Hügelkultur Raised Beds

[Sally PB]

I need to dig out my chicken run too. There must be 5-6" of stuff there now. I keep bopping my head on the extension cord that is looped into the cross pole of the roof. I'm not getting taller, the floor of the run is getting higher.

 

[DuckLady]

I got my bed all filled. I didn't have as many logs as I thought. I put in as many as I could find and added branches and whatnot. Then we cleaned out the goose garage and filled the bed with straw. I got a half yard of good dirt and it was so nice and pretty and full until I watered it. So I had to go buy more dirt.

It finally got warm enough to plant my tomatoes and onions last week. The tomatoes are in walls of water and my cucumber is still living on the window sill in the kitchen for another week or so. It's still pretty cool in the mornings. I'll wait for another week before planting it.

My garden is an 8x8x2 galvanized bed and I have 2 early tomatoes and one cherry tomato, sweet onions (who knew that there would be a bazillion in one little pony pack) and I added some marigolds for color. I just need to plant my cuke and I'll be done.

I see the bed I have has dropped in price on Amazon, so I'll put it back on my wish list and pester my hubby to help me build a couple more beds out of pallets so he'll buy me another one.

 

[troyer]

Update on Filling Raised Beds with Chicken Run Compost

All my pallet wood raised beds are using the hügelkultur method of filling logs in the bottom half of the raised bed, then an organic layer of stuff, topped off with a topsoil and chicken run compost mixed 1:1 for the final 6-8 inches. That system works great for me.

Every year, I have to add maybe 1-2 inches of new topsoil/compost to the raised beds due to the settling of the soil and probably some decomposition of the wood logs and branches in the raised bed. For me, this is a benefit of the hügelkultur design because I am adding fresh compost to the top of the beds while the logs underneath are breaking down and feeding the soil from beneath. The soil is being improved both on top and on the bottom every year.

Anyways, today I harvested some chicken run compost to mix with my topsoil for some raised bed top offs. The bulk of my chicken run compost is leaves and grass clippings. Add to that, I toss all my old coop litter out into the run for composting. The chickens scratch and peck in the run compost all day long, looking for tasty bugs and juicy worms to eat. They break down the run litter much better and faster than I could by turning compost piles.

Here is a picture of some of the black gold compost I harvest this afternoon from the chicken run. This wagon holds about 10 cubic feet of compost...

View attachment 3855857

This compost was really finished and was very heavy. The wagon was full with about 10 cubic feet of that heavy compost and I was glad I had four wheels on my cart. At the gate of my chicken run, I have about a 12-inch drop from the height of the chicken run compost litter to the ground level outside the run.

In order to get that wagon in and out of the chicken run, I had to build a small ramp out of pallet wood...

View attachment 3855868

That cart, when full, would be too heavy for me to work with without that ramp.

When I say that I was harvesting black gold compost, I don't know if you can really see how rich and black that compost actually is in that picture. For comparison, here is the cart with newly harvested compost alongside the rejects from previous compost sifting...

View attachment 3855872

One final picture of some of my new topsoil/compost mix being added to the top of a raised bed. You can see how good my new compost looks on top of the bed. I bet my plants will love it...

View attachment 3855873

I encourage everyone who has chickens to consider using them to make compost for them in the chicken run. The chickens love it. It's just in their nature to scratch and peck. In the meantime, today with about 15 minutes of work, I harvested 10 cubic feet of black gold high quality compost. That alone would have cost me about $66 at the big box stores to buy enough bags of compost to fill that 10 cubic foot wagon. And I bet my homegrown chicken run compost is better than what they are selling.

That compost is awesome!
I don't have any of these yet, but I do composting and use it regularly.

​

 

[gtaus]

WOW! That's some beautiful black gold.

Thanks goes to my composting chickens. They do almost all the work. But I have become an advocate for chicken run composting. If you do any gardening, chickens can be your little workers making, and enriching, your compost.

This fall I am going to rototill my garden area and hopefully I can get it completely fenced and I will be locked, loaded and ready to plant my spring garden.

I used to rototill my in-ground garden every year. I have a very nice gas-powered walk behind rototiller. But I switched over to growing my gardens in raised beds about 10 years, or more, ago and since then I have not used the tiller much. Well, I have used it a few times to work up soil for (re)planting grass.

Perfect timing. The floor of the run is up to the top of the door sill and has become compacted. I'm planning to dig it out this weekend and put it in my fallow raised beds.

Yeah, let that run litter\compost age a bit before you plant in it. I would estimate that the compost I harvested yesterday was at least one year old, maybe longer.

 

[gtaus]

I need to dig out my chicken run too. There must be 5-6" of stuff there now. I keep bopping my head on the extension cord that is looped into the cross pole of the roof. I'm not getting taller, the floor of the run is getting higher.

I successfully worked myself into a bad position as well. My run fence is 6 feet tall and I have bird netting stretched across it. Over the past few years, my chicken run litter has been filling up anywhere from 12-18 inches deep. So, now I have to bend over when I work in the run. I need to lift the bird netting because I refuse to stop making all that compost.

So I had to go buy more dirt.

I live on a lake. My in-ground garden was very sandy. Plants never grew very well in that sandy soil. So, I discovered raised beds and started filling them with quality topsoil. Even though I have to buy topsoil, it's totally worth it to me because I was tired of doing all that gardening work just to see nothing grow in my native sandy soil.

