My property right now is an aspiring food forest. I have some annual veggies. I planted some fruit trees, and I have a couple of elderberry cuttings. The rest is prickly lettuce, clover, grass, and a whole bunch of weeds. I'm working at chopping and dropping the weeds and clover to my chickens and around my annual veggies. The wind recently toppled the one shade tree we had in our yard. It is now going to be some excellent mulch, as soon as I find the time to put it through the chipper.
@jimsngc
5 ай бұрын
Always enjoy your videos! Please keep up the great work.
@ronaldfarmer7205
2 жыл бұрын
love your mulberries I have a old huckleberry I"m trying to get to fruit again I think I need to plant under it . I have almost an acre but its all oak trees mostly not much sun but been learning a lot from you; the rain garden is a great idea I need to watch Portlandia now haha total fan here hugs
@carolinekloppert5177
Жыл бұрын
How about a swamp garden with taro, Ipomea aquatica, water chestnuts, watercress, malabar spinach ginger etc. These all like warmer weather, but my swamp garden is the most productive bed by far. There must be some plants which are edible and perennial in your climate zone and come back after frost..
@melissamybubbles6139
2 жыл бұрын
I'm at the very beginning of building a garden. I've got three Junipers. Those as chop and drop are making me worried about fire in Colorado. Maple and ornamental pear seem nice as mulch. I accidentally stored whole purple coneflowers to chop up. I have seedlings everywhere. This fall I'll have to chop the seed heads off before making mulch chop piles.
@O_U_No_It_2
2 жыл бұрын
So important to utilize the obvious benefits while enjoying zero cons to this strategy. It's perfect organic mulch. Why buy it, when you can produce it yourself and enrich your soil to provide health to your hard working trees and shrubs in your food forest. It builds soil. So critical to make this a normal habit. And it only gets easier over the years as your (acreage) matures. Thank you as always. "Sustainable. Free. And produces fertility" Well said🌱
@kyrthanna5217
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you for this video. I actually DO have those living pruners that visit my yard (usually a Doe and one or two babies), so I am having to protect plants from them until the plant can actually survive being nibbled. Frustrating when they nibble something I wish they wouldn't, but love seeing them up close, so it's a trade-off. Out of curiosity, in your previous video you talked about chop and drop of the native catch straw, but before it goes to seed. We have a bunch that's volunteered in our yard, so I'd love to try this with it. Are there any plants one should avoid using for chop and drop? Or only if they're diseased in some way?
@cholcombe973
2 жыл бұрын
Do you think the pruning root die back only happens during the active growing season? I was wondering about this the other day. When we coppice trees that are dormant they come back in the spring with explosive growth. Maybe that is happening because the root mass now is much larger than the top mass.
@jackiea8274
2 жыл бұрын
What do you not allow to stay? Hoping some weeds are okay to leave behind… haha
@pamelacinnamon759
2 жыл бұрын
Thanks!
@liamtaylor4955
2 жыл бұрын
I enjoy chop and no-drop munching in my garden.
@RiceTeaLover
2 жыл бұрын
Can you do a detailed video on how to summer prune fruit trees? 😊
@cleonawallace376
2 жыл бұрын
Good useful video :) We are just starting out and have been unintentionally doing chop and drop... basically clearing areas and then leaving bits all over the ground. Do you feel though that in hotter, drier climates (we're Mediterranean hot summer, which I think is 8b in the US system) that you'd need to chop it into smaller pieces? I'm just wondering if it would take a really long time to break down here compared to in a wetter climate.
@mikeinportland30
2 жыл бұрын
When I was in California, I'd prefer bigger leaves left on the ground. Because summers were so hot there shading the soil was a greater priority than quick decomposition. Everything breaks down eventually but in hot climates my experience has been shaded more water retentive soils have been better than dry but more nutrient filled soils.
@permiebird937
2 жыл бұрын
I have 2 silverberry, they are both about 10 years old. I have never seen any berries on them, though it flowers yearly and I hand pollinate it. I am thinking about moving them, for I have plenty of Goumi and Autumn Olive. They are taking up some of the best sun in my food forest. Good to know the fruit isn't the best, they are definitely getting moved. Going to put mulberries in their place.
@gryphonrampant24
Жыл бұрын
Thought: "The problem is the solution" right? You have an area that naturally collects water, yeah? Could you embrace and work with that by making a small pond or wetland section of the garden to grow water-loving crops like cattail, mallow, etc?
@victoriajohnson3034
2 жыл бұрын
Question? Fruit trees and fruit bushes like acidic soil? Conifers needles and branches are acidic? So chop n drop of these when pruning my forest trees would be good mulch around base of fruit trees and bushes? I'm unsure.
@mikeinportland30
2 жыл бұрын
Huge chop and drop fan! It works soil miracles as is free!
@victoriajohnson3034
2 жыл бұрын
Question? Do veggie gardens need nitrogen fixers? Like tomatoes and garlic?
@tgardenchicken1780
2 жыл бұрын
I use Chop n Drop all the time, love it and no hauling to a compost bin/pile.
@abbi_page
2 жыл бұрын
I’ve been watching tons of your videos, loving the diversity in your garden and the perspective you bring to growing! I am also in an urban small garden and it’s so nice to see a mature food forest in action, since all my stuff is still so small! I’m planning to add a green gage plum and Nikita’s gift persimmon next year thanks to your inspiration!
@MistaDobalinaMistaBobDobalina
2 жыл бұрын
Great info, I have been looking for something to go along a fence and help with some privacy, Elaeagnus seems perfect!
@katiebeth8825
Жыл бұрын
How long would you say the chop and drop mulch takes to break down? I just watched your video about replacing the wood chip paths where you shovel the old broken down wood chips into the nearby beds - do you do anything like that with the chop and drop material after a while?
@ParkrosePermaculture
Жыл бұрын
It’s rainy here, and with enough foot traffic, chips need to be replaced every year. After two years, they’re fully broken down. If chickens are working through them, they don’t last six months. :)
@thevagrowinggardener1898
2 жыл бұрын
Thank you for the awesome info! Can you chop and drop things like tree of heaven?
@ronaldfarmer7205
2 жыл бұрын
Jesus loves you ! I really appreciate your efforts . I love your voice and how you explain things I'm hard to please haha so def a compliment God bless you !
@heritagefamilydental
2 жыл бұрын
Listened to the first few minutes of this video and it’s clear that you know what you’re talking about -happy to be a new subscriber!
@zoeward4555
2 жыл бұрын
I need to find a plum pruning video now :)
@justalurkr
2 жыл бұрын
I need to research disease recognition, probably. The extra rain has brought out mushrooms and who know what that I can't see.
@mikeinportland30
2 жыл бұрын
Mushrooms are a true gift to the soil in a food forest (like a real forest) and also indicate a healthy fungal based soil biome. I am always delighted when soil that used to produce dandelions (good in their way and nature's way of indicating nutrient deficient soils she is fixing with dandelions) now produces mushroom instead. I'm still too timid to eat any from my garden but I celebrate them being there!
@justalurkr
2 жыл бұрын
@@mikeinportland30 I adore mushrooms and am researching how to instigate edible ones under the Dwarf Hosui. It's the fungi that cause diseases I need to recognize, unfortunately. Portland seems to do well with Asian Pears, but I worry.
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