We have just finished the 6th season of managing the Simple Garden, using the same basic crop rotation, limited range of vegetables, and relying on sheet composting for most of the fertility. And despite the simplicity, or perhaps because of it, this garden produces more than the other family scale gardens.
0:00 Less becomes more
1:04 What makes this garden different?
3:08 Benefits of Sheet Composting
5:55 Not enough fertility
8:17 Ease of management
10:03 Most efficient garden
12:07 Letting the Experiment Run
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Part of the Cloughjordan Ecovillage, Tipperary, Ireland http://www.thevillage.ie
37 Comments
Carrot flys would be my nightmare. I haven’t had a large issue with them but I will be more cautious of them. Thank you for the vids, keep ‘em up they’re awesome.
My hunch is that you will never defeat the fly without delaying carrot sowing, but if you do, maybe it will be by sowing into a deep compost mulch, to avoid needing to lift the net to control weeds, and maybe burying the sides of the netting, or finding a better way to seal it to the ground than pegs
One problem I've run into using grass clippings for mulch is heating. They decompose rapidly and heat up readily. The heat can sometimes damage the crop the clippings are mulching. It's a hit or miss occurrence. I don't know what the factors are.
But the earthworms love them and always leave the soil more loamy than before.
The simple garden is my favorite. It's basically what I do. Thanks for the update.
This is my favorite garden in the RED gardens project. Happy to hear the concept will still go on for a few seasons at least.
I think it's very interesting, how you can produce such amounts of reliable and stable food, with this simple concept and that it require least amount of time.
Sure the variety isn't huge. But it provides loads of baseline produce, that you in theory could live on alone. If you really loved baked vegetable or soup 🙂
I've had decent success with Crimson Clover as a multipurpose cover crop. It will germinate in the fall, and winter kill (not sure if it will in your climate). Seed is expensive, but pretty easy to grow out and seed save. Your soil looks amazing.
I think the high yield might also be due to the unusually warm summer and fall this year. My simple garden setup (also used for more bulk crops with a small area for raspberry’s) produced almost 30% more then over the last 5 year average. Also used 25% more water though.
Sheet composting also works wonders for me, out of my 200 m^2 setup I have about 40 resting for one year in a 5 year rotation. Starting from sowing the remaining area, I pile up everything I can get my hands on, kitchen scraps to bulk leaves in fall.
I stop adding to the pile in early October and first plants after the resting are cucumbers and zucchini. Mulching with straw improved the growing of them even further, might be an alternative to grass clippings.
Potato’s the year after never struggled with lack of fertility in my setup, so I think the fertility must be high enough from that resting to support 3-5 crops if the rotation is good
Have you considered using chickens to clean the garden beds post harvest? Also I have seen egg laying chickens over winter in high tunnel or green house .
19 kg/workhour
6 kg/m2
With Grass clippings, I would automatically worry about slugs and mildew. They hold a lot of moister and provide cover for slugs. i've also heard of them going "slimy" or merging into a layer, which can become hydrophobic. My thought on avoiding that would be to only use dry grass, but your more likely to want to make sure when it's dropped it has texture to it, like hay, not a sheet.
I agree, this seems like the perfect garden to do a cover crop / green mulch. As is said, farmers are in the solar collection business. No having anything growing, is just wasting time. Of course, What you can get to grow is the question. Something that sprouts quickly, or late enough to be planted after harvest would be best. But I also think, there is ample daylight penetrating the onion and carrot tops (potato and squash smother the ground). And I dont think the largely developed roots late in the season would be bothered by just sprouting plants. So maybe a simple broadcast sow on the surface between the plants would do around those two crops. this would be a type of inter cropping or relay cropping. after a few weeks pull the main crop. If some of the sprouts are damaged, it doesn't really matter, you are planning on them die soon anyways. And you wouldn't be transporting the material far distances like with the grass. This green manure then goes into the sheet compost stage if i remember your rotation correctly. So no worry about nitrogen tie up during decomposition.
I really like the simple garden from the point of view of someone simply trying to survive, and provide enough calories for their family. No frills, no taste, just bulk and storage. And so it has always bugged me that there are onions there, since they are so caloricly sparse. They do store well though.
