A hugelkultur!

A hugelkultur is a type of raised bed that utilizes logs and wood as a base which gets covered with dirt. The idea is that the microbes and fungi that breakdown the carbon and lignin in the wood make nutrients readily available to the plants. It retains moisture. It also extends the growing season due to the warmer temperature at the center of the composting wood.


It fit in the realm of my interests and goals so I added it to my wish list.

The biggest logs were placed on the bottom going three across. Smaller logs went two side-by-side on the next layer. Chunks of aged wood, sod and some cut grasses filled in gaps. The hugelkultur was inoculated with some compost, and then the whole thing was covered with the dirt that was dug out from the trench initially. There were some heavy rains shortly after the hugelkultur was built, but there was minimal erosion.

Here are a series of photos of the step-by-step construction.

First we needed to drag the logs down from the woods

The first layer of dirt was loosened and dug out

The second layer of dirt was loosened and dug out

Needs more big logs

Now it's a better base

We filled in big gaps with sod and other old chunks of wood lying around

Some cut grasses covered the logs and a wheelbarrow of compost inoculated the whole thing

Now that it's neatly covered, I let it settle for a couple days before I planted into it

June 10: only two-thirds of it has plants

July 2: the hugelkultur is full and everything is growing

Bonus: here is a young hummingbird resting on the north end of the hugelkultur

I have planted in this 6 nastertiums, 5 cayenne peppers, 25 habanero peppers, 12 jalapeno peppers, 20 Hungarian hot wax peppers and 12 New Mexico J. E. Parker peppers. I watched a baby hummingbird try to feed from the nastertium blooming at the north end, then he stopped to rest.