This backyard garden idea, the back to eden gardening method, is the perfect garden for first time gardeners! No weeding, no watering, just a high yield organic garden!
The Back to Eden gardening method is a way to garden that recreates natures intended growing environment. It also meant that with just 2 hours of bed prep and planting time, we yielded over 1500 pounds of food in the fall! All without any watering or weeding!
Last year we lost our jobs, started making real money blogging, and moved to the country. It was a dream come true and we were thrilled to finally be working towards a real homestead!
Of course a big part of that dream was the ability to grow our own food. So we started researching just what kind of garden we wanted to have. I’ll admit when I first heard about the Back to Eden gardening method I had two thoughts…
1. This sounds perfect! No weeding, no tilling the soil, and no watering?? I’m in!
2. Wait, I live in Texas. It’s hot here. This will never work.
And oh friends let me tell you, only one of those thoughts turned out to be true.
What is the Back to Eden Gardening Method?
I would just say “it’s magic” and leave it at that… because that’s totally true… but you probably need more information than that 😉
Basically the Back to Eden gardening method is all about recreating the environment in which plants already thrive in nature.
For example: if you have some wild berry bushes that you harvest every year, you probably aren’t going out and watering every day and weeding around the plants right? And yet the plants grow and produce berries every year.
Likewise, our huge fig tree produces 100s of pounds of figs every year without a single inch of water or help from us at all? How?
Well, they are growing as God intended them to grow, by using the resources that they should have as provided by Him; ground covering to protect the soil quality and water from rain. That’s all they need.
But, since we are not 100% foragers at this stage of the game, we need a way to recreate those resources when and where we need them for the plants that we want to grow.
And that’s what the Back to Eden method is all about.
>> Do you know when to plant pumpkins for a Halloween and Thanksgiving harvest?
Setting Up a Back to Eden Garden
When I tell you about how simple this is, you’ll likely think me insane. I’m not, I promise! Just wait till you see our results at the end of the post!
Steps for Putting in a Back to Eden Garden Bed
Step One
Decide where to put your bed. You can do it where you have an existing bed, or you can do it where there is grass, dirt, rocks, or whatever. You don’t have to till up the soil for this method.
Step Two
(optional) Cover the ground with newspaper. Make sure there are no gaps as weeds/grass will make their way up through any gaps. Cover with at least 3 sheets over the whole space. We did this the first time but have since found that if we cover the ground with at least 6 inches of wood chips in step 4 then we don’t have anything coming up through. We contacted our local newspaper and were able to get about 100 old papers for free which covered the whole space!
Step Three
Cover the spot with 3-4 inches of compost (we bought organic mushroom compost that also had composted chicken poop in there too. It was $3 a ton and we used 1 ton). Make sure whatever you get contains nothing you would object to your food growing in…
Step Four
Cover the compost with 4-6 inches (6 inches is best) of wood chips. Be very careful about what you get for this step! You don’t want lumber chips from treated lumber, and you don’t want wood chips that have been composted and are very small. You need the results of entire trees with their branches, bark, and leaves included being put through a chipper. We found ours through the city dump. They take care of all the trees in our area that are cut down during construction or road work. It was dark brown, had large chips 2-3 inches long throughout, and only cost $8 a ton! We used 2 tons for our 15×20 garden spot.
Step Five
Start planting! We scraped back the top layer of wood chips and planted about 1-2 inches deep. If you want to prep the beds early and let them rest for a full season, then the soil will be amazingly rich when you go to plant! We didn’t want to wait so we planted the same day we finished the beds!
This is the automated tool we use for seed starting. That way we know exactly when to plant by variety and how long we’re going to have to wait for germination!
It’s completely customizable for your area, just enter the last frost date and the tool will do the rest! And, it’s free if you want to grab it!
>> We get our organic heirloom seeds from the amazing family business Seeds for Generations!
