Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
This is John Kohler with growingyourgreens.com. Today I have a very exciting episode for you.
What we're going to do today is fill this bed and one of the question actually I get
a lot is, 'hey, John, how many times do you use your compost and after every season do
you like shovel it out and get new stuff?' No, no, no. You don't want to be doing that.
You know, I can equate soil to like a fine wine, you know, a fine wine supposedly with
age and with time they get better. Well, with time and added nutrition, your soil only improves
from the original state it was in because most topsoil are devoid of minerals, they
don't have like biologic activity like fungus and friendly bacteria in there. They all work
in symbiosis to make your soil really rich. So, there's no way that I'd want to take this
out and out new stuff in unless I was actually selling it for about $100 a yard, then you
can have all you want, but after every season what happens is this compost literally sinks
down. So, let me show you how much this has sunk just in this past season here. So, you
can see here on this it's literally dropped down at least 4 inches. The soil of it used
to be up here to the op and in addition to the top what happens is, I don't know, for
some reason, the soil sunk and is not even down here. So, we need to fill all this area
up with some soil. I like to fill my raised beds all the way up to the brim because underneath
here is actually a good space for these guys. Check it out. Underneath there, if you don't
fill up the soil al the way it gives a place for snails and slugs to hide and we don't
want these guys in the garden. They're going to actually eat your stuff. So, that's why
I like to fill this up to the brim and actually underneath with the soil so that these guys
can't get in there. So, what today's episodes going to be about is we're going to go to
Sonoma compost to pick up some soil to fill up this bed and we're going to show you the
whole process of picking it up, bagging it up and bring it back so we can fill up the
bed and plant some vegetables. So, now we're here at Sonoma compost and this is where I
get my compost and they've saved like a tons and tons and tons of waste going instead of
going to landfill it comes here. So, all the yard scraps, food waste and food trimmings,
things like that, they take that out of the regular waste stream, they divert it here,
they turn it into compost so that you and me can buy it. Even vineyards and farms can
buy this stuff and reenrich their soil and make it a lot healthier. So, what we're going
to go do today is we're going to go pick up some of the biodynamic compost. So, this is
where all the magic happens. They got big huge piles of compost that's composting. I
mean, after all, compost happens, and they got different stacks and different stages
and they got the big orders like turning the compost and I think right no they're going
to load up an 18-wheeler with the compost. When I originally built the bed in front of
my house, I did get one of those big 18-wheelers loaded up with compost and they literally
dumped that in the front, like in the street and the sidewalk, covering the sidewalk and
the street. We had to take it wheelbarrow at a time. I think I got 55 cubic yards of
compost to begin with. So, I mean, that's how serious I am about compost. I mean, after
all, we are what we eat and we are what I eat, especially I the plants coming out of
the ground. They are what they eat or what they feed on which is the earth, which is
compost. So, it's very important and critical that you get a high quality, organic, and
even biodynamic compost. So, when you get to Sonoma compost, there's 2 areas. On the
right side of the building, this is where you're going to drive up if you have a truck
and they're going to take the big loader and load it up for you. You're actually going
to drive to the left of the building, where we're going to go right now, if you're just
driving up in your car to load up with prebagged stuff or if you're going to bag up your own.
So, on this side of the building we got little piles that you can actually bag it up yourself
and some piles they have some stuff prebagged. So, you just literally pick up the bag, toss
it in your car, pay for it, and get going. They have all the different grades of compost,
from the regular Sonoma compost, the high test compost, the feather-light mix, and they
also have the mallard, which is what I used to get, but we're going o tog over to the
other side, where they have the biodynamic Sonoma compost and the biodynamic high-test
compost. So, let's head over there next. We're going to bag up some biodynamic. So, over
here they got the Sonoma biodynamic compost, but we're going to get the high-test biodynamic
compost. That's like the top level and their best stuff. No matter which one you buy, they
now have basically small piles in the back that you can come and shovel your own, or
if you take a look here, they got a prebagged up for you. So, you don't even have to shovel
it, you don't even have to bring bags, you just literally pick these up, load them in
your car, drive away, and I can defiantly tell you that this is the cheapest price for
biodynamic compost in Sonoma county. Normally, number 1, biodynamic compost is really hard
to find and number 2, it's an amazing affordable deal. You have no excuses if you live in Sonoma
County not to have good soil, 'cause you can use this compost. I'm not going to get the
Sonoma biodynamic, I'm going to get the Sonoma high test biodynamics. So, that's next door
and what I'm going to do for even better deal than just buying the prebagged stuff, you
can bring your own bag. So, brought a bunch of bags here and we're literally going to
just fill these bags up with the compost. So, it takes some back-breaking labor. To
save labor, you might want to come on a dry day. If you come right after it rains, the
compost is more wet. That means it's also heavier. Also, they charge you by the bag,
so whether you bring a big bag or a small bag, it's the same price, so get the largest
bags that you possibly can. Another question may come up. 'John, where do you get the bags?'
these are standard feed sack bags. So, where do you get feed sack bags? Well, at a feed
store. So, go to your local feed store. They may give you the used bags or they may sell
them to you for a nominal cost. They may also sell you, you know, feed sack bags for not
too expensive but you could use those to fill them up so that you can just transport compost
in a normal car without having a truck. So, basically we got a 5-gallon bucket with the
hole cut out of it. We're just going to put this in here and this acts as a funnel to
keep the bag stable and line it up and just start scooping all the compost in. So, I figure
my car can hold about 9 of these bags. So, we got some work to do to fill up all 9 bags
and put them in the car. So, I'm going to get back to that and show you when we're all
done. So, here' the worlds first. I'm getting my first bag of biochar. I've been looking
for this stuff for a long time. It's just a standard unmarked bag. I think this is like
20 pounds for $20 and, you know what is biochar? Biochar is kind of like charcoal but it's
not, you can't just take briquettes, you know, from the barbeque and put it on your garden.
