Regenerating Dead and Dry Soil in Minutes (Ready for Growing Food)

As a gardener, seeing a really light coloured soil, which is as dry as sand and has no organic matter (or hardly any), tells me that it just won't nearly be as productive. Our solar tunnel has suffered from not enough organic matter being put into it so this year I thought I would take drastic action to add loads of nutrients to it and improve the water holding capacity. Watch to see the comparison between watering the soil before and after.
Instagram: @huws_nursery

HuwsNursery is a channel which dedicates itself to teaching you how to grow an abundance of food at your home. Videos are uploaded every week and cover a vast range of subjects including; soil health, sowing, transplanting, weeding, organic tips, permaculture, pest control, harvesting and low maintenance growing to name a few.

With thanks to the support of my top tier patreons; William Shidal, Ben Porcher, Namaste Foundation, Valeria Letelier and Mike Moore

[janicemckenzie]

I saw once where a farmer had a pig sty and he moved the sty yearly and left it over winter and in the spring it was the site of his new garden. Produce was great and the pigs did all the work

[craigmetcalfe]

Greetings from Down Under Huw! I have been binge watching your videos since I started to rejuvenate my garden in March of this year. I applied your technique to a 6m bed. I double forked it and found out that not only was it a clay soil but that it was also heavily compacted. By the time I was done with the forking, my fork prongs looked like wicket keepers fingers (none of them pointed in the same direction). The handle also came off so now I have a dibber just like the one Charles Dowding uses. I applied your permaculture principle of observation and noticed that where leaves had accumulated over the years, the soil was more friable. So I added a layer of manure and compost and hand watered it every day for a month using a 9l watering can and going up and down the bed 4 times. I am happy to report that I am now growing Turmeric, Galangal, Butternut Squash, French Lavender, and Red Onions all in the one bed. I am putting in a pair of arches so that my Butternut Squash can grow vertically. Stay safe and test negative my learned friend.

[BaltimoresBerzerker]

Something I learned this year: I usually throw wood chips as mulch over my soil to protect microbiology, moisture, etc. when an area isn't used for 365 growing. Doing so helps prevent the soil degradation we witnessed on this video. Well I had none. So I chopped up my dead marigolds and had no other choice but to mulch the flower bed with that. Amazing results! It is a fantastic hay replacement! Ground cover perfection! Wanted to share because I know it's a popularly grown edible flower.

[jaymoon]

No matter what anyone says I liked this good old proven style. Thank you.

[lorthree]

As a beginner i would just like to say i found this video really helpful. I have just moved into a new house and for the first time have a garden! Can't wait to get growing using all the advice from your channel :)
I have also ordered your books from my local library (don't have the money to buy them yet, but will ask for them as a birthday present from the family).

[TheGentGaming]

Lots of hate on this video for no apparent reason.

Thanks for the tips, Huw. Appreciate the video.

[remeaiseirish]

Thank you young man, this explains what was happening to my garden areas not being used fir a couple years. I have folowed your seps and it sure makes a difference.

[karen_james]

I add manure and compost every year and it’s made a world of difference to all my beds. Soul is much looser and rich in organic matter.

[christinalynn]

Huw Richard's soil study lesson an important part of revitalizing the world's soil, the earth! Yay, for this bit of information, so important. 👏

[debramoss]

Brilliant video. So thankful for the kid's rake idea. A really smart answer for those of us with limited ability to lift heavy adult ones. Clever, thanks!

[rwatts]

Congratulations on another excellent video! I've watched your videos for several years ( since you were a kid ) and have always appreciated your passion for gardening. You have a way about you that inspires even the old geezers like me to get out and turn the soil ! You are absolutely spot on about the soil. HEALTHY SOIL = HEALTHY PLANTS.


I bury the kitchen scraps that my chikens and ducks don't eat in my gardens. This adds nutrients and moisture to the soil and actually creates compost right beneath the plants. I also bury fish heads and left over meats in the gardens. It all decomposes and creates healthy soil. Keep up the good work !

[LibertyGarden]

I'm all for no dig gardening, but sometimes a good turning is what's needed. Thanks for the video.

[sweetolyve]

Another great instructional video. Thank you for this. I've had this same problem in the past and did what you've done with great success. Have an awesome weekend.

[llswink]

Just watched this today and it was exactly what I needed to know. I have two original raised beds that are outside and they have become compacted. I will rework them this week. Thanks.

[warren]

Hello, this was the state of our soil in our tomato glasshouse at work. So I tried it on one bed this afternoon. It looks and holds the moisture so much more now and looks a lot better? As you showed in the video, my soil was just floating on the surface of the water too. It took a lot more water than I thought it would. Great tip, thank you very much. Keep up the good work

[Gaark]

Great timing, I've just had a dig about and found nothing but dust!

[MelSchmidt]

I only came across your channel this past week, and I love your videos! I have been watching Charles Dowding's channel for some time, but this year I've been very discouraged and frustrated trying to water and finding that my water is not absorbing at all. I have been trying very hard to go "no dig", but I know you are leaning that way as well, and still find the need from time to time for digging. I am from Pennsylvania in the US, so my growing season is significantly behind yours, and we have just finished a very long and dry winter season, but now I know what I need to do to fix my garden beds. Thank you!

[pistolcrystal]

We just bought our first new house that already has a gardening area however the plants are near death. Thank you for your video! I am new to this. This was very educational. I'm praying that with baby steps, I can bring the garden back to life

[elizabethwhite]

As always, incredibly useful information presented clearly and succinctly. Thank you so much for so generously sharing what you know and are learning with us all, Huw!!! So appreciated! 🙏🏻🤗

[kitdubhran]

I once made potting soil with (roughly) equal parts coconut fiber and vermicompost. The coconut coir fiber holds the moisture in the soil like pear moss without adding acid. Aside from one picky plant, I didn't have to add anything to the bed all year and it produced loss of herbs, tomatoes, peppers and squash for me. Oh and greens. Kale and spinach I think. And onions and shallots and chives I think. Been a couple of years so I can't remember exactly what it was. But it was our salsa bed. We added anything we wanted to be able to put in a dish to make salsa, and then added more things once that base was down.

It taught me a lot of things. One is that, during the summer coconut fiber is so amazing. Because it holds the moisture in the bed. And the top may dry out. But the lower layers keep the moisture there for a lot longer. Because the fibers seep the moisture away slowly. I only had to water once a day, the same amount as before the summer. And everything was still chipper. I mean, it wasn't during a drought, so ymmv.

And I learned that I don't really like the bigger tomatoes. They're more work (the only thing I had to do was add more calcium for one specific big tomato plant and it kept not producing eight all year. It would get close and then not finish.) and I don't actually enjoy the taste as much. Sun gold cherry tomatoes are the best tasting tomatoes ever. I will fight you. I used to think I hated tomatoes but those I would eat right off the vine. Slightly sour skin, sweet flesh, and the inside tasted like tomato sauce, just a bit sweet to compliment the other flavors. And second would be the oblong dense variety, like Roma or linguica. Those were fantastic for cooking and held up their shape through the process. Very nice.

Morning ramble for me. Thanks for the video! It was actually super helpful!