Misc/Chat Hugelkultur

[TerriHaute]

Has anyone here tried the hügelkultur method of gardening? If so, I'd love to hear how it worked out for you. I have always been fascinated by it but never tried it in the past. Last summer and fall, DH cut and split two years worth of firewood because a friend was clearing a building lot and gave us all the trees. The side result was a big mound of bark, sticks, wood chips, and trimmings that DH stacked at the edge of my garden. It would be pretty easy to cover it with dirt and turn it into a hügelkultur bed.

Here's an article for folks who have never heard of hügelkultur.

The Many Benefits of Hugelkultur

No-dig raised beds with a difference – great for building fertility, holding moisture, maximising surface volume and for growing fruit, vegetables and herbs in even small gardens.

www.permaculture.co.uk

 

[packyderms_wife]

Has anyone here tried the hügelkultur method of gardening? If so, I'd love to hear how it worked out for you. I have always been fascinated by it but never tried it in the past. Last summer and fall, DH cut and split two years worth of firewood because a friend was clearing a building lot and gave us all the trees. The side result was a big mound of bark, sticks, wood chips, and trimmings that DH stacked at the edge of my garden. It would be pretty easy to cover it with dirt and turn it into a hügelkultur bed.

Here's an article for folks who have never heard of hügelkultur.

The Many Benefits of Hugelkultur

No-dig raised beds with a difference – great for building fertility, holding moisture, maximising surface volume and for growing fruit, vegetables and herbs in even small gardens.

www.permaculture.co.uk

IIRC there's a thread here that China Connection started, he was trying it IIRC before his place got burned out in that huge fire in Oz.

 

[Masterphreak]

That's what I tried to do with my beds when I built them last summer. I used pressure-treated lumber for the frames and posts and then scavenged pallets for the planks to cover the panels. The pallet rails, mostly oak, went into the beds and got buried for future decomposition.



Here's from this last weekend.



Hard to believe this was 3 weeks ago.

 

[Marie]

I wanted to try it but DH thinks it's bologna

 

[BenIan]

I have a one year old 20 ft x 6 ft hugelbeet. I did not dig down, just stacked oak logs in a row and then some chopped brush and branches on top. I then put a layer of purchased composted garden soild on top and then just planted into it. I kind of used it as a experimental bed and just threw everything in there from seeds, to extra seedlings, to older plant that I dug out of the garden. Greens have done very well (mustard, kale, lettuce). I grew daikon radish, and some carrots and turnips. I even grew a sorghum plant. It appears to be doing very well so this year I planted some corn in the top. We'll see how it goes.

 

[moldy]

I would worry it would be snake heaven.

 

[TerriHaute]

That's what I tried to do with my beds when I built them last summer. I used pressure-treated lumber for the frames and posts and then scavenged pallets for the planks to cover the panels. The pallet rails, mostly oak, went into the beds and got buried for future decomposition.

View attachment 255869

Here's from this last weekend.

View attachment 255870

Hard to believe this was 3 weeks ago.

Looks great! Let us know how it goes. I'd love to see photos after you get the beds planted and hear how your yield turns out.

 

[TerriHaute]

I would worry it would be snake heaven.

Snakes are welcome here, they keep the mouse population down. They are scarce though, we have a lot of hawks. I tried putting some realistic-looking rubber snakes around my strawberry bed to discourage the birds and the hawks kept grabbing them.

 

[Masterphreak]

Looks great! Let us know how it goes. I'd love to see photos after you get the beds planted and hear how your yield turns out.

Here is one of them from last July. Had so many tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, onions, lettuce, and some beans too. Also had some 4 o'clock flowers planted in the corners to kill off the Japanese beetles and keep them away from my basil.

Probably won't see much benefit to the buried wood for a couple more season yet. The 2 ft high beds sure are nice for weeding and other stuff. Don't have to bend over hardly at all.

 

[dioptase]

I haven't tried it (and probably won't, at least not on this present property), but I seem to recall that you may need to throw some fertilizer in there. (I think somebody tried it without fertilizer and got poor results.)

 

[Freeholder]

I did one hugelkultur bed when we were in the high desert in Eastern Oregon. I would have done more, but we didn't have access to much suitable wood there. The bed I did was a flower bed on one side of the front steps; there was an identical bed on the other side of the front steps, so I was able to do some comparison. I didn't mound up -- didn't have enough wood to do that. I just layered what wood I had in the bottom of the bed, then put soil on top. I didn't see a lot of difference in how well things grew -- likely we should have added some fertilizer. What I did see a difference in was how much water the two beds needed. The hugulkultur bed needed probably half the water that the control bed required. In the area where we were, this alone would make it worth doing, if you could find enough suitable wood.

Kathleen

 

[China Connection]

Done the hügelkultur thing. Would not do it again if I could get wood chips.

Wood chip settles more evenly. I don't use the chip until it was starting to hold water well.