- Much of this is adopted from the Back to Eden Gardening with Paul Gautschi.
Applying God’s Plan To Your Garden
When layering a garden you will go against all conventional wisdom; we are just taught to plow the dirt turn the soil and work it.
Yet when applying God’s plan to your garden, you will need to look no further, than the gardens of this world that are not tended by man.
We live in high desert country. Yet for seven to eight months out of the year there is something sprouting up somewhere or blooming. Their are wild berry plants that give their fruit year after year and annuals that complete their lives every year.
And this is how it happens. The soil is rejuvenated every fall through winter. By God’s fertilizer. Dead trees, branches, wood debris, leaves and a little manure.
In the fall this matter begins to decompose and in the winter it breaks down even more so.
When the spring rains come, they carry all the minerals, nutrients and other components to a waiting system of roots. And that reaction can be seen for as far as the eye can see.
God’s Plan In Our Garden; Layering
For God’s fallen tree’s, branches and bark we will use shredded tree material from a chipper. You can get this material at *no cost many times. Just apply one inch to the soil each fall.
We will simply use leaves for our second covering. scatter leaves over the entire garden area. Do this right before it rains. The rain will weigh down the leaves and keep them in place. Do not scatter the leaves in the wind or before a windy day. (check your local weather.)
Put a little manure here and there. I scatter our chicken manure mixed with chips thinly over the garden in the late fall and early winter. Allowing a ninety day gap before planting or before our berry plants come out of dormancy.
My soil is already turning a rich dark brown from only one full year of using this pattern.
*I use the fishy emulsion 5% nitrogen to off set the effects of putting wood chips on the soil until I see no need to use it any longer.
*Call your local tree trimming company and many times they will give it to you. If not they will usually sell it to you for about 150.00 for ten yards. Stop when you see the orange trucks on the side of the road trimming the trees off the road. The name of the company starts with an “A”. They will drop it off at your house. I have twenty yards sitting by my garden now from them.
Number two ingredient is leaves. The work horse of God’s fertilizer. Leaves cover much of the earth in the fall and winter. They make for one of the best fertilizers around.
Leaves can be gotten a hundred ways. And they are virtually free.
Ash
In The Midst of His Garden 