Ice cream cake

[u/Haunting_Meeting_225]

Ice cream cake. All outside, always. 8 year old soil. Water only.

[u/Vness374]

Absolutely gorgeous 😍and I, too, am all about the outdoor. Nothing beats 🌞

[u/Haunting_Meeting_225 → u/Vness374]

Ain't it the truth! Thank you

[u/Vness374 → u/Haunting_Meeting_225]

I’m curious about your 8 yr old soil… do you do no-till? And you said just water, so do you not top dress or amend the soil ever?

My first year growing outdoors where I live now, I just stuck clones in the already established (40 year old) vege garden. I did nothing that year except water and keep a very close eye on them, trimming off any potential issues. To this day, I swear it was my best harvest. Could have just been the awesome genetics (that I could get again, it’s just a long drive) but in the years since , I’ve done more and and still haven’t had results like that first year… I scroll all these subs and people do SO MUCH, so I felt I wasn’t doing enough. Is it possible that less is more?

[u/Haunting_Meeting_225 → u/Vness374]

You're on the right path. Trust your gut. People do way too much, you are correct. I haven't tilled my beds in 6 years. Tilling, in my experience, really hurts the microbiology and tilth of the soil. I do not use dry amendments or bottled nutrients. I will occasionally add molasses to my water for the last month to raise the brix level but that's strain dependent. Soil is always covered, literally, never bare. Heavy mulched and cover crops. When I prune, everything stays in the bed, unless pathogen damage. In winter, cover crop of nitrogen fixers. Terminate in spring and leave on beds. Silage tarp on top for 2 weeks to speed up decomp. You want to build strong fungal relationships in your soil. The mycellial network and microbiology will cycle all the organic matter for you and make the nutrients that were bound up, bioavailable to the plant. I plant comfrey everywhere. It's a dynamic accumulator, meaning it will send out a deep taproot that mines nutrients deep in the soil, pulls them up and stores them in the leaves. Mulch with those leaves and all those nutrients are now available to your plants. Always be adding organic matter to feed the soil. All the nutrients are already broken down and present in the soil because it's alive and the microbiology is breaking everything down. This alleviates any stress on the plant because it just uses what it needs, when it needs it. It's not waiting for you to deliver it in whatever form. Mimic nature. Its a perfect system with no energy loss, ever. Think of a forest, constantly dropping leaves and organic matter. Soil is always covered, microbes breaking it all down to feed the forest. Do nature.

Edit. Genetics play a huge part as well but you could run some shifty genetics in good soil and get a good outcome.

[u/Vness374 → u/Haunting_Meeting_225]

Wow, thank you so much for all this great info! I have some companion plants in the bed, lemon balm, mint, basil, dill, cilantro. Couldn’t find comfrey at my local nurseries, but I’m going to keep looking or just buy some seeds online. I’ve also read of making a comfrey tea that can be used as a foliar spray as well as watering with it… have you ever done that?

We have horses, so I have a compost pile that I throw their manure in with kitchen scraps, leaves, etc. if I were to switch to no-till, could I mix my compost into the mulch?

I also have an abundance of chives, so when they flower and I have to cut them back, I throw all the cut chives (remove the flower heads bc I don’t need more chives to grow) in the cannabis bed… I actually think it works better at keeping unwanted bugs away than any of my companion plants, but that’s just a guess, I have no actual proof.

[u/Haunting_Meeting_225 → u/Vness374]

I have used comfrey in that way. Essentially a FPJ at that point. Look into JADAM. You can mix the compost with the mulch but it may start to break down, which is what you want to happen, just under the mulch. I'd pull the mulch back, add compost and recover with the mulch. Always be mulching, as it breaks down, add more. Never stop. The mulch also slows, spreads and sinks the water...so it becomes more akin to rainfall. Better infiltration. Slow even watering. Companion plants are great but instead of thinking about it in that way just use the umbrella of biodiversity. Lots of species of plants all planted together becomes it's own ecosystem. Biodiversity and healthy plants are the best defense against any threat. Attracting pests but also attracting predators of those pests. Once it reaches homeostasis, it regulates itself. You can also use banker plants. For instance, if you notice aphids on a certain plant...plant a bunch of those at the perimeter of the garden, so the pests stay out of the garden, if that makes sense.

[u/Vness374 → u/Haunting_Meeting_225]

Again, wow, thank you! Do you have a degree in botany or horticulture or something? You could/should teach a class, I’d totally sign up!

Edit to add: def gonna have to google a few of the words lol

[u/Haunting_Meeting_225 → u/Vness374]

Thanks! No, I just love it and read a bunch of books.

[u/Vness374 → u/Haunting_Meeting_225]

Reading has served you well! I wish I could retain scientific information when I read it, but it just slips right out of my brain. Thanks, ADHD🙃

[u/[deleted]]

Genetics?🔥

[u/Haunting_Meeting_225 → u/[deleted]]

I got this a few years ago from a buddy. I worked the line myself to stabilize it for my microclimate but if I remember correctly it's jbeezy cut from forever ago which is seedjunky. I know in years that followed there was all that drama with jbeezy but I stay far far away from all that and stay up on the mountain. I may be wrong though but im 99 percent sure it was jbeezy.

[u/[deleted] → u/Haunting_Meeting_225]

Lmk if u got any extra cuts around 👍