Hügelkultur Raised Beds

[gtaus]

I just finished building my fourth pallet wood raised bed v2.0 in the garage this winter! Here is a picture of one of them standing upright to take up less space in the garage (all the pallet wood raised beds look pretty much the same)....

Those pallet wood raised beds are basically 4X4 foot and 16 inches high. That makes good use of the pallet material I take apart and rebuild into these beds.

It is still winter where I live, with more snow in the forecast for tomorrow, but the days are getting longer, and warmer, and it will not be long before I will be setting up those 4 new hügelkultur raised beds out in the backyard. I am looking forward to that.

I stated my goal this year was to build four new raised beds, with the expectations that I would probably only get maybe two new beds built. If I get half-done of what I want, that is usually pretty good for me. But I surprised myself and completed all four new raised beds long before springtime planting!

 

[gtaus]

Deep Hügelkultur Raised Bed with Worm Towers

Here is a nice instructional YouTube video on making a deep hügelkultur raised bed and adding worm towers in the design. If that is of interest to you, check out this 24-minute-long video...

Years ago, I attempted to have a worm bin inside the house. Long story short, I overfed the worms, the bin went bad, and all the worms died. But maybe something like this worm towers in a raised bed would work for me.

 

[akroberts1085]

Gtaus that was very interesting and informative. I have decided to use pots this year and hopefully next year I can get what I need to make raised hugekulture beds. Thank you for sharing.

 

[gtaus]

Gtaus that was very interesting and informative. I have decided to use pots this year and hopefully next year I can get what I need to make raised hugekulture beds. Thank you for sharing.

I thought that video on deep hügelkultur raised beds with worm towers was a good idea. My tallest beds right now are only 16 inches high. But I could easily make a raised bed much deeper and add those worm towers. Might be a future project for me. This winter I already built another four pallet wood 16-inch-high raised beds and I need to get them out in the garden and setup before I start building any more.

 

[akroberts1085]

I thought that video on deep hügelkultur raised beds with worm towers was a good idea. My tallest beds right now are only 16 inches high. But I could easily make a raised bed much deeper and add those worm towers. Might be a future project for me. This winter I already built another four pallet wood 16-inch-high raised beds and I need to get them out in the garden and setup before I start building any more.

The worm towers seem to be an amazing idea. It seems as though it would cut down on trying to figure out if they are getting enough food or too much food. I tried doing a worm composting system and yeah no it didn't work. It's a lot of work to make it work out for what it is needed for. I believe having a large raised hugekulture bed would be great. I could compost the chicken and rabbit manure easily and not really have to feel like it's an overwhelming/daunting task.

 

[gtaus]

The worm towers seem to be an amazing idea. It seems as though it would cut down on trying to figure out if they are getting enough food or too much food. I tried doing a worm composting system and yeah no it didn't work.

Yep, I killed my worm bin by overfeeding. Things went anerobic and the worms died.

It's a lot of work to make it work out for what it is needed for. I believe having a large raised hugekulture bed would be great. I could compost the chicken and rabbit manure easily and not really have to feel like it's an overwhelming/daunting task.

That's why I posted that video. I think even I could have a viable worm farm as part of a deep hügelkultur raised bed. Without even trying, my chicken run composting system is full of worms. I know I could dig out or trap some of those worms to put into a raised bed with worm towers.

One thing I know for sure is that Dear Wife will not let me have another worm bin inside the house. When my worm bin went anerobic and the worms died, it smelled really bad. I can't blame her, it was totally my fault. But I think the worm towers in a raised bed - outside - might be one of the few options where I could have some success.

 

[gtaus]

Hügelkultur Beds Using Composted Wood Chips

Just found a new YouTube video on filling a hügelkultur raised bed but using composted wood chips instead of logs. He starts off with the premise that many people might not have access to logs or tree trunks to use as the base of the hügelkultur raised bed. Or, maybe using heavy logs is not an option for some people due to the weight of the logs. But they might have access to free wood chips.

He then goes into using composted wood chips - not fresh wood chips.

Fresh wood chips, he warns, will heat up as they compost in the raised bed. Instead of acting like a giant water battery with rotting logs, fresh wood chips will heat up as they start to compost and will actually draw all water from the bed to feed the new composting process.

But if you use composted wood chips, they will act as water batteries just like the larger rotting logs because they have already been through their initial hot compost cycle(s). He shows in his composted wood chips that there are lots of worms and fungi in the wood chips that are already composted to a point where they have cooled down. Those are the wood chips you would want to use.

In any case, he states a number of times that you want to layer your wood chips in the raised bed. You never want to mix the wood chips and the soil together because the wood chips will take nitrogen from the soil to continue to breakdown the wood chips. You want that nitrogen to feed your plants roots. So, you need to layer those chips underneath the topsoil where the plants and roots grow.

FWIW, I mainly use logs in my hügelkultur raised beds, but I have also dumped in wood chips on top of the logs to fill gaps and voids before I move on to the topsoil and compost layer. I just use whatever organics I have available at the time to fill those gaps and voids. I call that my organic layer before I top it off with my compost and topsoil mixture.

 

[fuzzi]

Hügelkultur Beds Using Composted Wood Chips

Just found a new YouTube video on filling a hügelkultur raised bed but using composted wood chips instead of logs. He starts off with the premise that many people might not have access to logs or tree trunks to use as the base of the hügelkultur raised bed. Or, maybe using heavy logs is not an option for some people due to the weight of the logs. But they might have access to free wood chips.

He then goes into using composted wood chips - not fresh wood chips.

Fresh wood chips, he warns, will heat up as they compost in the raised bed. Instead of acting like a giant water battery with rotting logs, fresh wood chips will heat up as they start to compost and will actually draw all water from the bed to feed the new composting process.

But if you use composted wood chips, they will act as water batteries just like the larger rotting logs because they have already been through their initial hot compost cycle(s). He shows in his composted wood chips that there are lots of worms and fungi in the wood chips that are already composted to a point where they have cooled down. Those are the wood chips you would want to use.

In any case, he states a number of times that you want to layer your wood chips in the raised bed. You never want to mix the wood chips and the soil together because the wood chips will take nitrogen from the soil to continue to breakdown the wood chips. You want that nitrogen to feed your plants roots. So, you need to layer those chips underneath the topsoil where the plants and roots grow.

FWIW, I mainly use logs in my hügelkultur raised beds, but I have also dumped in wood chips on top of the logs to fill gaps and voids before I move on to the topsoil and compost layer. I just use whatever organics I have available at the time to fill those gaps and voids. I call that my organic layer before I top it off with my compost and topsoil mixture.

Interesting idea. But wood is free, wood chips are not.

 

[Molpet]

Interesting idea. But wood is free, wood chips are not.

Chip drop
https://support.getchipdrop.com/article/35-is-chipdrop-active-in-my-area

 

[fuzzi]

Chip drop
https://support.getchipdrop.com/article/35-is-chipdrop-active-in-my-area

Good information, thanks!