Welcome to the forum. Very nice enthusiastic first post! It sounds like you are doing well.

I have read of people burying plastic pots, buckets or ?? in their garden beds and creating a wormery there. Often called worm towers, they are in- ground to buffer the temperature and covered to keep out sun and critters. Putting worms in buckets in the sun on top of the ground will cause the worms to bail out into the garden bed or die.

Good luck and happy wormin'.

This post was edited by mendopete on Sun, Nov 9, 14 at 0:17

Thanks for the welcome and yes my enthusiasm is sort of a disease with me as it happens wherever interest strikes. I wish it had hit 20 years ago when the kids were young and at home as we would be well along in this journey that will be several years before the real fruits (literally and figuratively) will begin to bear. It is what it is though and just cracking into the 50s there is still plenty of time.

The buried buckets/worm towers is what I mostly came across also mendopete. I was wanting something a little easier to move around as we are starting with somewhat barren ground sans any kind of worms or just about any other thing living.

There are spots where I have moved dirt leveling that look just like washed sand with the remainder being very light colored silt sand mix. What I am beginning to understand is that this is not nearly as bad as it could be, very little in the way of rock and great drainage. We have a great well so water is cheap and plentiful though it is alkaline which is another thing I am learning how to deal with.

On the worms and relocating. Having them bail the bucket for better ground is just the thing I am after. Depending on how things turn out the buckets might simply be dumped where we want worms and of course fertilizer with the buckets just becoming feeding locations/traps for them.

The European Nightcrawlers are thriving in the old compost pile where we have been digging in organic material into the sand for quite a few years. This stuff while still very sandy is starting to look better and better and now with the E Hortensis in there. Probably room for 20 or more buckets on that pile and with straw from the chicken coop piled up around the buckets the hope is that they stay warm enough in the winter and cool enough in the summer for the worms to actively work them.

With worms and their exponential potential it seems there is a line each has to place on the how much to buy and how much to wait. I think with our particular goals 100lbs of worms in actively producing beds is not outside of what we could use though spending a couple thousand dollars for them probably wont happen so it will be balanced with time.

Again, thanks for the well wishes. I have seen some pictures of your carpet piles and envy would be the best descriptor.

Topics you may be interested in:

Using some of your vermicastings to brew worm tea and spray it around to bring "tons" of life to the area.
Permiculture
Top Bar Hives
hugleculture
biochar
Bokashi
You may want to grab every seed you can find from every free source you can think of and toss them around.
Maybe in seed balls. Even weed seeds might have a potential to quickly get some stuff growing and the chickens can have a great time taking care of it for you.
and a few other things I can't think of right now.

Your post shows the time and thought you put into writing it for us.

Welcome to the 50's.

Maybe it is the silica that makes worms attracted to comfrey?

The Top Bar Hives is something new to me Equinox, I will do some reading. The other things you mentioned there have all been placed on the radar. Bees are one thing we have thought about but the seeming complexities and costs dont make it appear very attractive at this time. The top bar looks like it may address these issues. We are fortunate in that there is a beekeeper a quarter mile away and we are hoping they keep their hives there. We are also planting many bee friendly flowering plants. One that grows like crazy here is a desert bird of paradise, it is still putting on flowers and is absolutely buzzing every morning.

For seeds we went a little crazy this year buying bulk seed. Ended up with well over 150 different varieties of vegetables and flowers and a healthy number of tree and shrub seeds so come spring they will be going everywhere.

One of our big issues is in keeping water in the soil for plants. We once drained our 10K gallon well tank using the four inch valve on it, the water ran about 12 feet. I had several loads of wood chips dumped here six or seven years ago and after running through a small chipper they look pretty good, have been layering up a big compost windrow using bagged HD steer manure (had four pallets delivered) along with the chips (lots of fines in this from leaves and what has already decomposed) and chicken manure. Should have a good start come spring with 15 to 20 cu yds of this material. Going to get on the tree trimmers this coming year and try and get as much more as we can along with locating other materials such as horse manure and even municipal compost when we can conveniently haul it.

