#hügelkultur

[davidstortebeker]

Hügelkultur - Sheetmulching Raised to New Heights

In my last post I discussed mulching as an effective way to help the water retention of your soil, while providing lots of nutrients over an extended time. Today I want to keep raising this technique to new levels, quite literally, in the form of Hügelkultur. Hügel means Hill in German (and I bet you can guess Kultur!), so this gardening method is often called hill or mound beds in English. Essentially they are advanced forms of lasagna beds, which also includes thick logs and other large-scale organic debris, and can rise up to shoulder high above ground level.

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Multiple Benefits of a Hügel Bed

Just as in the case of sheetmulching, the ground is covered with various layers of compostable materials. Unlike with simple sheetmulching, the logs and branches inside a Hügel will take several years to decompose, offering your plants many seasons of nutrients. Since the bulk of the mound is made up of wood, the decomposing material will become more and more porous, which can soak up more and more water. Due to the constant decomposition inside the bed, and the elevated planting area above the level of ground frost, the Hügel is also likely to extend your growing season. This is especially true if you build it in a horseshoe form, opening towards the South, creating an effective suntrap. The elevated planting beds also come in handy for gardening work you don't have to bend down for.

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Building Your Hügel-culture

A Hügelkulture can be built from the ground up, or you may dig a trench underneath if you're counting on plenty of water. The rule of thumb is always to put the material that takes the longest to decompose on the bottom, and build your way up from there. Recently cut logs, heartwood, or hardwood go way down below, followed by wood that is already rotting away happily. On top of the thicker logs you place layers of thinner branches, twigs, woodchips, then continue with straw, leaves, compost, and finally a good layer of fertile soil that you can plant into right away. Around the leaves and straw you may also include a layer of manure, cardboard, lawn clippings, kitchen compost, or whatever organic wastes you may have lying around. Just make sure they are well covered. And don't forget to water each layer to give your Hügel a good head start.

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Is All The Extra Work Really Worth It?

Granted, compared to a regular lasagna bed, a Hügelkultur involves a lot more work: Logs, branches, and sticks need to be cut and moved into place, then covered in several layers, which due to its hill shape will require a lot more material, while at the same time the benefits of a Hügel are pretty much the same as in sheetmulching: water retention and long term release of nutrients. Still, I would say the difference between the two is immense, since the Hügel does all that much better, and over longer time periods. So if you have the material available - and what else would you be doing with so much rotting wood? - I would say it's definitely worth the effort.

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Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

#gardening #raised beds #water retention #long-term #soil #ecosystem #permaculture #hügel #hügelkultur

[plantpest]

my little mound reaches up to my knees, but that'll do. in the bottom is last year's christmas tree (branches sawed off and used), surrounded by branches from red pine and birch. on top of that is p much whatever i have removed when cleaning the garden; leaves, pinecones, branches and stems from various bushes and flowers, and grass clippings. i've used the dirt clumps i dug up for the hedge to shape it a bit. gonna cover it in the last grass clippings in the covered compost before covering it in dirt

i think i'm just gonna plant strawberries on it tbh

#i'm gonna use the uncovered compost in a similar way but i need to figure out if i want to move/split it first #hügelkultur #adventures in gardening #plantblr

[garden-gnomewiz]

Raised bed agriculture

#gardening #raised bed #hügelkultur

[gnostix1]

What to do with a ton of bricks.... Roughing in a hügelkultur spiral for next year's herb garden.

#hügelkultur spiral

[criticallyacclaimedstranger]

Me: Finally home. I'll just make a cup of tea, sit by the fire, and write that Frankie fic.

Also me: Oh I'm getting a trailer full of firewood yeah sure I'll empty that and hey it's not raining any longer so I'll just get started on that Hügelkultur hey look whaddya know I built the whole thing!

