Composting with Wood Chips

 

Here is an interesting method for mulching orchards, gardens, flower beds, borders, and anything else you might want to keep weed free using wood chips.  The video Back to Eden features a garden in Washington where the owner has had amazing results.  I am definitely going to try this.  

The video is longish, but you can get the jest of the idea in the first part of it.  There is also more information on their website.  Just use the chips as a mulch however, don't plant in them or till them in.

We had a free load of wood chips delivered a couple of years ago by a tree service trying to find a place to dump them.  We put them in the paddock area where our horses are and it has kept the area mud free. 

Our Garden History—How it all Began

We started our gardening adventures here in the summer of 2011.  It had been an incredibly rainy Spring, so we didn't get anything planted until the end of June and the first part of July.  But, we had incredible results for which I can thank my partnership with the Nature Spirits and a lot of horse manure!

Our soil here is red clay, which has a lot of nutrients in it, but is not easy to work with.  Using a lot of mulch in the form of old hay and straw has proved very helpful in keeping down the weeds and also helping to build up the soil.  We initially had about 4 yards of topsoil delivered and built some very simple beds and then lined the rows with hay.

 

We planted onions, potatoes, zucchini, Swiss Chard, corn, spinach, tomatoes, beets, cucumbers, asparagus, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and eight fruit trees—apple, peach, pear, and cherry.  By mid-August, in spite of our very late start, we had an incredible garden.

We also had an abundant harvest which was beyond my wildest expectations.

Last year, my daughter was expecting a baby and it seemed that we spent a good share of time getting ready for the delivery and enjoyed a harvest of another kind.  We did have some gardening successes though.  

We planted more perennials, a butterfly/bee garden, dahlias, an herb garden, rhubarb, and more apple trees.  We harvested more tomatoes than we could eat and lots of onion, garlic, asparagus, berries, and rhubarb. 

This winter, we started on a greenhouse and hope to get an early jump on planting this year, without having to buy any plants.  We'll see!  Our dream is to one day have a CSA or Community Supported Agriculture farm.

 

The Ruth Stout No Work Gardening Method

Ruth Stout,(1884-1980), having since moved on to greener pastures, is my new hero. She is wise, witty, and independent and was way ahead of her time, not only in her mindset, but also in her organic gardening practices. Her book, "The Ruth Stout No-Work Garden Book" is a compendium of wit, wisdom, and attitude.

I have been on a journey of simplifying my life and working on becoming more self-sustaining in my lifestyle, but I also want to do this in a manner that leaves me time to do something besides grow my own vegetables and raise my own chickens. The following videos give you a sense of the delightful person that Ruth Stout had become, but you get a glimpse of her gardening methods as well. I hope you enjoy these as much as I did. Perhaps we can all learn to grow our own food, develop a deep sense of joy, and relish living the way this woman did!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GNU8IJzRHZk