We also started comfrey this spring. Have close to 40 plants 9(Russian Comfrey Bocking 4 and 14) and will be dividing and spreading these starting next year. Cannot speak too much on it yet as we have only been pulling a few leaves here and there to give to the chickens but they are growing quite well and from all we read as to its uses for composting, fertilizer and worm fodder so the plan at this point it to propagate as much as we can up to 500 or even 1000 plants which would = 1/8 to 1/4 acre. These will all be spread out around the property in small patches handy for close by use rather than one large plot monoculture style.

The comfrey will be an important part of the worm population explosion since having a sustainable volume of biomass is directly tied to the number of worms one can support. The bits and blurbs I have come across about it being attractive to the worms and even claims of boosting reproduction and overall health of worms sounds great though I dont know how much of it has been vetted. Certainly cant hurt though even if its use ends up being greens to add to the browns (which are easier to come by here) for composting that will in turn be passed along to the worms.

My whole thinking here is centered around the soil which at this point cant really even be called that. Worms and the associated diversity of biological life in the soil that goes along with ground that will support worms is the place to begin. In reality we just want to grow things, everything and anything but when you keep throwing seeds at the ground and they dry up and blow away it can get discouraging so we are going back to step one... the soil and starting there.

End goal is transforming this patch of desert into paradise.

The thing about starting out raising worms in bins maximized for the conditions worms need to really thrive as opposed to putting them into conditions NOT maximized for success.......success will be less successful without the better conditions.

Not to say success will not happen. It just won't be intense.

With winter here, and the "polar vortex" about to move south, I wanna keep a lotta worms thriving rather than surviving.

chuckiebtoo

The silica is something I was wondering about Equinox, I have a supply of silica fines (powder) from cutting glass that I was thinking about sprinkling in the feed buckets.

CB, thriving is what I am after though my idea of thriving and that of someone as yourself with plenty of experience probably are not the same. Also looking for ease of use here, everything is a balance so naturally going for hands free is going to take a toll somewhere else. Thriving in the 40 sq ft compost pile and feed buckets would be great but honestly in the end surviving in the other 100K or so sq feet of the property is what is going to make the changes to our ground that we want to see. This is a big part of the reason I went with the EH instead of the EFs as it seems the latter is much more regulated to a narrow range of habitat where the former has more characteristics of an earthworm and is a bit hardier.

I have been layering the material going into the buckets by adding cardboard between dumps of kitchen scraps to give a mix of what I understand they are wanting. I dont blend the scraps or pre-compost it at this point though the buckets might be a form of pre-composting as they sit there waiting for the worms to move in. I also have the buckets buried to near the top in loose straw from the hen house so temp swings should not be too extreme.

Certainly there will be much more to learn in the doing, just happy to have a good start and thanks to all of you and others who have been talking about this micro husbandry that promises so many benefits.

I feel like Paul Harvey now hearing The Rest of the Story I knew was there.

For the cost of an e-mail addy, feel free to make a single use e-mail, Geoff Lawton has YouTubes or videos available for free with real life examples of transforming desert into green. About 28? I have not gotten spam e-mail from it.

Is Nexev Next Evolution?

I can appreciate the water absorption abilities of wood chips. At a playground with many inches of wood chips after a large amount of rain stepping on the wood chips was a magical experience. Talk about water holding ability.

You appear to be living the life that some of us here are participating in and most of us here want to be participating in and are doing our best to bring aspects of into our lives in multiple ways using lots of creativity and self daringdu.

Preparation 500 cow horn manure might have some strange hints for you.

Permies.com

Certainly considering living the life, there are many plus points in knowing how to provide for yourself should the need become absolute. While I am no prophet with the ability to proclaim disaster is around the corner what I am sure of is that uncertainty is there. Knowing how to keep some eggs and meat on hand along with a variety of vegetables holds great comfort.

My internet provider doesnt like me using much bandwidth so I have to take a pass on the videos. While I am almost always willing and hungry to read on any subject so of the more out there stuff is beyond me. What burying cow manure in a horn does for it I could not guess but I can promise it is more effort for the reward than I am willing to invest ;)

---------------------------------
Is Nexev Next Evolution?
---------------------------------

Seems about right.

