Learn why we chose to make hugelkultur gardens on our island property. How we built them, and how they are growing 1 and 4 years later.
I first learned about hugelkultur gardening when I worked as a coordinator for a school gardening program delivered at six local schools. One of the gardens had three beautiful hugelkultur gardens perfectly designed for children. They had mixed crops of strawberries, kale, and calendula. Everything was self-seeding and self-propagating. It was perfect.
When we bought our cottage property, one of our goals was to create a garden. However, the entire property was rock and clay, all gardens would need to be built above ground.
To get us started, I bought Edible Landscaping With A Permaculture Twist by Michael Judd
We started our first hugelkultur mound our first year on the island. Our plot had a lot of scrubby trees that needed to be taken down (or had been blown down). These were perfect for building soil in our above-ground gardens!
Why We Chose Hugelkultur Gardens
I am definitely not THE authority on hugelkultur gardening. However, I can share our experiences. Here are the reasons why we chose this gardening method in combination with lasagna gardening.
- Soil building: Our property is all rock and clay. We need to build soil for our gardens. The trees we needed to take down either because they were hazards or located on our building site were a free source of carbon for our garden.
- Water retention: Hugelkultur gardens require less water. The rotting wood naturally holds in moisture. Perfect for our remote gardening location.
- No fuss: I didn’t expect our garden mounds to be a no-fuss way to garden. But it is! The mounds seem to have fewer issues with slugs and weeds than I would have expected. We’ve also chosen perpetual crops that can be self-propagated for the ultimate no-fuss garden experience.
- Eco-friendly: Composting the scrubby trees was better than burning them in a bonfire or sending them off to the dump. A no-fuss way to clean up the yard!
How To Make A Hugelkultur Bed
There are three ways to set up a hugelkultur bed –> Dug into the soil, on top of existing grass, or on top of infertile ground.
The best option is to start building your bed in a trench. This improves water capture and retention. It also helps the microbe in the soil move into your wood. Obviously, this wasn’t an option for us, so we simply built our beds on top of the rock/clay that forms much of our property.
There are lots of graphics on the internet showing the layers in a hugelkultur bed. In my opinion, there are 6 keys factors to a successful mound garden:
- Use what you have: There’s no need to buy wood for a mound garden. This is about cleaning up your yard and turning it into a garden.
- Avoid wood that doesn’t break down well: Hardwood like walnut will take a long time to compost. Cedar has tannins that will slow down the rotting. Stick with wood that will rot nicely.
- Large to small: Largest pieces of wood on the bottom and work your way up to smaller branches and twigs.
- Composting layer: After you’ve built a mound with wood and branches, cover it with material that will compost nicely. This can be kitchen compost, manure, straw, leaves. Whatever you have will work!
- Soil: If you want to plant right away, top the mound off with a few inches of soil. This will naturally slide off the sides, so we only put soil on top of the mounds.
- Mulch or plant: You can plant certain types of crops right away — those with small root systems. If you aren’t going to plant right away, mulch the top of the mound to prevent the soil from washing away.
Gardening Tips
The wood and logs will take several years to break down enough to be planted like a regular garden bed. In our case, it took 4 years before we were able to plant crops in the bed. However, you don’t have to wait that long to start gardening! Here’s how to garden right away (or 1 year later).
–> Choose crops with shallow roots that don’t require trellising or support.
–> Expect to water frequently the first summer. Until the bed starts rotting, the topsoil will dry out easily. It’s raised up above the ground.
We’re now up to four hugelkultur beds.
- The first bed is planted with snap peas that are left to trail down the side of the mound, flowers, and self-seeding kale.
- The second bed is planted with salad greens (chard, arugula, nasturtiums) that are left to self-seed.
- Our third bed is just peas (our favorite crop, that we plant in succession).
- The last bed is planted with a mix of wild strawberries and running strawberries.
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