I built a big garden on a top of an unused part of my property out here in Southwest Oregon. When I started, it was nothing but rocks and hardpan.
At the time, it was important to me that I engineer a solution that didn't involve bringing in tons of outside material. I tried _everything_. Broadforking, adding homemade compost, growing daikon, growing every type of cover crop imaginable, tilling, not tilling, fertilizing, not fertilizing.
The problem is that all of my cover crops were so nutrient-starved, they could never really grow strong roots. What ultimately fixed it was a combination of homemade compost, commercial compost, and wood chips. In retrospect, I could have saved myself so much heartache just by spending a few grand on compost, spreading it several inches thick, and growing cover crops for a few years. But I was stubborn and impatient-- Bad qualities in a gardener, I suppose.
(On the plus side, I've gotten really good at making huge amounts of compost!)
Making compost is a great skill in my book. I have no idea if there are better ways to do it, but this bio reactor design or something similar is something I’d like to try if I ever had the space:
I make around 2 cubic meters of compost per year from household and yard waste. I get a lot of gratification from it. I also keep a worm bin which generates maybe 10kg of castings per year and a bunch of tea. I use it to feed my vegetable garden and green house which are pretty small but productive.
Some day I’d love to have the space to scale up and make more compost and grow more food with it.
At the time, it was important to me that I engineer a solution that didn't involve bringing in tons of outside material. I tried _everything_. Broadforking, adding homemade compost, growing daikon, growing every type of cover crop imaginable, tilling, not tilling, fertilizing, not fertilizing.
The problem is that all of my cover crops were so nutrient-starved, they could never really grow strong roots. What ultimately fixed it was a combination of homemade compost, commercial compost, and wood chips. In retrospect, I could have saved myself so much heartache just by spending a few grand on compost, spreading it several inches thick, and growing cover crops for a few years. But I was stubborn and impatient-- Bad qualities in a gardener, I suppose.
(On the plus side, I've gotten really good at making huge amounts of compost!)