Back to Eden Gardening

[thistlebloom]

Very nice! You must have been up before the roosters started crowing (that's 4 a.m. Idaho time ) to get that amount! I have truck envy too. My Toyota is a tiny '04 regular cab. Just room for me and my clippers.

 

[Beekissed]

Got that the night before! Even got it loaded for me. Not cured out, ripe, wet, smelly poo....Mom is still seizing over that mess in her truck!

Tomorrow morning I go out there with a bucket of ammonia water and do a scrub down on her "Precious".

Mom bought a used utility trailer today so that we never have to put dirty things in her truck again....ever.

 

[Nyboy]

LOL only on a garden site can you show a picture of a truck filled with $hit and have people tell you how envious they are !

 

[Beekissed]

I know!!! And I love it! There aren't many around my world who share my level of enthusiasm for it all.... It's great to share with folks who share that same love of poop..... in the right context, of course.

Note: The truck has been restored to its former sweet smelling, clean glory and I have been forgiven.

 

[Beekissed]

Week three on the Back to Eden garden and I will post pics of the growth when I get the pics uploaded. It's raining wonderfully right now~a good soaking rain~ and right after I placed more epsom salts on the mater plants, which is great.

Most of the tomatoes look great, sturdy and starting to show bloom buds and suckers, a few could use a little more deep green color but just a few, so I'm pretty pleased with them.

The cukes are doing great and growing inches each day, as is the Bodacious corn of the first planting. The squash are growing but not as quickly as they normally do in my garden...usually they grow faster than anything, so not sure what that means.

No lettuce at this point, the onions are doing poorly but onions always do in this soil and the soil hasn't changed yet(that should be starting by next year), so that's no surprise.

The taters are deep green and lovely, growing well. I need to mulch them with something to give them more depth in which to grow tubers...will try to get my hands on some hay this week.

Chives are lovely and so is the broccoli. All the small seeds like cilantro, lettuce, carrots, etc. are not making a big showing, though some of the cilantro is evident. Snap peas are up a little...might be too hot for them. A few of the half runner beans have popped up. The wildflowers are looking great but none of the sunflowers are up, which is odd because they grow easily.

The bell peppers are lovely, growing well and deep green, whereas the hot peppers look sad...blighty, stunted, and sickly looking...but they looked that way here last year also.

So far the results are a little uneven, some things doing great, some not so great.

So far I really like the weed suppression that I'm seeing, though a certain weed I've dealt with the past few years is starting to show little seedlings on any bare soil around my own seedlings. They are easy to pluck out and I'm trying to stay on top of them this year.

I thank God for the rain and the warm weather for growing!

This garden is His and all that is in it, I could grow nothing without His help and so I glorify His name when I see the green and lovely growing going on there!

 

[ninnymary]

Bee, you are such a blessing. I love to hear about your garden endeavors.

Mary

 

[Beekissed]

Mary, you are a blessing to me as well! Your encouragement means so very much!

Week 3 pics of the BTE method:

 

[ninnymary]

Thistle and Beekissed, I have a confession to make. In my excitement of discovering this back to Eden gardening method, I'm afraid that I didn't put down any horse manure. I just put down a little compost that I had and put organic fertilizer in each planting hole. I could have gone to horse stables in the Oakland hills for free raw horse manure but I didn't.

Now, I don't know what to do after the season. I hate when I pull wood chips aside because soil gets mixed up in them. (I'm sort of a clean nut freak. ) Should I leave things the way they are or should I remove them in the fall, add horse manure, and leave the beds alone and then come spring plant and put the chips back? I value both of you ladies advise so please tell me what to do.

Mary

 

[Beekissed]

If it were me, I'd leave things be. The addition of and side dressing with the manure is to offset the nitrogen leaching that is done by applying the chips to the soil surface for the first time, but as they compost they start to add that nutrient right back to the soil, so not as necessary to have it there.....though I have noticed that the Paul guy who promotes this garden method continues to add his composted chicken litter to his garden each season as well.

You can side dress your plants without even pulling the chips back, as those nutrients will get washed right down to the roots with the next rains. I'd go ahead and get your horse manure and apply it right on top of the chips this fall and let them aid in the build of nutrients there and also in the composting of the chips. Eventually all those wood chips are going to start looking like soil anyway and then a person refreshes wood chips as needed, from what I understand.

I'm still feeling my way on this method too, so I'm not an authority on it all.....I also need to watch the film again, just to remember everything to expect. The follow up interviews to be found on YT are also VERY informative of what to expect later on with this garden method.

 

[thistlebloom]

Mary, the only thing I know about BTE method is what I've read in this thread. I'm afraid I couldn't watch any of the vids because of my limited amount of data I have available on my internet plan. I do find it a very interesting idea and am following Bees progress reports on her experience with it. What Bee explained makes sense to me.