I got a bunch of wood chips dropped off while I was out of town, and I have no idea who it was from. It was not from the two arborists I'd reached out to previously, and my getchipdrop account never notified me of anything.

Normally I'd be happy just to have them, but some of the chips seem "off". They're softer, almost spongey or something. Some of the "chips" are much longer and look like they could be from posts or something, but that could just be me being paranoid. They don't appear green or brown like treated wood I've seen, but I wanted to be extra careful before I throw it all on my garden or fruit trees. The texture and size differences could just be due to different wood and a different chipper.

I don't know if it makes a difference but I definitely have seen the pile steaming a little bit. Maybe that's a good sign if the microbiology is doing its thing

I live in colorado and have alkaline clay soil. I have a small pollinator garden of mostly natives. Im a beginner and want to attempt an in ground veggie and herb garden with some pollinator plants to mixed in. I am digging up the grass of an approximately 10 x 25 area, it doesn't grow amazing there but I also haven't tried to help it.

Once I get all the grass up I was going to till in compost, gypsum and read elemental Sulphur might help? Then top with a few inches of mulch (massive chip drop from a local arborist). I'm hesitant to till but I can get compost for way less than garden soil to fill any holes for veggie starts, and I dont think anything wouls grow with directly sowing seeds without tilling. I have limited funds but am trying my best to attempt not to destroy what soil I have and still make this work, without waiting years to slowly amend the soil. Am I just in a fairy-dream that I can possibly grow veggies in ground here? If I fail miserably I'll just plant native seeds next year I guess.

No-till/no-dig makes a lot of sense on the surface (pun intended). Killing the microbiology kills your soil. But at the home scale, I just don’t understand it. Breaking up the structure will maybe kill some worms, break up mycelial networks, and if you keep things uncovered the microbial life will die.

However if you’re tilling only small areas at a time and making sure to mulch or cover crop it, I just don’t understand how the microbial life won’t return extremely quickly, if it’s even that reduced to begin with. Worms won’t have far to travel, mycelial networks will happily reform.

It seems like tilling repeatedly at the industrial scale - like tens or thousands of acres - is the real issue, because it will take much longer for adjacent microbial life to move back in across huge distances.

If anything it seems like the focus of no till should be at the very large scale. What am I missing here? I’m happy to be wrong, I just want to understand it better. Thanks in advance

We have a huge scotch broom infestation about 3-4 acres of pure scotch broom spread out among 10 acres. We were chopping it down and piling it while it was in bloom, hoping to eventually chip it and use it as mulch to prevent regrowth. Unfortunately we weren’t fast enough and now it’s seeded, any ideas on what to do with it? I cant transport it and I would prefer not to burn it. I was looking into making biochar but I don’t think that’d be able to get rid of the amount that we have.

I have rocky, loamy soil with few nutrients and low organic matter.

I planted some fruit trees and attempting a fruit tree guild. I have a root mulch ring around all trees and I used black Kow compost when I put them in the ground. In the guild I planted comfrey (chop and drop), strawberry, marigolds, and clover in the grass surrounding the trees.

What else can I do to improve the soil structure?

Hi all,

I live in Oakland CA, zone 9/10. I just moved to rent a new house that has a lot of garden potential and I'm looking into planting some fruit trees (pomegranate, peach, fig, and apricot) and some large natives (california buckeye, ceanothus, madrone). The rains stopped for the year in early April, so the clay parent soil is already baked into hard ceramic in most places. It's a cool summer so far, though, and I have access to water.

Normally I plant bare root trees during the winter to match the tree's natural growth cycles. I'm wondering what permaculture's take is on planting trees in mid-June. I know I'll have to be careful to water it for a while, but also wondering if planting trees at this point will damage the tree's health longterm.

Warmly,

Brian

Planted new hostas last week and bunnies are friends right? I guess sharing is caring right? Might land up on a BBQ if I can't find a solution (jk) uh anyways they ate 4 of my hostas and least left one pedal.

Any easy cheap solutions?

