Back to East of Eden

I'm back after a long hiatus to attend to....life.  I had the best of intentions to follow through to harvest and even commissioned Mrs. Gardener to take photos of the harvest, but I never tracked the photos down on the old hard drive.  But now it is a new year, and suffice it to say we had a bountiful harvest of many of our veggies, and are back at it again.  April has been very snowy, and the first fit day was yesterday, so I planted   romaine, loose leaf lettuce, bibb lettuce, spinach, Swiss chard, and two kinds of radish (regular and Asian).

We watched a gardening video last night that promoted a philosophy of gardening that has wood mulch at its center piece.  The website, interestingly is "Back to Eden" and features the gardening advice of a fellow by the name of Paul Gautschi who  developed the methods after observing how lush and drought resistant forests were.  Motivated by his observations of nature and principles derived from thoughtful contemplation of (and sometimes creative applications from)  Scripture.   Mr. Gautschi described how he grows all his veggies in soil that is covered by a layer of wood mulch.  The mulch decays and provides nutrients, retains water, controls weeds, and keeps the soil loose and free from compaction.    Wood mulch (the kind made from ground up leaves and branches, not shredded bark) is cheap, plentiful, and readily available.   We have used it with some success in our perennial garden ("the berm") and around bushes but have been afraid to use it in the garden because I thought it would tie up nitrogen or make it hard to hoe.   As long as you don't incorporate it but let it break down from the top, it should be ok, according to the video.  Another advantage is less tillage required; I don't think the Back to Eden method turns the soil at all,   I wonder if the soil warms up and is ready for planting at the same time as traditional methods.

In any event, I think I would like to try it this year.  There are several options for obtaining wood mulch--the free stuff available from the city compost site; from a local tree service (advantage--delivered); or grinding my own from downed branches and tree trimmings (disadvantage--purchasing and maintaining a loud mulcher).