Back to Eden Gardening

[Nyboy]

You wrote " and a tomato" doesn't a tomato mean 1 ? I am teasing you mary

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, what kind of tree is that blooming?

That's a mimosa. I've been noticing that other mimosas around about have a much darker pink blossoms and I'm wondering if it doesn't depend on the acidity of the soils or lack thereof. I think I'll give that tree some lime and wood ashes before next season to see if we can't brighten it up a bit.

Hi everybody,

I'm new here. I'm just starting a back to Eden garden in the Tulsa, OK area. Right now it is only about 15'x20'. My primary concern right now is keeping Bermuda grass out of my garden. I've been seeing everybody is buying the Rogue hoe. How are people using that in the wood chips without mixing the wood chips and garden soil underneath? Is there anything specific you need to do to use the hoe?

Anybody that is doing a Back to Eden garden have any words of advice or wisdom?

Thanks,
Andrew

It's inevitable that the compost underneath will mix with the wood chips eventually...it can't be avoided. This type of hoe actually decreases that over the chop style hoe, as it moves underneath the wood chip top layer to do its job, but mixing will occur no matter how hard you try to prevent it as you move chip aside to plant into the compost, then move chip back, weed, etc.

Can't be helped. Adding a fresh layer of chips in the fall can help rectify that to some degree but it will happen again if you disturb the chip layer at all in any way as you go along.

Words of advice? Keep your chip layer topped off so you won't have to suddenly replace the whole garden's supply of chips(something I'm having to scramble about and do now and I don't have a chip source), keep on top of weeds...especially that Bermuda~it LOVES the BTE method, put down heavy landscaping material on top of cardboard all along the edges of your garden to help your efforts to fight the Bermuda. It won't eliminate the problem altogether but it may slow it down a little.

Keep on top of pest bugs...do not live and let live with that. I made that mistake last year and am paying for it this year by the millions of squash bugs and beetles that have lived, bred and are now thriving in this ground cover of chip...chewing their way through my plants. Don't believe that whole thing about healthy plants don't attract pests....they do.

Do not place leaves on top of your chips...it will compost down and make a layer of soil for the weed seeds to get started in, on top of the wood chips. Not good.

Don't believe the whole "if it's hard work, you are doing it wrong" thing that Paul always says...that's because he lives where chips can be readily had. I've had to haul chips from 100 mi. away and am currently even going farther than that to access ramial wood chips. If you live near a town, wood chips are easily found...live out in the country and they are scarce as hen's teeth. And, I don't care how you slice it, hauling wood chips, loading them and unloading them~unless you have an endloader, qualifies as hard work to me...I'm old and decrepit now.

I've also never worked so hard to keep weeds out of a garden, keep pest bugs from eating their way through my crops, and trying to keep the nutrition balanced in my soils as I have with the BTE and I've been gardening most of my life. Don't know where I'm going wrong on this one, but this is the hardest gardening I've ever done.

I'm sure other folks can give you some pointers as well but I struggle with this method...it's starting to pay off a little in the 3rd year now, but it won't matter if the bugs won't leave the plants alone.

Oh...and, BTW...welcome to the forum!

 

[Beekissed]

Got my 8" Rogue yesterday afternoon! Went out and attacked weeds! I like the size of the head for getting large swathes of weeds out. I opted for the shorter handle since the longer one I chose would have made it back ordered
and I wanted it ASAP. I wish now I had been more patient, the shorter one makes me hunch a little, but it may be also because I was have to put more effort into the rocky areas. But it did get the weeds out, it just does a bit of stuttering when it hits a large half buried rock. And I cringe because I don't want to mess the blade up right out of the box. But it was a dream in the mulched areas and the deeper soil.

Don't worry about your hoe edges, Thistle...it's incredibly easy to put an edge back on that with a few swipes of a flat file.

 

[thistlebloom]

Good to know.
I used my 8"er at work today where the beds are nice and there are no rocks and it just whizzed right through them. I'll have to watch the silly grin or they'll want me to start paying them to weed!

 

[Beekissed]

Good to know.
I used my 8"er at work today where the beds are nice and there are no rocks and it just whizzed right through them. I'll have to watch the silly grin or they'll want me to start paying them to weed!

I find myself wearing that same grin! It's just so cool to see it eat through those weeds which, before, would have me wearing a frown as I try to rip, tear and chop through them.

 

[journey11]

Bee, try planting radishes between your cukes. It helps repel the striped beetles. This is what I do.

 

[Beekissed]

Bee, try planting radishes between your cukes. It helps repel the striped beetles. This is what I do.

Been doing that for a few years now...doesn't do a thing. This year the radishes were eaten down to shreds.

 

[bobm]

That's a mimosa. I've been noticing that other mimosas around about have a much darker pink blossoms and I'm wondering if it doesn't depend on the acidity of the soils or lack thereof. I think I'll give that tree some lime and wood ashes before next season to see if we can't brighten it up a bit.



It's inevitable that the compost underneath will mix with the wood chips eventually...it can't be avoided. This type of hoe actually decreases that over the chop style hoe, as it moves underneath the wood chip top layer to do its job, but mixing will occur no matter how hard you try to prevent it as you move chip aside to plant into the compost, then move chip back, weed, etc.

Can't be helped. Adding a fresh layer of chips in the fall can help rectify that to some degree but it will happen again if you disturb the chip layer at all in any way as you go along.