Review of The Back to Eden Gardening Method
So, like I said at the beginning, I had two thoughts when I first heard about this concept…
First, that it was awesome and I wanted to start as soon as possible! And then second, that there was no way it would work for us in Texas where the temperatures reach 113 in the shade and rainfall is few and far between during certain times of the year.
But one I realized that Texas provides enough rain for all our native food producing plants I decided to give it a try. And I’m so glad I did! This one 15×20 garden gave us over 300 1500 pounds of food without a single drop of water from us, and when temperatures were well into the 100s!
>> We are also building this greenhouse for some year-round strawberries!
I’d say the proof is in the produce with this one… check out all this food! And this was just this tip of what was harvested!
When all was said and done, we had 1500 pounds of food that we brought into our home and either canned, froze, or ate fresh. About 25 pounds went to the chickens every 3 days above and beyond that!
Tips for Success with Back to Eden Gardening
Since we have a few seasons under our belts now there are a few things we’ve learned that make prepping the beds and planting even easier.
Tip One
Don’t take more than a few days to finish the beds. So start small and make sure you can finish the area in no more than a day or two. You don’t want the paper to fly away, or the compost to dry out.
Tip Two
Finish your beds about 2 days before a good rain. This will help solidify the bed and will get everything prepped for planting.
Tip Three
Don’t agonize over perfection. Likely you will not have the perfect 4-6 inches of coverage over the whole bed. That’s ok! If it’s 3 inches here and 7 inches there, it really is fine! Just get it done and move on.
Tip Four
Be careful as you mow around the beds. Make sure that you aren’t throwing grass seeds into the beds when you mow by mowing with the side that throws the grass positioned away from the garden.
While this method keeps weeds and grass from growing up through the compost and mulch it’s great for planting in, so those seeds will take root and you will have to weed! Avoid that!
Tip Five
This is a learning process. Take it easy on yourself and keep at it. This method is the most amazing gardening method I have ever seen, it’s worth it to keep trying. Even in Texas 🙂
Tip Six
Make sure you have good seeds to begin with; we like to use seeds that are heirloom, non-GMO. This is because we want to be sure we can harvest seeds from our crops and use them again the next year, without worrying whether or not they will produce food (and not just plants without produce!).
>> We get our seeds from our family friends over at Seeds for Generations!
Top Organic Gardening Posts:
Vee says
This was actually started by Patricia Lanza in the late 90s, and called Lasagna Gardening. 🙂
http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/lasagna-gardening-zmaz99amztak
Victoria says
Hi Vee!
It’s a little different from Lasagna Gardening in that the composting of the layers doesn’t happen as you garden. With this method there is no layering really… I mean, yes, there’s a layer of newspaper, compost, and mulch… but with LG there can be as many as 15 layers of composting materials.
I’ve done LG several times on a few different pieces of property (this move was my 33rd move in as many years) but I found the Back to Eden method to be much easier and effective at growing plants without having to weed or water.
It really does simply try to recreate the conditions in which plants thrive in nature, and I love that! I hope you’ll give it a try! Thanks for stopping by and commenting!
Best,
Victoria
Tina says
It’s more like Ruth Stout’s ‘no-work’ gardening method back in the 50s – she used spoiled hay mainly, but also used sawdust and in fact advocated using any type of organic material that would decay.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/ruth-stouts-system-zmaz04fmzsel
Martha says
How can you get compost for $3/ton?
Victoria says
Hi Martha! We get our compost from a Mushroom farm about 45 miles away from our farm. They have locations all over the US with the same compost! Great stuff! For the wood chips, any county or city dump will have access to the wood chips created when trees are cut down around the area. Great source of mulch!
Will says
What is the name of the mushroom farm
Victoria says
Monterey Mushroom – they have locations all over the country 🙂
Elizabeth L. Johnson says
Nature’s way is what Gabe Brown calls no-till agriculture. And I mean large-scale farming, agriculture. He uses green coverings on hundreds, and maybe thousands of acres: rye, oats, etc, instead of wood chips. These coverings also work like wood chips, providing amazing habitat, soil really, out of dirt, with worm activity, and microbes as the coverings decompose. He has replaced “sustainable” with ” regenerative” agriculture. Back to Eden and Paul Gautschi have taught us home gardeners how to regenerate soil. I’ve been using the covering of wood chips for a few years now after learning about Back to Eden. Tremendously reduced weeding, watering, and pests!!!!!
