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...
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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...
Note: We get our mushroom compost from a local mushroom farm with locations nationwide (Monterey Mushroom). However, if you don't have access to a supplier in your area, you can make your own real mushroom compost OR make your own mock mushroom compost!
How to make real or mock mushroom compost!
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 15x20 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 15x20 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 the 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:
SJ Wilson says
Do chips from certain trees work better than others? I.E. Maple better than pine? Birch better than oak?
Victoria says
Hi SJ! I have heard that various mulches can be a problem from some (like cedar and black walnut), but then others swear by those same types of mulch.
As long as the mulch is freshly ground and includes all the live leaves and such, it should be great!
You can find fresh mulch from a tree trimming service in your area pretty easily if you don’t have a county office that mulches all the trees they cut.
I hope that helps!
Kristin says
After the first year how do you get it prepped for the next spring?
Victoria says
Hi Kristin! For the spring, all we do it add additional mulch if the mulch from the previous year has broken down too much.
Generally, that means we add about 2-3 additional inches of fresh mulch per year. That’s it!
Joanne Dunne says
Ok my garden is almost finished for the year .This is my first time so what do I put on it for winter ? Wood chips compost or what ? And do I have to put paper down again? I did have a few weeds come up around the edge of it .
Victoria says
Hi Joanne! Whoo hoo, congrats on getting your first year with BTE under your belt!
For the winter months we just leave the garden fallow. However, you might go ahead and pull the weeds around the edge!
Once we start prepping the garden for the next season, we add more mulch *if needed, and then top with about 1 inch of compost that will create a compost tea when the garden is either watered, or when it rains.
I hope that helps, let me know if you have any other questions!
Carter says
Hello,
Thanks for the great post! We are fellow Texans looking to start a “Back to Eden” garden very soon. When you plant, do you dig out your wood chips and mushroom compost down to the soil level, or do you plant directly into the mushroom compost? Thanks!
Carter
Victoria says
Hi Carter! We simply dig a 2″ trench and plant. Which means we end up planting in the chips. Works out perfectly!
The only exception is corn, since it needs a sturdier base, so we plant that down about 6-8″.
AJ Lockwood says
Hey Victoria, when you plant in a row, do you ever have to trim back the seedlings when they start to grow? I find that my garden gets way too crowded and plants choke each other out if I don’t do that.
Victoria says
Hi AJ! We tend to compensate for that by planting further away from the other rows when planting pumpkins, squash, and so on. That way the plants have room to just grow.
However, if they go really crazy, we do trim them back a bit to keep them off the other plants!
Jessica says
I had a great yield last year (my first year gardening and back to Eden gardening). Added mulch again but this year has really struggled with yield. Any suggestions? Also, anything you can do to help with pests in between seasons? Squash bugs are my enemy!
Victoria says
Hi Jessica! Yes, this year has been hard for many people and their crops, so it’s not just you! We are in a solar minimum so that has taken a toll on all the plants :-(
If you wanted to add more compost/fertilizer as well, that may give your crops a boon. Also, we have had to water a lot this year, unlike other years… so be sure to check your soil dampness daily or at least every other day, and water as needed.
As for pests, once your soil is established, it shouldn’t normally be a problem. HOWEVER, with the solar minimum and so on this year, bugs have been a problem across the board.
Here’s a post from one of my friends on naturally dealing with squash bugs: https://thefreerangelife.com/control-squash-bugs/
Rosemarie W Reynolds says
Hi Victoria, my name is Rosemarie and I have been gardening traditionally for 2 years now however I did mulch my walkway through out the garden using cypress mulch. I go to a lot of utube to improve my gardening and found the back to eden / permaculture gardening and oh boy that fired me up and I want to transition to that. I am from Jacksonville Florida and live near the river /ocean. My soil is sandy and has lots if sea shells especially oysters. My question to you is. can I use the bag of cypress mulch I buy at Home Depot for back to eden? or do I really need to get it from tree trimmers and / or City Dump? Also I use boxes for my cover before mulch so for the veggies, can I use same box, compost and mulch? One last thing, some part of my mulching on my pathways, I didn’t put box or. newspaper. I covered it with mulch and now weeds are growing (dollar weeds). can I cover that with paper or box again then put compost then new mulch? I hope to hear back from you. You are so nice to give us a step by step instructions and I want to see more of your success to back to eden gardening.
Victoria says
Hi Rosemarie!
Great questions. First, while you probably *could* use mulch from the hardware store (as long as it’s real wood chips) it will likely be much more expensive than seeking out mulch locally. When we priced it the cost was SIGNIFICANTLY higher than just getting them from the county. So, I would check there first. Also, fresh mulch works better and there’s not guarantee that the mulch you got from the store wouldn’t be dead. :-\
As for boxes, yes! That or even plastic bags – weeds in high water areas are tough to deal with sometimes. So you can use those on your new and old areas.
I hope that helps! Good luck!