Hugelkultur

pansyface

Has anybody tried hugelkultur? How to do you top it up or do you just let one lot die a natural death and move on to the next one? Are they any good?

Palustris

Hugelkultur is nothing more than making raised garden beds filled with rotten wood.

pansyface

Yes, but is it a superior form of raised bed with better results or is it just a lot of effort for no added value? 

jeninkent

Hi pansyface. Well I've sort-of tried it.

We borrowed the buried logs idea when we built a couple of conventional framed raised beds this year. The bottoms were dug out down to about 300mm, then backfilled with loads of branches, twigs & small logs packed in tight and trampled down, and then made very wet.

A load of grass clippings went on top, then the first of two tiers of a mix of well-rotted stable manure & topsoil (each about 200mm or so deep).

It took quite a while for the filling to completely settle due to all the voids down below, but we did get some excellent results. I would expect it to take at least 2-3 years for the woody stuff to completely break down.

I would say the most obvious benefit was the capacity to remain moist below ground. We had relatively little rain in Kent this summer.

Hugelkultur: Composting Whole Trees With Ease

http://permaculturenews.org/2012/01/04/hugelkultur-composting-whole-trees-with-ease/

Our hugelbeds under construction:

 

pansyface

Oh gosh, well done! 

It sounds like a good idea for things like runner beans.

Not so sure about it in our area now that you describe it. No shortage of rainfall here - ever.

Thanks for the reply.