Does anyone have
experience adapting Elliot Coleman style tools, or a Jang Seeder, paper pot planter, or other time saving tools to hugelkulture beds with Holzer and Wheaton approved steep sides? If so, care to share? Feel free to add any other time savers you might have adapted to big steep hugels.
As for my context, I have over a 1/4
acre of hugels from 18” to 7ft tall (6ft after settling). They are in varied shapes, but most are not linear. They are anywhere from rounded to 45deg+ in slope. All this
hugel building has been very worthwhile for all the reasons people like them and more, but after just going to the
Sustainable Food and Farming Conference (fantastic) in Grass Valley CA, and seeing no hugelkulture, I wonder if I have limited my potential scalability and efficiency by making highly useful tools unworkable? I think It is still most likely worth it, due to almost never needing to
water, all the great soil/compost the beds become, and the added ease of picking a steep bed, some of the time in most situations. Other times steep beds can be difficult on top and concerning for people holding harvest knives and scissors. Of
course this can be mitigated with
common sense, which i need to learn to graft onto any workers I have. Any input on adapting tools to slope and hugels would be very helpful.
Thanks!
