Gardening Cults — The Survival Gardener

Last week I posted a video where I was throwing mulch around the Grocery Row Gardens. I titled it “WHY ARE YOU USING WOOD CHIPS??? HAVE YOU JOINED THE CULT???” I know it sounds crazy to call a gardening method a “cult,” and I did use the title tongue-in-cheek; however, the no-till people sure get…

Gardening Cults — The Survival Gardener

He makes a good point. Up in the hills, the soil is thin. If you want to garden you have to collect it up/make your own. All the stuff you pay to get ride of in town. I gather everything, leaves, duff, sawdust (hardwood), hay, whatever. Throw it all in the chicken pen. Let them dig through it for a year. I’m sure someone has figured out the yield but it seems to me a 6 ft pile of compost makes about a half inch of potting soil, stirred and fertilized by the chickens.

I shovel out the trap in the chicken coup once a year and throw that in a hole full of sawdust. Till it once in a while and use after two years, maybe. It’s kinda strong, I just sprinkle it here and there. Or just turn it into a spot garden after a while.

I also use my ashes, again just sprinkle them.

You have got to keep after it, too. Fertility is only good for a couple of years. I have lots of room, if I clear it, and made more gardens than I could keep fertile year after year. If it’s just one it’s not too bad.

I highly recommend the hugel. It’s sort of self composting and holds water. You could probably do the same thing with sawdust.

Oh, and up here, tilling is the only way to keep the woods from reclaiming your garden.