Me: 😵😵😵

#this also means I don't have to build the hügelkultur tomorrow so... #FINALLY FREE AFTERNOON AND EVENING

[unhinged-summer-fun]

just realized “I’ve written a prophecy” is hilarious when talking about farmer Joel because the prophet Joel tells a story of redemption and judgment day and purification and restoration and bounty and fruitfulness and hordes of armies that destroy and consume hundreds of times over and the wrath of a god who is vengeful and awesome in that old testament kinda way

in the context of this story, Joel absolutely refuses the call for several years even though literally everything is like. PAY ATTENTION DUDE PLEASE

if I end up calling this fic ‘the book of joel’ literally express ship a fist to my jaw

#I didn’t reject the church for this #actually I kinda did #but THATS BESIDE THE POINT #scardinata #there’s just something so 🤌 about the Refusal of the Call #and I haven’t purposefully used the monomyth/hero’s journey for story writing since high school #even though STC is essentially THJ #but I truly appreciate how impactful it is on so many other pieces of media #I’d say TLOU included #it’s cyclical and it’s poetic the way we see Joel go from whole to empty to broken to healed again #it’s not redemption it’s a circle #both can be valuable #but a circle doesn’t resolve cleanly which is why I think ppl have been resistant to TLOU’s canon #sometimes you just have to let a circle be a circle and you can’t fault it for having equal ups and downs #but also I’m very excited to rant about hügelkultur with y’all

[stumblngrumbl]

i'm not amused

i bought a few currant plants

i tried for a year and a half to find them locally but tbh we're not in the best climate for them, but i love currants and want to give growing some a try so i had to order them

of the four plants, two came semi-desiccated (one looks to be reviving well so far overnight, hoping for the other) and one came semi-decimated by these little fuckers

currants are little berries which are closely related to gooseberries; we have a few wild gooseberries here so i'm hopeful that i can plant the currants in a similar situation - morning sun, partial/full afternoon shade (we have relatively hot summers - too hot for me, though thankfully not moist, and definitely not nearly as hot as Red Bluff or Houston)

the berries are very tasty fresh, and make absolutely amazing raisins which are to die for in a salad so 🤞

#gardening #will wait a couple more days to see if more of these caterpillars spontaneously generate #also i have another hügelkultur bed to set up for them #i keep managing to add three things to my to-do list for every one that i finish #why do i do this to myself

[justnoodlefishthings]

Stop idolizing the grind and start idolizing Hügelkultur

[hedgehog-moss]

I bought a roll of chicken netting to fence off my vegetable garden—which I haven't planted yet because it's been raining every single day for like two months and I didn't want my young tomato plants to rot, but the weather is finally improving. I'll plant my garden next week, and I wanted to trim the grass around it and clear the area of weeds, but then I remembered I have animals that can do this job.

So I opened the pasture in front of the (future) garden. Currently it looks like a long pile of dirt, because that's what it is (well, compost + llama manure + dirt)—but look how long it is! I'm feeling ambitious this year and I have quintupled the length of my initial hügelkultur mound.

You might be surprised to learn that Pirlouit was the first animal who noticed the opening in the fence and got out. It's not actually surprising because Pirou has a fresh grass-dar—but Pampe was very much surprised & vexed.

Everyone looked really happy to have access to this new little area!

Initially I thought I would be able to continue preparing the garden while they were eating, but I quickly realised I was too paranoid for that. I mean, it's Pampe vs. a small temporary fence meant for chickens. Enough said. I didn't dare to turn my back on her even for a minute, so I ended up just sitting in the grass next to them with a book, which was really nice.

Pampe decided to lie down in the grass to eat more comfortably, something Pirlouit still deeply disapproves of.

Poldine however thinks it's a brilliant idea.

Update: all my llamas are now horizontal, eating like three Roman emperors. Only Pirlouit continues to mind his table manners.

Of course this peacefulness couldn't last, and after stuffing herself with new grass for half an hour, Pampe remembered there was also a new fence to think about.

She decided to lie down again 5 centimetres away from it, so she could inspect it and strategise while maintaining a demeanour of relaxed innocence.

I was not relaxed.

You are exhausting.

At 7:30pm I started feeling torn, because I don't like to miss apéritif time but—could I run to the kitchen to get a glass of apéritif and some biscuits and run back before Pampe had time to do anything? (The kitchen is 15 metres away.) (I feel like this detail doesn't change anything and if I inserted a poll here everyone would massively vote "Pampe will have time to escape")

But you would be wrong!! When I returned from my quick and suspenseful dash to the kitchen, guess who was on the verge of doing something illegal...?

