Hugel - Spring update

 

Last fall, because our yard is "challenged", we put in a "hugel" bed.  Basically, what this is, is you begin with branches and brush, make a mound with what you have.  Add to that any leaves or yard waste, we were able to source some free chicken manure and some straw and we let this area sit all winter to compost down.

 

In the spring, we sources some free wood, not pressure treated, but heat treated, that was being thrown away and DH gave the hugel three sides with only the purchase of screws.

 

 

Then, the bucket brigade of free compost began until the hugel was "full".  Really, I ran out of steam from getting over 50 five gallon buckets full, just for the hugel.  Also added in were a few bags of mushroom compost, peat moss, and free bags of coffee grounds.

The summer is coming to an end

Wow, I haven't been on here since spring. Can't believe how time goes by so quickly.

A lot has happened in the gardening department.

The gutter garden that DH built last fall has worked out splendidly.  I would recommend to anyone who has limited space to check into making one to grow salad greens.  I can not get over how much we harvested and replanted twice already this season.

 

 

I wish the pictures were a bit better, so you could really see how well the lettuces grew in the gutters.

In this next picture, you get just a small glimpse of how well the beans did growing up the netting on the other side of the gutter garden.  We are still harvesting beans from the original planting.  Sylvester has eaten most of the right off the vine/bush.  But I have managed to put away quite a few quart bags into the freezer.

 

 

Along the house, in the shade, you can see the tomato plants that I grew from the seeds our son gave us from the plant he was given last year from a friend who grows a heritage tomato, for which we have no name.  Pictures to follow of how and what the tomatoes look like.  They are super meaty.

 

Here is an early season picture of the hugel bed we made in the fall.  The five different kinds of blueberry bushes have been planted.  All the rest of the plants have been grown by me from seed.  The marigolds grew huge, too big really and I've cut them back a few times.  The picklers did wonderfully.  I am not entirely sure how many pint jars and spaghetti jars of refrigerator pickles I made and gave away.  Enjoyed by all.  I felt badly about having to pull out the plants just before vacation, but I knew too many would go to waste while we were gone.

 



 

 

These are just a few of the Daikon radishes I had planted from seed up in the hugel.  The leaves on them were a great addition to the compost pile and two friends really enjoyed the

 radishes.

 



 

 

I hope to post some more about my garden adventures in the coming weeks.

 

I hope that you will come back to visit and see how well I've done and what I've learned.

 

Leave a comment to let me know you were here.



Blueberry Guild

Here is my plan for the blueberry hugel that I started in the fall.

I have purchased the Maximilian Sunflower (seed), the Asters (seed), the Purple Coneflower (seed) and the Daikon Radish (seed).

The sunflower, aster and coneflower are to encourage the pollinators to visit not only the Blueberry Guild, but also my garden.

The Daikon Radish is to help pull nurtients from the subsoil and deposit them near the surface in the fall.  Plus the long root helps to break up the subsoil.  We aren't really radish eaters, but we will try a few of these to see what they are like.

I am planning to put in peas to help fix nitrogen into the soil and also the Nasturtium to help suppress the weeds.

I have not found a good source for the Comfrey.  I am still looking into that a bit further.  I think I would prefer the sterile one that I've read about, this way I do not have to worry so much about it spreading on it's own.  Once it is planted, that will be it's spot and I won't need to move it.  I would also like to plant some near my compost pile, which, it too will remain in the same place. I wanted this primarily for the compost pile and for mulching.  If you have a suggestion of where to get it from at a reasonable rate, I'd appreciate knowing. 

My blueberry bushes I will get locally.  There is a man who has a nursery at his home in the area and has a large selection of plants and trees that are grown locally and that he grows on his property.  I purchased some holly, hosta and rhododendron from him last year and they all did wonderfully once transplanted. I am hoping to get three different varieties so that I can have a nice, continuous harvest.

I am looking forward to having this area come together.  It is the first time I am trying to build a hugel and I'm excited to see how it is coming along.  The snow is still covering it.  Once I can work the soil a bit, I am hoping to be able to level the ground a bit more, as it still needs to come up on the one side as it is not level and with the settling it has done it looks rather lopsided.  I still would like to enclose the sides and we are working on gleaning some free wood to put around the sides to hold it all in place.

Hugel update

 

 

Well, I do have to admit, it doesn't look like anything has happened, does it?  Since the last time.

 

Believe it or not, I have put on that whole layer of aged compost and put on another cover of straw.  PLUS, I was fortunate enough to find a farmer who would give me some chicken manure!!!  For free!!

 

We just had to ride up to his farm and we were able to get two recycle containers full of fresh chicken manure.  Let me tell you!  IT SMELLS!!!!!

Now, since we aren't planting in this hugel until the spring, I knew it would be okay to use fresh manure.  You need to be careful about that, as it is very high in nitrogen and would burn any plants if you were to use it directly in your garden, you need to compost it first.  That is my idea behind doing this hugel for the fall, as by the time spring rolls around, enough of everything will be well on it's way to nice compost/soil that planting should be fine.

Also, this past weekend, we stacked some of our firewood, and you see the bark that came off of it on the top of the hugel.  That will compost down as well.

I have begun to put a layer of pine needles on top of the hugel and once I have that covered I will add another layer of aged compost.  Then, all I will need to do is water occasionally to keep the pile "cooking" and to encourage all the ground creatures, microbes and fungus to do their work to "grow" my soil for me.

And, as always, my faithful four legged gives his approval.

Hugelkultur --- What?

I have been searching the internet for information on gardening, organically.

Isn't it great to have a computer and internet access?  I was one of those kids who always had my nose in a book, usually from the library.  This is just great, I can go to look up anything at anytime of the day or night!  However, it can suck a lot of time out of my day, so I have to use my online time wisely.

I came across some youtube videos on Hugelkultur.  It's a German word.  It's spelled a few different ways, but all means the same.

I watched about Sepp Holzer.  Very inspiring.  Made me want to book a trip! (I don't like to fly!!)

The Hugelkultur website by Paul Wheaton is very helpful to understand the process of it all.

I have very little flat ground to work with.  We live on a steep hill.  Terracing is not really an option.  There is no way to get land moving equipment up into our back yard, and after putting in our raised bed garden this year, there's got to be a better way!

 But when I looked up Hugelkultur, I thought this could be something I could do that would help me to "grow" a flat area.

I decided where I wanted to put my hugel and what I wanted to plant. Blueberry bushes!


As you can see in this first and second photo, I first put down a layer of cardboard, then we used cut birch we had in our yard from a spring storm. Birch decomposes rather quickly as far as trees go.

 

 

Next, we purchased some straw at a local farmers market and I put a nice layer of that on top of the birch and then I watered a bit.

Next I started to mix peat moss, with locally made compost, PLUS I was able to get some coffee grounds from the local Starbucks.  I then have been mixing 5 gallon pails of it and spreading it across the top of the straw, being sure that I water every other day or so to keep things moist.

In these next two pictures, you can see a bit of the slope I am dealing with in our yard.  This end corner will need to be made deeper as I go so that it will help to level off the slope.

Things I have bought so far were the four bales of straw, peat moss and some mushroom compost to add in to the mix of things.  The peat moss is important because it will help to make the new soil acidic which is what the blueberries like.

I'm very pleased with the progress, though I would like to get another layer of straw on and then a layer of coffee grounds.  I would also like to hope getting in a planting of some peas to help fix some nitrogen into the soil, but I am not sure I will get to do that before the truly cold weather comes.

If you have any thoughts, I'd love to hear them, please leave a comment.
Until next time,
GROW where you are planted.