Victoria says
Very cool! I hadn’t heard about Gabe Brown’s method. We have been wondering how to restore the soil on acreage (without cattle). We are loving the BtE method for home gardening!
Amy says
I’m in Texas and would love to know where you got your compost and mulch!
Victoria says
Hey Amy! We got the mushroom compost from Monterey Mushrooms in Madisonville and the mulch from Twin Oak Land Fill (city dump)!
Where in Texas? It’s a big state after all!
Ashley says
I was wondering if you planted seeds into the mulch or if you were using transplants you said you only Dug 2 to 3 inches into the mulch? I Live in Ohio and I am about to try this method on a 20 x 40 garden plot
Victoria says
Hey Ashley! Great question! We always plant from seed, so the 2-3 inches down into the mulch is for seeds the way we do it.
However, my mom transplants in her back to Eden garden and she just goes down enough to cover the plug, so 3-5 inches.
20×40 plot is going to be awesome! Send me pictures when it’s up and going, the Facebook page would love to see them and so would I!
Elizabeth L. Johnson says
Seed and plants must be put into the soil. Wood chips are not a planting medium, only a covering. It’s advisable to wait until your plants are up a few inches (after all, the wood chips need to be a few inches thick to perform) from the warmth of the sun on the soil, before recovering with wood chips.
Victoria says
We have been planting right in the chips for 3 years now with great success, but I suppose it might be the type of chips we use. We do also do a light sprinkle of compost on the top when the seeds are planted.
One season we actually did plant directly in the soil and leave the chips raked aside, but it wasn’t any different from planting in the chips (as far as produce outcome and germination rates), so we never did it again 🙂
Alina Rinato says
Same here! Our seeds grow right in the chips – many were accidentally spilled by my 3 year old son! 😆
Victoria says
Amen, sister! We had beets growing in random places in a 10 foot radius of where the actual growing area was when we let our son help us. LOL!
HP says
Did the mushroom company deliver or did you pick it up yourself?
Victoria says
Hi HP! Great question!
We actually picked it up ourselves the first few times, until we knew it was something we were going to continue. After that we had them deliver a large load.
That does increase the cost of course, but if you are planning on putting in a large bed or mulching an entire orchard (what we ended up doing that needed a large load), I would save your back and have them deliver if it’s an option!
Jim Rooney says
My first back to eden garden here central Texas has been fun and fruitful. I planted over grass and used newsparers before applying mulch. However, the grass continues to poke through. I’m pulling it and keeping ahead of it. What do you think of covering the garden in late September with black plastic to kill out the grass and then add 2 inches of chips a couple of months later. Your comments are truly appreciated.
Victoria says
Hi Jim, I’m so glad to hear that another central Texan is having good luck with this method! We love it!
We also planted over grass, and one of our beds had a bit of grass coming through. What we did was just add another 6 inches of mulch on top over the winter and it worked like a charm.
However, I think your idea for black plastic would also work. You’d just have to build back up that mulch layer over it to make sure you could plant in it once the spring came around, like you said.
Elizabeth L. Johnson says
Use thick corrugated, overlapping cardboard on grass, plus the newspaper layers, then the soil/compost/ and wood chips.
Victoria says
Interesting! Here in our area of Texas we have very invasive grasses and have found that several layers of newspaper is plenty. So far we have over 5000 square feet of BtE garden space done with just newspaper and it’s all going along swimmingly. 🙂
Jeanette Beukes says
I live in South Africa – Noordhoek in the Cape. Can I do back to Eden gardening here and what about watering??? We have a harsh South Easter wind that blows in the summer and it dries out everything???
Victoria says
Hi Jeanette! Greetings from Texas! Here we have extreme heats, but not so much dry wind.
