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hugelkultur: the ultimate

raised garden beds
hugelkultur raised garden beds in a
nutshell
grow a typical garden without irrigation or
fertilization
has been demonstrated to work in deserts
as well as backyards
use up rotting wood, twigs, branches and
even whole trees that would otherwise go
to the dump or be burned
it is pretty much nothing more than buried
wood
can be flush with the ground, although
raised garden beds are typically better
can start small, and be added to later
can always be small - although bigger is
better
You can save the world from global
warming by doing carbon sequestration in
your own back yard!
perfect for places that have had trees
blown over by storms
can help end world hunger
give a gift to your future self

the verbose details on hugelkultur beds

It's a german word and some people can say it all
german-ish. I'm an american doofus, so I say

Missoula

About

raised garden bed hugelkultur after one

month

raised garden bed hugelkultur after one year

raised garden bed hugelkultur after two years

raised garden bed hugelkultur after twenty

years
"hoogle culture". I had to spend some time with
google to find the right spelling. Hugal, hoogal,
huegal, hugel .... And I really like saying it out
loud: "hugelkultur, hoogle culture, hoogal kulture
...." - it could be a chant or something.
I learned this high-falootin word at my
permaculture training. I also saw it demonstrated
on the Sepp Holzer terraces and raised beds
video - he didn't call it hugelkultur, but he was
doing it.
Hugelkultur is nothing more than making raised
garden beds filled with rotten wood. This makes
for raised garden beds loaded with organic
material, nutrients, air pockets for the roots of
what you plant, etc. As the years pass, the deep
soil of your raised garden bed becomes
incredibly rich and loaded with soil life. As the
wood shrinks, it makes more tiny air pockets - so
your hugelkultur becomes sort of self tilling. The
first few years, the composting process will
slightly warm your soil giving you a slightly longer

growing season. The woody matter helps to keep

nutrient excess from passing into the ground
water - and then refeeding that to your garden
plants later. Plus, by holding SO much water,
hugelkultur could be part of a system for growing
garden crops in the desert with no irrigation.
I do think there are some considerations to keep
in mind. For example, I don't think I would use
cedar. Cedar lasts so long because it is loaded
with natural pesticides/herbicides/anti-fungal/antimicrobial (remember, good soil has lots of fungal
and microbial stuff). Not a good mix for tomatoes
or melons, eh? Black locust, black cherry, black
walnut? These woods have issues. Black locust
won't rot - I think because it is so dense. Black
walnut is very toxic to most plants, and cherry is
toxic to animals, but it might be okay when it rots
- but I wouldn't use it until I had done the
research. Known excellent woods are: alders,
apple, cottonwood, poplar, willow (dry) and birch.
I suspect maples would be really good too, but
am not certain. Super rotten wood is better than
slightly aged wood. The best woods are even
better when they have been cut the same day
(this allows you to "seed" the wood with your
choice of fungus - shitake mushrooms perhaps?).
Another thing to keep in mind is that wood is high
in carbon and will consume nitrogen to do the
compost thing. This could lock up the nitrogen
and take it away from your growies. But well
rotted wood doesn't do this so much. If the wood
is far enough along, it may have already taken in
sooooo much nitrogen, that it is now putting it
out!
Pine and fir will have some levels of tanins in
them, but I'm guessing that most of that will be
gone when the wood has been dead for a few
years.

