My family and I are relatively new to vegetable
gardening. I do not come by gardening
“naturally,” although we’ve been blessed the last several years to live on a
property with very good soil. So finally
having some success with raising veggies, we thought we’d venture out and try
something different this year. Enter the
hugelkultur.
A little "weedy" after the rain...the empty spot is
where the lettuce was supposed to go
A hugelkultur is basically permaculture, lasagna gardening
and rotting wood all rolled into one.
This is how we built ours:
1. Lay
old chicken feed bags on the ground, covering your garden area (no need to till
the ground or pull up grass),
2. Pile
old trees and branches down the middle of the feed bags to begin forming your
mound, stretching the length of your garden (this will form the structure of
your mound), and
3. Build
out the mound by alternating soil, compost and hay until your mound is the
desired height.
There were so many “pro’s” to gardening via hugelkultur,
that my husband is sold and wants all of our future vegetable gardens to be
“hugels.” I’m also sold, since I’m the
one who spends the most time tending it.
These are the things I LOVE about it:
v
Building and seeding it was much quicker than
putting in a traditional garden with rows,
v
There is FAR less weeding and not as much
stooping when you do need to weed,
v
As the wood rots and breaks down within the
mound, it releases nitrogen into the soil, making the plants VERY happy,
v
The mound is excellent at retaining moisture,
meaning considerably less watering, even in Texas,
v
The mound will continue to thrive up to 20 years
if you continue to add branches, soil, compost and mulch each year,
v
It can be built up to 6 feet tall, resulting in
high-density (and smaller) gardens, and
v
It’s fun to watch the chickens run up and down
the hill looking for bugs.
All in all, our season with the hugelkultur has been very
rewarding, and I highly recommend it.
