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hugelkultur | (Read 3421 times) |
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Marilyn de Queiroz
Posts: 6
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April 03, 2005, 06:18:55 PM |
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Do I have to retype the subject whenever I reply?
Anyway, I thought when I clicked on the link "Sepp Holzer terraces and raised beds video" that I would see a video. I was wrong.
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paul wheaton
Administrator
Posts: 1103
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April 07, 2005, 03:16:26 PM |
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Got the following in my e-mail and he said I could post it here:
Paul,
Hugelkultur works great. I've been doing it for about 15 years.
On your page you say:
"Hugelkultur is nothing more than making raised beds filled with rotten
wood."
I might say 'rotting' rather than 'rotten' since even fresh green wood
can be used. Also it is not absolutely essential that the material be
covered with dirt. I have created wood "terraces" with any carbonaceous
material I could get my hands on...logs, brush, etc.....and raked the
annual deposition of leaves over the material. Here in NC, where we have
high precip and humidity, the material breaks down much quicker than it
would in, say, California. I grew fabulous pumpkins, for example, in Ca
in the 8 month dry period (no rain at all) without irrigating. I used
everything organic I could accumulate, from logs to leaves, and laid it
out about 2 feet deep and planted into soil pockets.
Its amazing how the rotting wood becomes like a sponge. I can pull out
pieces that I buried two years ago and squeeze them to yield copious
amounts of water. Now when I look at wood, green or even dry, I think
"Water".
I tell my students that every unit of carbon incorporated into soils can
hold 4 units of water.
Penny Livingston, of Pc Inst of N Ca, had a few brush piles littering
her site but she didn't feel like moving or burning them, so she piled
on straw and a light scattering of soil, planted potatoes into it, and
harvested a couple bushels of spuds in addition to dissolving the "problem".
Here at Earthaven we have prohibited the burning of brush so the slower
biological 'burn' is our preferred way of managing it.
You will be greatly rewarded by using this approach. Thanks for the pix.
Keith
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carriesews
Guest
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April 08, 2005, 05:57:23 AM |
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Hi Paul,
Thanks for sharing what you're doing with us so we can continue learning. You've reminded me that instead of a burn pile, I must gather and create more soil/planting areas. We have a lot of small twigs and branches each year at this time from the winter of not gathering them. I actually did a small area of 'hugelkultur' last year, but I had already forgotten about it! In my front yard I have a lot of clay and so I layered on the branches, leaves and a little bit of compost just in a 3' X 4' area that I want to establish as a perrenial bed. I need to go dig around in it and see what it's done over winter.
I need to see these ideas a number of times and then implement them a few times before they just become part of my life.
Blessings,
Carrie
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PathFinder
Posts: 4
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May 08, 2006, 11:22:38 AM |
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Now you have me excited, Paul. I have loads of wood around my yard that I was going to haul to the dump. I even have the first load on my utility trailer to be hauled away next weekend  ... going to have to take it back off now  Some of this wood was going to be used for a raised bed garden that never got built so is rotting away, and some of it was a sundeck on my home that rotted and was removed to make room for a carport. Now I finally know a good way to get the raised bed gardens I want, and to save a bunch of money at the same time. No dump fees and no gas to haul it out there... BONUS!
Thanks so much!!
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