The capabilities of a simple soil (Outdoor 2023 edition)

Hey RIU!

Been a while since I've been consistently active. I've moved out to Alabama where I bought a home with a whopping 5 acres of land. I'm going to spend the next few years filling it up with as many plants, and eventually livestock, as I'm able to. While this thread won't have anything to do with cannabis, it will have everything to do with organics. More specifically, a living soil in its simplest and most affordable form.

The point of all my "Simple soil" threads have been to demonstrate that the majority of organic products on the market are superfluous and unnecessary to most of us. Depending on one's location, you may have all that you need right in your backyard.

I have 2 goals with this thread: 1) To be a journal for me to look back on. Super helpful to have an online source of notes to look back on, as most of you already know. 2) To be a thread of collective information that I will attempt to organize as best as possible. My way of giving back to the community that has helped me achieve so much success with growing, as well as a knowledge of living soil and microbes.

Without further ado, here's what I'm working with to start the first year off. I took these photos a few weeks ago, just haven't had the time to actually post this thread. I'll have new photos of their progress within the next few days, as time permits.





Nearly 200 plants that we started last December. There are far too many varieties of tomatoes and peppers here to list. Tons of various herbs, onions, tomatillos, and kale. These are all 100% Heirloom seeds. I use, and highly recommend "Rareseeds.com" as a source of non-GMO heirloom seeds.

In the tree department, I've got 1Golden Delicious and 1 Pink Lady apple trees, and 2 Georgia Belle Peach trees going. All are 2-3ft tall and were ordered from TyTyga.com which I would recommend for the same reason as the seed website. Qualitiy heirloom genetics void of any GMO nonsense.

I also got Blueberries and Blackberries going, from the same website. They're 3 years old and should produce a bit of fruit this year. We have 75 strawberry bare roots, 35 of which I've planted. Only 40 more to go lol.

I have another order of trees and berries that should be here today, so I'll post an update once I'm finished planting them.

For anyone that has only grown cannabis and not veggies, consider "Heirloom" seeds as something similar to that of "landrace" strains of cannabis.

I don't recommend "Rareseeds" to advertise for them, as I'm not gaining anything from it. Rather, I do so because you know how much choosing bad seeds can wreak havoc on an otherwise successful grow set up. Start with the right seeds, and you'll have success. NEVER cheap out on seeds, and always purchase from a reliable source. You will regret it.

As you can see, I don't want a simple garden. I'm taking full advantage of the land and plan to turn this into a full-blown farm. I'll keep you guys posted.

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Here's some photos of the land I've been blessed with. This is a literal dream come true for me and I made sure to snatch on this as soon as I saw it. They couldn't develop new homes on the property, so they saw no value in it. Good thing for me, they weren't thinking of farming. This is the most fertile land I've ever seen in my life, and it even has a full blown creek running through all 5 acres of it.

I will be focusing on the land closest to the house, then moving across the creek over the next few years as things become established and begin to spread naturally on their own.






Just look at the size of those trees! More on those later, as I can make an entire post just on what can be gathered by the trees alone. Both in what they provide physically in organic matter, as well as in microbiology life.



That's the bridge that crosses the creek. Across the creek we have this land that will be unusable. The reason being, there is a humongous oak tree in my neighbors yard. You can see the patches of dead grass below the oak tree, the oak takes up too much sunlight to make planting much of anything viable here. Perhaps greens in the future, time will tell.



Then, that open area between the trees and the fence leads to this.



The remaining 4 acres of land, most of which I haven't even explored yet.





Just a few photos of the creek I've got. Very clear and clean water. You can tell the plants and trees love it out here, just look at the size of those tree roots, and how green everything is.

To give an idea of why I'm so stoked for this project, this land is so fertile that there are earthworms everywhere.




Zoom in and you can notice not one, but TWO earthworms in that one hole I dug up for a tomato transplant. I've dug hundred of holes and I see at least one worm in every single hole that I dig. Absolutely amazing.

This land, more specifically the soil, has absolutely everything that it needs: 100% quality organic matter and drainage/aeration. I have zero need peat, coco, or anything of the like as the land here has perfect soil in it already. I'll get into what makes a perfect soil, and how to achieve it in a later post. It is important to know what specifically makes a soil, and how to make that happen. It can be done cheap, with little to no money spent, and no need for a laundry list of products.

