In the last blog post, we discovered regenerative organic gardening during our tour of the Plum Fabulous Foods farm and watching the Back to Eden documentary.
You can apply this gardening method to build a garden using free (or nearly free), homemade, nutrient-rich, organic soil!
Here’s what we learned on how to create soil:
The best soil is made by chipping whole trees and composting the wood chips for two years, turning the compost at least twice per year. Here are some sources for wood chips:
- Contact local arborists and arrange to have a truckload of wood chips dropped off at your property.
- Contact the local public works; they often have mulch for low cost.
- Check out the Chip Drop app at getchipdrop.com. It connects gardeners with arborists. You can arrange for an arborist to drop off a truckload of wood chips for free.
Compost table scraps, garden waste, and manure from your animals. This material composts into soil in a matter of months (much faster than chipped trees).
You can also get soil by sifting wood chips, compost, and/or manure. Check out the homemade mulch sifter featured in the Back to Eden documentary and this motorized one on the Plum Fabulous Foods website. They each built a large sifting screen. Soil passes through the screen into a wheelbarrow; the mulch rolls off the screen into a container. Use the soil for your garden; use the mulch as a cover for the garden or put it in your compost bin.
Regardless of where you get it, ensure your mulch consists exclusively of plants and chipped trees. Avoid anything tainted with treated lumber, furniture, wood pallets, etc. Ask your provider about the source material!
In tomorrow’s article we’re exploring how to build your garden!