The wood chips are pretty amazing and another current focus for the foreseeable future. Ramial wood is also of huge interest. We have a tree here (well from what I see it is just about everywhere) the Chinese Sumac or Tree of Heaven that just grows like a weed. This year I did some heavy coppicing and pollarding and will be harvesting these for Ramial wood. Last summer I made a small pile not even two feet tall and the following day that thing was steaming. They almost jump through the chipper on their own giving a nice blend of small chips and leaf litter. I know about the allelopathic issues with this tree along with the invasive issues though neither seem worse than sand so if they produce OM then they will become part of the system.

For all their bad mouthing what I see is lush growth around them of plants and weeds so if they are somewhat poisonous to other plants they arent too good at it and considering the locale here invasive inst such a bad thing. The large amount of new growth they can put on in a single season is quite impressive so I am hoping they work out well if harvested regularly. If left to their own they get seedy and scraggly adding little new growth each year.

Its all about the OM (Organic Matter) anything that can be laid on the sand creates a haven for worms. I placed some paving stones through the comfrey then decided later I did not like them there. Picking up the stones I found quite a few EHs happily working the dirt/sand in the moist environment under them. I had dropped two or four on each comfrey plant early in the summer so it was nice seeing them there fat and healthy as enough time had passed for several generations.

The pavers and the rest of the area in that particular comfrey bed we then covered with 3" of steer and three inches of those ToH wood chips from the fall cleanup making a nice thick blanket to put not only the comfrey to bed in for the winter but also those Euros who have adapted to that environ. There are six rows of 5 plants in that bed (minus a few that didnt take that will be replaced in the spring) and we put some garlic between them in the side rows that we dont walk on. The garlic is beginning to pop up through all that manure and mulch now.

Sorry got sidetracked, all that was leading to the wood chips on the sand. While the sand may appear devoid of life it certainly is there. Just the act of piling up chips and adding a little water creates a thin layer of an inch or two at the soil contact where the wood chips decompose rapidly creating a rich black mulch. I kind of wonder if there isnt some effect such as R/O being hungry water where it will draw in what it needs to find balance going on at the transition layer of the wood chips and sand. Whatever is going on its a given that the worms like it, as long as the worms give the thumbs up its a go.

I looked it up and now I know what Ramial wood is. It sounds like you are on the right path.

Nexev,
Thanks for taking the time writing about your experience. It's great reading you, I enjoyed it very much.
I do hope you'll go on writing.

I also introduced Hortensis, they've been travelling a lot, and they like any type of OM in my little experience.

I also introduced Fetida and Andrei, who seem to stay more in the manure.

But the Hortensis I found them in the decayed wood or sawdust too, and all around the garden now. They're just a bunch of boulimic OM guzzlers, hence poopers, which is good for your alkaline sand and my alkaline clay.

Fragmented Ramial Wood seems to be very efficient in creating very fast a long lasting OM amount. From what I read it takes 80 years of manure to create the amount of OM that Ramial wood creates in 10 years. So it would make this fresh wood 8 times faster than manure, which I'm pretty sure beats the manured horns, not to mention the time consuming operation of stuffing the horns, but then maybe the new age people live without internet and TV so stuffing horns is a nice way to waste their winter evenings ;-)

I do hope that your internet provider, being against you downloading videos, will at least allow you to download photos, because I personally would love to see those wormeries that you're engineering all around your sandy but very soon extraordinarily rich living soil.

Thanks a lot and keep us posted, it is really interesting.

Hey thanks Francoise, I often worry about my writing as it can become quite verbose at times and so often people only want quick facts. I just dont seem to have the twitter 140char gene.

I will certainly get some photos together and try to keep adding to this developments on my worm expansion efforts. To my way of thinking if the worms are growing everything along with them must also be improving.

The EH are an impressive creature arent they? The chickens have been scratching them up outside of the worm bin since they cant really get to much inside the bin due to the covers I have on them. Just that they are finding them outside of the bin though is encouraging.

I tipped up the compost sifter that was seeded in the worm bed with kitchen scraps and wood chips for two weeks then transplanted to a new bed we set up for some late season greens this afternoon. I saw half a dozen worms working in the area there with more hanging from the bottom of the sifter screen.

