From Turf/Food Not Lawns, Lasagna Gardening, to Hugelkultur!!!
Say what?! Why is Hugelkultur, ‘hoogel kultoor,’ considered a Permaculture* technique? It resuses logs – freshly downed or old, wood debris right in place. It fits the needs of the land – less to no water, self fertilizing soil building! ‘Hugel’ means hill in German. In this case, steep is good, tall makes for easier harvesting! It is another form of composting in place, or building a raised bed, with more benefits, concentrating heat and nutrients! Sepp Holzer has used the technique, but never called it Hugelkultur. His wonderful method is diagrammed in the image.
Paul Wheaton at RichSoil.com explains it simply:
‘Hugelkultur is nothing more than making raised garden beds filled with rotten wood. This makes for raised garden beds loaded with organic material, nutrients, air pockets for the roots of what you plant, etc. As the years pass, the deep soil of your raised garden bed becomes incredibly rich and loaded with soil life. As the wood shrinks, it makes more tiny air pockets – so your hugelkultur becomes sort of self tilling. The first few years, the composting process will slightly warm your soil giving you a slightly longer growing season. The woody matter helps to keep nutrient excess from passing into the ground water – and then refeeding that to your garden plants later. Plus, by holding SO much water, hugelkultur could be part of a system for growing garden crops in the desert with no irrigation.’ He does caution about what kinds of woods not to use, and recommends the best ones to use.
Holzer’s diagram shows one log. At Wheaton’s site the diagrams show a veritable lumber yard pile! Gradually the pile decomposes making super nutrients! Lay down your logs – don’t be shy, stack ‘em deep, twigs, branches as per the images. Fill with dry brown leaves if you have them. If you are taking up sod, turf, lay it over the top of the logs upside down, cover with soil! Plant!You can make borders if you wish – dense hardwood logs, stones you removed from the soil you gathered. There are so many terrific ways to vary making a Hugelkultur garden! Use what you have about, do what fits your site needs. With urban neighbors nearby or woodlands, street side to backyard, it works! Start small, add some each year, or do huge if you have the materials available!
This might not be a project to start at the beginning of a rainy season. Now would be excellent! Get some plants on the mound right away. Vines with big leaves are terrific to protect the soil from washing away, let the soil settle, get the system percolating. Squash, cucumbers, melons, pumpkins. Use some allysum as filler.
Perfect in areas short on water because after it’s established, the first two years, it needs NO irrigation! It is self feeding, no fertilizer needed!
Lawns to slopes! Hugelkultur terraces act like mini bioswales to slow, spread and sink rainwater! That’s Hugelkultur farmer Glenn Kangiser’s planted slope in the image below! Would love to see your images if you give it a go!
See all the details, and Paul Wheaton’s thoughtful therapy on how to talk with your skeptical friends and neighbors, and tons of images! Click on every image to go to a thread about it! Marvelous inspiring ideas! I used to say garden anywhere, now I’m saying Garden EVERYwhere!* “Permaculture uses ecological design to build self-sufficient human systems that meet our needs while regenerating and healing the natural environment. Central to the practice of permaculture are three core ethics, taken from the study of cultures which have traditionally lived in balance with nature: care for the earth, care for people, share the surplus.” Permaculture Guild of Santa Barbara, sbperm2006@googlegroups.com
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I like this, but I don’t think we have enough logs. Or rain, to naturally decompose the hill. At the same time I applaud everyone who composts.
Dan, I hear you! This might be one of those times when you don’t use the hardwoods! We do have plenty of materials from arborists/tree cutters. And they do say you need to water the pile the first two years. After that, it’s probably true the system runs itself. Since I garden at Pilgrim Terrace Community Garden, I’m sure they won’t let me try a project of such size, so I can’t try it or give a personal experience report! I would love to hear from any others of you who have done Hugelkultur, or are in progress in the Santa Barbara area!
I too applaud everyone who composts! There is nothing like building fabulous organic soil! Thanks, Dan!