Some of you may have noticed the bag of soil in one of the photos above. I use Coast of Maine's Harbor Blend (Purple/pink bag) whenever I do need to purchase soil. I pretty much only use this soil for starting seeds. Once I've got a good root system going, they go straight into the ground.

I've also purchased a 4lb bag of a 4-4-4 amendment blend to give these plants a head start. This will last them until their roots grow large enough to reach the nutrients and minerals already in the soil.

The only product I have purchased is mycorrhizae. I use "VAM" from "BioAG" exclusively. No other mykos product comes anywhere close to VAM. Give it a try for yourself and you'll see. After this year, I won't need to purchase "VAM" ever again most likely. I will order another bag "just in case" but I don't see myself needing it.

Why do I only need to purchase mykos once? Because mycorrhizae is a microbe, a fungi more specifically. Once it has "inoculated" the soil, it will remain in the soil forever, so long as the soil doesn't lose too much moisture and kills the life. Improper moisture levels in one's soil is responsible for the vast majority of failure in a living soil grow. Fix that first before troubleshooting anything else, even if that means investing in irrigation/Blumats to water.

Never use pots, if you can get away with it. Obviously, this isn't practical for everyone. If you are using pots, invest in irrigation, or look at the "SIP thread" and implement that. Both you and your plants will thank me later.

The final product I use is "TM7", also from "BioAG". I doubt I'll have to use it much, if at all with the soil I've got going in the backyard. But better safe than sorry.

I'll be back later with more updates on the transplants I made weeks ago, as well as the trees. Those just got delivered so I'll have a busy day today.

All the best everyone, and thanks for tuning in. Can't wait to see what this turns into in another 3-5 years.

Sweet man. That space looks like a paradise. I’ve been dreaming of finding something similar, for now I’ll just watch.

What a great way to live life. You are blessed.

Straight organically awesome!! Plus running water?! Proper

butifull, we own 7 1/2 cares of woodland and fields to grow what we like in,
i must say, that bottom pic with the wormy soil is fantastic news, very fertile and full of worm casts.
may everything grow to expectations and more

Congratulations on your new property. The privilege to be good stewards of the land is beyond special.
Hope your enjoyment grows along with your plantings.
We had some good class I & II soils for a while but ended up finding our final place to hang our hats on the lake - which is suitable for rock farming. Lol
Good thing for mineral tubs, beds and hauling the good stuff in!!

green_machine_two9er said:

Sweet man. That space looks like a paradise. I’ve been dreaming of finding something similar, for now I’ll just watch.

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Hey thanks man, appreciate the reply and kind words! I'll be hoping that your dreams become a reality ASAP! Definitely paradise here. So peaceful listening to the sounds of the wildlife and creek flowing while I plant the transplants. Tons of the wild plants and weeds are edible. There are these things called "ramps" that look like green onions and have a flavor that is a mix of garlic and onion. Looks like berry plants of some sort too that are wild but won't know what type until they grow. They have thorns, so I don't think they'll be poisonous, but I'm not going to assume.

The previous owner mowed the yard constantly, so this is the first time it has ever looked this green out here before. Thanks for tagging along for the ride!

aFanOfThisCannabis said:

What a great way to live life. You are blessed.

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The way I've wanted to live for years, especially spending most of my life in the desert. Can't believe I didn't move out here sooner! Cannot be more thankful and look forward to living a more "simple" life working the dirt and tending to the garden, hopefully enjoying farm life in a few years. Appreciate you replying and tuning in!

Medskunk said:

Straight organically awesome!! Plus running water?! Proper

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Beyond amazing! I swooped on this immediately once I saw the creek. Much bigger homes out here for the price I paid, but I value having farmable land more than I do a house. Once I get these plants and trees settled in and the garden starts to bloom properly, I plan on renting an excavator. I'm going to increase the width of the creek and create a couple of ponds on each side with inlets to keep the ponds full. Two ponds near the house to harvest rainwater, and two on the other side of the creek to get fish of some sort going. My Dad says most people do catfish in their ponds out here, so I'll likely start there.

go go kid said:

butifull, we own 7 1/2 cares of woodland and fields to grow what we like in,
i must say, that bottom pic with the wormy soil is fantastic news, very fertile and full of worm casts.
may everything grow to expectations and more

Click to expand...

