Using Soil vs. Building Soil: Which Are You Doing?

Check out the complete write-up on my soil amendment experiment: http://www.thesurvivalgardener.com/2020-21-amendment-trials-beds-planted-costs-calculated/

And see the LIVE version of “Pears in Her Salsa”: https://www.unauthorized.tv/watch/pears-her-salsa-live-plus-outtakes–353fff/ Totally Crazy Easy Florida Gardening: (Amazon)

Grow or Die: The Good Guide to Survival Gardening: (Amazon)

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Unauthorized.TV: https://www.unauthorized.tv/categories/david-the-good

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/davidthegood

Start composting today – get David’s free booklet: http://www.thesurvivalgardener.com/simple-composting/

David’s books: https://amzn.to/2pVbyro

Compost Your Enemies t-shirts: https://www.aardvarktees.com/products/compost-your-enemies

David’s daily gardening blog: http://www.thesurvivalgardener.com

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23 comments

  • William Villar

    I’ve been struggling with citrus trees for years, I always seem to lose them so I broke down and got some citrus fertilizer today. I’m too invested in citrus trees now to lose them again. Going to get some 10-10-10 from the feed store tomorrow for the rest of my fruit trees. All of my biomass for my next batch of compost got contaminated with cogon grass seed, so I’m just going to burn it all. I have ten new apple tree seedlings and 48 pomegranates to pot up or plant out as well.

    • David The Good

      I fertilized my citrus for a year with 10-10-10 and they took off. Gave them compost at the same time to buffer the chemicals.

    • William Villar

      @David The Good I severely underestimated how much 10-10-10 I needed, only bought one fifty pound bag. I noticed something cool, though, while fertilizing; one of the pomegranate seedlings I started this Spring already has a bloom. It is barely over a foot tall. I’ll definitely be using up the rest of my compost from last year on fruit trees in addition to the fertilizer this year.

  • enjoy being

    For a minute there, I thought you were going to break into song and begin with…
    You cant always get what you want.
    Yeah you can’t always get what you want.
    But if you try sometimes, you just might find.
    You get what you need

  • Lisa Kukla

    Your concert got me boppin around the living room in my jams at almost midnight. Now I’m in such a good mood I’m gonna do a little canning that I’ve been putting off. I do not condone the antagonizing of small caged rodents, but that song kinda slaps, I have to admit.

  • Scott Head

    Missed it live but the music was fantastic! Good stuff!

  • Chris

    Hi David, looking forward to seeing how your garden beds grow over this season, I also have sandy soil here in Australia, I like to add home made compost as well as composted sheep manure and mulch with sugar cane straw, also like to use worm and compost teas. I have read about larger farms using “Nano Clay” and wondered if you have ever tried it in sandy soils ?

  • Bilaal MansellJones

    You should try growing erythrina crispa gali as a chop and drop tree it’s a little bit thorny but it gets big fast even though we get mild frosts in winter.

  • Chester Hobbs

    What a blessing listening to you two playing. Pure enjoyment. I loved the violin.

  • ISAYEWELL

    Hey Dave!
    I placed my bet on the lasagna bed but forgot about the “swamp water” (DFSW) bed.
    Now I’m torn….
    I think I’ll change my bet to DFSW bed. 😉
    That lasagna bed sure looks promising though, the Fungi will thrive in this. Fungi is sooooo beneficial.
    Time will tell!

    Cheers
    Happy gardening.

  • Paige TheriotSmith

    What if you layered deep mulch with Steve’s mix? A foot of mulch, Steve’s mix, then another foot on top. Let it rot down for a year with cover crops or other experiments, animals trotting around and doing their business if you have them around. Do you think that would “stick” the investment of Steve’s amendments, or would they still all leech out over the course of the mulch rotting down to humus?

  • Jean Paul Dupuis

    If you were doing a 20-year permaculture remediation project on soil like this, would you start with some kind of weedy tree for maximum leaf-fall? Many things struggle in my post-glacial Great Lakes sandy urban-backfill soil, but the Manitoba maples and buckthorns do great. Every year I take great bundles of pollard from them. It can be biochar if I want, or chop and drop, or deep hugel-fill, or lawnmower fodder. I think some fraction of a total growing space must be allocated to renewing the biomass of the space. The sustainable tomato patch needs counter-balancing permaculture hedges and canopies.

  • Ev Whalen

    US 31 runs from Western Michigan to down town Atmore.

  • Jim Greenwood

    I add compost and mulch several times a year to feed the soil and add organics. I also add compost extract and worm juice several times a year, this microbial broth inoculates the soil. This is a Regenerative Agriculture technique. Soil only works if it is alive with thriving microbes. The microbes make nutrients available to plants. Without them plants die. These microbial broths also control pests. Take a look at “Regenerative farming: A ‘natural way’ to help counteract drought | Charlie Massy | Australian Story” on YouTube.

  • A huitzotl

    Well been super busy with the new job can’t make lives anymore 😔…. love it anyways ! 🤠

  • A huitzotl

    I foliar spray all my plants with mad farmer b1 ph at 6.4 and my plants love it , took that one from the weed growing guys 😎

  • Paul Paul

    Hey David u should of added a bit of organite to one bed to see if you can grow on its energy’s alone

  • aya bernardino

    Nice guitar😂😂😂

  • Odette

    Very relaxing listening to you guys 😊

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