Basically the soil needs to be damp under the mulch layer, which in your climate you may need to water a bit to achieve.
Other than that it should work for you!
Sunil Sharma says
Hi! You’ve shared a lot of good information. Thank you. Back to Eden garden is easy to start as soon as possible. I like the new method.
Thank you
Conrad Weaver says
I have a question. My understanding would be that wood chips make the soil acidic. Do I need to add lime to the soil/ or wood chips to help them decompose? I am having a hard time understanding this concept. I’m new to this whole thing, any tips are greatly appreciated.
Victoria says
Hi Conrad! The wood chips and bugs in the soil do all the work to make the soil the proper PH, so you don’t have to add anything! If you’re worried about it in your area, you can wait a full season before planting to give the bugs time to break everything down 🙂 Hope that helps!
Conrad Weaver says
Is there any way I could contact you and talk to you in person? My phone number is (removed by admin). Do you have other suggestions where I can go for advice?
Victoria says
Hi Conrad, I’m far from an expert, so I don’t think I’d have much to share beyond what’s already in this post. However, the Back to Eden video was a great resource for me! You can get it here.
You can also write letters to the pioneer of the method, Paul Gautschi. He responds to every letter he receives. Pretty cool! I hope that helps!
Elizabeth L. Johnson says
Paul Gautschi says in his Back to Eden film that he began with a large pile of wood chips that he let decompose for a while before using as a covering. He didn’t want too much acid, as well. Pine chips would have more acid, probably, than most wood types. I started right out with whatever kind of chips I used (I have no idea what they were made of), I didn’t let them decompose. I started with six inches, as advised, and my first growing season and subsequent seasons have not seemed to suffer any ill effects to plants or produce. A lot of people don’t understand the “covering” principle. It comes directly out of the Bible.
Victoria says
I’ve found this exact thing to be true too! I didn’t want to wait for them to decompose so we “risked it” and got 300 pounds out of a late fall garden <3
I love gardening the way God intended!
Nicole says
Hi! We are about to move out to 6 acres and I wanted to start a garden but have no idea where to start. This seems almost too good to be true and sounds so easy that I could possibly get a garden started right away! What do you plant in your garden (does it matter?) and how much? Does it matter if you mix fruits and veggies?
Victoria says
Hi Nicole! Yes, this is the perfect method for new gardeners!! We planted all sorts of veggies in our garden, and also created a separate orchard and vineyard with it too… so you can grow anything you want!
I would keep in mind “companion gardening” when planting though, so you don’t have plants that hate each other side by side.
Michael hernandez says
So to plant do you move the wood chips and then put them back and cover the seed? Also did you water the plants? Lastly, did you test the soil for anything (ph level, or anything like that) ?
I am in Texas as well and am curious
Victoria says
Hi Michael – Yep! Step 5 talks about exactly how we do that to plant the seeds.
Then for watering, we planted right after a big rain, as mentioned in Tip Two, but if that doesn’t line up for you when you need to plan, just give the ground a good soaking.
Last summer we ended up watering twice and that was it. Even here in South Central Texas! Good luck!
Michael hernandez says
Great that’s so helpful!!
And you just used straight compost? No planting soil?
Heather says
So after you have established your BtE garden plot, what do you do each year since the initial layers are already there? Do you do another repeat of all the layers? I’m just thinking of my raised garden beds and how that will eventually start spilling over the sides as I build it up each year. I would love to know how you maintain and refresh them each year. Thanks!!
Victoria says
Hi Heather!
Great question! I keep meaning to write a follow up post for maintaining BtE gardens after the first year.
So, you actually lose a lot of height each season. We have a few raised beds that have been BtE for about 3 years now and they are no higher than they were when we started, even adding additional mulch each year.
What we do to maintain is add about 2-3 inches of mulch and on top of that a light dusting of composted chicken poop!
If you find that your beds are starting to get too high, you can remove some of the dirt and move it to a new bed or some containers for potted gardening. Do this before you add the new mulch layer and compost 🙂
Hope that helps!
