matting to prevent grow through of weedy species. You could use fresh grass clippings >10cm <15cm deep as a weed mat it will suffocate weed species as it decays/matts down to about <2.5cm. then overlay with hay. Hay will blow away easily - not enough room to write anymore...
Plants get their carbon from the atmosphere not the soil. Carbonaceous material is valuable because it eventually turns into humus which does not feed the soil as such but forms a matrix round soil particles which enhances the texture and usability of pretty well any soil.
barkershill 1 week ago
I've use this method in my home gardens for years. I have developed very rich soil in my veggie garden. I asking have a fruit garden, shrub garden, and several perennial gardens. Whenever I need to plant a small to large section, I start with cardboard or paper and work my planting medium upward. The brown paper bags from grocery stores tear easily to fit excellent around plants to smother weeds without using pesticides.
flanmaryj 1 week ago
@betterworldsolutions Not sure i understand the question but most your arobic composting organisms dont rob nitrogen. They get energy by converting complex nitrogens into simple nitrogens which your plants need. I myself would let it age some to actually get the compost going.
fallingboybuddy 1 week ago
I am not converted yet too, how can you directly plant into the new bed. are there no decomposting forces active? e.g. robbing Nitrogen?
betterworldsolutions 1 week ago
@betterworldsolutions Ideally the bed is constructed in the Autumn for use in the spring. All greens material used in the bed is nitrogenous so there is an excess of added nitrogen. The bed is not a windrow, although there may be some composting that is not the intention behind a no dig bed
MykRushton 1 week ago
well made vid, but have to say, M&B , i'm not yet a convert. Sure ,I reckon a lot of traditional digging is superfluous but, Surely all that hay and cardboard will suck a lot of nitrogen out of the soil as it breaks down , and i have found that in England at any rate mulches just make a haven for slugs and snails that then come out at night and eat the veggies;
barkershill 2 weeks ago
@barkershill The design shown is for liberating new areas but can also be practiced on existing vegegardens which are on sandy soils or over used, the idea is to build up humus. As there is no/little nitrogen in the soil the nitrogen in the bed will supply the nitrogen required i.e. there is no net loss from the soil only addition. Eventually the bed will only require mulching rather than rebuilding every year - see previous comments. Molloscs will always be a problem!
MykRushton 1 week ago
@MykRushton You say you can plant sraight into this stuff , where does the nitrogen and other nutrients for those plants come from?? Im all for mulching with compost , im just saying there seems to be no nutrients available the way you are doing it.
barkershill 1 week ago
@barkershill All the carbonaceous (brown) and nitrogenous (green) material added to the bed is plant based. The material therefore contains all the nutirients needed by plants to grow
MykRushton 1 week ago
@MykRushton Sorry, what i was trying to say was .As you will know, Plants can only assimilate nutrients from organic matter once it has been broken down by soil dwelling micro organisms into water soluable forms. which obviously takes a while,as carbonaceous material initially robs the soil of nitrogen. and there you are putting growing plants "ready in 6weeks" into a bed of hay grass etc.the same day its made. these plants would obviously suffer a severe growth check to put it mildly.
barkershill 1 week ago
be careful using greens/grass from people who use fertilizer or weed killer. your garden will suffer for it
psychobunny32 1 month ago
@psychobunny32 very good point. Ideally all material brought onto site should be composted before use to remove/breakdown any toxic components (add local soil to facilitate this removal/breakdown. Material from site with a known history can be used directly
MykRushton 1 week ago
I've never had a vegetable garden before, but I'm looking around at the options. Do these need to be completely rebuilt every season, or can they be "topped up" with organic matter?
melissahburt 5 months ago
@melissahburt For the best results build the bed in the autumn (plenty of material) and plant in the early spring and beyond for harvesting in the spring/summer/autumn. The following autumn build a new bed on top of the original bed and repeat the process. Over time you will end up building an area of rich humus and mature soil. Some people are planting a green manure on the beds after harvest and are using this as the first green layer of the next bed build
MykRushton 5 months ago
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-Haw!
EdenCreekFarm 5 months ago
Nice! Keep the videos coming! Love learning more about gardening!
Revolutionisnow1 7 months ago
I used cardboard and layers of browns and greens. In my city, people throw out leaves, grass and limbs in the spring. I took these bags and sorted them at the community garden, then laid them down. I put in summer squash, cabbage & zucchini and everything looks great. So far so good. Thanks for posting this!
fidovonsydo 8 months ago
This might be a dumb question, but if I’m building up 10 to 12 inches of organic material, how worried do I need to be about overlapping the cardboard? (Or even using cardboard?)
Also: How many inches of grass clippings can you use without risking compression and release of ammonia? If I allow grass to completely dry should I treat them as straw? Clippings are probably the easiest materials I can find.
Thanks so much! Great video!
fidovonsydo 9 months ago
@fidovonsydo No such thing as a dumb question only people brave enough to ask it :o) A weed matting like cardboard is required if you have deep rooted species to deal with, such species will easily penetrate deep mulch if they do not meet with a physical barrier they cannot penetrate. An often missed point about the cardboard is that it acts as a water retention layer preventing water passing straight through the mulch to the soil below - esp. useful in free draining soils
MykRushton 9 months ago
@fidovonsydo Use of grass clippings and results are variable depending on moisture content, species, soil type, season, temp etc... If possible allow the grass to dry and treat as hay/straw. 30cm of hay will require a weed matting to prevent grow through of weedy species. You could use fresh grass clippings >10cm <15cm deep as a weed mat it will suffocate weed species as it decays/matts down to about <2.5cm. then overlay with hay. Hay will blow away easily - not enough room to write anymore...
MykRushton 9 months ago