fresh wood chips, chick poop, what else do I need?

Hello,

I am planting my first permaculture garden. I have sandy loam soil and access to fresh wood chips, some maple leaves, and chicken manure. The area I am planning to use for my garden is approximately 25' x 25'.

My questions are:
What else would I need to create suitable soil for my vegetable garden (corn, kale, etc.)?
What ratios should I use for mixing these materials (e.g., two wheelbarrows of one material and one of another)?

I appreciate your help.

howdy.

Urine/pee is how I get wood chips to break down faster in my clay type soil. I pee all over around my garden.

I would spread/mix the chicken manure over and with the wood chips to make them break down faster.

i have, planted seeds, spread wood chips over to mulch and then put CS on the top of the wood chip mulch. I use chicken manure pellets, not chicken manure.

If I had fresh chicken manure, I would mix it with the wood chips, let it compost, spread it later.

Thank you. Looking for other ideas including compost tea?

I took a few moments to curate a few threads you might be interested in. I hope it might give you some reading material that might be of value to you!

Composting Wood Chips
Wood Chips + House Manure + Time
Liquid Fertilizer from Weeds?

Hi Nathan,
It wouldn't hurt to do a soil test just to see where you are as far as organic matter and available nutrients. I would not necessarily follow their recommendations, but it gives you something to work with.

I want to reiterate that if the chicken manure is fresh, it needs to sit with some carbon for a few months at least (6-12 months is probably better). I would probably start with about 1 part manure to 2 parts wood chips. I'm not a compost expert, but I would start there and see what it looks like. If it's too stinky, add more wood chips, if its not doing anything, add more chicken manure. The nitrogen in the chicken manure is good for corn and kale which can use a lot of nitrogen. Some other veggies you would want to be careful with too much nitrogen, because you can get huge green plants and no fruit :)

If you can wait till next year, this is what I would do. This is just one person's opinion, but I think you will get pretty good results.

I would get some agricultural molasses (I like the powder, but liquid would work too. Also, you could use some sort of cheap sweet feed from the feed store) and spread this on the ground first. This will help feed and attract microbes. Then cover that with maybe 4" of leaves (they will squish down flat as you go). This will add organic matter, add fungal spores, and attract and feed worms.
If you have any chicken manure with carbon that has been sitting and is partially broken down, I would use that for this layer. If you do not, then I would put down a thin layer of woodchips, maybe an inch or two, and add the chicken manure to that. The chicken manure helps the woodchips break down, which provides more organic matter, water holding capacity, weed suppression, and more nutrients for the plants.
Then top it off with 6-12 more inches of wood chips. This last layer helps to hold in the moisture, suppress weeds, and provides more organic matter over time.

Then let it sit until next spring. I would pull any weeds that show, but I doubt many will. During this time, the microbes and worms and bugs will come and make their home there. When you pull back the woodchips after that time, you will find some rich, black, soft soil underneath that the plants will love.

PS - There are all sorts of other things like compost tea and organic fertilizers that can be added, but I like to get the basics first. Get the microbiology growing and flourishing and get some sort of mulch (green mulch or woodchips) to help with water and weeds.

fresh wood ships, chick poop, what else do I need?

Time!

Matt McSpadden wrote:
I would get some agricultural molasses (I like the powder, but liquid would work too. Also, you could use some sort of cheap sweet feed from the feed store) and spread this on the ground first. This will help feed and attract microbes. Then cover that with maybe 4" of leaves (they will squish down flat as you go). This will add organic matter, add fungal spores, and attract and feed worms.
If you have any chicken manure with carbon that has been sitting and is partially broken down, I would use that for this layer. If you do not, then I would put down a thin layer of woodchips, maybe an inch or two, and add the chicken manure to that. The chicken manure helps the woodchips break down, which provides more organic matter, water holding capacity, weed suppression, and more nutrients for the plants.
Then top it off with 6-12 more inches of wood chips. This last layer helps to hold in the moisture, suppress weeds, and provides more organic matter over time.

Then let it sit until next spring. I would pull any weeds that show, but I doubt many will. During this time, the microbes and worms and bugs will come and make their home there. When you pull back the woodchips after that time, you will find some rich, black, soft soil underneath that the plants will love.

The chicken manure doesn’t smell because I dug down deep in the chicken coop. I plan for my gardens to be organic.
I'm interested in understanding your approach to layering. Here are my questions for clarification:
For planting my garden this year, which will be a small area, what type of layering do you recommend?
For planting next year, which seems to be your main recommendation.
For the purpose of understanding.  Let's say these layers all apply to a 10'x 10' area

You mentioned using molasses as the first layer. What brand do you suggest, and how much should be applied?
What is your recommendation for an affordable type of sweet feed, and how much should I spread?
I understand the next step is to add a 4-inch layer of leaves and squash down the leaves.
Next, you mentioned adding chicken manure that has broken down. I have this already. How deep should this layer be - about 1/2 inch or more?
How many inches of woodchips should be added? It seems like the thickness for next year’s garden should be 6 to 12 inches, which appears to be a lot. How much woodchip should I add to this year’s garden?
Can you please detail how to layer each type of garden (this year vs. next year)?

Nathan Wright wrote:
The chicken manure doesn’t smell because I dug down deep in the chicken coop. I plan for my gardens to be organic.
I'm interested in understanding your approach to layering. Here are my questions for clarification:
For planting my garden this year, which will be a small area, what type of layering do you recommend?
For planting next year, which seems to be your main recommendation.
For the purpose of understanding.  Let's say these layers all apply to a 10'x 10' area

You mentioned using molasses as the first layer. What brand do you suggest, and how much should be applied?
What is your recommendation for an affordable type of sweet feed, and how much should I spread?
I understand the next step is to add a 4-inch layer of leaves and squash down the leaves.
Next, you mentioned adding chicken manure that has broken down. I have this already. How deep should this layer be - about 1/2 inch or more?
How many inches of woodchips should be added? It seems like the thickness for next year’s garden should be 6 to 12 inches, which appears to be a lot. How much woodchip should I add to this year’s garden?
Can you please detail how to layer each type of garden (this year vs. next year)?

Ok, lots in there :) I will do my best to answer all of them.

For this year garden, if the chicken manure is already broken down, I would mix about 1inch into the top 1inch or so of soil. Mixing it with the soil vs just putting it on top will help buffer if you accidentally got some manure that was not as broken down. I would then add maybe 4 or 5 inches of woodchips. And call it good. Just make sure you dig down to soil when planting. Don't try to plant in the woodchips. The chips are to go around the plant as a cover, not for stuff to grow in.

For next years garden, the brand of molasses or sweet feed doesn't really matter. I prefer organic, but that is also more expensive. The idea is to add something sweet to the soil to attract and feed the little microbes. Any sweet substance that you can find (hopefully organic and hopefully cheap) would work fine.

I would not purposefully squish the leaves... it will just happen as you add the woodchips and the rain and whatnot over time.

Also, if the chicken manure is broken down I would actually add that first. Then everything else the same, add the sweet layer, the leaves, and then the woodchips. I try to do the most composted stuff at the bottom of the layers, and the least composted with the biggest pieces at the top of the layers.

Let me know if you have any other questions. Remember, with gardening there are always a a lot of ways to do it. This is just one :)