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dirtguy50

Back to Eden

Would a Back To Eden Garden (BTE) be a good resource category on the main page? I am surprised we have neglected that discussion since it is a very popular and widely used method of gardening. Your thoughts?

Comments (7)

  • mikebotann
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    What is a Back to Eden garden?
    Mike

  • Bradybb WA-Zone8
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I think he was writing about a guy's way of growing things using wood chips and compost.He has a place on the Olympic Peninsula,near Sequim.
    There was a video made. Brady

    Here is a link that might be useful: Back to Eden Film

  • drakis
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    I just started to use it Dirtyguy50.

    Before people go anywhere, they need to look up the word "ramial".

    Try the big W! Wikipedia. It is, in the end, a tree branch. The smaller, the better.

    "Composition of RCWE

    Because they are the most exposed part of the tree to the light, and the most actively growing, young branches (and young trees) used in RCW are from the richest parts of the trees. They contain 75% of the minerals, amino acids, proteins, phytohormones and biological catalysts (enzymes) found in the tree."

    The above is from Wiki. I live, in Quebec!

    I know what they wanted, a use for wasted brush. The rest is an accident of science, or research if you will.

    I am just using tree leaves, weeds, and small branches , the size if a magic marker, no bigger. Most, are just larger than a pencil. It is the leaves really. Why wait until they fall??? Use them right as they get growing nicely.

    There are over two hundred trees in the yard I am doing this in. My other garden is fine, this is for the one acre of mostly clay wasteland.

    More later, but think of micro greens, the food. Rather than the sprouts, we eat the greens. More nutrtion. Most small plants that are edible, have higher nutrtion when they are small. Brocolli sprouts are a good example. Sprouted flour is another.

    Sprouted tree branch salad???

    Works for me! The garden loves it!

    I really liked the BTE movie. A real down to earth man, and though I am not a religeous man, Jesus people are good people in general. Jesus is ok in my books too. : )

    I found it after the fact, not before. I was looking up mulching from Ruth Stout when I found it. BTE is better, it is much cleaner.

    I barely have an inch down, all cut using a clipper, that is it. I am doing it, so I can kill the grass, and do not have to weed.

    Things are much more fertile as well. I let weeds grow in my garden. They must be good for something. I only pull the big ones, the others feed the soil anyhow. I get very few, because I plant intensely. So carrots, swiss chard, cukes, dill celery, beets, and more, all in one box. About 20 inches wide, by 6 feet long. I have a few on the go.

    Salad get's a seperate box, only chives, tall marigold, and dill allowed.

    Nature's bug fighters. Very easy to weed. Just lace the thing with lettuce seeds.

    The main garden is art! It is an old burned out barn. The old rock foundation remains. I dug most of it out last year. More later, but that garden has always been super rich, and has wood at least two feet deep, still rotting away.

    Everything grows nice! Except, I got a big tree beside it that should be cut. When it rains, it decimates the plants below it. I am just going to change the crops.

    I have pet worms. In a worm coop. lol

    I hate chickens! They stink. Plenty of birds, so why do I need chickens???

    The trick is easy. Walk up to tree. No conifers, well, not too many. They do not rot fast enough.

    I use Manitoba maples a lot. Take pruning clippers, clip. Go to garden. Cut leaves off. Then clip branch. Four square feet takes about an hour and two cups of coffee, and a relaxing chair.

    Jobs done!!!

    It took about thre weeks to get those white tree eating worms, and about four weeks to get my first mushroom. It is a mess, but I am sure it will work.

    Can I post pictures on here?

    I will show you what I am doing so far.

    Nice to mett all you gardeners out there!!!

    P.S. I am a true research man. I really research and then decide. BTE, or wood chips, aka branches, I will call them that, will work. Enough data on it to fill one google cloud!!!

  • mikebotann
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Thanks Brady.
    I'd like to meet Paul Gautschi. I'm going to Sequim in a few weeks for a reunion. I'm familiar with the area and the mountains behind it.
    I garden on ten acres and have been here for 35 years. Wood chips are a mainstay. An Arborist parks his chipper and truck here so I have all the chips I need. I even use aged wood chips mixed with fairly new chips for potting soil. Works wonders!
    I used to burn the limbs and brush, now I compost them or run them through my friend's chipper. I think of my whole place as a compost pile. That saves a lot of trips to and from a designated pile.
    My garden is ornamental rather than veggie, but the principles are the same. Loose, friable, moist soil, full of organic matter.
    I grew up on a farm north of Spokane and we had a veggie garden the size of a city lot. That's where I began to learn how to grow plants. Still learning, but the teaching is the hard part. I'm 70, so I figure I have something to share that I've learned over the years.
    See below for my garden.
    Mike.....near Maple Valley, Wa.+

    {{gwi:328228}}

    Here is a link that might be useful: My garden

  • catkin
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    Awesome garden, Mike!

  • drakis
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    That is a wonderous garden Mike! Almost magical. : )

    If you do meet Paul, I do have an easy question for him. I would like to know the deepest level of wood chips he has ever used to fill a hole.

    Say I have a hole two feet deep. I have a lot of rocky areas, and I need to even them out so people can walk easily. At fifty-four, I need to walk easily. lol

    I can fill with top soil first, but If I can just cover, all the better. I also have a clay swamp area that is dry by summer, and useless in spring and fall. It is not huge, a 100 square feet maybe.

    Cool summer so far here in southern Quebec. One day, my goal is to build a dome green house, and grow peaches. Just to prove it can be done. Other food as well of course, but the dome is mainly for the tree.

    I plan to heat with a passive solar/wind setup.

    I am also wondering how well wood chips work inside a greenhouse. It would be open to the air most of the time during summer. It would also have a soil based interior, and of course be totally organic. I use no pestisides and never will.

    I am with Paul on on the problems in the world. I do think food shortages will come soon enough. Not getting too political about it all, I want to design an urban garden that is a near year round food source as well. I am doing it in the countryside on a larger scale, but it is a progressively slow process.

    I am not in a hurry in other words!

    The end goal, is to have someone with a small city lot, enabled enough to survive for less money on food. Being mostly vegan helps. Well, it helps quit a bit!

    And let him know, I agree, Jesus does not wait for you in a church! That made me really laugh, cuz it is true! No God does, whichever one you choose. : )

    And the shot crow was pretty funny too. These are clips you can find on youtube. Some guy who follows Paul a lot does interviews with him.

    P.S. I will post about the hydro setup I am looking into.

    Allan

  • drakis
    9 years ago
    last modified: 9 years ago

    This is my first link test, so hopefully it works.

    I just need to calculate the cost to heat to a possible -30 degree celcius. I have not yet written to the company. I plan a budget of about $4000.00 for the greenhouse, roughy what I eat in veggies a year. (I used grocery store prices to estimate my food budget. So a family could easily spend triple what I do, eating a lot of veggies).

    I am primarily raw vegan, which simply means I like things raw. Being an epileptic, I have also studied the latest vegan science. All you need is in the veggies, protein, amino acids, everything.

    And I do eat a touch of meat when visiting others.

    And most surprising of nature, all the essential amino acids of life, are contained in a bottle of beer! lol!

    I love science... : )

    Here is a link that might be useful: Wind turbine chimney

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