Hügelkultur Raised Beds

[gtaus]

My husband and I went out w the tractor and brought back a pile of rotting logs for 4 new beds we will be setting up. This 11” high bed will be for strawberries.

I only wish I had a tractor.

How much soil will there be above the logs? Those logs look like they might be a good 8 inch round, or more.

If I fill it with the logs, will it settle too much and need soil on top of the berry plants? How would that work? Can you add soil on top of perrienial plants?

The logs will take years to decompose, so that is not the problem with a drop in soil level. But you need to fill those voids between the logs or the topsoil will fall into the voids, potentially dramatically lowering your soil level as it settles. I have seen some people in that situation put the topsoil on the logs, and then watering it in really good so the soil fills all the voids, nooks, and crannies. Repeat as necessary until all those voids are filled.

I tried growing strawberries in one of my hügelkultur raised beds. It was the first time I ever tried growing strawberries, and I had no idea what to do. The plants grew fine, but each year the soil dropped that 1-2 inches and I had no idea if you can put topsoil or compost on top of the perirenal strawberry plants without killing them. I think not, but I'm not certain.

In any case, we had a drought summer the next year and the birds and bees ate all my strawberries. I guess they do that if there is not enough other flowering plants and water to drink.

Later I found a YouTube video where a lady was advising not to plant perineal Rhubarb in raised beds where you can expect the soil level to drop each year. Evidently, you cannot cover Rhubarb crowns, or they will die.

I am saying raised beds in general in the respect that if you use a nice organic compost like I do in all my beds, it will continue to break down and the soil level will drop. The Hugel wood will take years to decompose, but all the other good organics in my bed breakdown much faster and need to be replaced.

It will have all winter to settle before planting tho

That would be good, but I still would recommend watering in the topsoil as you fill the raised bed, especially if you are going to try to grow perennials in that bed. Or at least tamping the soil in the voids to pack it in good so you reduce the amount settling of the soil level.

 

[Sally PB]

If you build some raised beds, you might want to consider digging an ice cream pail into the middle of the bed and dumping your compost material in it. With holes drilled all over the pail, the worms will come and go, carrying your compost material throughout the raised bed. I have seen some people use that system and they say it works great. I have never tried it, personally, but I would imagine it would work really good.

This is what she does, and it works very well. She doesn't have a compost bin, per se, so this is what she does instead.

Last year, I had a bunch of buckets that I filled with assorted organic debris, then added a couple shovels of dirt on top. I put on the cover, but didn't seal it. In the spring, I just dumped the contents out onto the ground and spread it around.

It wasn't totally composted, but it there were lots of worm castings and worms. I didn't get around to doing it this year. I'll wish I had come spring. Oh well.

One thing I want to mention: If you do this with buckets, drill a couple holes in the bottom of the bucket. As I said, I didn't seal the lids, as I thought they'd be too difficult to remove, as they're TIGHT. Sometimes the lids were slightly askew from the wind. They would have filled up to the bottom holes with water from rain and melting snow.

 

[gtaus]

For those of you who might be building wood raised beds for the first time, I am looking for a specific YouTube video where some lady was brave enough to do a 2 or 3 year follow up on her raised bed builds and shows and discusses all her mistakes in building the beds. It was one of the best "fail" videos I have seen on YouTube because she was totally honest on what failed in her raised bed builds.

Her raised beds were not holding up because of the way she built them. There are just some construction methods that will work better than others, and she did not know that when she built her first raised beds. Sure, her beds looked great that first year, but they soon started to come apart after a few years of heavy, wet soil pushing out on the framing and boards.

I have addressed those concerns in my post #6 on this thread, with a more robust build design in my pallet wood raised bed v2.0 design. But if I can find her video, I think it would visually drive home how some methods of construction are just better than others for the long run. Her corners were coming apart and her sidewall wood was blowing out, as I remember it, only after a few years. She was disappointed in her build, so she posted a follow up video on what she had learned.

Given the hundreds of raised bed do's and don't videos on YouTube, I'm just not finding it right now. If anyone else here has seen that specific video and remembers it, maybe we can link a post to it. It's one thing to be told that some construction methods are better than others, it's another thing to see a 2-year raised bed update video on how badly a poor construction design can fail.

There are many ways to build strong, long lasting raised beds. But there are probably just as many ways to build a raised bed that will not last. If you find a particular raised bed design that you like, maybe on a YouTube video, see if they also have a 2 or 3 year update on how well their raised beds are holding up. Fortunately, lots of people on YouTube are willing to show their mistakes so you don't have to repeat them.

 

[gtaus]

One thing I want to mention: If you do this with buckets, drill a couple holes in the bottom of the bucket. As I said, I didn't seal the lids, as I thought they'd be too difficult to remove, as they're TIGHT. Sometimes the lids were slightly askew from the wind. They would have filled up to the bottom holes with water from rain and melting snow.

