Mart Hale

Another option is to use a modern program called "Discord"....   It allows for real time audio and chat so you could share pics / video while doing the chat.     It has been used for gamers, but I have found the audio to be fantastic.

Mart

https://www.motherearthnews.com/diy/build-an-ice-house-zmaz72soztak


Plans for icehouse.

I don't know exactly what the problem may be,  but some suggestions.

1) move to a bigger pot, that pot may have the plant root bound.


2) watering,    Too much water can cause this problem or infrequent .



3)   Turn the leaves over and look from underneath check for pest damage.

Travis Johnson wrote:A layer of sawdust in my lambing pens will bring the temp up by 10 degrees. I would just use that and refresh as needed.

Sawdust has been used for making ice houses underground for a long time, as long as it does not get wet, should be a good insulator.

I have this book the thing that got me was seeing that the most microbe activity is in the top 4 inches of the soil.      This made so much sense as when you plant a tree too deep it does not do well, as the microbes are not present to give the nutrients back to the roots.

I have been thinking about the glass bottles they use in insulating cob ovens.      I considered rows of glass bottles with sand and sheets of plastic to keep it dry.


I don't know but I was just thinking of other methods of insulation, not sure if it would work.

Trace Oswald wrote:I use the method as outlined by Paul, and I find that it works great. I didn't think anything was misrepresented in the film.  He also didn't make any money from the film, or from the produce from his garden and gives it to people quite freely, so I'm not sure why people think naming it is somehow for profit.  

Paul goes into some detail with regards to adding organic matter the first years until the chips breakdown, or you will get some nitrogen tie-up.  People say you don't, but that hasn't been my experience.  Paul adds soil that has been composted by his chickens to his gardens, but as he says, you don't need to, it will just take longer if you don't.  That has been my experience as well.  Paul used 18 inches of wood chips alone in his orchard area.  The results seem to speak for themselves.  I personally had never heard of gardening with wood chip mulch before the film was made about Paul, so I'm grateful.  If I had an unending supply of wood chips as some people do, I would use them on many acres of my land.  I don't, so I use wood chips where I can, and cover crops, compost, other mulches when I run out.

Yep, I put down 12 inches of wood chips like Paul did at first with no compost.       It took about 3 years but it did break down and make good rich black compost for me here in Florida, it seems with all of the humidity here it breaks down faster.

I can't always get wood chips, so I have been testing making my own mulch with chop and drop with the Bolivian sunflower, with good success, it is useful for frost protection.

Since I don't have a contiunal supply of wood chips I also have to use other methods of killing the weeds, I use plastic covers / tarps to kill them, then I plant beans after that.

Peter Daub wrote:Hi all, I'm several years into deep mulching some gardens - 12 inches deep. .....


As far as the thistle - it keeps coming back because of it's strong root system, often with horizontal runners connecting multiple plants.  From what I can see, if it's already in the ground it loves the woodchips.  We let ours grow to 2-3 inches high and pulled it.  After about 3-4 pulls, it quit and hasn't come back since.

I also found this to be true with some of my grasses that if you got to a certain depth of wood chips the grasses would not come back.     However,  those with deep roots and bulbs under the ground do manage to make it back to the top sad to say.

--> Here are my thoughts you may take them or leave them, I expect some to not like them, that is okay.

--> 1.  There is no such thing as a "Back to Eden" method.  Someone putting a name on something doesn't change what it is.  All this is amounts to compost and wood mulch.  As long as there have
--> been wood chippers, gardeners have been putting wood chips on gardens.  I was doing it as a child for my grandfather in the late 70s.  One reason people are worried about what to do here is we
--> stopped calling it what it is and made it a "specialized method".  If you just said use compost, organic fertilizers and heavily mulch with wood chips, it may not sizzle as well, but no one would be
--> confused.  So just stop trying to make it complex and mulch an move along.

--------------

Here is that method that you don't agree with so others may know there is a way of doing this that Paul has found effective.
https://www.backtoedenfilm.com/organicgardening.html

I do believe Paul has a right to his method just as Ruth Stout named her method of using hay, she has a right to her method and her books.    

I do run a web page on MeWe that talks about this non existing method of deep mulch as well as Ruth Sout's methods.
https://mewe.com/join/deep_mulch_-_back_to_eden__gardening




Mart

Cris Fellows wrote:Two and a half years ago i covered about half of our 2 city lot garden in at least 12 inches of wood chips.  The trees loved it.  As I had no idea what I was doing, some of the other plants loved it and some died.  Last year we had tons of thistle come up through which is now starting to give way to yellow clover.  I did not put down a layer of cardboard or paper.  What to do with all this thistle?  More chips?  

Yep the wood chips should be close to compost at this time unless you live in a dry area.       I think a combo punch of pulling the thistle out and burning it and a covering of wood chips or, I have been using clear plastic and burning the weeds out with the heat of the sun.     So far for me the best method has been an old truck bed liner that is black, I pull it over a section of ground and it heats up and kills the grass / weeds, then I move it again.     I have a friend that uses tin that he pulls over the grass and kills it others use tarps, then after it is killed then replant in those areas or cover with wood chips.