notomoro Hatfield

So, another thought about hugelkultur and trees. What if, when planting a tree, dig the hole for the root ball with 10" extra space between it and the wall of the hole, set the tree in hole, fill the space outside the root ball with large wood chips, hay, worms, compost, other hugelkultur items, cover with dirt, water, watch grow.
anybody ever used a plan like this?

I see your point about the sinking tree!  A "hugelRing" is an excellent idea, seems like it would work very well

Alright, so maybe I missed this being talked about in the last 16 pages, but...
What would happen if you dug a hole to plant a tree, dug 10" deeper than needed and filled the bottom of the hole with wood, straw....hugelkultur stuff?
Would that work the same way as in a raised bed? provide water source, decompose and be beneficial to the tree?

MoniDew
"And, Notomoro, where in Tulsa?  I'm in Broken Arrow.  I'd like to know more about establishing a food forest in these parts.  (Which trees are best, etc). "

I am in Owasso, having moved from Broken Arrow last summer. I'm still learning about food forests too, but like you, I am fascinated with the simplicity of it. I've got some land north of Sedan KS that I am working with, soon to move there in maybe 5 years. My food forest area will be about 1.5 acres. The land there now is very compacted with weak grasses and tons of lespedeza. I need to chisel plow it a few times to un-compact it, over plant a cover crop something like hairy vetch, soy beans and alfalfa, then plant trees. If I keep mowing the cover crop down and chisel plow a few more times I think the top soil will improve to help the bushes and perreniel veggies I'll put in. The forest site is on a slight hill so I plan on controlling water run off with hugelkulture berms. Lotta big plans and hard work but I am very excited about this!!!

I'm in SE Kansas on 40 acres, I have 2 acres I want to develop into a food forest/forest garden. The area is currently grass and lespedeza, but the roots are shallow (2-3") and the soil is extremely hard and compacted. I plan on planting trees next spring along with a cover crop of hairy vetch, soy bean, and alfafa. 
So my question now is would it be good to plow the 2 acres 6-8" deep just to turn the soil and let it sit fallow thru the winter then disc it next spring, plant cover crops and trees and leave it alone?

thanks for any thoughts on this

Excellent! I'm in Tulsa working while my land north of Sedan KS waits patiently for me...

So I'm thinking I'll disk the food forest area and cover with straw this fall, disk again next spring, plant trees and a cover crop of soybean, hairy vetch, and alfalfa and keep it mown to add cover, compost and nitrogen to the soil. In a couple years, introduce bushes.
good idea?

Thanks for the info! Just ordered "Edible Forest Gardens" and "Perennial Vegetables: From Artichokes to Zuiki Taro, A Gardener's Guide to Over 100 Delicious and Easy to Grow Edibles" Should take a while to digest all that.
My main concern is I believe the soil quality is poor. Hard packed and no thatch or ground cover from repreated burning. The grasses are being squeezed because of the lespadeza that is out of control. The locals tell me to spray it. I'd rather not. Goats could clean it up, but I'm not living on the land yet and it's 2 hours away, so I can't monitor it. I'm thinkin maybe mow it all short, cover with straw and mulch, let it sit over the winter and disk it up next spring, cover with straw and mulch again and plant the trees. Sadly, I'll have to surround this forest with a 6' fence, I'm in the heart of deer country...

I am starting!
40 beautiful acres I plan on escaping to in 3-5 years. I need to start the food forest now. In southeast KS, lots of big oaks. My food forest spot is around 200'x 300' in a grassy area now. If I can get some suggestions on initial ground cover planting and fruit/nut trees suitable for zone 6a, I would appreciate it very much. Or even some direction on reference books.
If there are any Permies in the SE KS area, I would love meetup, exchange schemes and dreams...

thanks

Hello All, Would Cedar work for making my hugelkultur?