Nicole Johnsey Burke explains why keeping soil covered cuts watering and weeding in half while boosting harvests. Six weeks after planting, there should be no visible bare soil. This simple rule preserves nutrients, reduces maintenance, and fixes the three problems that tank most gardens.
Chapters
These three words will completely change the way that you garden. Now, most people think that garden success is based on having a green thumb, having the perfect land and property, or living in the best climate. But I can tell you for a fact that these three words were the secret to their garden success. So these three words are going to fix the three biggest problems that all gardeners face. The first big problem that all of us face is the massive amount of tending that is needed in the garden. We find ourselves soon after we plant, having to be out in the garden watering every single day. The minute we water, it looks like the soil dried up, the plants took up all that water, and it's time to pull out the hose and do it again. Then we come back to the garden, and instead of the plant that we've been watering, thriving and growing, we see weeds growing instead of the plants that we planted. This not only feels exhausting to us, but our lack of watering or weeding starts to really wear on the garden too. Which leads me to the second biggest problem we all face, which is nutrients in the garden soil. So every single thing that we plant in our garden, every single stage of the plant's growth, depends on the nutrients inside the soil. And the soil is losing its nutrients. And every time it's exposed to the elements, things like rain and wind and bright sunshine. Every time your soil is exposed to sunshine or weather, it's slowly losing the nutrients that your plants desperately need. And it can be exhausting to feel like you've always got to find some new fertilizer or nutrient or amendment to add back to the soil to be sure your plants have what they need. This costs a lot of money, can stress out your plants, and can also decrease production. Which leads me to the third biggest problem. The third challenge that most gardeners face is getting enough production out of their garden to make it feel worth it. If they're tugging the hose across the yard to keep it watered and pulling out weeds constantly and then adding in amendments and fertilizers to keep the soil healthy. They want to have some kind of harvest to show for all that hard work. But without understanding these three words in the garden, the. The production that you actually experience in the day to day from your garden can be super disappointing for most of us. We either had to wait way too long to get a harvest, or our harvest was taken from pests and disease, or by the end of the season, all we've got to show for it is a half empty harvest basket. But these three words, they will fix all Those problems, all the weeding and watering, the fertilizing and amending, and the less than impressive harvests, those three words are no bare soil. When I first started gardening, I had tons of bare soil in my garden because I followed all the rules that were listed on the plant tags and on the back of my seed packages. I was going to follow the rules and do what the pros told me to do because I had no idea how to plant my garden. So every day with my plants properly spaced, with my seeds properly spaced, I was out there with the hose watering all the blank spaces. But instead of those plants thriving, weeds popped up. And then every single week or two, I felt like I needed to add fertilizer or amend the soil because it looked like it was drying out, it was turning into sand. And then at the end of the season, I might have five tomatoes left after the raccoon got all its share. But there wasn't anything else in my harvest basket. It only took me a few seasons of failure to figure out if I was going to stay in this gardening game. I was going to have to change the rules. And that's when I started planting my own way. I set this rule for myself that six weeks after planting, I would have no bare soil in the garden. If I looked like a bird down on the garden, I didn't want to see any patch of bare soil in between my plants. And that method of gardening completely changed the success I have in my own garden and and the success of my garden students. I made an entire video that breaks down this exact planting method so that you can learn how to do it, too, and have no bare soil in your garden. You can watch the video right here.