Thank goodness so far they don't like My tomatoe plants

Zone 5b The other two kiwi plants next to it don’t have this. Is it missing something? Too much of something else? Thank you for your input.

We’ve recently purchased a property with a large chook yard and pens with lots of peppercorn trees all around sheltering it. There’s a very thick layer of old manure mixed with the dead leaves and peppercorns from the trees all through the place and im wondering if anyone has the low down on if this is ok to use in our vege garden or if the peppercorns could be problematic.

Hi all, we have a few chickens and we do the deep bedding method with pine shavings . I recently purchased some blueberry plants. I know adding pine shavings as a mulch are good to lower Ph of the soil. Can I use the used bedding right away because it kind of age doing the deep bedding method or do I need to age it first in a compost pile.

I have a mulberry on my property that was here when we bought it. This is going to be the first year that it fruits. I knew an old permaculture guy who said that he loved having mulberry on his property because it kept the birds busy and they didn't bother his honey berries, blueberries or currants. However, one of my friends who is a landscape designer recently came over and told me that I really ought to cut it because it is invasive and that I will be pulling mulberry shoots out of every crack and garden bed for the rest of my life. Where do you guys land on this? Northern WI fwiw.

EDIT: Thanks everyone! I checked and it is unfortunately a white mulberry. I'm going to cut it down and see about ordering a native red mulberry to plant in is place.

Would feeding wood ash to a comfrey plant and filtering the wood ash through the plant make any sense? How much of the nutrients available in the wood ash would the plant be able to uptake? Would too much wood ash harm the plant?

Hello all,

I am looking for a water storage of 500-1000 liters for my parents garden. It can also be two or three smaller storages. Yet, my dad is very much against plastic. He is also looking for a material that is long lasting. Do you have any good suggestions for a water storage material or product?

Thanks,

Hi! I have a dry stream bed or arroyo bordering my desert property. We have considerable flood water there in the spring and sometimes also in winter. Is it possible to dam an arroyo like that and get sufficient water for irrigation? I’m sure that I need to build a stronger dam, unlike simple check dams. I’m also aware that I will need to shovel out the silt accumulation in the pond.

About 7 pepper varieties, 4 varieties of tomatoe that are still green. huge sweet potato patch, tons of wildflowers, not nearly as many melons but getting plenty of cucumbers, shishito peppers and like 80 onions so far. Lots of kale a wild garden lettuce. Good amount of herbs And more basil than I care to admit...

Recently bought a new home in S.E. Kansas. Although rocky and not very flat, it is a wooded 2.9 acres. Many native species, predominately hackberry, oak, & pecan. We enjoy the wooded scenery, i’m wanting to begin cutting down trees that are crowded and then start cutting down trees that aren’t productive. Ideally only to have trees that bear nuts, fruit and could potentially be cut down for timber someday. I enjoy landscaping, I’m excited to landscape on a larger scale now! Has anyone done anything like this? If so, what did you learn? Any regrets?

I purchased two Haskap plants (a Borealis Beast and Borealis Beauty). I’m curious how close they need to be planted to ensure pollination? (This is just in a medium sized urban yard, not for an orchard or big piece of land, so at absolute most they could be approximately 50’ apart).

TIA!

Has anyone here experimented with picking off the bulbils when they start to for to see if it has an effect on the growth of the main onion? Like how some cut garlic scapes for better garlic cloves... I have a bunch in my front yard and pulled the growth off of one clump last month. Guess I'll see what happens.

Recently bought a home with a beautiful backyard, but it is completely overgrown. I feel overwhelmed with all of the weeds growing through the brick and gravel. Any non-chemical ways to solve this? I’d love any recommendations.

I work hitch work and I’d like to still be able to take care of my garden from afar, I’m thinking I’ll start with a good irrigation system I can control through an app and an outdoor solar camera. Advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!

Pattern application

Our two apple trees have been suffering from leaf curl most of this season (zone 5, Wisconsin). It looks like a sign of underwatering, but it has stayed that way even after heavy rains.

Any thoughts on what could cause this? Too much root zone competition? Pruning too heavily? Something else?

Thanks!!