Timmy Jo says
Hello! I am quite interested in trying to garden this way; having tilled the ground all of my life, this sounds like a godsend. I have a question: Could bagged wood chips work? My favorites are pine bark mulch and cypress mulch. I steer clear from commercial colored mulches but appreciate the natural qualities of pine, cypress, and cedar. Also, could one use pine straw in any form in the mix? Lots of folks around here bag up their pine straw for the rubbish heap. It would be a great way to recycle a tree product.
Thanks so much.
Victoria says
Hi Timmy Jo! Great question. Yes, it would work just fine, as long as it’s real wood chips. However, when we priced it the cost was SIGNIFICANTLY higher than just getting them from the county. You might check there first.
Remember, the mulch needs to be deep for this to work, so you’d basically need 2 bags on top of each other (and not spread out at all) for the entire area where you want to plant.
But yes, it would work if you have a good cheap source for the bags!
Donna says
Another good source of wood chips is a local tree service. Here in Florida they will deliver the chips for free. They have to pay the land field to dump them there. Just be prepared, they will deliver a large truck full of chips. I’m still using on the load I received a couple of years ago.
Tamara says
Another great source for wood chips is a nation wide site online called http://www.chipdrop.com. Sign up, and then when arborist need to dump a truck full, they look at that website to find some place near them where they can dump. You have the option of offering money for it, which I suggest you do. I was on the site for over a year without, hoping for free wood chips. As soon as I changed my offering to $20 a load, I got a load within a week. After you get a load delivered, update your account when your are ready for another load. Again, I had a load delivered within a week when I offered $20.
Victoria says
This is GOLD Tamara! I can’t wait to get signed up on that site. Thank you for the tip!
Rhonda Snyder says
Thanks for this post. We transitioned to BTE last year. Pulling 6-8 inches of mulch back to plant was somewhat of a pain. How does this work for really small seeds such a carrots? Do they fall down under to mulch?
Victoria says
Hey Rhonda! It is a bit of a pain, and to be honest, we actually only dig a 1-2″ trench (with the edge of a rake) drop the seeds in, and cover them back up. Works perfectly and everything grows just fine!
Michal Eldridge says
Good morning, I loved reading your article but we have a few questions. My husband and I live near Centerville Texas and have been working on prepping our garden spot. our land is mostly pine trees and Yaupon. We have cleared a 40×60 spot, and decided to pull up all the yaupon roots, since they are so invasive. we didn’t want to have them coming up through our garden area. We have mainly Sugar Sand which makes this fairly easy with the right machines. But we are about to start layering our ground. we have saved cardboard and some newspaper. is the combo good. and we also have been wood chipping our own trees and such for over 3 years as we have cleared the land, built a barn, house and chicken coop. you mentioned not getting chips that have set for a while, why is that? we felt that these piles we have would be perfect for this garden project. we also have saved all our chicken and bunny poop for over a year for this project too. But plan to get compost from Monterrey Mushroom – do they deliver or do you have to pick it up? did you hire someone for this? looking for tips on getting this to our place.
Victoria says
Hi Michal! Nice to meet another Texan here 🙂
The reason that we have found to not use the chips that have been sitting awhile, is that they are already broken down and don’t provide that cover layer that fresh chips do. Over time, the chips that you put down compost and you have to put down new chips. Without the size and density, the chips don’t protect the soil and plants properly.
It’s hard to explain via text, but that’s why! MM did deliver here in a large 18 wheeler when we decided to do our LARGE plot, but I’m not sure if that’s because we live fairly close to them. About 30 miles away… But the delivery manager is very nice, so I’m sure you could call and ask her about delivery!
We did not hire anyone for the garden and did it all ourselves, with the exception of the large compost delivery 🙂 Hope that helps, but let me know if you have any other questions!