Appreciate the kind words and the well wishes! How much of that acreage do you use for gardening or livestock? Did things spread out naturally over the years, or did you have to propagate some cuttings to help things spread further out into the land? I plan to focus on the land close to the house first and see what happens this year, hopefully taking cuttings before winter to plant on the other side. Thanks again for stopping by and replying!

beebud said:

Congratulations on your new property. The privilege to be good stewards of the land is beyond special.
Hope your enjoyment grows along with your plantings.
We had some good class I & II soils for a while but ended up finding our final place to hang our hats on the lake - which is suitable for rock farming. Lol
Good thing for mineral tubs, beds and hauling the good stuff in!!

Click to expand...

Couldn't agree more with you! This is a tremendous privilege for sure, and I will make sure that I always see it as an honor and a privilege with a thankful attitude and spirit. I will work this land for the rest of my days until I inevitably return to it and become food for the worms, hopefully leaving a humongous farm as an inheritance to my kids.

Can you tell me more about "rock farming" if you don't mind? What is that? I notice loads of rocks when I dig holes, as well as in the creek. What do you do with the rocks and what are "mineral tubs", exactly? I would love to learn more, and hopefully make use of all the rocks on the land.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you keep tuning in!

kratos015 said:

Can you tell me more about "rock farming" if you don't mind? What is that? I notice loads of rocks when I dig holes, as well as in the creek. What do you do with the rocks and what are "mineral tubs", exactly? I would love to learn more, and hopefully make use of all the rocks on the land.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you keep tuning in!

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Rock farming is our way of saying we have very little soil here, mostly Ozark hills and woods, lots of rocks There is decent farm ground say starting about 10 miles out. Closer to here is some shallow soil pasture ground, lots of cattle raised around here.
When I go to disk in the food plot for wildlife it sounds like running through a gravel quarry. Lol
The mineral tubs are plentiful around here. They start as a tub of minerals for cattle, and when they're empty they are great for gardening. I'd guess 30-35 gallons in size. Tomato plants do really good in them.
Look forward to your progress on your new property.

Check out all of this gold lying around here! Most people would consider this "trash" and haul it off. But we all know better here!

Those are all of the pine needles that have fallen from the pine trees over the winter. They have been sitting there since fall/winter, left alone to freely decompose. What hasn't decomposed will be used as mulch.

Check out how black that patch is next to the rake, that isn't dirt, that is straight compost! I thought the smell of compost was intoxicating enough, but when combined with the smell of pine needles? Awesome.

You might also notice the blue patches on those dead branches next to my boot. Mold, aka, fungi! Those branches can be buried in holes or put into a compost pile to inoculate either with fungi. No need to purchase compost ever again, and you will not find compost like this in stores.

To anyone reading curious about starting a living soil grow, or perhaps that might be struggling with their living soil grow, this is the biggest take away to learn. Your soil is only as good as your compost. No exceptions. I respect that making compost can seem like a daunting task at first, and it is tempting to purchase it instead of make it. But, like many other things in life, it is much better to do it yourself.

For those that live near trees/plants/etc: When fall comes, rake absolutely everything in your yard that falls to the ground. Branches, leaves, everything. Place all of the leaves in a huge pile, cover it with a little dirt so the wind doesn't blow it everywhere, and leave it alone until a few weeks prior to spring. You will be rewarded with loads of compost and/or leaf mould, which will provide you with the best results for growing, without spending a single cent! Mix it into your soils, or top dress with it. Whatever you do not use can be stored for future use, so long as things are kept moist and oxygenated.

As for the branches? If you invest in a woodchipper (I found one used for $200), you can run those branches through the woodchipper and get loads of woodchips. Those chips can be used as mulch, placed in your compost pile, or both. Point being, there are free sources of amazing compost and mulch right in our backyards. All it takes is a little work.