Yes, if I did not make that clear, I drilled holes all over the bottom and sides of the plastic trash cans I buried out in my garden. You want that water to drain through. Worms need to breath and they don't like swimming in water.

As far as securing lids, if you have a loose lid on your composting pail or bucket, you could drill a couple holes in the lid and the pail and use a cheap zip tie to secure the lid in place. Where I live, I needed a good lid seal to keep out the neighborhood dogs, cats, and the wild racoons and skunks that might be interested in composting material. Zip ties are one cheap way to secure those lids. Maybe only need one zip tie to act as a hinge so the top does not go blowing off in a heavy wind. And then just put a brick on top of the lid and remove it when you fill up the composting pail.

 

[gtaus]

An alternate solution (which I will be using), will be to plant annuals for the first year or two and then plant perennials.

That sounds like a good idea. Have you actually tried to grow perennials in a raised bed? Like was previously mentioned, can a person put compost or topsoil on top of a perineal plant crown to bring it up the level of the soil if it continues to drop in the raised bed?

I also agree that the first couple of years the soil level seems to drop the most for me as well. I think that relates to the organic layer of small stuff I put on top of the logs before adding the topsoil/compost mix. That organic layer, by design, does not last very long.

 

[TooCheep]

The only perennial I'm currently growing in a raised bed is asparagus. Since only the root area is perennial and the top/ferns die back each winter, the compost I add on top each year doesn't seem to create a problem. The asparagus shoots poke through that extra layer easily.

I suspect that perennials that hug the ground would have the hardest time with settling. Any plant that is more upright, like a bush/tree (as in full hugel mounds) wouldn't care about 1-2" of new organic matter settling at the base of their trunks each year. The plants wouldn't continue to sink each year (after initial settling) as the 1-2" organic layer on top decays and is replaced annually.

 

[gtaus]

The only perennial I'm currently growing in a raised bed is asparagus. Since only the root area is perennial and the top/ferns die back each winter, the compost I add on top each year doesn't seem to create a problem. The asparagus shoots poke through that extra layer easily.

That's a good idea. I love asparagus. I can see where that would grow better in a raised bed that loses soil level each year compared to the strawberry plants I had in a bed. I do not think you can cover the strawberry crowns and keep the plants alive.

 

[Sally PB]

As far as securing lids, if you have a loose lid on your composting pail or bucket, you could drill a couple holes in the lid and the pail and use a cheap zip tie to secure the lid in place. Where I live, I needed a good lid seal to keep out the neighborhood dogs, cats, and the wild racoons and skunks that might be interested in composting material. Zip ties are one cheap way to secure those lids. Maybe only need one zip tie to act as a hinge so the top does not go blowing off in a heavy wind. And then just put a brick on top of the lid and remove it when you fill up the composting pail.

Brilliant! Half of my run is held together with zipties, so why didn't I think of this?

I suspect that perennials that hug the ground would have the hardest time with settling. Any plant that is more upright, like a bush/tree (as in full hugel mounds) wouldn't care about 1-2" of new organic matter settling at the base of their trunks each year. The plants wouldn't continue to sink each year (after initial settling) as the 1-2" organic layer on top decays and is replaced annually.

Think of the trees in a forest. They constantly get new organic matter on the surface. I think for many things, like asparagus and berry bushes, this could work too. I have my black raspberry plants in a raised bed, and I don't forsee any issues with adding some compost on top.

I love asparagus. I can see where that would grow better in a raised bed that loses soil level each year compared to the strawberry plants I had in a bed. I do not think you can cover the strawberry crowns and keep the plants alive.

I think strawberries are different. The winter before last, I didn't have any straw to cover them, so I used oak leaves. The leaves packed down and I think that's what did in my plants. Even though I uncovered them the next spring, I think the damage was done. It may have been that I covered them too early, and they hadn't gone dormant yet; we were having a warm spell late in the fall.

 

[1cock2hens]

Strawberries only live on average 5 years. The first year they are getting settled in and producing fruits as well as a few runners. The second year they produce well and send out even more runners. The next few years the strawberry plants produce much less and send out more runners before finally dieing. If planted in an hugelkulture bed that has settled there is zero issue with growth, it should just spread like fire. If grown on a bed that hasn't settled you can use small mounds and the next year you can ad soil/compost around the mounds and the new plants will simply grow on the new medium.

Edited to ad. Strawberries also have very shallow root systems so the settling would never bother the roots unless it was extreme and then it's just because people were lazy and/ or too impatient when building the garden bed.

 

[fuzzi]

Whats with the watermelon Halves?

Composting!