Interesting on the OM holding up longer from the chips and really makes sense. of course this isnt going to release as much nutrient as quickly the other thing it is doing there in terms of holding moisture or in your case adding tilth having it stick around is a good thing and nutrients can be added in other ways such as green manure, VC, compost or manure.

I personally found the information on Ramial woods fascinating and it is going to be a big focus for us. We have considerable space so fast growing trees the ToH (Chinese Sumac), Catalpa and the Empress Tree (all of which may be too invasive for many) fit the bill on creating a durable biomass that will act like a sponge to soak up both water and nutrient from other sources easing back into the system as the plants are ready for it.

Something as simple as raw chips is what sold me. Early this year we planted a few fruit trees, two apple and two cherry. As summer progressed and we got into the 100F plus days the ground under trees which were watered once a week would be bone dry and white 2 to 3" down where it would begin to take on a gray color showing some limited moisture. After adding 3" or so of old dry chips in the watering bowl around the trees the ground was wet not just a change in color right at the surface at the end of the week.

Note that you dont want to let chips gather right up to the trees as this will keep the bark wet which isnt good for the tree because it could help harmful insects to the tree and also encourage fungal growth.

The Ramial chips though is a whole nother story from these aged tree service chips that I am looking forward to. Since the wood has nitrogen in it while it is actively growing the green brown balance is much easier to get to when you are in a green challenged area. That you can harvest it with loppers rather than a chainsaw and the chipper spits it out in mountains as fast as you can feed it without skipping a beat makes it even more attractive.

I have an old MTH (I think thats the brand) chipper that I bought years ago for $150 off a local radio trade show. Nothing fancy and a little weak with only 8hp but it is impressive what it will do to a fresh cut 1 1/2" or smaller branch. Nice straight branches like you get with many fast growing trees are especially appreciated.

Well I think I hit my 140char ;) limit so i will let this rest for now. Will try and make sure I have some pictures next time by.

I just wanted to note that normally we or I do not suggest purchasing worms or red wigglers at least for release into a garden. The difference here and in a few other threads by various posters lately are a bit different in that the worms are being supplied as starter cultures to areas with large amounts of recently added organic matter that expect to have even more organic matter added to the garden and other nearby areas for the foreseeable future. Normally adding red wigglers to a garden where they do not already exist does not fare well for the worms if provisions are not made for their feeding and bedding.

Thank you Nexev for the long posts, I personally like to know all the details ! And the short winter days allow some time to read about worms and compost after having done some worming and composting ;-)

I was very enthusiastic when I read and learnt about fragmented ramial wood. It seems to be great and if you have those trees and the shredder than there you go, and then you can keep us informed. I'd love to read about a direct experimentation.

Concerning worms outside, I was thinking today while wheelbarrowing poop all around the garden that they might become overwhelming because those little guys reproduce like mad and indulge in gluttony to the point that it becomes an obsession to try and keep up with their speed ! One day you might find that they eat faster than you have time to feed them ! I thought today that if they go on eating that fast I'll end up sticking them right in the butt of the ponies so that I won't have to run around the garden with poop during the whole sunday ;-) Equinox might have a point here, free worms are quite demanding once you succeed in raising them outside !

Keep up the good work outside and on this forum !

Another thought about spreading your worms around is that you are likely slowing reproduction. Density may not be optimum for breeding. Better off keeping them grouped up for awhile, IMO. When you get to about 2lbs/sq' then start thinning the herd by spreading them around some.

"I thought today that if they go on eating that fast I'll end up sticking them right in the butt of the ponies so that I won't have to run around the garden with poop during the whole sunday ;-) "
That would be the Ultimate flow- through worm bin!
I tried to teach our horse to poop directly into my worm bin. No success...

Equinox, I am not sure where the line blurs on worm types but what I am rearing are EH (Hortensis) also known as European Nightcrawlers. I have read a lot that classifies them as the same type of worms as composting redworms because they typically inhabit the same zone and feeding behavior. My impression also is that red wigglers is what most refer to as composting redworms.

I only mention this because what I have seen so far on the EHs is they like my ground as long as there is some kind of growth in the immediate area. I have found them down in the soil in the lawn and small garden that is in our yard. As mentioned before I have also spotted them in the comfrey where I scattered a few at each plant early this year. Pretty certain enough time had passed that the worms I saw must have been born and grew up there.

