Back to Eden Gardening and Hugelkulture and other non-conventional garden methods

[HoopyFrood]

I've heard - but not tried this myself! - that if you call the tree management company that your local power company uses they MIGHT be happy to drop chips off for you

But maybe these days more tree folks are thinking that dumping wood chips is a liability?

 

[lazy gardener]

The first piles I used were there about 8 months, I believe. However I didn't inspect them sooner so the worms could have been there in shorter order. I'm in Northern Indiana if that makes any difference.

Also - piles need to be on the ground while aging. Now on cement, etc.

 

[pennyJo1960]

I've heard - but not tried this myself! - that if you call the tree management company that your local power company uses they MIGHT be happy to drop chips off for you

But maybe these days more tree folks are thinking that dumping wood chips is a liability?

I think allot of good things have gone by the wayside for that very reason

 

[Back to Eden Chickens]

Hey everyone,

I'm hoping to join in this thread if that is okay. I'm not able to read all 49 pages of the previous discussions but looking forward to participating going forward and share updates on my garden/orchard.

I moved to the coast of NC for a new job last January and we bought a house around April. I had been gardening for the last few years but never had as much land as this property (.5 acre) so I started doing more gardening research and started to learn more about back to eden so I decided this was what I wanted to do.

Although I have a lot of space there was a lot of work to be done to make it usable for gardening. There were lots of big pine trees that I would need to remove to have enough sunlight and space for gardening. In the process of removing the trees I learned about Hugelkultures and thought this was a great solution for making use of some of these trees I was cutting down aside from all the wood chips I'd have.

I've posted a couple of pics of the Hugelkulture. After piling the logs and branches, I first covered with a thick layer of wood chips, then covered with a thick layer of leaf mold/compost. I'm able to get as much leaf compost as I want from the local dump/recycling place. When they pick up leafs from the curbs in the fall it goes in the big pile and its free for anyone to come get. It's good stuff. So far I've planted strawberries on the mound and in a couple months I'll add some more summer annuals.

In the same area beside the Hugelkulture I also have some muscadine grape vines that were already on the property. I've planted blackberries, blueberries, and rasberries in this area also.

On the opposite side of my yard I have my orchard area. I've planted about 25 bare root trees so far. Different varieties of peaches, apples and plums plus a couple of figs and a mulberry in other places. The plan is to keep them pruned small and have many varieties for different harvest times and also different chill hour requirements so I may have some that do good some years and others that do good other years. This area had 3 big trees that took up the whole space before. I cut them down, then covered the entire area with cardboard and wood chips. I plan to also plant some perennials and annuals throughout this area too like a food forest.

Then I have my main garden area for annuals, although i have some blueberries here as well. It's a little bigger than what you can see here but this is the setup. I made beds of the leaf compost and then covered it all with wood chips.

I planted some potatoes under the wood chips back in the fall and they are already sprouting up. I've got a ton of pepper and tomatoes plants started in pots and will transplant most of them here come late March or April.

My next goal is to try to get more wood chips dropped off this spring once the trees have leaves on them and apply more wood chips in all of these areas.

Looking forward to posting more updates this year and seeing other peoples' gardens.

 

[1cock2hens]

@Back to Eden Chickens that looks wonderful! welcome to the thread, I am a hug fan of hugelkulture and have several beds myself. cant wait to see your updates later on in the year.

 

[HoopyFrood]

@Back to Eden Chickens Welcome! And your garden and orchard are looking great!

I have not delved too far into BTE yet, I'm juggling several research projects simultaneously But from what I've gathered so far, it sounds pretty solid and your work looks spot on. I've been studying Fukuoka's natural farming and many of the techniques and aspirations are similar.

One thing I've learned from natural farming and I'm wondering in regards to BTE: what if you plant perennial clover in your BTE wood chips where crops are not actively grown? Certain white clover varieties can live for 5 years or more (to say nothing of volunteering), fix nitrogen (speeding the incorporation of the woody material into the soil), are shade tolerant and low-growing. Fukuoka made white clover one the main component in his commercial citrus orchard ground cover.

I'm doing several experiments this season; one of them is a 40'x40' plot that is covered in rotted wood fibers, rotted wood chips and rotted sawdust. I'm going to try to grow a green manure mix on it that's heavy on Dutch white clover. I hope to do six other plots of the same size growing other green manure mixtures (but without the rotted wood products - I ran out) all of which should build soil, but should reveal which green manures have a natural tendency to do well on my neglected soil.

I'm also planning on starting an apple "orchard" of about 10-15 standard sized apple trees this season. The plot experiments are meant to "divine" the ideal orchard ground cover as well.

I'm very interested to hear updates on your gardens and orchard!

 

[pennyJo1960]

welcome to the thread there we are a happy to have all

 

[Back to Eden Chickens]

I'm pretty sure any type of ground cover / nitrogen fixing plants you can get to grow in your wood chips / mulch is beneficial. I watch all kinds of permaculture/food forest videos and ground cover is definitely part of it all. One of the reasons I planted strawberries on my hugelkuture was the fact that they will spread with runners and hopefully make a good covering over the mound to keep in moisture and prevent erosion.

I just ordered some pigeon pea seeds online after reading about how great this plant is. Supposed to be very hardy, easy to grow, the entire plant is edible, the peas have up to 25% protein, so would make great chicken food, and it's nitrogen fixing and grows pretty fast.

 

[HoopyFrood]

I'm pretty sure any type of ground cover / nitrogen fixing plants you can get to grow in your wood chips / mulch is beneficial. I watch all kinds of permaculture/food forest videos and ground cover is definitely part of it all. One of the reasons I planted strawberries on my hugelkuture was the fact that they will spread with runners and hopefully make a good covering over the mound to keep in moisture and prevent erosion.

I just ordered some pigeon pea seeds online after reading about how great this plant is. Supposed to be very hardy, easy to grow, the entire plant is edible, the peas have up to 25% protein, so would make great chicken food, and it's nitrogen fixing and grows pretty fast.

You might want to update your location on your profile (to whatever degree you're comfortable with)... so much of growing depends on your location climate

I had never heard of pigeon peas, very interesting! Sounds like the perennial ones are only hardy down to USDA Z9 or so, a shame... I'm in 4B. But I always like to learn about new plants! I'm looking at various field peas to fulfill the role an annual pigeon pea would fill.

I'm also trying to combine layers of nursery trees and supporting/diversifying shrubs with the apple trees in the orchard. Black locust as nursery trees... Siberian pea shrub and silverberry are supporting shrubs I'm very excited to start experimenting with both in the orchard and in our chicken's garden. I'm hoping to cultivate several things that can be used as soil/plant food AND chicken food AND human food. Fun stuff!

 

[Back to Eden Chickens]

I'm around the border of zone 8a/8b. The pigeon peas may not make it through my winters but if they do well I'll reseed them each spring I guess. I haven't grown many peas before so maybe their not much different but what I read was how prolific they were and could actually serve as trellis support for other vegetables like tomatoes.

I'm also going to plant some comfrey all around. It has deep tap roots that pull up lots of minerals from the ground its good for chop and drop or animal fodder as well. It dies back in winter but comes back in spring on its own. I really like the idea of having lots of perennials that come back year after year without replanting.

I'm even thinking about saving some pepper plants this year after the summer, repotting them in containers and keeping them alive through winter. Maybe try just 2 or 3 this year and see how it goes.