That's not going to work and those briquettes may actually be treated with some actually
nasty chemicals. So, you want to get the real biochar stuff and what this is going to do
this is also going to build your soil. So, now you might be thinking, 'John, I'm so confused.
What do I have to put in my garden to grow?' Well, you really don't need the biochar What
you need is the compost or biodynamic compost and then I'd highly encourage you to put rock
dust and then after that, maybe the microrhyza and then the biochar, but, you know, all this
and the garden and soil, it all works in the big system. All this stuff comes together
to grow the best food possible. So, why not, if you're going to garden or do anything.
One of my teachers says, 'if you're going to take the time to do something, take the
time to do it right.' So, just get the biochar. It's $20 and it's going to build up your soil
so that you can have the best richest soil and the best richest food. So, we're going
to take this back to the car, load it up, and get out of there. So, we got the biochar.
We got 8 bags of the biodynamics compost. We're going to put this down here. Barely
fit. So, we picked up some nice huge pots for my trees from recycle town for a really
good price and they're going to go in the car, too and now hopefully if I planned it
right, this going to shut. Right. So, I'm ready to go home with our mounds, literally,
of compost and all the good stuff we got today. So, we made it back and now we're going to
reenrich this bed. We dug up a couple of the small spinach plants that basically reseeded
itself and they started coming up. So, we have those in some boxes. We're going to replant
those after we top everything off. First step, always, you want to top off every season,
which is what I recommend, and you want to put in some rock dust. So, I got a bag of
rock dust here and conveniently there's a hole in the bag. So, It's just literally dribbling
out the bottom of the bag and we're just going to evenly distribute it throughout the bed
and I'm probably going to shovel it around a little bit. Now, the recommended dosage
is one pound per one square foot. So, the net thing I like to add is earthworm castings.
So, we got a half bag here. I'd probably do a whole bag but a half bag's good enough.
Shake this guy out evenly distribute it in the bed. Once again, what I'm doing now is
building my soil so I have rich soil 'cause, you know, we are what I eat and the plants
are what they eat. SO, you want a lot of good nutrition I the plants. Besides the rock dust,
I might add some kelp to it as well, but, you know what? These things are extras. You
don't really need them. You don't really need rock dust, although I highly recommend it.
You wan tot get the optimal growing, the best, highest quality food, then you may wan to
consider using some of these things. I mean, you could just plant in the field behind your
house and things would probably grow but they may not grow as well, and once again, we want
to try to do the best we can. If you can afford some of these things, then by all means, get
them, and if you can't, that's fine. Work with what you got. Next, the big guns got
to come out. So, this is a heavy son of a gun. You got to. This is heavy. We got a bag
of the biodynamic compost we're just going to carefully dump in the bed. Alright, got
that bag dumped out. I don't think one bag's going to do it. We're going to have to dump
a couple more bags on here. I'm just going to go ahead and cover some of the rock dust
up and get some of this stuff mixed in with the earthworm castings and the rock dust.
I mean, you could use a shovel but I got all the drip tubing in here and, you know what?
I just like to sue my hands, especially when I got gloves on. So, we're just going to mix
this stuff up and here's bag number 2. Emptied half this bag just using a scoop, actually.
These things are heavy. Going to just dump this guy out. I mean, it takes a lot of cubic
feet of compost to fill this up. I mean, it looks like it went down like that much but
that's over a probably 4 foot by about, I don't know, 12 foot area. So, dump this guy
out next. So, this one bed's already taken 2 of my 8 bags and I got a lot more beds that
I still need to fill up. So, I'm going end up filling the rest of this up and we'll be
back at you when we're all finished. So, I'm just about done smoothing this out. The sun's
going down and that's been a pretty full day between doing this and doing my regular work,
taking breaks to come out and work in the garden, and I want to encourage everybody
to basically get out in your garden every day, get some sun, get some fresh air and
sunshine on your skin. Nothing could be healthier than that. I'm glad I got my garden bed reenriched
and next somebody asks me, 'Hey, John what do you do with your compost every year? Do
you take it out and replace it?' The answer's no and I'm going to tell them to watch this
video. I basically supplement and add more compost, organic and biodynamic compost, the
rock dust, and the earthworm castings and maybe some kelp powder and some other things
and other tricks up my sleeve so that it Could grow really high quality fruits and vegetables
because, after all, that's my goal and that's why I'm doing it. In any case, hopefully you
enjoyed this episode and this reminds you that, you know, in order to enrich your garden,
use compost not bagged conventional fertilizers. Build you soil because, just like a good wine,
the soil only gets better with age if you take care of it. Once again, my name is John
Kohler with growingoyurgreens.com. We'll see you next time, and remember, keep on growing.