Author: 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!
In 2016 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, but recommended) 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 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!
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!
RELATED: Common Gardening Terms Explained!
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!
>> Get the COMPLETE Guide to Back to Eden Gardening NOW!
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!).
Ultimately, the Back to Eden Gardening method is perfect for anyone who wants to grow their own food without the hassle of weeding or watering all the time. Start your food freedom journey today!
Get the Complete Guide for Starting and Perfecting Your Back to Eden Garden Today!
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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.
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!
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.
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.
This is GOLD Tamara! I can’t wait to get signed up on that site. Thank you for the tip!
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?
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!
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.
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!
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.
Fabulous!! I can’t wait to see how it goes for you!
I’m wondering about pest and plant diseases, how do you deal with those in this garden method ?
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!
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!
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!