PAMPOLDINE. Bad llama!! She was interested in tasting the flowers on the other side and she was pretty bashful when I shooed her away.

I believe the only reason Pampérigouste didn't escape is because she assumed her daughter was about to, so her family's reputation was maintained, she would get to see me run and curse llamakind and straighten the fence grumpily, and she didn't even have to get up.

Which goes to show that she doesn't escape due to a deep and unquenchable thirst for freedom, but to aggravate me personally.

I settled on my ash wood throne to have apéritif, comfortably seated in full view of all the animals—

—so of course Pampe immediately got up and went to inspect the fence on the other end of this little pen, behind the hazel tree that was blocking my line of sight, in the one place that I couldn't see from my seat.

I had to get up to see what she was doing (and angrily wave a stick in her direction until she moved away) and when I returned to my tree stump there was a little insect swimming in my wine. Pampe lay down again, pleased with herself.

When it was dinner time and I kindly invited everyone to return to the pasture (Pirlouit & Pampelune complied without fuss), Pampe suddenly lay completely flat in the grass, in what was clearly an attempt to make herself invisible and be forgotten all by herself in this barely-fenced area, kind of like children who dream of being locked in a toy shop overnight.

I haven't taken my eyes off you all evening. Of course I can see you.

I had to poke her with my stick until she deigned to get up and leave (Poldine followed), but all in all it was a very successful little outing. I might do this regularly throughout the summer to keep the grass trimmed in this area, although the difficulty level will be greatly increased when I have to patrol the fence and protect my vegetables at the same time.

I'll add that when I went out later in the evening to close the chicken coop, Poldine & Pampelune were far away, grazing together under the plum trees, meanwhile Pirlouit and Pampe were still queueing in front of the part of the fence that was previously open. Both waiting for me to let them access this heavenly garden again (but with different motivations)

#crawling along

[derinthescarletpescatarian]

For the record that person who mentioned "shoveling up into a mound" may have been referring to hügelkultur, it's a German style of gardening that utilitizes the sides of the mounds for growing space and is a bit more structurally stable than a simple mound of compost. Still not sure if that would help re: knees and ankles, but I just thought I'd put in my two cents

Hugelkultur tends to create long mounds, not the steep-sided structures I want, and also wouldn't work at the angle I'm building (directly down the sides of a very steep hill with high rainfall). I'm gonna do stairstep-shaped raised beds with sides.

I do plan on using hugelkultur mounds in the larger area of my yard to build gardens that can properly manage the water flow because right now it's just a wild zone of periodic mud and dust out there depending on the weather, but it'll be a few years before I can afford to get the big trees cut down that I want to use for it (they're mostly dead and if I don't get then cut down they will eventually fall on my house). But these beds are for higher maintenance vegetables and in a fairly limited and uncooperatively-shaped space so I want them high up and reachable without bending over or climbing anything. I've decided to build them out of sleepers (for framing) with tin sides, which seems to be the cheapest and most easy-to-assemble option. In a decade or so I might be able to put together something better but I have too many house maintenance tasks to pay for to be fancy right now.

[victusinveritas]

A Hügelkultur raised bed is a centuries-old, traditional way of building a garden bed from rotten logs and plant debris. These mound shapes are created by heaping up woody material (that's ideally already partially rotten) topped with compost and soil.

#gardening #the more you know #mounds

[rederiswrites]

Thinking about growing some potatoes Ruth Stout style this year rather than spending a bunch of energy trenching to grow a vegetable that I love but currently can't even eat on this diet. Anyone else here done no-dig Ruth Stout potatoes?

On the complete opposite end of the spectrum, thinking that if I have to dig down a foot to get out all the grass roots anyway, and if I have piles of woody detritus around because of course I do, maybe I should build a couple hügelkultur beds and get to watch those age.

[thestudentfarmer]

Good day everyone :)

This week's garden update~

The beans and pumpkin that grew with the sunflowers are gone now and I've begun thinning out the sunflowers as the seeds get selected by birds.

I like to leave the smaller heads for the smaller native birds of the area. The heads i save, I've been setting into a drying rack where no birds can get to them.

The stalks I've been discarding the leaves in our cities green barrel (compost) program and I'm saving the stalks to either burn, or to chunk up and try a Hügelkultur grow bed. Not sure 100% what will eb grown in it, might be flowers or herbs, maybe strawberries.

