ah you've caught me littering I'm
talking out the garbage no I'm not no
I'm not I am actually throwing out the
garbage I'm putting down old trees I'm
putting down paper and cardboard which
were made from trees I'm pulling down
the sheet mulch and I can put it down in
a really rough form
there's old books here I've put down a
bit of manure
there's old paper bags there's those
silly things that arrived in the post
all the time there's egg cartons is that
haphazard mix of stuff if you like it a
bit tidy in this or that you're not
going to see it you can put down big
layers of cardboard like this you can
put it down straight on the grass after
you put down a bit of manure to put down
a bit of cardboard you could put down a
bit of compost you can put down some
actual vegetable scratch from your
kitchen all of it will feed the worms
and get big cartons what you're doing is
your sheet mulching and you're cutting
out all the light some of those weed
seeds only take a thirtieth of a second
a flash of light if you want to start
doing double digging you're going to
have to dig pretty quick to get it
quicker than a thirtieth of a second
that's really nice stuff because it
stays moist and the speed that moisture
goes through this material is extremely
slowly is almost not quite it's almost
as slow as plants roots themselves move
now you're in the business now you're in
the game now you're at the right timing
so the next
I don't want to mulch the dog although
she'd probably been pretty good I'm
going to put down at a load of rough
mulch now what I'm doing and it could be
tinier than this suit and this will work
fine I'm imitating the forest floor the
soil organisms down there those millions
of organisms tons and tons of them in
every square meter there's millions and
acres
there's tons of organisms literally tons
by weight they think if they think at
all right now they're thinking that a
beautiful forest is just landed on top
this imitates the forest litter and you
can't really go too thick you can
definitely go too thin just shake it up
a bit shake it down pat it down these
are all cheap materials this is not
expensive straw this is just lashings of
your local park lawn mixtures of organic
material pruning shredded Hey seeded hey
there's a bit of old vegetable scrap
this that can go on it's all a great big
speed for the soil
this will hold huge amounts of moisture
this will be warmer in winter at the
soil surface it'll be cooler in summer
at the soft surface moderating
temperature it will greatly moderate the
water flows one-tenth the amount of
water required which is crucial if you
have a water shortage or a watering ban
but most important
it's benefiting those wonderful
organisms in the soil that we need to
cooperate with harmonize with or tap
that little bit of paper underneath
there don't leave any papers showing
tuck it in just like you're tucking your
children into bed because these are like
your children they'll feed your children
with some of the best food that can be
grown on this planet food like this food
like this
students of mine have put these together
just for a bit of personal therapy and
understanding that this is a very simple
instant garden system so that's done
she's done double reach bed I can reach
in the middle double roots bed I could
almost use it as a bit you killed a
slide down on it I don't want to lie
down on it because I don't want to
compact it I don't want to crush all
those organisms in there I want them to
be very active all I have to do now is I
have to make a little hole like this get
down to that cardboard make that a nice
little smooth hole and make a hole in
the cardboard I might be stabbing a few
organisms but that's alright it's plenty
there I then get my compost put it in
this hole Pat it down a little bit make
sure it's nice and cozy and put my
seedling in there or my feed and it'll
do that it'll grow vegetable garden
and it will get better and better over
time here we are the instant garden
after just five weeks I pack toyo
lettuces our cabbages are coming along
everything's happy and underneath here
we're building soil
we've got soil building layers of mulch
the cardboard still here and the worms
here they are this little worm here has
worms in here they soil building
activity with bacteria fungi all kinds
of imitations of layers this system is
so simple but it creates oil as quick as
it creates simplest projects with so
little work to establish it this is the
ultimate easy use surplus material this
is the easy system to put an instant
garden together and it will create half
an inch a centimeter two centimeter
three four or even five centimeters of
soil one year as you garden
you are never sustainable in a garden
unless you're creating more soil than
you are using the produce you must be
creating soil as you produce your food
and then your sustainable and if you
keep going that way and using that as
the indicator soil creation you'll be
sustainable forever and you'll be on a
great learning curve of understanding
how to interact with the soil and the
soil ecosystems to supply an incredibly
diverse possibility of food for you and
your family
you