hugelkultur: the ultimate raised garden bedsrichsoil.com /hugelkultur/

hugelkultur raised garden beds in a nutshellgrow a typical garden without irrigation or fertilizationhas been demonstrated to work in deserts as well as backyardsuse up rotting wood, twigs, branches and even whole trees that would otherwise go to the dumpor be burnedit is pretty much nothing more than buried woodcan be flush with the ground, although raised garden beds are typically bettercan start small, and be added to latercan always be small - although bigger is betterYou can save the world from global warming by doing carbon sequestration in your own backyard!perfect for places that have had trees blown over by stormscan help end world hungergive a gift to your future self

the verbose details on hugelkultur bedsraised garden bed hugelkulturafter one month

raised garden bed hugelkulturafter one year

raised garden bed hugelkulturafter two years

raised garden bed hugelkulturafter twenty years

It's a german word and somepeople can say it all german-ish.I'm an american doofus, so I say"hoogle culture". I had to spendsome time with google to find theright spelling. Hugal, hoogal,huegal, hugel .... And I really likesaying it out loud: "hugelkultur,hoogle culture, hoogal kulture ...."- it could be a chant or something.

I learned this high-falootin word atmy permaculture training. I alsosaw it demonstrated on the SeppHolzer terraces and raised beds

video - he didn't call it hugelkultur, but he was doing it.

Hugelkultur is nothing more thanmaking raised garden beds filledwith rotten wood. This makes forraised garden beds loaded withorganic material, nutrients, airpockets for the roots of what youplant, etc. As the years pass, thedeep soil of your raised gardenbed becomes incredibly rich andloaded with soil life. As the woodshrinks, it makes more tiny airpockets - so your hugelkulturbecomes sort of self tilling. Thefirst few years, the compostingprocess will slightly warm your soilgiving you a slightly longergrowing season. The woodymatter helps to keep nutrientexcess from passing into theground water - and then refeedingthat to your garden plants later.Plus, by holding SO much water,hugelkultur could be part of asystem for growing garden cropsin the desert with no irrigation.

I do think there are someconsiderations to keep in mind.For example, I don't think I woulduse cedar. Cedar lasts so longbecause it is loaded with naturalpesticides/herbicides/anti-fungal/anti-microbial (remember,good soil has lots of fungal andmicrobial stuff). Not a good mix fortomatoes or melons, eh? Blacklocust, black cherry, black walnut?These woods have issues. Blacklocust won't rot - I think because itis so dense. Black walnut is verytoxic to most plants, and cherry is toxic to animals, but it might be okay when it rots - but I wouldn't useit until I had done the research. Known excellent woods are: alders, apple, cottonwood, poplar, willow(dry) and birch. I suspect maples would be really good too, but am not certain. Super rotten wood isbetter than slightly aged wood. The best woods are even better when they have been cut the same day(this allows you to "seed" the wood with your choice of fungus - shitake mushrooms perhaps?).

Another thing to keep in mind is that wood is high in carbon and will consume nitrogen to do thecompost thing. This could lock up the nitrogen and take it away from your growies. But well rotted wooddoesn't do this so much. If the wood is far enough along, it may have already taken in sooooo muchnitrogen, that it is now putting it out!

Pine and fir will have some levels of tanins in them, but I'm guessing that most of that will be gonewhen the wood has been dead for a few years.

In the drawings at right, the artist is trying to show that while the wood decomposes and shrinks, theleaves, duff and accumulating organic matter from above will take it's place. The artist is showing thenew organic matter as a dark green.

building themraised garden beds on top of sod -the soil comes from somewhere else

raised garden beds dug in a bit -note the sod is put upside down on the woodand the topsoil is on top of that

raised garden beds dug in a bit -plus paths are dug on the sides andthat sod/soil goes on top too

I find I most often build hugelkultur in places wherethe soil is shallow. So I end up finding excess soilfrom somewhere else on the property and piling iton some logs. Presto! Instant raised garden beds!This is usually the easiest/fastest way too.Especially if you have earth moving equipment.

For those times that the soil is deep and you aremoving the soil by hand, I like to dig up the sodand dig down a foot or two. Then pile in the wood.Then put the sod on top of the wood, upside-down.Then pile the topsoil on top of that. Even better isto figure out where the paths will be, and dig downthere too. Add two layers of sod onto the logs andthen the double topsoil.

I have discovered that a lot of people areuncomfortable with the idea of raised bed gardens.They have seen the large flat gardens for yearsand are sure this is the way to do it. Some peopleare okay with raised beds that are three to sixinches tall - they consider anything taller than that unsightly.

So this is gonna sound crazy, but I hope to convince you that the crazy-sounding stuff is worth it.

If you build your hugelkultur raised garden beds tall enough, you won't have to irrigate. At all (after thesecond year). No hoses. No drip system. Anything shorter won't require as much irrigation - so there isstill some benefit. Imagine going on vacation in the summer without having to hire somebody to killwater your garden! As a further bonus, the flavor of everything you grow will be far better!