Michal Eldridge says
Thanks for the input. I have contacted the MM plant and hope to hear from them soon on getting our compost. we are also only about 30 miles from them, so hope we can get it scheduled. I will keep you posted on our progress. We hope to have the whole garden ready in a week or two. still working on the fence at this point. I am sure I will have more questions as we move forward. I love your blog and appreciate learning from someone who has gone before us with this.
Victoria says
Fabulous!! I can’t wait to see how it goes for you!
Monica says
I’m wondering about pest and plant diseases, how do you deal with those in this garden method ?
Victoria says
Hi Monica, this is a great question! In my experience, when the soil is healthy you don’t have issues with pests and diseases. This method cultivates a really healthy soil condition, so we haven’t had any problems.
This has been the same response that the developer of the method gives as well, so I think you will be good to go! Enjoy!
Holly says
Your post inspired me to FINALLY watch the Back to Eden movie, and oh boy, am I glad I did! I have already started pricing materials to get my garden started. You said you paid $3 and $8 a ton for soil and wood chips- how did you find such a great deal? I’m a fellow Texas, but in the heart of the DFW Metroplex, and so far, I’m not finding anything less than about $30-$50 per cubic yard, PLUS delivery! Yikes!
I’d love to do a garden your same size (15×20) to help supplement my family’s food budget. I am also working towards making our income entirely from home, and finding ways to cut costs where I can- LOVE your blog and all your ideas!
Victoria says
Hi Holly! Yay, I’m so glad you did!!
So, we found ours through the local municipal “dump” in our area. You might just search for the one in your area. It’s where all the trees goes when they are cut down by the city… then they are chipped and sold! Instead of “top soil” you might search for “compost” in your area. We found ours from a local mushroom farm – maybe there would be something similar up there? Because yeah, that’s a crazy amount of money!
I’m so glad you’re working towards taking control of your food supply, it’s such an important thing to do. You’re going to do so well! <3
Thank you for popping in to say hi!
Eden says
Hi there My name is Eden, I am 11 years old and at intermediate, as a year 7 your may call it grade but where I come from we call it year. this term in school we are doing a farm to table inquiry project and I choose Back to Eden gardening even though at the time I didn’t know what ts was. By the way, I have a question for this website; What are the advantages and disadvantages of a Back to Eden garden? ~ Sincerely Eden
Victoria says
Hi Eden, nice to meet you!
This is a great topic to write about and I’m sure your report will be very well done. Or maybe y’all are actually starting garden beds, that would be fun too! Anyway, here is a quick pro/con list for you!
PROS:
* Easy to set up. It only took us about 5 hours to set up our garden the first time, and about 2 hours a YEAR to refresh the top mulch layer.
* Easy to care for since you are not spending a lot time of tending each day since the weeds don’t grow through the mulch.
* Saves money since you don’t have to water it as much (if at all) as a regular garden
* Grows HUGE produce and is very prolific. One zucchini plant in the back to eden method can produce up to 200 pounds of zucchini, where a normal zucchini plant might only produce about 20-50 pounds per year.
* Helps naturally fight against diseases since the soil is maintained by bugs and the PH levels are optimal because of that. This means that pesticides are not needed on the plants and they can grow organically.
CONS:
* The set up can be expensive depending on the resources in the area. I was able to find mulch and compost at very affordable rates, but in some areas that might not be as easily found.
* Honestly, the fact that this method produces so much food can be a downside if you don’t know what to do with it all! So make sure you have friends and family to give some to, or you know how to can and preserve the food, or there is a local food bank where you can donate.
I hope that helps and good luck with your project!
Faith Adams says
I love the idea of growing for a local food bank!
Victoria says
Me too! We usually give our extra food away locally and it’s just so nice!
Karen Chan says
Thank you for posting this wonderful article. Will you have to put more compost and wood chips in the next year or will all the mulch have broken down to become your compost?
Victoria says
Thanks Karen! We’ve had our beds for 3 years now and last year we did another 2 inches of mulch on the top, but that was it. If we did a larger layer it would last longer… but we will likely do it again next year, and then on an every other year rotation after that. Hope that helps!