I can kind of see the not advocating buying worms to scatter though and to be honest wish I had put more of what I had into the compost pile/bin and less in the lawn since that was probably where most of them went. Tending to their needs in a more localized area to keep a growing population there sure seems to be working much better, its easy to tell by the numbers of young worms where the food and and conditions are closer to ideal. Only got to spread a few out from there this year but come spring am certain will be hauling buckets of them all around the property.

Heres a bit of a funny story, well at least it cracked me up. The Wifes little dog is a master at rounding up stinky things and eating them. Chicken dung is candy to him. Well we were sitting on the deck one evening this past summer and I asked her what he was doing as his snout was stuffed down into the grass. She looked over just in time to see him lift his head up with a long worm he had slurped out of the thatch and proceeded to make it disappear like a string of spaghetti. Yup likes worms too.

Francois, I will certainly report my own experiences on the Ramial wood. I am pretty convinced this will become a huge source of material for us here. We already know that these weed trees grow well here and the little I got in this last year showed me they will heat like nobodies business in a compost pile which says the nitrogen is there in that small new wood. That is something that is almost completely devoid in everything you read about wood chips and something that folks should have an understanding of.

Worm gluttons are great, they fornicate and populate without bounds as you say as long as the food is there. When the day comes that there are too many and they are rallying against us for more food we might just have to get some more chickens ;) I love the setup Harvey Ussery has in his greenhouse floor, he showed where he would harvest castings without much concern of worms being in them dumping buckets of them in the garden and letting the chickens do the spreading and tilling. Maybe even a worm or two got away to tend his garden for him after he closes the chickens out and plants it. I like to think so anyhow.

Ha mendopete, I dont know if the horse is gonna like that much. Still looking to source some horse leavings here, well always have an eye out for any OM but there are several horse folks around so I think it shouldnt be too much trouble to get some connections lined up.

I am not really spreading them around much right now, pulled a few for a new garden bed and they look to be doing fine there in 6" of compost/mulch. Do they really breed more rapidly in dense populations or does it just look like they are because there are so many of them there?

Finally got a few pictures

This first one is our compost pile/worm bin that has been piled on with straw to help keep the feeding buckets a little warmer. The plastic racks are there to keep the chickens from tearing it all out and give the little guys a place safe from those feathered monsters.

The green to the right is some green manure (beans, peas vetch and wheat) that we got a really late start on. It looked a bit better than that a week ago before we started letting the hens out on it. The far end that is not green was some buckwheat planted at the same time. Neither of these did particularly well though we did not expect much with the late start and nothing ever have grown in this area. Next year we will get it planted early and it will have had the winter with the hens scratching straw and fertilizing it so it should come in nice then.

Behind the bin is our sunken greenhouse. The floor inside is about 3' below grade. I built this about 15 years ago and we had not used it for the last five or so years. This year we got loads of tomatoes from it, they are winding down now and will probably come out this coming weekend.

Here is a close on the buckets, these have many 3/4" holes in the bottom giving worms free access and half a dozen 1/4" holes through the side near the top to allow for ventilation. I dump our kitchen scraps into these and ball up small pieces of cardboard between the layers. They have mold and even small fungi growing in them along with some fruit flys though they do not smell bad so I think they are doing ok. I do need some more of them as they are not active enough as of yet to keep up with our household leftovers yet though I figure they will just sit there and compost even if the worms are not yet numerous enough to keep them worked down.

The predators in the picture are Bantam Sussex hens (top left) Bantam Americana Roosters (Top Left) Cochin (Fat one) and Pollock (White one with black spots). Of these only the Bantam hens have laid any eggs and they have pretty much stopped. We get from three of these little hens one egg every few days and it is about 1/3 the size of a regular egg. Cold weather and shorter days came along before the others began laying because we got them later in the spring, next year we are looking forward to many more eggs.

My compost sifter slash Catch and Release trap sitting in a small garden area set up a month or so ago using weed compost done over the summer. We have a few lettuce and spinach plants in this area. It is also bordered by cinder block and has garlic coming up in the holes. The grass in there is some winter wheat and merced rye seeded recently.

