whats below counts

WHATS BELOW COUNTS
every year at this time i pull up my old plants
from my garden and throw them in my compost
pile
yes everything compostable goes into it
and it all eventually looks like this

after spending weeks and months getting attacked
by chickens weather piles of leaves newspapers
cardboard paper feed sacks bacteria fungi
insects leaving a big ole pile of almost edible compost

when i do pull up my plants usually in years past
the roots are large and are a mirror image of the
plant that was above the ground
you know like a reflection of a tree in a pond or river

but
this year was different
when i pulled up my peppers this year after that last freeze
what i found was this large mass of a root system
that now explains my fantastic production of peppers
this year
the first year that weve ever frozen peppers for future
use this winter

this root system why was it so much better this year

it was the hugelkulter and the keyhole garden methods
plus
an hour long conversation i had this year with the head
gardener at the organic garden place in austin
the natural gardener recently nominated for one of
the best garden nurseries in the us
when if you ever go there youll understand why
be sure and take your kids theyll love the donkeys
chickens and the goats and the cats

this year i took an old water trough that was rusted out
its 6 ft in diameter
cut out the bottom
dug a hole about 16 inches
put a layer of cardboard and newspapers
logs limbs twigs leaves lots of leaves
layered in dirt compost leaves newspapers until
i reached the top then
topped it all off with several inches of good compost

then i added a good organic fertilizer then cottonseed meal
and as i planted the plants i add worm castings worm poop in
with the plants as i planted them

i fed them rainwater all spring and summer and had the best crop ever
of peppers eggplants basil tomatoes all in this 6 ft diameter bed
with a final depth of about 24-30 inches

all that stuff i put in the soil held moisture in the soil
plus i forgot to mention
i put a 1 ft cylinder of chicken wire and filled it with compost
materials compost and kept it watered also through this cylinder

must have been the right thing to do based on our production in
this 6 ft square area
and based on that mass of roots

here is the same garden space all ready now for spring planting
in march
it had a 4 inch layer of compost added
a scattering of good organic fertilizer
a dusting of cottonseed meal
i will add earthworm castings to the planting holes
then just add water
it was covered with a layer of your leaves that you gave me
thanks again
and will keep the composter full of material all year

the hugelkulter or anthill garden method and keyhole(less) garden method
does work
try it

yes its what below the surface in gardening that makes the difference

the organicgreen gardener