For those in the desert: This is trickier, and I've been here before. It sucks because you have next to nothing to start with. There isn't much for you to rake, however there are some things that can be turned into woodchips. Over time, those woodchips will decompose. You can speed the process up by mixing those woodchips up with cheap bags of manure from any hardware/gardening store. Let it sit until just before spring and harvest your compost. Whatever woodchips haven't decomposed can be used as mulch.

Many places do in fact have sources of mulch/woodchips. Check with your town, most cities and towns have places where you can pick up as many woodchips as you can haul. There is the risk that the cities have used chemical fertilizers on their trees, this is true. However, as things begin to decompose and the microbes take over, the chemicals will not be an issue anymore. The microbes will actually eliminate the chemicals over a period of time! Let the soil life take over, and eventually chemicals will be a non-issue. Living in the desert, it will take much more effort than someone not living in the desert. But it is possible to get your own compost and mulch out in the desert. Funny thing about gardening, things compound very quickly. It will take you months, even years longer than someone not living in the desert, but it is possible. The more plants you grow, the more sources of green and carbon matter you have to make your own compost and mulch. Grow literally any plants or trees that will survive in your area for the sole purpose of harvesting their "waste" for compost and mulch.





Above you can see how I've recycled things from the land. I don't dig holes at random places, opting to find a large weed/cluster of grass and digging that up instead. You'll get a perfect sized hole for transplanting, and there will already be a soil web there that formed around the plant we just dug up. Then, I shake the dirt off of the plant I uprooted and use it to fill the hole. I break the plant up into small pieces and put it into the hole, along with the dirt and the new transplant. If I find dead leaves nearby, I throw them in the hole too. I hit the transplant's roots with mykos, bury it, and cover with mulch. Done!

Congrats on the house and land. I'll be following along.

Some more photos of the various mold, moss, and wildlife just teeming out here.






Sometimes I just wander around through the woods outside and try to take everything in. It sounds silly, but you can legit feel the life in the air. For now, I'd like to talk about trees.




You see the size of those roots? They're huge! Try to imagine what we can't see, what it must look like underground. Who knows how far and wide these roots spread! I bet some of these roots expand acres even. Why do I bring that up? Once again, lets imagine what those roots must look like underground. Now imagine all of the life in the soil web in the rhizosphere of said tree's roots; the microbes, the bugs, the worms, everything.

Now, imagine all of those "webs" intersecting with one another. There is an entire system of life underground, and we can tap into it and achieve better results than anything money can buy.

If one lives near a tree of this size, there is likely zero need to purchase any soil, peat moss, minerals, amendments, or anything. No need to even inoculate your soil with anything! All of the aforementioned has existed for as long as the trees have, for multiple decades, and will be more developed and advanced than anything one can purchase.

Go take a look around any of the trees in your yard, take note of how green things are around the base of the tree. That is where you want to plant, to "tap in" to all of the nutrients and soil web that has existed for decades, before some of us were even born.

People say planting next to trees is bad because the trees will "sap the nutrients" from your plants. That is a half-truth, at best.

Sure, some trees like mesquite and oak are so pervasive and invasive that this is possible. But this doesn't always happen. The microbes are in control, remember? The microbes will latch to your cannabis, tomato, whatever plants, and will ensure that your new plant/tree succeeds!

The main reason planting near trees can be "bad" is if you plant under the trees, this is because the leaves in the tree absorb too much sunlight and your new plants receive little to no sunlight by proxy.

Edit: "But won't trees steal water from your plants?"

Another fallacy. Turns out we stoners aren't the only ones with growing myths. In fact, studies have shown that it is quite the opposite. A couple sources for your review below

Plants share water with their neighbors.

and

Trees share water to keep dying stump alive.

As I will show later, I have loads of plants that are planted close to these trees and they will succeed because of everything I outlined above. As the months go by and I make more posts with photographic evidence, I will demonstrate not only is that a half-truth, but that the majority of gardening advice is completely backwards.

Thanks for tuning in for the ride, looking forward to where this goes in a few months, and in a few years.

What I was talking about in a prior post about where and how I decide where to plant things. See that big patch of grass under the shovel? I dig that up, shake out the dirt/compost, place my transplant in the hole and fill it up with the green matter, compost, dirt, and any worms I dug up.

Very pleased with these strawberries I purchased too. Just look at the size of these roots!



