Back To Eden Method!

[purplekat]

I've been wanting to try this, but need to find a local supplier of wood chips. That video is obviously American in a low rainfall area, I do wonder how different things would be here in the wet and chilly north of the country. Woodchips, in my experience, seem to grow a lot of fungi when wet. I'm also on clay, which can take forever to warm up, never mind when heavily mulched (although the new top layer would presumably warm up quicker once built up). Think I may try it on a part of my allotment as a trial.

[ESBkevin]

Purplekat
Being on clay is fine, the worms will open up the clay and over a period of several years turn it into something quite wonderful. No need to dig anything. Also anything that breaks down ultimately uses fungi at some level, thats part of nature so don't fight it, good fungi is what we are trying to cultivate, it's just that we can't usually see it.

[Bigmallly]

I do wonder how different things would be here in the wet and chilly north of the country.

Have a look at the vids from this guy that Spam kindly put up. There are about 5 videos in all but are well worth a watch. He is in the UK.

https://www.youtube.com/user/theallotmentshed

[HoneyChild]

There is a farmer in the US who gets paid to have woodships and leaves dumped on his land. He then uses cover crops to get more organic matter into it. It's interesting to see how it can be done on a bigger scale.

https://www.youtube.com/user/iamnjorganic/videos

[purplekat]

Have a look at the vids from this guy that Spam kindly put up. There are about 5 videos in all but are well worth a watch. He is in the UK.

https://www.youtube.com/user/theallotmentshed

I've just watched them all! Certainly looks worth a try, just have to find a friendly tree surgeon now

[Bigmallly]

Good luck PK, I'm sure you'll find one.

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

Cheers for posting this BM!

My time very much limited these days, now beggining to wish I had never taken this "Gaffer's" job on, but I've made my bed and shall have to lie in it!

Yeah! Really warming to this concept, thinking if at least I set one bed up in this manner, and what a perfect time to instigate it, pre-winter, plant the two beds exactly the same and take note of the comparisons!

I have a "Nursury" no less than a five minute walk from the allotment, who I am reliably informed offer chipping FOC, so a little background work to be done on that one!

But Yeah, will keep you updated on proceedings.

[Bigmallly]

Nice one Deano, appologies for the video links not working, but there are plenty more on utube.

[Mr Bones]

I'd been reading up on the BTE method when you started this thread BM and it prompted me to have a go. Thanks.

Initially I mulched the strawbs and a trial of six beds that were first sprinkled with chicken manure pellets. The strawbs were great and of the six beds one lost a few celeriac in early summer to waterlogging (a wet start combined with soil structure that was still unrecovered from tilling) but surviving celeriac and other crops did really well.

The chips delivered to our site are shreddings which include wood, leaves and a fair amount of Leylandii. We're using what's available but it seems better if it can be stacked for a few weeks first.

In conclusion hardly any weeds and far better moisture retention. The soil underneath started to improve within just a few weeks and worm population is rapidly increasing. Also now finding more centipedes and rove beetles.
So far the experiment has been a success and is being extended to cover more beds.

I wondered how other grapes are getting on.

[lottie dolly]

A few years ago i had a load off hay,it worked realy well,the downside for me was,the fungas as it rotted,got up my very sensitive nose and on me chest,so now are very wary,i expect straw would be the same,i do use grass clippings as a mulch,but carefully not to thick,i also get thoughts now and again about a garden vac,for easy leaf collecting,and see how leaves perform re the mould in comparison to that hay,i have in the past had leaves under sheeting on the beds and that was fine,will have to go goggling leaf collectors now,new or used as well as a mower for the plots.

[burnie]

I use my own chipped cuttings from my native hedge to mulch my new Beech hedge as there's a lot of weeds next door. I've done this before, but not on edibles only as a weed suppressant for ornamentals. The thing with woodlands is the soil is uncultivated and full of fungi and microryzomes, so to make a direct comparison with our cultivated ground is different Will be interesting to see how it works out though, but as I'm primarily now growing in no dig raised beds, my organics will be more composted before they are added so the worms can do their thing, don't think worms will munch big chunks of wood easily.

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

When you get your hands on a new load of chips, put the old ones onto the beds rather than just covering them up with more chips.

It's lovely stuff once its been rotting for a year or 2

Yeah, seen this before, a guy called.........Oh! what's is name now!......Can't remember!.........But he grew all his Tomatoes in sieved wood chippings from his paths, with an abundance of crops! "Lower Lovetts Farm Spring to mind"

It's always worth remembering that the wood chips he uses in the original BacktoEden video have been used first in the chicken run, so have already started to rot down, and contain manure as a natural fertiliser.

It would be unreasonable to expect results like his (on the video) just from mulching with fresh woodchip.

Get That! So my idea being, if I bang a load of "Chicken or Farmyard" manure through the shredder, the same time as I do the "Chippings" probably several times to ensure my mates "Willy the Worms" can play with it!

As a fan of Forest gardening, mulching with woodchip sounds like a way to mimic the forest floor,. Nobody weeds or fertilises a wood but massive trees find enough nutrient to grow there.

That's the whole point of this concept I think VC, We are only trying to mimic nature at it's best!

I'd been reading up on the BTE method when you started this thread BM and it prompted me to have a go. Thanks.

Initially I mulched the strawbs and a trial of six beds that were first sprinkled with chicken manure pellets. The strawbs were great and of the six beds one lost a few celeriac in early summer to waterlogging (a wet start combined with soil structure that was still unrecovered from tilling) but surviving celeriac and other crops did really well.

The chips delivered to our site are shreddings which include wood, leaves and a fair amount of Leylandii. We're using what's available but it seems better if it can be stacked for a few weeks first.

In conclusion hardly any weeds and far better moisture retention. The soil underneath started to improve within just a few weeks and worm population is rapidly increasing. Also now finding more centipedes and rove beetles.
So far the experiment has been a success and is being extended to cover more beds

Clearly it does work!

But yeah! early days, but the whole thing just makes sense to me!

[Jay-ell]

The fungi you see is the fruiting bodies, the main body of the fungus will be little white strands running through the soil. Is a sign of healthy soil as the fungi include the microrhizal fungi our plants need.

If I remember correctly worms munch through the easily digestible stuff but leave the heavy stuff like lignin for the fungi to digest first.

[Deano's "Diggin It"]

Richard Sandford, And it was "Lower Lovett's Farm"

The guy has or had the big C, but curved it by becoming self sufficiant in home grown veggies!

Knew I'd remember right at the end!

[MyWifesBrassicas]

Just wondering if anyone has an update on their back to eden method?
I used a big pile of wood chips last year as a hot bed, very effective staying hot for 6 months or more.
Also, I piled a deep layer around my fruit bushes last year to reduce moisture loss and watering, worked a treat.
The partially broken down wood chips if looking and smelling like really useful stuff