Words of advice? Keep your chip layer topped off so you won't have to suddenly replace the whole garden's supply of chips(something I'm having to scramble about and do now and I don't have a chip source), keep on top of weeds...especially that Bermuda~it LOVES the BTE method, put down heavy landscaping material on top of cardboard all along the edges of your garden to help your efforts to fight the Bermuda. It won't eliminate the problem altogether but it may slow it down a little.

Keep on top of pest bugs...do not live and let live with that. I made that mistake last year and am paying for it this year by the millions of squash bugs and beetles that have lived, bred and are now thriving in this ground cover of chip...chewing their way through my plants. Don't believe that whole thing about healthy plants don't attract pests....they do.

Do not place leaves on top of your chips...it will compost down and make a layer of soil for the weed seeds to get started in, on top of the wood chips. Not good.

Don't believe the whole "if it's hard work, you are doing it wrong" thing that Paul always says...that's because he lives where chips can be readily had. I've had to haul chips from 100 mi. away and am currently even going farther than that to access ramial wood chips. If you live near a town, wood chips are easily found...live out in the country and they are scarce as hen's teeth. And, I don't care how you slice it, hauling wood chips, loading them and unloading them~unless you have an endloader, qualifies as hard work to me...I'm old and decrepit now.

I've also never worked so hard to keep weeds out of a garden, keep pest bugs from eating their way through my crops, and trying to keep the nutrition balanced in my soils as I have with the BTE and I've been gardening most of my life. Don't know where I'm going wrong on this one, but this is the hardest gardening I've ever done.

I'm sure other folks can give you some pointers as well but I struggle with this method...it's starting to pay off a little in the 3rd year now, but it won't matter if the bugs won't leave the plants alone.

Oh...and, BTW...welcome to the forum!

Another thing Paul doesn't tell you about is this mulch is an ideal environment for SLUGS as well as other insects... they LOVE to hide in the crevices under the bark and when not sleeping , they reproduce. Then come evening, they come out to party in droves and devour your plants. I now have 5 fat and sassy resident Garter snakes that can't keep up to the slugs' breeding abilities. The snakes now lay flat out in the paths to warm themselves up in the morning sun to digest their nightly meals.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Journey, do you plant red or white radishes? I read that the ones that work are the white icicle radishes, not the red. Details, details. Of course when I tried the white icicle radishes and the nasturtiums in my squash it didn't seem to help, but that's what I read.

 

[Finding God in the garden]

That's a mimosa. I've been noticing that other mimosas around about have a much darker pink blossoms and I'm wondering if it doesn't depend on the acidity of the soils or lack thereof. I think I'll give that tree some lime and wood ashes before next season to see if we can't brighten it up a bit.



It's inevitable that the compost underneath will mix with the wood chips eventually...it can't be avoided. This type of hoe actually decreases that over the chop style hoe, as it moves underneath the wood chip top layer to do its job, but mixing will occur no matter how hard you try to prevent it as you move chip aside to plant into the compost, then move chip back, weed, etc.

Can't be helped. Adding a fresh layer of chips in the fall can help rectify that to some degree but it will happen again if you disturb the chip layer at all in any way as you go along.

Words of advice? Keep your chip layer topped off so you won't have to suddenly replace the whole garden's supply of chips(something I'm having to scramble about and do now and I don't have a chip source), keep on top of weeds...especially that Bermuda~it LOVES the BTE method, put down heavy landscaping material on top of cardboard all along the edges of your garden to help your efforts to fight the Bermuda. It won't eliminate the problem altogether but it may slow it down a little.

Keep on top of pest bugs...do not live and let live with that. I made that mistake last year and am paying for it this year by the millions of squash bugs and beetles that have lived, bred and are now thriving in this ground cover of chip...chewing their way through my plants. Don't believe that whole thing about healthy plants don't attract pests....they do.

Do not place leaves on top of your chips...it will compost down and make a layer of soil for the weed seeds to get started in, on top of the wood chips. Not good.

Don't believe the whole "if it's hard work, you are doing it wrong" thing that Paul always says...that's because he lives where chips can be readily had. I've had to haul chips from 100 mi. away and am currently even going farther than that to access ramial wood chips. If you live near a town, wood chips are easily found...live out in the country and they are scarce as hen's teeth. And, I don't care how you slice it, hauling wood chips, loading them and unloading them~unless you have an endloader, qualifies as hard work to me...I'm old and decrepit now.

I've also never worked so hard to keep weeds out of a garden, keep pest bugs from eating their way through my crops, and trying to keep the nutrition balanced in my soils as I have with the BTE and I've been gardening most of my life. Don't know where I'm going wrong on this one, but this is the hardest gardening I've ever done.

I'm sure other folks can give you some pointers as well but I struggle with this method...it's starting to pay off a little in the 3rd year now, but it won't matter if the bugs won't leave the plants alone.

Oh...and, BTW...welcome to the forum!

Well, finding fairly recent wood chips isn't that hard for me. I have a source, but the work to shovel them into my little Honda Fit and then push them back out onto the garden is quite tiring. If I had a pickup truck then I could just go up to the city green waste facility and they would dump an entire truckload of wood chips in the bed and I'd be on my way. I still need to see if I can find some ramiel wood chips. I'm sorry to hear you're having so much trouble with your BTE garden. Do you regret doing BTE? I tried traditional gardening 1 year at our previous house and it was no cake walk by any means and I had pretty much abysmal return on my work.

What do you mean by "trying to keep the nutrition balanced in my soils"? Doesn't Paul basically recommend not using any fertilizer or additives except wood chips and manure unless there is a very extreme situation?

Is there anybody here that has had a good experience with their BTE garden?

Thanks,
Andrew