Dear James:
Thank you for your wonderful blog – my husband and I are daily readers. In response to C.F.B.’s excellent article dated September 30th titled Grow Your Own Nutrient Dense Fruits and Vegetables, I would like to expound on his suggestion that gardeners employ a no-till method for raising their own nutritious produce.
I humbly suggest that your many readers watch a film on the Internet from a devout Christian man who has let the Lord lead him to his current no-till method of gardening, called Back To Eden. I found it very interesting that this man felt called by God to get the word out now to fellow gardeners about being prepared for coming hard times. His film teaches people how to successfully grow food without tilling, fertilizing, weeding or rotating crops. It’s a truly amazing film!
I have switched from gardening like my parents and my ancestors for generations have done. I don’t turn the soil any more, I don’t wrestle non-stop with weeds, I don’t fertilize or rotate crops and I enjoy wonderful harvests from four small raised beds.
As a bonus, it’s a very affordable method of gardening. You don’t really need lumber for the beds (I wish that I had realized that from the beginning!) and the materials for the beds themselves are available at a very low cost or even free from most landfill/recycle sites. The materials used are simply composted yard waste and wood mulch and – much to my husband’s dismay – it can be hauled in lawn bags in a small car if you don’t own a truck. Some lucky gardeners are able to get the wood mulch delivered free from their local tree trimming company and only have to haul or make the compost.
Thank you for sharing with your readers. – Getting Ready in NC
JWR Replies: Be very cautious about using wood mulch that is less than two years old. Fresh wood mulch is high in cellulose and binds nitrogen. This usually makes the soil quite unproductive for gardening for a couple of years. (Until the cellulose decomposes.) If the wood mulch is thick, it might be three or four years!