Tips for the Ruth Stout method

Tyler Ludens wrote:My own experience with deep mulch and sheet mulching has been it takes a couple years for the soil to get to the point where plants grow well. This might have to do with the quality of the soil you're starting with. In my case it's humus-deficient heavy clay, and baby plants have a hard time especially if we suddenly get hot sunny weather. Once plants get large they do better, but I'm still losing more seedlings than I'd like. If you can't get hold of a lot of finished compost to start, it might take patience until the soil is sufficiently improved by the sheet mulch. [/quote

This is what I am experiencing and what I am attributing to rolly polly/slug damage. You have way more rolly pollies than I do based
on your picture you posted. I think it is time for both of us to get our flash lights out and go out in the wee hours and see what is
going on around our seedlings.

I am trying to combine Ruth Stout and Emelia Hazelip's systems. Ruth Stout started things from seed in the garden usually in short rows.
Hazelip had seedlings grown in flats and encouraged volunteers and transplanted them where she wanted them. Growing things out
in flats and trays until they get huge enough to survive in my garden will be a drag at some point. I am really only wanting to do that
on tomatoes because that is kind of a hobby of mine.

I have been getting a mixed bag. Swiss Chard came up fine for me recently and salad mixes spotty. I dare not plant arugula or it will take
over my entire garden. Whatever conditions I have are perfect for that stuff. My sister said recently that her adventures into plants not
usually grown in the south have usually turned out poorly. She opined that the old timers grew what they grew because it does well here.

Bill Mollison got me excited about Scarlet Runner Beans, Emelia Hazilip got me worked up to try calendula. Both on Nasturtium. Runner beans
were pretty but didn't like the heat, the calendula grew but I didn't care for it. Nasturtiums are working out for me after a tough start, I started
roughing up the seeds and soaking them and do very well indeed. So some of this is sorting out over time what works or how to work with
the different plants.

Tyler Ludens wrote:I mainly notice seedlings giving up the ghost in the heat of the day. Things seemed to be doing great before it got hot. But I am willing to concede it might be critters! In which case it's a miracle there are any plants at all......

Alex Ames wrote: You can dig into an area that should be coming along and find
bright red clay and not a visible trace of any improvement.

Alex Ames wrote:Tyler I was looking at the photos of your property and the things you are working on and it looks like your
soil is more brown than mine is. I dug a lot of this out in the winter so I could get a shovel in it. It comes out
in solid blocks like hoop cheese. After I packed the holes with wood and leaves and anything I could find I
a few days would pass and the blocks could be broken up some and put together with compost, manure and
so forth. I have seen giant pine trees grow out of this stuff or else I would have never put it back in the beds.
As I said earlier the clay eats the amendments rubs it's belly and burps.

Eric The Red wrote:

Alex Ames wrote:Tyler I was looking at the photos of your property and the things you are working on and it looks like your
soil is more brown than mine is. I dug a lot of this out in the winter so I could get a shovel in it. It comes out
in solid blocks like hoop cheese. After I packed the holes with wood and leaves and anything I could find I
a few days would pass and the blocks could be broken up some and put together with compost, manure and
so forth. I have seen giant pine trees grow out of this stuff or else I would have never put it back in the beds.
As I said earlier the clay eats the amendments rubs it's belly and burps.

Alex, you should think about putting away the shovel and investing in a digging fork. Before you go about your preferred mulching method go through the area and loosen it well with the digging fork. In my experience gardening in the grey, silty clay of coastal, CA a lot of the nutrient loss you are describing comes from runoff because the good stuff can't penetrate the compacted clay. Once clay does get a hold of nutrients and amendments it won't let go, which is a good thing, and as long as you give the good stuff a pathway into the soil you can make that happen.

In smaller, more intensive plots I (when the soil is dry) have had success doing a one time tilling in of some texture improving amendment like finely chopped straw, lava rock, really really coarse sand, cotton seed/rice hulls, etc. and then going ahead with the sheet mulch. I usually do this in the fall and let it rest for the winter so its ready to plant in spring. Good luck with your clay adventures y'all, definitely a challenge