Hügelkultur Raised Beds

[fuzzi]

Speaking of Hugelkulture, I was working on setting up two more raised beds today, and have been tossing old wood stumps in the bottom. I'll finish adding the sides tomorrow if it doesn't rain!

I've created three other raised beds with Hugelkulture and planted them within a week or so. I added partly rotted leaves on top of the wood branches on the bottom and didn't notice sinking soil for several months. I amended it at the end of the growing season.

 

[gtaus]

This is just good info to know. I'm building my first hugel raised bed this next year. I'll try to make sure the soil is pre-settled as best I can, but I'll just understand that settling is a risk and will concentrate on annuals the first two years. With that bit of knowledge, it isn't hard to adapt.

Actually, I think many of us consider the settling in the hügelkultur raised bed a benefit. If the soil drops 1-2 inches per year, we just top it off with fresh compost. As the wood below decomposes, it feeds the plants from the bottom, and the fresh compost feeds the plants from the top.

The problem some people have is that they do not fill the voids between the hügelkultur wood and then you can have significant settling of the top soil. I fill those gaps with wood chips, but you could also pack in more dirt around the logs. Point is, don't leave voids.

 

[gtaus]

Try to find old hugelkulture literature and very little of it is in a raised bed. generally you should dig a hole and fill it with compost and large branches/ logs ect and build it up several feet so there is a large mound for you to grow on later.

The raised bed / hugel mix style sounds alot like a "keyhole " bed without the keyhole

Hügelkultur raised beds are a bit different than perhaps what you learned about hügelkultur mounds. I don't dig a hole for my wood in the raised bed, just put the logs in the bottom and fill everything on top. Works good for me because my raised beds are 16 inches high. If I had a raised bed that was only 6 inches high, then I would certainly have to dig a hole for the wood. As long as I have 6-8 inches of top soil on top of the wood, my plants seem to thrive in the beds.

 

[Sally PB]

This is just good info to know. I'm building my first hugel raised bed this next year. I'll try to make sure the soil is pre-settled as best I can, but I'll just understand that settling is a risk and will concentrate on annuals the first two years. With that bit of knowledge, it isn't hard to adapt.

I did hugel trenches. As I was filling them in, I could see that I wasn't filling in every void, but I sure tried! I filled them in as best I could, then watered the trenches well. Then I let it settle for a day or so, and then topped them off again. Since I built them in the fall, I knew they would settle over the winter. I planned to add more compost in the spring.

 

[1cock2hens]

Hügelkultur raised beds are a bit different than perhaps what you learned about hügelkultur mounds. I don't dig a hole for my wood in the raised bed, just put the logs in the bottom and fill everything on top. Works good for me because my raised beds are 16 inches high. If I had a raised bed that was only 6 inches high, then I would certainly have to dig a hole for the wood. As long as I have 6-8 inches of top soil on top of the wood, my plants seem to thrive in the beds.

I think you are mistaking keyhole type raised beds for hugelkulture garden beds. Hugelkulture beds are a defined type of structure and when you deviate from that definition you start to build other things.

 

[gtaus]

I've created three other raised beds with Hugelkulture and planted them within a week or so. I added partly rotted leaves on top of the wood branches on the bottom and didn't notice sinking soil for several months. I amended it at the end of the growing season.

I think most of us amend the raised bed at the end of the growing season, or before planting the next spring. If you fill those voids between the wood, you should not have too much settling to worry about.

Nice looking beds. How high are they? Hard to tell just from the picture.

 

[gtaus]

I did hugel trenches. As I was filling them in, I could see that I wasn't filling in every void, but I sure tried!

I don't expect my voids are 100% filled, either. Point is that some people don't know that they need to fill in those voids as much as possible to prevent excessive settling. My first year hügelkultur beds drop maybe only 1-2 inches, which is fine by me. I saw one YouTube video where the guy did not fill the voids and his soil level dropped over 6 inches! To me, that is excessive.

 

[fuzzi]

I think most of us amend the raised bed at the end of the growing season, or before planting the next spring. If you fill those voids between the wood, you should not have too much settling to worry about.

Nice looking beds. How high are they? Hard to tell just from the picture.

Thanks. The beds are 4'x8'x14".

 

[gtaus]

The beds are 4'x8'x14".

That's a nice height. I started off with 6-inch-high beds about 10 years ago but am up to 16-inch-high beds now. The older I get, the higher the raised beds I build.

 

[Nym]

I did it many yrs ago on the ground, piling sticks, straw and leaves until I had a good mound, probably knee-height at the center. I grew Oregano, rambling tomatoes and plenty of dandelion in it. I'm now using it my Birdies raised garden beds. You don't have to limit it to logs only. I throw cardboard, dead pot plants, palm fronds and husks, etc into mine.

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