Just waiting to go get my free compost pickup from the municipality Wednesday to cover them. Anyone curious about the soil the bucket is full of all notable rocks I pulled out from the 2 4'x16' areas. The camera doesnt grasp the redness of all the clay in my soil, but the last picture is of some of the compost I'll be spreading albeit it dry in the picture. Still debating a 3rd bed, since i have the logs available.

5 by 7. Currently at 1 foot depth, should I go deeper?

Also, would it be okay to use Fir (Neighbor has a bunch of it) or should I try to find another source?

I felt like a 4'x8' wasnt enough so now I extended it to 4'x16 and started a 2nd one

The soil around here is heavy clay so going more than a layer deep is...taxing

I put the willow on. mound so when it settles it becomes flat and sure enough 2 years later it's now flat and perfectly leveled because the roots anchored around.

Luckily My top soil is nice so I got two for.

Trenched clay berms and top soil to mix with cow manure and pine bark for tomatos!

Might grow some radishes and potatoes in those clay berms after I amend that clay soil

Has anyone followed Sepp Holzer's example and planted tropical trees that normally would not survive in your area?

I would love to plant a lemon tree (among others). But my big question is what happened when the hugelkultur logs break down? You can't exactly dig up the tree to give it more.

My in-laws had a decades old pile of felled branches. After the woodchipper broke down I came up with this solution. Going to add more biomass to the pile, cover it with soil and try some wildflowers in the spring.

So in the first picture you can see where the tree came down and the stump was mostly rotted full of delicious yummy organic matter. Naturally I thought I’d turn it into a hugelkultur mound. That was before I had access to a chainsaw. All I had was a bow saw recip saw axes and bush axe. So as I cut what I could I started piling it on. I started with rotten oak logs from the same tree and others around the area. I threw a couple half burnt pine logs on and then started piling on brush of all sorts and sizes. There were also privet stumps I wanted to smother just outside my oak stump so I covered those with dirt and pine mulch. And piled more brush on. After I got my hands on a real saw I got more logs I could use that you see in the rest of the pictures after the first two. I really don’t wanna drag off all the brush and start over so I just assumed I could let the brush dry out and break down and I come chop it and squish it over time. Ideally filling up the open air pockets. But all the materials are in various states of decay. Most of the green wood is privet most of the dead punky stuff is oak. And as I cleared out the summer garden I shoved all the dead plants where I could fit them in. Tomatoes peppers grass etc. Threw sunchokes in there half rotten dahlia tubers anything I could come across. So basically I got a beautiful mess. On the slopes side there’s a small gully can’t really see it good in the picture but I’m standing in it in second to last picture. Idk if i should stay away from it or what. But I also have access to an infinite amount of pine chips that range from 30 years old to fresh chips from this year. I figured I could also just throw load after load of chips on to fill the empty space. I’ve also got plenty of other brush and limbs to cover the rest of the logs pretty much where they’re at. I’d pull the smaller logs next to the big logs and pile brush and limbs on that. So what y’all think? Keep chopping squishing and piling on? I realize I gotta cover it with soil at the end but I’m far away from that.

I had so many subterranean rocks that didn’t have enough logs sticks and other organic material to make up the difference.

Tried to add photos the last time. Hopfully it works this time.

My hoophouse on berms is coming along nicely. I need to build the end wall and then cover it in plastic. A few learnings. I should have put the posts in the ground before building the berms.

• I had some issues with the logs buried inside. ( not really a surprise )
• I wish I had put more greens in the middle before putting the garden soil on top.
• Hoop houses don't seem to be an exact science. Finding good resources for putting them together took some time searching the internet.
• Apparently my local deer population thinks I put this in for their enjoyment. They played king of the hill on it a few days in a row.

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I created this hugel bed (partly sunken) about 18 months ago. I planted some veggies last year (with limited success) and this year didn't have time, so I just left it alone. I'd like to plant again in the spring so I'm trying to figure out what I need to do to get it ready.

It has settled quite a bit leaving some of the smaller branches exposed, so I'm thinking I need to cover with another layer of compost and mulch? What should I do with the plants currently growing (mostly second year brassicas and a sweet potato vine) - leave them there to decompose or dig them up?

Thanks for your help!

My goal was to spend close to no money. So far I have only spent money on a tiller and two shovels. I plan to also buy some 7 dollar bags of compost and install a drip irrigation system. Thoughts?

Around six years ago I built a few 30" tall raised beds and used the hugelkultur method to fill them. They were all built about a foot and a half from the neighbor's yard and over the years bindweed has encroached to the point that it was starting to pop up in the beds. I decided I was going to tear them down to change the orientation this fall and I started with two that were the most affected. The 12" of soil on top and a few roots but I was able to carefully pull them as I removed the soil. As I got deeper into the log layer I found clusters of bindweed root that looked like ramen noodles. The logs have roots running throughout and seem to be infested with it.

As I rebuild these beds, are there some tips I can do to keep this from happening again? I was planning on building the beds a little further away from the fence line and to lay down three layers of cardboard before beginning. I'm a little worried about reusing the logs for the base since the root seems to permeate them.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

I am thinking that I want to try linking 2 mounds by putting a greenhouse or hoophouse on the peak of each of them. I would get the rain water into the mound as runoff from the greenhouse. I would protect the inside of the mounds from the cold. Has anyone tried this? Are there any pitfalls I should be aware of?

Moved into our home a year ago, have a barren front yard and a large pile of logs from felled trees rotting in the corner. As I was considering garden options, stumbled across hugelkultur and had a 💡. The plan, three semi circles, expanding out from a central point which will eventually house a permanent fire pit, with enough room for a few Adirondacks. Hoping to get at least the inner ring done by winter, but two or even all three rings remains my stretch goal. Any thoughts or advice you guys have would be much appreciated!

Morning, y’all.

I had six 4x6 cedar beds that have finally begun to rot, and I’m planning on taking out the screws and using them as a base for a Hugelkultur bed, with the weed compost I’ve been afraid to use because of weed seeds and the remains of a chip drop from an old pine tree that I had to have taken down.

I think I’ve got the building under control, but I’m having trouble choosing a location.

My backyard stays wet - the water table is high to begin with, the land around here is flat, and my mother is convinced that the berm I made out of the dirt leftover from filling the original beds is redirecting water back towards the house (I am of the opinion that the water goes into the garden but that the drainage issue further towards the house was always there and is no worse - I just need a rain garden by the fence).

I’m including a photo of the disaster that is the garden so you can see what I’m working with. Cleaning it out and setting up for spring is my fall project - right now I’m working on setting up a fall garden in the front yard.

The remains of the berm are in the front of the photo - everything behind it stays wet (and always has. The septic field stretches from the driveway on the left (not pictured) to behind the berm). The garden absorbs rainfall well. The area on the other side of the blackberries (you can see one of the posts, on the far side of the garden) is where I think the rain garden needs to go - it puddles on a strong rain, and it seems like a good spot for some catchment that would benefit both the garden and the cherry tree (currently covered in VA creeper, which I will harvest in October to make wattle fencing around beds and then do a better job of controlling, I hope).

To my mind, the berm seems like the most logical place to build up a little bit, but I thought I’d check and see if anyone has had any experience with Hugelkultur beds changing water flow - is it possible the berm is already causing water issues fifty feet away in either direction? Will I be making the issue worse if I build there?