And here are some of them just a few days later. Seems they love their new homes.




My little red wagon I use to lug around mulch throughout the yard.



And photos of my tree order that came in from TyTy, that box is 10 freaking feet long!





Some of the blue and blackberries even have flowers and berries on them already. Gonna be a great start! I got 9 types of grape vines, 5 raspberries, 5 blueberries, 4 blackberries, 2 boysenberries, 1 7ft tall Golden Delicious apple, 1 7ft Honeycrisp apple, a 7ft Fig tree, a 7ft Peace Tree, and a couple 7ft tall Mulberry trees.

I've still actually got most of the berries and grape vines left to plant, and over 30 strawberries to get transplanted, so I'm going to get to work now. Just wanted to post a few updates before I get back at it.

kratos015 said:

Appreciate the kind words and the well wishes! How much of that acreage do you use for gardening or livestock? Did things spread out naturally over the years, or did you have to propagate some cuttings to help things spread further out into the land? I plan to focus on the land close to the house first and see what happens this year, hopefully taking cuttings before winter to plant on the other side. Thanks again for stopping by and replying!




Couldn't agree more with you! This is a tremendous privilege for sure, and I will make sure that I always see it as an honor and a privilege with a thankful attitude and spirit. I will work this land for the rest of my days until I inevitably return to it and become food for the worms, hopefully leaving a humongous farm as an inheritance to my kids.

Can you tell me more about "rock farming" if you don't mind? What is that? I notice loads of rocks when I dig holes, as well as in the creek. What do you do with the rocks and what are "mineral tubs", exactly? I would love to learn more, and hopefully make use of all the rocks on the land.

Thanks for stopping by and hope you keep tuning in!

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well the house n garden take up 3 acres, thats the 10 room house thats expanding and its 3 tear garden with 3 x 35 ft ponds. theres a 1 acre field left to grow wild for bees and insects, butterflies ect that im accumulating small oak, ash and other trees on, and the rest has sheep on it, so 3 1/2 for the sheep n lambs.
were concidering fencing half of one of the two fields with the sheep on them, and plow it and pland vegtab;les, im trying to cut our carbon footprint as much as possable, so maybe a couple of 90 ft polly tunnels up on it for fruit trees n exotic fruit.
but were looking into extra soler power panels to run stuff off of for growing. we have 32 panels at presant, half of which we use, the other half make too much power to be added into the mains power grid which we get paid for. so we need to get the other half gooing, and find a susadised way to get more pane;ls set up.
at presant we allow the next door farmewr to put his sheep on our land in exchange for him cutting back the 3/4 mile track we have to get to the house.
so we have the option to go mad if we so choose.
if the warer situation were better, id have a bunch of allotments up there, so people in the village with no land of there own, get the chance to grow organic produce, well hopefully organic anyway.

kratos015 said:

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What I was talking about in a prior post about where and how I decide where to plant things. See that big patch of grass under the shovel? I dig that up, shake out the dirt/compost, place my transplant in the hole and fill it up with the green matter, compost, dirt, and any worms I dug up.

Very pleased with these strawberries I purchased too. Just look at the size of these roots!

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And here are some of them just a few days later. Seems they love their new homes.

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My little red wagon I use to lug around mulch throughout the yard.

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And photos of my tree order that came in from TyTy, that box is 10 freaking feet long!

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Some of the blue and blackberries even have flowers and berries on them already. Gonna be a great start! I got 9 types of grape vines, 5 raspberries, 5 blueberries, 4 blackberries, 2 boysenberries, 1 7ft tall Golden Delicious apple, 1 7ft Honeycrisp apple, a 7ft Fig tree, a 7ft Peace Tree, and a couple 7ft tall Mulberry trees.

I've still actually got most of the berries and grape vines left to plant, and over 30 strawberries to get transplanted, so I'm going to get to work now. Just wanted to post a few updates before I get back at it.

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the guy who owned the houase b4 us, turned the top fields into giant strawbery plots. they were everyware lol

go go kid said:

the guy who owned the houase b4 us, turned the top fields into giant strawbery plots. they were everyware lol

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Strawberries are nitrogen robbing plants. Amend with blood meal for a few springs to revitalize.