The mulch in our Back to Eden Garden keeps the weeds out and the water in as this row of peas starts to grow. – Photo by J&J
In September 2012 we set up a section of our lawn to try the Back to Eden garden. You would really have to watch the original Back to Eden film to fully understand were we are going with this, or what the whole point is, but here is a simple idea.
In the forest the ground is covered in bits of fallen plant material, which slowly degrades down into beautiful rich soil. What is more, that soil is loose, easily worked, and retains lots and lots of moisture.
The major line of thinking with gardening is to water, water and water some more. But what if you could mimic nature, and keep the soil moist… all the time.
Even if you could not eliminate your watering, what if you could do it a lot less.
To state it over simplistically, Back to Eden gardening involves using a thick layer of wood chips to retain that moisture, block weeds (or make them easily pluck-able), and, all-in-all, make gardening “natural”. To put it to a point – it is mulching.
So we set out to try to recondition our soil using this method. We picked a spot of our lawn that ought to be a great location for a garden – open, shade-free and on a slight incline. One problem… the soil was horrible. Hard. Red. Mississippi. Clay.
Mulching
So, we did as we saw was done in the video. People tend to get caught up in wood chips. The film is not a sales pitch on wood chips. Yes, Paul prefers them – but you will note that he mentioned he tried many other coverings, including straw and rock, among others.
You are going to have to make use with what you have, or what you care to afford. We could not find wood chips for free in our area, but the hay in our area is reasonably priced.
As such, we used hay as our covering.
Over time, we bought a wood chipper and chopped some of our own wood chips. The wood chips are much easier to move around for plantings, so I am glad we are using them.
Fertilizing
Too many times I have read or heard people say “The Back to Eden does not work”. Then I find out that they basically threw wood chips on the soil and walked away.
But that is not the right way to do it.
Remember that I said that the forest floor has a covering? Well, it is not just fallen plant material down there. The droppings from rabbits, deer and other animals fertilize the soil as well. Worms eat decomposing material and provide fertilization as well.
In order to garden in this method successfully you must provide fertilization. Paul does this with his chicken droppings and compost from outside sources. You can fertilize however you prefer.
We use rabbit and goat manure. There is typically hay in that manure as well, which adds in some extra material which will compost down.
Rabbit Manure has an excellent balance of nutrients for a garden. We processed ours through our wood chipper to break them down for our initial application. Now, we just top-dress the garden. – Photo by J&J
Garden Plans
Our plan is to continue to enrich this garden plot so that the soil will continue to improve year upon year. However, we have a lot of great permaculture plans for the future as well. We will likely continue to develop this area for our annual vegetables and fruits.
Until then, what you may want to know is: Did it work? Is the soil really any better? Is there any more moisture in the ground?
Why not take the time to watch our series of videos about our Back to Eden Garden. There are bound to be updates 🙂
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Great article! I can’t wait to look up that video, I have satellite internet and went over my quota 🙁
At the risk of geeking out, I would add that this technique would be best for perenial shrubs that like more fungal activity in the soil. By adding all that manure, you then make it more bacterially dominated and, as you pointed out, make the soil friendlier to annuals and nitrogen hungry plants.
Keep up the good work and thanks for sharing.
That’s a bummer about the bandwidth Sergio 🙁 We’ll be getting into some more perennial plantings pretty soon in the permaculture series when we start talking about the food forest 🙂
Layered fertilization is what most organic folks call that and he had years of gardening experience ( Paul) and he shared what worked best over the years. We use the layered fertilization method people don’t understand the correlation of nitrogen and breaking down of the different types of ground cover . It does work but u will have to add some sort of nitrogen to counter act the loss through the rotting process of the chips we use manure and dried blood if we new to . Good article .
Thanks Carrie 🙂 The nitrogen from our rabbit manure is definitely the key for us!
Just found you on G+. Love your Back to Eden videos. I live in the ‘burbs of New Orleans, so we have lots of tree companies here for free wood chips. I plan to start a BTE garden in my side yard this fall. I’m putting cardboard down first, then 6 inches of chips and let them break down & compost over the winter. By spring everything should be ready for planting.
Wish I had your 7 acres! Add 3 or 4 more inches of chips on top of another layer of hay & rabbit manure mulch this fall on top of your existing chips and watch you garden really take off next spring.
Diatomeacious Earth takes care of many garden pest, it’s organic. I get mine from Earth Works Health. Check out the comments! It’s good for plants pest, household pest, pets, people, etc.
I’ll probably try nematodes for fleas & ants this fall and reapply next spring. Thanks for the tip.
Thanks for coming over Donna 😀 You want my land and I want your wood chips, lol. I’ve never had great success with DE – but since so many people love it, I am willing to bet it is my fault, and not the DE’s. Best wishes for your garden!
I love your videos, but as a SFG Certified Instructor I have to let you know that your comparison between row & SFG isn’t fair because you’re not really using the SFG method. SFG isn’t about raise beds, or planting veggies close together, but the use of “Mel’s Mix” and NOT the BTE “soil”. Mel’s Mix consists of 1/3 peat moss, 1/3 coarse vermiculite and 1/3 blended compost 6″ deep.
Without using Mel’s Mix you won’t truly be happy with the SFG method. MM is nutritious and friable and such a joy to work with and grow in.
LOL you also didn’t strictly follow the BTE method which could account for your “problems” like losing your onions from too much rain. For combining SFG & BTE one would use the 6″ of Mel’s Mix with the addition of wood chips or heavy mulch on top in a deeper raised bed.
There won’t be any weeds with a “true” SFG as none of the Mel’s Mix ingredients harbor weed seeds. The only ways you get weeds with a SFG is from the wind or birds.
I’m working with a homeless shelter and we will probably use BTE for their property and SFGs at each of the residences. That’s why I’m fairly familiar with BTE.
Keep growing and making these great videos!
Kim Roman
Square Foot Gardening 4 U (sfg4u)
Kim, Thanks for the info about SFG. I suppose I focus on the square-foot part and not the MM part because I figure if MM was the key, then it would be called MM Gardening, lol.
Either way, I do not believe that mimicking another persons method is the best solution. It makes sense to me to learn a bit about all the methods and then finding a solution that works for you.
Let’s not forget that these people who came up with these methods were just plain old humble gardeners until someone saw their method, or they themselves, marketed it.
Thanks for sticking around and watching! As I am sure you noticed, I kinda dropped the whole BTE vs. SFG contest… there just were too many inconsistencies on my part to try and do a comparison.
SFG was named in the 1970’s and at that time it used existing soil. The new method came about in the mid 2000’s with the invention of Mel’s Mix.
Do people modify methods to suit their needs? Of course. BUT if you modify methods maybe it would be more accurate if you used the generic names for the methods (mulching method instead of BTE and intensive method instead of SFG) or stress that you are not following the prescribed methods as Mel Bartholomew and Paul Gautschi intended.
My “concern” is that when you don’t use the TRUE method and it fails, your viewers will draw untrue conclusions – that it is the method and not your modifications that are the problem.
Hope you have fun with your fall garden. : )
Can you do Back to Eden gardening with just grass and leaves, and chicken manure hay? Withour papers and woodchips?
Paul did before he switched to woodchips, so I don’t see why not.
you really don’t need anything besides wood chips. The study mentioned in the link below shows that just wood chips actually beats compost and fertilizer, along with the mostly ineffective compost tea and commercial microbial brew. A stunning quantitative validation of the BTE method!
http://www.gardenmyths.com/mulch-how-does-it-affect-soil/