In the drawings at right, the artist is trying to show

that while the wood decomposes and shrinks, the
leaves, duff and accumulating organic matter
from above will take it's place. The artist is
showing the new organic matter as a dark green.

building them
I

raised garden beds on top of sod the soil comes from somewhere else

raised garden beds dug in a bit note the sod is put upside down on the
wood
and the topsoil is on top of that

raised garden beds dug in a bit plus paths are dug on the sides and
that sod/soil goes on top too

find I most often build hugelkultur in places where

the soil is shallow. So I end up finding excess soil
from somewhere else on the property and piling it
on some logs. Presto! Instant raised garden
beds! This is usually the easiest/fastest way too.
Especially if you have earth moving equipment.
For those times that the soil is deep and you are
moving the soil by hand, I like to dig up the sod
and dig down a foot or two. Then pile in the
wood. Then put the sod on top of the wood,
upside-down. Then pile the topsoil on top of that.
Even better is to figure out where the paths will
be, and dig down there too. Add two layers of sod
onto the logs and then the double topsoil.
I have discovered that a lot of people are
uncomfortable with the idea of raised bed
gardens. They have seen the large flat gardens
for years and are sure this is the way to do it.
Some people are okay with raised beds that are
three to six inches tall - they consider anything
taller than that unsightly.
So this is gonna sound crazy, but I hope to
convince you that the crazy-sounding stuff is
worth it.
If you build your hugelkultur raised garden beds
tall enough, you won't have to irrigate. At all (after
the second year). No hoses. No drip system.
Anything shorter won't require as much irrigation
- so there is still some benefit. Imagine going on
vacation in the summer without having to hire
somebody to kill water your garden! As a further
bonus, the flavor of everything you grow will be
far better!
To go all summer long without a drop of rain, you
need to build your hugelkultur raised bed gardens
.... six feet tall. But they'll shrink! Mostly in the first
month. Which is why I suggest you actually build

them seven feet tall.

Hugelkultur raised garden beds can be built just
two feet tall and will hold moisture for about three
weeks. Not quite as good, but more within the
comfort zone of many people - including urban
neighbors.
Some people will start out with hugelkultur raised
garden beds that are two and a half feet tall and
plant only annuals. And each year they will build
the size of the bed a foot. So that after a few
years, they will have the bigger beds and the
neighbors never really noticed. And if they've
tasted what comes from it - they might be all for it
without caring about the big mounds.
Besides, isn't this much better use of the wood
than hauling it to the dump, or chipping it, or
putting it in those big city bins for yard waste?

different kinds of hugel beds

I usually build hugelkulture raised garden beds
about five feet wide. This makes for some mighty
steep beds. Just pack that soil on tight and plant
it with a mix of heavy rooted plants to hold it all
together. Quick! Before it rains! If you are going
to build beds shorter than three feet tall, I suggest
that you make the beds no wider than four feet
wide. Unless you are doing keyhole style raised
garden beds, in which case you should be able to
get away with something wider.

hugelkultur
hugelkultur
standardnarrowerpeaked raised raised
garden garden
hugelkultur
hugelkultur
hugelkultur
raised raised raised beds beds
garden garden garden with a with a
log
beds beds beds stone
border border

hugelkultur and terracing DVD

This DVD is part of a 3 DVD set called World

Domination Gardening. In this DVD we talk about
hugelkultur and terraces. This location gets frost
in the winter and can be really hot in the summer.
A lot of the surrounding area looks very desert
like. We decide to make a hugelkultur bed
shaped into a sun scoop. And the angle of the
slope is optimized to the level of the sun in winter.
We also talk about how swales are excellent at
creating frost pockets which works to your
advantage in the summer. What type of wood
and different variations for hugelkultur are
covered. A terrace is constructed to hold the
hugelkultur bed.
Click HERE to learn more and buy the DVD!

the real deal

Here is my video of several hugelkultur raised
beds, both small garden scale, and large farm
scale - one has nearly a kilometer of hugelkultur!

hugelkultur - the ultimate rai

The hugelkultur raised garden beds below were

built in an urban lot between the curb and the
sidewalk (sometimes called a parking strip). The
final raised garden bed is about two feet tall. The
beds are about six feet wide with keyholes. There
is rotted maple on the inside and black locust (will
rot in about 70 years) on the outside:

(click on an image to see a larger size)

Many more hugelkultur raised garden beds (click
on the image to see a larger image, more images
and the story for the image):

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Buy Plans $50 - Build it for $250 Power TV, Lights, Charge Battery
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Here is a video I made of a group of us making a

hugelkulture raised garden bed shaped as a sun
trap:

Hugelkultur - proof that it wo

Here is another video I made of Mark Vander

Meer talking about a three foot tall bed and how

little water the riparian species need:

Raising Tomatoes - Tomato

Here is sod that was piled in the spring and had

some tomato plants stuck in it. It was not irrigated
all summer. The tomatoes not only survived, but
they are delicious. Winter frost should hit any
day.

