Methods for preparing land for future planting at the garden/homestead scale

My plan, when we have some property of our own (hopefully next spring), is to sheet-mulch Back to Eden style (cardboard - 4-6" compost - 8-10" ramial wood chips and leaves - 1-2" manure) as much as I have materials for.  (I'm already doing this on a small scale where we are now.)  For the rest, I will plant a multi-species, multi-type cover crop, then chop-and-drop it (perhaps multiple times).  No tilling or digging (other than water control and planting holes) on my property, ever.  I also want to incorporate animals (chickens, ducks, maybe goats) in some way, but not sure yet how I want to go about it.  It will depend on how soon I'm able to get some animals, or perhaps borrow some.  If necessary, I may incorporate some Korean Natural Farming inputs, as well.

Back to Eden:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6rPPUmStKQ4

Gabe Brown:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9yPjoh9YJMk

As trucking in products, not knowing their treatment or source, and taking away leaves/plant material from one part of the property to add to another can all have downsides, does anyone know of a mulching method that could be more sustainable? I did see something about growing ground cover but am unsure about how far this goes, how much it will cover and how thick it will be.

I know there is the chop-and-drop method, but I've only ever seen this in conjunction with other mulching/ground prep methods. Does anyone grow their own ground cover to be cut and used as a thick mulch right where the plant was growing, or grow enough mulch somewhere else on their own property? I'm picturing a small forest of sunflowers slowly rotting in place...is that enough to prepare a bed?

What doesn't involve a truck, a chipper, or stealing mulch from another area that would use it. (If I have trees on my property, then I want them to benefit from the leaves they drop every year.)

I'm very interested in knowing how to do this both on a larger and smaller scale.

Does anyone grow their own ground cover to be cut and used as a thick mulch right where the plant was growing, or grow enough mulch somewhere else on their own property? I'm picturing a small forest of sunflowers slowly rotting in place...is that enough to prepare a bed?

If you live in a zone that winter wheat is grown then planting wheat , barley, rye will give you a straw mulch. In my case it also provides feed for the chickens when the grain develops.
I bought a bag of bird feed for the chickens in early spring and by fall what they buried provided more feed pluss more mulch.

I'm very particular where I obtain my outside inputs, but I have created a pretty good system on transforming lawn space into growing space.

I follow a thick mulch technique involving applying a smother layer over lawn followed by a half foot of arborist chips on top. This technique requires roughly a years time just sitting to be ready for planting. The first couple years will have introduced perennials planted while the woodchips break down. Introduced mycelium helps develop the soil further before then annual vegetables plantings will begin.

To speed up the process, I could see an initial tilling or double dig before smothering but I haven't attempted that yet.

Timothy, how do you buy mycelium, how do you choose which one?

leila hamaya wrote:i have done a lot of sheet mulching but unlike most of the posters here i add a lot of soil on top of the sheet mulch, more similar to "Lasagna"  gardening.

Been there and done that and other ideas in gardening. I built four raised beds  3' X 15' and it took a LOT of soil to fill those. After 3 years or so I decided to try Electro-Gardening and planted copper wires through the beds running from approximately 8.5 ft antennas. SO, this year, to not get the wires wrapped around my tiller, I decided to use a 3" auger like those used for planting bulbs. I dig down 5" to 6", drop some good top soil down the hole and plant my seeds in that.

It may be a lazy man's way of gardening, but those who plant bulbs have no problem growing their flowers out. And it is really easy on the back and knees when planting!

My Grandfather grew up 10 miles NW of Bryson City, NC in a one room log cabin. His Mom, Dad and 3 brothers. Pap told me that not everyone had or could afford a mule to work their fields and gardens. Pap said the way they prepared new ground was with hogs. They would cut down the trees for lumber and fire wood. Then they would put a fence up and put hogs in. To get the stumps removed they would take a steel rod and drive it into the ground around the roots and under the stumps. Then they would put corn in the holes. The hogs would root the stumps up to get to the corn. When the hogs had the ground torn up good and the stumps rooted out they would put in their chickens. The chickens fertilized the spot and when Spring came they just laid off rows and planted.

Jack,
It looks like your grandfather must have been implementing the original no-till planting method!
Complex but simple, and low tech to boot! 👍👍