The worm trap was filled with kitchen scraps and covered with wood chip mulch then left in the worm bin for about two weeks, since then it has been sitting here in this garden bed for about two weeks.

Its a shame I had not gotten this picture one of the other times I had peeked under here. It has been getting quite a lot colder here so I think the worms are heading down and there is nowhere near the action I had been seeing here. There are a few stalwarts hanging on though.

This is what my original intention for the homer bucket traps was, rotating them from the worm bin to various parts of the garden/property and back for recharging. Going to try it still but now thinking just dumping the buckets in the garden when the compost is finished in them might be the way to go. Time will tell.

One of our comfrey plantings, there were a couple that did not take and one that is quite smaller than the rest. These were put out mid summer this year from crowns. We have been massively impressed with how well they did this year. We did not harvest much off them letting them get established instead. Next year these guys are gonna get beat up though as we will be harvesting as much green material off them as they are able to give up also will be propagating more plants for other locations from them.

Steer and woodchips compost. There is two pallets (150 bags) of Home Depot steer in there with the remainder being chips from tree trimmers that were piled out 7 or 8 years ago. These were ran through a small chipper to reduce them and with their age they had obviously been breaking down quite a lot. Have also added quite a lot of chicken manure. This pile is about 20' long now, 3 or 4' high and 6' or so wide at the base.

Heres a shot of a typical area needing improvement. We are still doing some dirt work and hope by next year anything that is not in garden will get some cover crop. You can see in the distance what it looked like originally, sage brush is the dominant vegetation.

Lastly a closeup of the soil. There is some loamy in there but mostly coarse sand. There are some areas where I have moved considerable dirt and uncovered washed sand. We get flash flooding at times and obviously these areas had in the past been the washes. This shot is not quite so washed but easy to see there is not much OM in that soil.

I like all the straight lines on the greenhouse and the no nonsense straight design. Are those purple mountains in the background? Most of us do not live somewhere like that. Enjoy the view for us. I like the rooster "king of the rock". Such a handsome pan. Shouldn't it be cooking up a paella? My what nice comfrey you have. A lonely, little comfrey in a comfrey patch. Possibly comfrey may do well in ground that is much less comfortable. Save this ground for something that needs it more. The fact the mountains show no to little growth yet your land shows growth and life is a testament to the work you have done and the methods you have used.

Nexev,
Very great reading and watching ! I saw this morning that you had put photos and I was so looking forward reading, that for once I crossed my fingers for no business but then I had to be patient and wait till 3 pm and no more customers to at last have time to enjoy ;-)
You did great and worked a lot ! Tomatoes, comfrey, worms, and hens in the desert are living proofs of your dedication to turn your place into a green eden stuck right in a sandbox !
With those worms that learn how to survive your dog and hens, you're breeding a special species of smart ones, selected by their cleverness in escaping a dangerous bunch of several predators ;-)
It's a true adventure and a huge enterprise to try and grow stuff and raise animals on such a poor sandy soil. You're cumulating many strategies which is why there's a lot of green now.
Perhaps you could add some bushes and trees that are nitrogen fixing, like Alnus, sweet fern, sea buckthorn, purshia. From what I read Alders are great nitrogen fixers and also are mycorhizal, hence they may help into structuring the sandy soil too. If you're interested, I'll look for the list of nitrogen fixing trees and bushes. Then you can look at which ones you can find because many of those are exotic island trees that can't be found around our places.
Thanks a lot for the great report ! Congrats on the great results !

Very nice report and pics!

You are doing great. Keep on adding organic matter. As you know, the other magic ingredient and precious resource is water.

If you get to know some of the local horse owners, you can probably access lots of free good stuff for soil and worms.
Maybe you could get yourself a pony or a mule to help out. :) It is amazing how much organic matter they quickly create.

Re: density and breeding rate, yes I believe worms breed more rapidly in densities around 1lb/ sq' of bed surface area. It makes it easier them to meet like-minded mature worms in your vermi-resort!

Good luck and happy wormin'

Pete

Nevex: Thank you for the pics and report. I have enjoyed them very much.
I agree with Pete, looking what is surrounding your property, your biggest hurdle for keeping your worms happy is to keep their environment moist.
Where do you get your water from? A well?
BTW, I'm not familiar with comfrey. What do use them for?