Raising Tomatoes - Tomato

hugelkultur raised beds FAQ

My HOA won't allow anything like that, what
do I do? (my neighbors would freak out, what
do I do?)
There are many possibilities. Some people dig a
trench five feet deep, fill that with organic matter
and have something that is either flush with the
surface or it appears to be only one foot tall
(which is in the comfort zone of neighbors and
HOA folk). Other people will build something that

is 18 inches high the first year, and add a foot

each year. Still others will have so many
neighbors build them all at once that it is difficult
the buck the tide. And then there is always the
back yard.
I have standing trees that are about to be cut
down. I don't want to have a bunch of logs
sitting around until they are old to be used for
raised garden beds. What do I do?
The wood doesn't have to be old to be used. In
fact, it is even better when fresh!
Do I need a wood chipper/shredder?
No. This style of raised garden beds works much
better if the wood is not chipped. So much more
peaceful and less smelly too!
How do I till it every spring?
Once the raised garden bed is built, you don't
ever till it. As the wood breaks down inside the
bed, it will sorta-kinda till its insides itself. And
with a really tall, really steep raised garden bed,
nobody will step on it, so the soil will not become
compacted.
I'm 81 years old. Does this make gardening
less work?
More work to set up. But less work as the years
pass. Planting and harvesting should be easier
since you won't have to bend down as much. On
the second year and beyond, all irrigation and
fertilization will be eliminated - so that's less work.
When combined with permaculture and
polyculture techniques, you can even eliminate
planting seeds, so that in the end, all you ever do
is harvest.
What will this do to the flavor of the food?
It will make for stronger flavor. Especially for
fruits. Expect far more flavor in tomatoes and

berries.

large scale hugelkultur

So I guess a person could think of the wood used
in hugelkultur as "wild compost"! Available in
twig, stick and log sizes!
So I popped on out to my local hugelkultur store
and I saw this:

Yummy! I'm guessing that somebody did some

thinning and stacked this to use for firewood in
the future. Only they never came back and got it.
So the years passed and the wood rotted ...
I took most of it and put it on my tractor:

I left stuff that was so rotten that it would not

transport well. Besides, it's going to do some
good for the forest if not for my raised beds.
Instant raised bed! Just lay down wood, and
cover with dirt! That's all there is to it! Just two
easy steps!

That's a hurky big bed! It will probabably be about

1/3 the size a year from now. Then we'll place
rocks around it and rework it a little into a slightly
more elegant raised bed. This year: potatoes!

More? Comments? See the

hugelkultur raised garden
beds thread
Artwork by Daniel Van Tassell

micro
Documentary on
hugelkultur for
gardeners

signing up
Now, how do you
sign up? Just fill up
the form below:

Bart and I created a

micro documentary
for all of the
supporters. It is
animation rich, and a
very polished,
professional creation.
Topics covered
include:
How to shape
your landscape to
be warmer in the

winter and cooler

in the summer.
Encouraging
diversity inside
the hugelkultur as
well as outside.
Organic vs.
Permaculture
While the full 3-DVD
set is for urban
gardeners as well as
people with acreage,
and the full 3-DVD
set will contain far
more information on
hugelkultur, this
micro documentary
will be focused on
gardening and have
no focus on projects
with larger acreage.
To purchase and
download this for

CLICK
HERE.
$3.00