To go all summer long without a drop of rain, you need to build your hugelkultur raised bed gardens ....six feet tall. But they'll shrink! Mostly in the first month. Which is why I suggest you actually build themseven feet tall.

Hugelkultur raised garden beds can be built just two feet tall and will hold moisture for about threeweeks. Not quite as good, but more within the comfort zone of many people - including urbanneighbors.

Some people will start out with hugelkultur raised garden beds that are two and a half feet tall and plantonly annuals. And each year they will build the size of the bed a foot. So that after a few years, they willhave the bigger beds and the neighbors never really noticed. And if they've tasted what comes from it -they might be all for it without caring about the big mounds.

Besides, isn't this much better use of the wood than hauling it to the dump, or chipping it, or putting it inthose big city bins for yard waste?

different kinds of hugel bedsI usually build hugelkulture raised garden beds about five feet wide. This makes for some mighty steepbeds. Just pack that soil on tight and plant it with a mix of heavy rooted plants to hold it all together.Quick! Before it rains! If you are going to build beds shorter than three feet tall, I suggest that you makethe beds no wider than four feet wide. Unless you are doing keyhole style raised garden beds, in whichcase you should be able to get away with something wider.

standardhugelkulturraised gardenbeds

narrowerhugelkulturraised gardenbeds

peakedhugelkulturraised gardenbeds

hugelkultur raisedgarden beds with astone border

hugelkultur raisedgarden beds with alog border

the real dealHere is my video of several hugelkultur raised beds, both small garden scale, and large farm scale -one has nearly a kilometer of hugelkultur!

The hugelkultur raised garden beds below were built in an urban lot between the curb and the sidewalk(sometimes called a parking strip). The final raised garden bed is about two feet tall. The beds areabout six feet wide with keyholes. There is rotted maple on the inside and black locust (will rot in about70 years) on the outside:

(click on an image to see a larger size)

Many more hugelkultur raised garden beds (click on the image tosee a larger image, more images and the story for the image):

Here is a video I made of a group of us making a hugelkulture raisedgarden bed shaped as a sun trap:

Here is another video I made of Mark Vander Meer talking about athree foot tall bed and how little water the riparian species need:

Here is sod that was piled in the spring and had some tomato plantsstuck in it. It was not irrigated all summer. The tomatoes not onlysurvived, but they are delicious. Winter frost should hit any day.

hugelkultur raised beds FAQMy HOA won't allow anything like that, what do I do? (my neighborswould freak out, what do I do?)

There are many possibilities. Some people dig a trench five feet deep, fill that with organic matter andhave something that is either flush with the surface or it appearsto be only one foot tall (which is in the comfort zone of neighborsand HOA folk). Other people will build something that is 18 incheshigh the first year, and add a foot each year. Still others will haveso many neighbors build them all at once that it is difficult thebuck the tide. And then there is always the back yard.

I have standing trees that are about to be cut down. I don't wantto have a bunch of logs sitting around until they are old to be usedfor raised garden beds. What do I do?

The wood doesn't have to be old to be used. In fact, it is evenbetter when fresh!

Do I need a wood chipper/shredder?

No. This style of raised garden beds works much better if thewood is not chipped. So much more peaceful and less smelly too!

How do I till it every spring?

Once the raised garden bed is built, you don't ever till it.As the wood breaks down inside the bed, it will sorta-kinda till its insides itself. And with a really tall, reallysteep raised garden bed, nobody will step on it, so thesoil will not become compacted.

I'm 81 years old. Does this make gardening less work?

More work to set up. But less work as the years pass.Planting and harvesting should be easier since you won'thave to bend down as much. On the second year andbeyond, all irrigation and fertilization will be eliminated -so that's less work. When combined with permacultureand polyculture techniques, you can even eliminateplanting seeds, so that in the end, all you ever do isharvest.

What will this do to the flavor of the food?

It will make for stronger flavor. Especially for fruits. Expectfar more flavor in tomatoes and berries.

large scale hugelkulturSo I guess a person could think of the wood used inhugelkultur as "wild compost"! Available in twig, stick and logsizes!

So I popped on out to my local hugelkultur store and I saw this:

Yummy! I'm guessing that somebody did some thinning and stacked this to use for firewood in thefuture. Only they never came back and got it. So the years passed and the wood rotted ...

I took most of it and put it on my tractor:

I left stuff that was so rotten that it would not transport well. Besides, it's going to do some good for theforest if not for my raised beds.

Instant raised bed! Just lay down wood, and cover with dirt! That's all there is to it! Just two easy steps!

That's a hurky big bed! It will probabably be about 1/3 the size a year from now. Then we'll place rocksaround it and rework it a little into a slightly more elegant raised bed. This year: potatoes!

More? Comments? See the hugelkultur raised garden beds threadArtwork by Daniel Van Tassell

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hugelkultur: the ultimate raised garden bedshugelkultur raised garden beds in a nutshellthe verbose details on hugelkultur bedsbuilding themdifferent kinds of hugel bedsthe real dealhugelkultur raised beds FAQlarge scale hugelkulturMore? Comments? See the hugelkultur raised garden beds threadThanks!