"I have a supply of silica fines (powder) from cutting glass that I was thinking about sprinkling in the feed buckets." I would not. But for all I know in 10 years we will all be lining up to purchase some for our worm bins.

Equinox, just curious as to why you would towards not on the silica powder? As far as the comfrey patch location, well that looked just like everywhere else out here when they were planted. The whole area there got a few inches of manure and few more of fresh wood chips not too long ago.

Comfrey loves nitrogen and will take straight fresh chicken manure which is a feat for most plants. It will grow in poor soils though too and that makes it attractive here. When we plant them I dig a hole 2 feet deep and put a cubic foot of steer in the hole to give it a good start sending down its deep roots. This plant will root from 8 to 12 feet deep I am told. Once established they accumulate minerals and nutrients from deep down and bring it up to the surface.

A couple other amazing things about comfrey is that they fix nitrogen through mycorhizal relationships and among all the nutrients they produce is B12 which I understand is quite uncommon for terrestrial plants.

A drawback is though this variety does not reproduce through seed it will from small root fragments and once established it seems is quite difficult to remove, like crabgrass tilling just spreads it and I would be hesitant to garden much around it as working the ground would likely encourage its spread. I do plan however to try a wide bed with a row of comfrey down the middle. This will be a strict no till, start from seed and remove at the surface to keep from disturbing that roots and try and keep it behaving. I love the idea of having it so handy for chop and drop mulching.

Francoise, yes we are looking at many different trees and shrubs. Some beneficial others more ornamental, our plan there is try everything and keep what works :D We have dozens of different types of seeds that are going in the fridge soon for their stratification period so spring is going to be quite interesting this year.

You are also absolutely correct on the many strategies note. Much like a compost pile, the more variety the better. I am of the mind of the forest garden and intend to really push companion planting and interplanting throughout the garden and property rather than traditional row crop gardening though that will surely see its place too.

Yes Pete, a pony or mule might be nice. We do have quite a few horse folks around though so I am going to make a point of seeing what might be available there and cut out the whole nother mouth to feed at least until we have better ground to do something like that on.

Have to say I think of all I have read on rearing worms I relate to your style closest. Benign neglect is my kind of style for sure. The way i see it te more of what I do that is simple and somewhat self sustaining the more I can do and keep going.

Otis, see above for probably more than you want to know about comfrey. There are other things like its fantastic ability to produce green material that breaks down quite quickly. A bucket stuffed full and capped for a few weeks will end up a black sludge that can be diluted and used in the garden. Lawrence Hill developed these Bocking sterile varieties and yields of 100+ tons an acre have been written about. With favorable conditions the entire plant can be cut to the ground giving up 5 to 8lbs of leave only to be regrown in weeks allowing for 5 to 8 cuttings a year. Thats 25 to 64lbs of nutrient rich leaves per plant per year.

If we use an average of 40lbs every 50 plants will produce a ton of material that can be used in the compost pile, fed to the animals (worms included), made into liquid fertilizer or directly placed in the garden as mulch or compost.

The last growth should be allowed to overwinter as they are a great shelter for many beneficial insects and spiders. I have read as many as 250 spiders might winter over under a single plant. That last foliage also helps support and shelter the plants own roots.

Understand all of the above is from what I have gleaned as this is our first year with these plants. I will say though that from what I have seen so far I have little doubt in the validity of the information out there regarding comfreys use in the garden.

About water, we have a very good well. Our water is about 100' and when it was drilled was measured at 100+ GPM. Our pump is 25GPM used to fill a 10K gallon tank. It cost about $0.35 1K gallons to get it into the tank and about the same to put it under pressure 40 to 60PSI. The tank is close to 500' away and maybe 15 feet of head so i am thinking about putting in a second line as a gravity line for irrigation cutting the cost of already cheap water in half.

The one issue we do have with our water is that is is hard. i need to get a test done (we did years ago but honestly I dont remember the results as we mainly were testing to make sure it was safe) to see if there is anything we can do for it. Soaker hoses clog in a few months and many types of drippers suffer the same fate. Other than that drawback though water should not be any issue especially if we can get the material into the soil to hold the water where it needs to be for plants to flourish.