I buy a Bobcat bucket load of high-quality Red River topsoil from a local nursery for $60. I measured my utility trailer and estimate I get maybe 28 cubic feet of topsoil per dump. That's a fair price. I estimated that buying soil in bags, at Menards for example, would cost me about $94 for the cheapest soil and over $140 for their "premium" soil.

I don't think I would have the energy to be loading up 30 or 40 bags of topsoil at Menards. It is easier for me to fill up the utility trailer with the Bobcat at the nursery and then shovel that topsoil out into my cement mixer compost sifter when I mix it with my chicken run compost. Plus, I believe that the topsoil I buy at the nursery is better than the bagged soil at Menards. It just is.

I see the bed I have has dropped in price on Amazon, so I'll put it back on my wish list and pester my hubby to help me build a couple more beds out of pallets so he'll buy me another one.

Yeah, I see what you are doing there. Dear Wife manipulates me in similar ways. I don't mind too much and usually see through her little tricks.

But yes, I have noticed the cost of metal raised beds has come down a lot. Menards has been sending me out sales emails with some great prices on metal raised beds for under $40. It is good to see prices dropping.

As for me, I can still make a 4X4 foot 16-inch-tall pallet wood raised bed for less than $2.00 each. Plus, I enjoy making them. But I am sure it takes me an hour or longer to build a pallet wood raised bed than putting together a raised bed kit.

Frankly, I'm better at building pallet wood raised beds than actually gardening in them. I am still learning a lot about gardening. Last year I had a lot of successes so maybe I am learning.

I have improved gardening over the years, but Dear Wife is a better gardener than me. Unfortunately, she only grows flowers, and I can't seem to get her interested in helping me grow food.

Concerning those metal raised beds, I would like to see some long-term reviews on how well those metal raised beds hold up over time. I love the advantage that metal should last many, many years. However, most of the metal raised bed kits I have seen do not seem to be very strong. I would think some of the less expensive metal beds would start falling apart in a year or two.

If you can, upload some pictures of your new metal raised beds and let us know what you think of the design/build/price. Thanks.

 

[gtaus]

That compost is awesome!
I don't have any of these yet, but I do composting and use it regularly.

​

Thanks for the feedback. I invested in a lot of composting equipment a few years back because I had decided to kick up my gardening efforts. As much as I have spent on my equipment, it has still saved me hundreds of dollars processing my own compost at home compared to buying it in big bags at stores like Menards or Home Depot.

 

[fuzzi]

I need to dig out my chicken run too. There must be 5-6" of stuff there now. I keep bopping my head on the extension cord that is looped into the cross pole of the roof. I'm not getting taller, the floor of the run is getting higher.

Digging out the run is on my SOON list. I'm planning on adding it to my fallow raised beds. But, not this morning, I'm at the auction.

 

[gtaus]

Digging out the run is on my SOON list. I'm planning on adding it to my fallow raised beds. But, not this morning, I'm at the auction.
View attachment 3857298

One of the great things about chicken run compost is that if I have other items ahead on the to-do list, or maybe I just don't have the energy that day, I can legitimately say to myself another day or two of composting in the chicken run will only make the run compost better!

 

[DuckLady]

Here’s my bed and a kiddie pool I am going to plant squash in next weekend. Pardon the mess. Our mower is being serviced and the weed whacker only goes so far. That area is a south facing basement foundation extension that was never finished by the original owner/builder. It’s perfect for a raised bed garden area. I could probably fit at least 12 8x8x4 beds in there with room to spare. I’m getting it cleaned out bit by bit.

So far the bed is sturdy and I’m happy with it.

The fencing is because of this little madam who I don’t trust. She spends her nights on the other side of that wall and to the right, behind the house.

 

[gtaus]

Adding 3-year-old Leaf Mold Compost to my Hügelkultur Beds

This week, I was busy cleaning up a large pile of 3-year-old leaves that I had stashed in a large bin. After all that time, the leaves had broken down a lot. I have read that leaf mold compost is one of the best sources of compost but that it does take years to break down naturally.

Even though the leaves had broken down a lot, I used my little Ryboi 18v mower with bagger to shred up the leaves even more. Here is a picture of the leaf mold compost I ended up with after using the mower to collect the leaves...

That stuff is just fantastic. If you like compost materials, you would be enjoying my efforts here.

After many, many bags full of leaf mold compost picked up by my little Ryobi 18v mower, I had filled and topped a 10 cubic foot wagon...

That's a lot of high-quality compost in that wagon! I estimate that if I had to purchase that compost by the bag at Menards, for example, it would cost me roughly $80, or more, for that load in the picture.

I sifted all that leaf mold compost and mixed it 1:1 with topsoil using my cement mixer compost sifter. Then I used all that mixed material to top off my raised beds. Since all those leaves were broken down to almost nothing, there was very little rejects in the screening process.

I don't make piles of leaves in bins anymore because I now just dump everything in the chicken run, along with grass clipping, weeds from the gardens, etc... But thought I would share what some 3-year-old leaf mold looks like when it is finished. Using the lawn mower to chop it up even more is a great way to really finish off and refine the material for final use.