You gotta love the sheet mulch. ❤❤
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Will you be doing soil testing this Spring? Also do you have a video explaining the structure of plastic with a lid at 13:37?
Get some nitrogen fixers is there.
Intercropwith bust beans
I like all the content you have been putting out, I don't feel there has been any dip in quality either. Top stuff as always.
Thanks for an interesting video. You have given me some new ideas to try out.
I wonder if applying a mulch of shredded stinging nettles in one of the potato beds might be worth trying?
The former are plentiful and high in nitrogen. Alternatively, you could try some comfrey but I can’t remember if the timings for this would suit.
This is such an interesting element of your gardens, thank you for the update. So glad you are continuing it's use and development for a wee while longer at least. It is such a magnificent 'food engine' and holds so much potential for a busy family in the current poor economic climate. I am incredibly tempted to silage tarp an area I'm unsure what to do with and give this a go! Thank you for your continued inspiration. All the very best from the Highlands of Scotland. 👍
What landscape fabric did you use? The woven stuff?
Minimal expensive inputs, least amount of work, highest return.
You should rename it the intelligent garden.
Love the simple garden because it shows how over complicated I'm making things lol 😆
I don't know if removing the plastic sheeting will be a benefit for the simple garden. It will be hard to get the same weed suppression while maintaining the crop rotation that you are doing now. Perhaps cardboard is a good replacement that also adds to the fertility?
It is hard to believe how little time is needed to get such a great yield. I tend to spend way too much time doing anything in the garden. I guess it might be because I see it as a hobby which I enjoy rather than a work that needs to be done. But it is more likely because I am a big perfectionist.
ahoy … do you prune potato flowers like the ones at 2:37 or do you just ignore them?
Is there anything you could be growing in this garden over the winter months? If so, what's the motivation behind keeping it covered rather than planting out?
it always amazes me how neat and weed free your garden is. How much time do you spend a day/week to keep up ? Do you have any helpers?. my goal for this year is to expand my growing area but I already spend at least 2-3 full days a week to keep up with weeding, planting and pest control.
Always been my favourite garden. Great video as always
does the ground cover prevent slugs from breeding there? i would imagine they thrive under it.
Row covers are an issue for me, too. I'm considering removable frames of treated wood with PVC hoops covered with a layer of Agribond and a layer of field fencing. It would be a significant expense to make the twenty-four 2-1/2 x 8 foot frames I will need, but I'm tired of the wind, the dogs, and the wildlife tearing up my row covers. Having a 2 x 4 wood frame at the bottom that I can kick a little dirt against to seal it up and being able to lift a section like a lid to gain access will be very convenient.
I have 4' by 8' raised beds and I have mulched with fresh-cut, green grass for many years now. I have noticed the behaviour of worms with this mulch. They quickly establish their tunnels and holes, and then they devour it. Watch in your garden and see whether your worms are noticeably devouring the green grass. Happy worms = happy soil.
I do like the simple garden. I love low maintenance and high yield gardens. And getting rid of waste to boot.
I wonder if the squash do so well due to some of the warmth coming from the sheet mulch.
I like the simple garden method and l wonder if it can adapt to a different set of plants for rotation. That way multiple simple gardens grow everything just in batches of 4 varieties.
Have you ever tried using alfalfa pellets as a nitrogen source? They're really high in nitrogen and they contain a natural growth hormone that boosts plant growth. Here in the jewnited states it's only about roughly 20 dollars for a 50 pound bag. Bone meal is also very good for making lots of potatoes. Shredded leaves and grass clippings mixed makes the best mulch I have tried. Appreciate the time you put into these videos.
This garden inspired me to open a new garden area. Didn't try the sheet mulching but used straw mulch. Trying the sheet mulch this year.
how about integrating multi species cover crops into your system ?
Impressive research, sir. Thank you for sharing.
Thank you for this! I have a complicated setup in my home garden, but I think I may adopt something like your Simple Garden for my allotment (or Community garden plot, as we say here in the USA).
I love hearing about your experiments – thank you for sharing. This is very valuable content!! I love hearing your conclusions based on your observations and what you plan to do next round as a result.
Wow, this was awesome. Thank you for the review and findings.