Elisa, the premise of BTE is that tilling destroys the soil structure and bio life. Tilling removes the covering; the soil rapidly dries out and top soil erodes. The "magic" in the wood chips is it is a covering that first retains moisture, and secondly feeds the plants as they decompose. It's why a mulch of smaller nutrient rich branches with needles and leaves is necessary and not just chipped trunks or bark chips only. The fungi that develop in the wood chip mulch help feed the plants. The mulch develops a helper system of organisms and other plant life that assists your fruits and veggies. In turn, your plants feed them. If you till composted organic material into your main garden, I'd suggest another experiment. Set aside a small section of your MG (maybe as small as 5x10 feet) for no-till. Still don't use wood chips, but layer your organics on the top (composted manure, yard waste, etc). Paul is very specific that if you don't have wood chips, just use whatever organic materials you have. (You can even use rocks) The most important part is to create a covering and not mix it in. Layer on top. When I tilled, I had virtually no earthworm population. Now, by not tilling, I can't dig a 4 " planting hole anywhere without killing several earthworms. And my soil (mostly red clay) is always damp and soft I destroyed a small tiller in two seasons trying to break up the clay. I then rented bigger tillers that beat me up for 6-8 hours trying to a 12x40 garden in which one half barely produced b/c of the rock hard clay. And it was back just as hard in the fall as it was in the spring. So it wasn't getting easier with time. Now with the wood chips, that area stays moist and soft. Everything grows there and I save the expense of renting, tilling, and fighting the soil every season. The fact that you got 25% more production is huge. You can get that in your MG using BTE principles but without adding wood chips. Paul no longer adds wood chips to his main garden b/c of his difficulty in walking. He uses them everywhere else. But in his MG he uses compost from his chicken pen as the covering.

Thanks for all the tips & suggestions about our bunnies. Over the past few years they've been busy developing a PUD (Planned United Development) under our hydrangea hedge & annexing our plantings as community gardens. We also have deer. They will not cross the Amtrak rails to get to our penninsula. However, on hot muggy summer evenings the deer enjoy a cool swim over from Mason's Island. (I did not know deer would swim across a saltwater cove until I moved to Mystic.) They stroll around our penninsula of about 20 homes taking in the sights, peeking in our windows, & generally treating our landscapes like a Whole Foods full of pretty organic produce for dinner. Most of the time they'll stay on the garden paths but, sometimes, they mis-step & smoosh a plant (or two). When they're tired & ready to turn in for the night they swim back to the island. It appears to be a social activity. They come in groups of 3-5 deer & always leave the water at this small cut in the marsh about 100' from our property. As a certified Wildlife Habitat we can't do anything such as using pepper spray. Also can't fence & keep our certification. I'm not sure about the blood meal. We submitted our plan & had it approved using plant material that would attract both of these critters. It seems we've been successful. We even get the occassional black bear. At the time, we had no intention of attempting a veggie garden because the weather here is usually not suitable for stuff like tomatoes. We'll ponder over the winter & try again come spring. It was a fun experiment & everybody on the penninsula got a kick out of our efforts so we also provided some local amusement as well as good eats over the winter with our tomatoes. /tricia Here is a link that might be useful: Mason's Island Deer

Saija I keep my fingers crossed that you will get rain! We had a cooler week and sometimes it rained a little, but it was not enough water at all. This is a strange time, wind is still coming from the east...More hosta? There are a few special ones I will get from Renaat and Jeroen, but then it will only be a few each year or I have to give some 'not so interesting' away. It's not the small garden alone, I think I have reached my limit how much time I can spend in the garden without being stressed by it... epw0946, living in Germany makes it very easy to get some interesting hosta. I can easily order from the big nurseries in the Netherlands or from hybridizers (Valley's), I have a friend in Belgium who always has nice new plants, and there are onlineshops in Germany and Austria with a nice range of hosta,too.I know that Gary Lindheimer from Naylor is working together with the boys in Europe and he often offers interesting plants in a facebook group called Hosta Buyers Guide. There are a lot of online shops in the US where you can order great plants, The Land of the Giants, In the Country and Gifts, Hollywood Bob... Favourites? First of all Blue Angel, that is not going to change...I do like them all, part of the fascination is the wide range of colours, sizes and leaf forms that makes it easy to have so much possibilities to arrange interesting groups. I'm always rearranging the pots and the garden never looks boring :-) Claudia, Neptune und Waterslide? Schau mal hier die Bilder zum Vergleich... NeptuneWaterslide Auf den ersten Blick ziemlich ähnlich:-) I got Waterslide last year and Neptune is already 3 years in my garden. Neptune has a way of growing 'ordentlich' while Waterslide is looking kind of unruly. I will only be able to tell the real difference when both are mature.

I've just decided that I'm not going to worry about it. I'll go to the meeting and "protest" with the others, but, honestly, if they don't take our property to build anything, we will just stay here more than likely. It will not be fun being so close to a turnpike, though. My BIL said a developer will probably want our neighborhood at some point if the turnpike people don't take it. I guess, my things is--how much more do we put into this property if they'll force us out? This is not a fancy property at all OR a fancy house. We bought here because it really is just the perfect size for all we want to do. Our last house in a regular neighborhood was fancy and large, but had almost no backyard. I don't want to go into mega debt to buy a large piece of property. I'm sure we would qualify, but at our age, do we want a large house debt? We've paid this house down quite a bit since living here, plus used our money to add a 1200 sq ft. shop and do some remodeling--the entire kitchen, living, dining, and utility was gutted. The hall bath was remodeled a year ago. Tom did most of the work on the bathroom, though. Our bedrooms and other bathroom need help. The carpet and other bathroom especially. BUT, do we spend the time and money doing that? Also, just the work of adding the gardens and remodeling a 12'x16' shed into a nice coop. I just think of how much work I did on the kitchen garden--it took a couple of years to dig out all of the bermuda grass. But ya know, the local news keeps showing the same picture of Franklin NOT Indian Hills when it talks about the new turnpikes. It's the next main road to our south. To me, it makes more sense to use Franklin. Seems like there's less development. Except Toby Keith's house. lol. And his Hollywood Corners place. Oh, and the votech. We will just see what happens. Either we will stay, or we will be forced out. Whatever happens, we will bloom where we are planted. I'm not sore from my fall. Thank goodness. I might have a bruise. Once I realized I was not going to be able to stop it, I let myself just fall without tensing up. I've been sick a lot in 2022. It's like the first year I worked with children--was literally sick half the year. Maybe our immune systems were weakened from not being exposed for a couple of years. It's like starting over. What is everyone up to this weekend?