Starting a new hugelkultur bed

On a whim, the boys and I started our new hugelkultur bed today. It's far from finished, but here's our start.

We've been gathering branches, sticks, and brush from our yard and from one neighbor so far that wanted to share the product of their yard cleanup. Here's a picture of our pile:

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It started the day about five feet tall with a ten foot wide base. There is also a grass pile about four feet in diameter and a foot high. We decided to sort it out by size. Small branches about an inch wide and under, medium branches one to three inches, and large logs three to ten inches.

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My goal over here is to have somewhat of a mandala garden where we can walk into one spot and be surrounded by plants on three sides. It makes for a very space-efficient setup from a harvest perspective. With that in mind, I am setting up our starter bed in the shape of a capital "E" on the north side of our yard. I'm going for four by eight foot legs, which will give us approximately 160 square feet of gardening space. That's not considering the roundness of the mounds increasing the effective grow area though.

I decided we'd start today not out of impatience, but to get a better idea how much more material we're going to need. So I started the base and used my large and medium logs for it. Here's what we ended up with for today:

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We're gonna need more wood...

We'll have more wood coming this fall. Lots of trees to trim and one mature oak to fell completely. We found out it is damaged and partially rotted at the base. The tree hangs entirely over our house, so we'll cut it down piece by piece this fall and winter before it falls on the house. Not going to be an easy job, but it'll be rewarding for sure. Depending on how much brush we're able to scrounge between now and then, it may be made into it's own bed.

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I'd really like to build up the beds three feet high before we cover them with soil. That would be some serious organic matter in there. The more the better. These things are nothing short of paradise for worms and other organic soil activity. Of course, we'll probably import some hay and straw in the form of a big round bale. That'll get us some here, some for mulch and compost, and some to be used as bedding for the chickens.

While moving logs to the area for the bed, there was already a lot of life to be seen. Worms, fungus, and other life abounds!

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It's going to be a while til we make more progress on this bed, but it'll be worth the wait. As it sits there, this wood is going to settle and soak up water and attract worms! I figure we'll start pruning and felling trees around Christmas. That'll give the leaves time to fall and the trees time to go dormant. I have read that thats the best time to prune because it wont be as traumatizing to the tree or cause it to bleed much. Makes sense.

This bed, at about 160 square feet, will almost double the north side growing area, which was our first project on this property at 89 square feet. Itll be our biggest bed, at double the area of our south hugel. A big piece of progress for sure. In a while (five or more years) it'll all be turned into some of the best soil imaginable. I can't wait to see it in action next year!

Anyone else making or growing on a hugelkultur bed? I want to see! Make a post about it so you can increase your audience and earnings, then drop the link in the comments here! I want to see!

Stay relevant

Nate


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Thanks! Wow, that was really cool, I appreciate it!

On a whim....I find it fascinating what we homesteaders do "on a whim". This would certainly not be a whimsical move of mine but I am watching your hugelkultur posts with interest @nateonsteemit

It's all a series of semi-planned experiments.

The first hugel bed was buried and only had wood and grass in it. This one is going to be entirely above ground with grass, pine needles, wood, and a bit of compost. Probably leaves too.

Just playing with the carrying options at this point to see what happens :)

Interesting to see how differently they progress as well as the end result

We'll certainly be posting along the way! Its a big adventure for us. @mariannewest says that using the compost (the main engine in it is chicken manure) will help the bed be more productive from the onset, but will decrease the life of the bed. Under normal circumstances, I've read the life of one of these things is seven years. At that point, it is supposed to be the richest soil you can get. If the life of the bed is decreased even in half, we'll still see amazing benefit and amazing soil, so I don't see how either way is a bad thing.

That is really amazing! And as you say even half the life is excellent. I guess with a number of beds you can play around

That will be fun!! Just make sure you layer enough earth with the wood. I didn't for my first one. Live and learn LOL

howdy sir nateonsteemit! wow that looks like work to me! cutting down trees is a ton of work for sure but you gotta do it.

I'd love to know more about hugelkultur as well... tag me with progress or if you find other posts here!!!!

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@paulwheaton has a MASSIVE hugel bed. He's new to steem, but not permaculture.

Awesome!!! Thanks for the tip!!!!

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