Ben Perryman

No that make perfect sense. Looks like you have done a great job & I'll give it a go when I get the chance. Your bed are deep as well!
I hope they work out well.

Oops, sorry about that Dale. Thanks for the thoughts.

Wow. Im sure an acre of the stuff would be an impressive sight.

Its on maybe 8 trees here. Its not a very big place (sub 1 acre) so has been easy to get under control.

To follow-up Dave, if i let the ivy i have in a pile go brown and dry this summer, do you believe there is a chance the ivy could re-grow if i included it in a bed?

Soaker hose off the mains water or your own harvesting?
I lay soaker hose/perforated land pipe as backup but ideally i like to get to the point where i water very little if at all, something easier to aim for here in the south of England than for many others (yes, it rains a lot)

If your beds ran tight to inside of the hoophouse, do you think a swale around the outside would feed into the beds? I suppose really its would be like a French drain, so would help clear thr water from the foot of the structure (less mud and puddles)

Good points Dave thanks. Very easy to over think things.

How about ivy in a hugel bed?

A tree that came down in our garden was covered in the stuff.
That tree is already in the ground, but is there anything stopping me using the ivy in the next bed?

It's such a lot of bio mass, seems a shame not to use it.

Btw, it just common ivy not poisonous and apologies if this question came up before. I did have a look.

DIY polytunnel/greenhouse is something ive wanted to try for ages. Nice pics guys.
One problem area i never understood, irrigation.
If your beds are covered, how do you irrigate? Swales along the outside feeding into the bed? Some complex rain harvesting?

Its been a blocker to having a go. I tried rigging up something over some tomato plants using a shower curtain last year. Lol is was not good.

I think that's a grest question.
Im converting a raised bed to hugelkulture ay the moment.
Ive gone a spades depth below the surface, filled that wood. Then i was planning on putting 18 inches of soil and compost on top (2 rows of scaffold boards for the sides).

Before trying hugelkulture, deeper worked better. Now my concern would be too much soil to share the stored water.

Any thoughts? Ty

How did your bed get on this summer Paul?
I'm going to be started my first hugel bed this weekend so I would also be very interested in what your planning on growing over winter/what is a good way of starting a bed. I understand getting ground cover early on is important.

I actually live in ringwood & couldn't believe when I stumbled a post about a Hampshire garden.