This is currently the biggest sunflower yet! That pole is about 6ft off ground. I'll definatly need a ladder when it's time to take a few of the heads.

The broccoli row, there's some little florets now on most the plants! :D

Cabbages, all four are similarly headed now.

The nasturtium, which i need to go through and clean up a bit. The cold did get one side of em pretty sharply.

The carrots.

This is the batch I used the cornstarch planting method. So far, while they lined up real nice I feel like they aren't growing as well as i hoped. Now weather that's the seed, the planting spot or the season/weather I'm not entirely sure. I think I'll do a summer grow as well, just to test it out again.

The back 'l" bed, ive direct seeded some lentils with the asparagus. I intend to grow the lentils then till them back in to the soil. We were going to dump this bed, but it seems we like it still so we'll likely be doctoring it up for a few more seasons.

Well thats it for now :)

🌱🌻Happy Homesteading and Gardening 🌻🌱

1 18 2024

#homesteading #self sufficient living #thestudentfarmer #studentfarmer #self sufficiency #food #garden #gardening #low waste #chickens #right to grow food #urban homesteading #urban gardening #urban farming #urban biodiversity #grow what you can #learning skills #going green as can be #cabbage #grow cabbage #sunflowers #live with nature #urban green spaces #urban growth #green space #carrots #grow carrots #edible landscaping #edible yards

[plantpest]

started building a (bad) hügelkultur bed as a divider in the garden. last year's christmas tree in the bottom, branches from the birches and red pines over it. twigs and whatnot on that. started putting leaves and grass on it but realized it's too low for my purpose so i'm gonna add more branches etc, but it'll have to wait until i get the energy to remove some bushes i don't want to keep - might as well add them to the mound rather than the compost pile. i'm honestly not too fussy, it's not really a well thought out mound i'm making, but a very spontaneous decision and a way to get rid of some shit from tidying up the garden lol. i figure it'll work no matter what, even if one that's properly built will work better

anyone here that have tried their hands on hügelkultur? well researched or not haha

#adventures in gardening #our garden soil is extremely clay-y and wet in nature which is... weird. it'd old red pine forest so it shouldn't be like this #butttt it means it's chock full of worms so i'm not too worried abt compost not breaking down properly hehe

[butchosprey]

my community elders told me not to give into despair, so im gonna get better about sharing good things.

interest in native / wildlife friendly gardening is at an all time high. Preserving traditional forms of gardening like three sisters and hügelkultur are becoming more popular too! i'm personally trying out three sisters this year.

[havethetouch]

Art Summary 2023~

And I still need to upload some things but ah, it be like that. Another rather good year of art, branching out into other things I love as well as rekindling some love for other things, be it subjects, techniques or mixes. I am moving towards a shift I think, I have some ideas~ I also have big plans for the next year and some battleplans I am currently working on both for the stuff I wanna get to in general as well as for the downtimes I might experience. I took note this year, as I would declare it the first were I am actually doing okay and better with each day despite the shit-show that was 2019-2022. I am also starting to see the memory issues of that timeframe and the fact that a lot of stuff just got yeeted from my brain unless I put effort in to recall and have notes. Certain parts will remain harder for a while I assume, but this year around I managed them better, prepared better. But yeh, overall, I found peace again this year and with that came a new creative wave, I started knitting alongside embroidery, I collected some tools and stuff to incorporate craftings into my works, I got that woodburning tools that is giving me bedroom eyes... and I am eying a big loom on amazon while planning out my gardening in a separate calender (what to prune when, what to plant and when and where and maybe I will set up a Hügelkultur too, I will definitely build a frame to try and vertical grow pumpkins and if i feel adventurous: watermelons.) That is to say, I exploded creatively and branch out and still find my balance with all the hobbies and home renovations and home improvement projects I have going on but everything is in motion it is a perfect little chaotic storm for me to dance and twirl in. After all that has been before 2023 was a wonderful year (a good one overall, indeed) to shake off the final brainfog of grief and breathe and get up and get going - I am alive. I am thriving. Onwards to the next pretty good year. <3 May it treat us all kindly.

#touch speaks #havethetouchart #art summary #art summary 2023