Anybody used hugelkulture? share thoughts, please

[Joel_BC]

I’m wondering who here has tried hugelkulture. If you have, I have a few questions…

Have you felt that production of edibles from the hugel(s) was high, or not (compared with other methods you’ve used)?

Do you feel the hugel (mound or high-raised bed) is a good use of space, and a good use of your available soil for the amount of “footprint” involved?

Did you prepare your hugel(s) by hand or using a machine quite a bit? Have you decided the productivity made the preparatory work (with the logs, etc) involved worthwhile?

What do you feel about the effort involved in harvesting from the hugel, as compared with other growing layouts/formats you’ve used?

At what point (year one, year two, etc) did your hugel become impressively productive?

If you’ve decided the hugel was successful for you, I’m interested in what kind of soil you have (e.g., loamy, sandy, clayish… whatever?)

Looking forward to the voice of experience.

 

[NH Homesteader]

My husband and I have been talking about trying this but haven't yet. So I'm just going to pull up a chair and with you

 

[tortoise]

I tried to build one by hand. I quickly realized why all the articles and videos were using machinery. I'm reduced to a sort of lasagna or BTE garden, but I'm using layers of sticks in one lasagna/BTE/flat hugel garden area.

 

[sumi]

I believe @baymule has a hugelculture bed or two. Hopefully she can chime in and and tell us about it.

 

[freemotion]

I talked about this in another thread recently. I made a hugelculture bed for my raspberries a few years ago and production was immediately four times what it was in the rows where I got my plants. The only machinery I have is a shovel and a wheelbarrow. I used deadfall from a storm a couple or three years previous to building the bed. The first layer that I covered that with was stall and coop cleanings. I topped that with compost and then ramial wood chips. The soil underneath was pretty much pure sand that barely even grew grass. Details of the project are on my blog.

 

[sumi]

@freemotion If production is that good, this can be a great way for gardeners with limited space (for example city and town dwellers) to get good productive gardens in limited space?

Can you share some pics of your project please?

 

[freemotion]

@freemotion If production is that good, this can be a great way for gardeners with limited space (for example city and town dwellers) to get good productive gardens in limited space?

Can you share some pics of your project please?

Yes, the difference is amazing. I also find production has gone up dramatically with BTE gardening. Pictures of the raspberry bed project are detailed on my blog.

http://blueviolafarm.blogspot.com/2012/04/hugelkultur-raspberries.html?m=1

 

[Joel_BC]

I talked about this in another thread recently. I made a hugelculture bed for my raspberries a few years ago and production was immediately four times what it was in the rows where I got my plants. The only machinery I have is a shovel and a wheelbarrow. I used deadfall from a storm a couple or three years previous to building the bed. The first layer that I covered that with was stall and coop cleanings. I topped that with compost and then ramial wood chips. The soil underneath was pretty much pure sand that barely even grew grass. Details of the project are on my blog.

Thanks. I went to your blog, too.

The blog date indicates you established the raspberry hugel in 2012. Do you have pictures of the raspberry bushes from later years? That'd be fun to say (and probably impressive, from what you're relating).

 

[Beekissed]

I asked all of these questions on the Permie site and got shut out of the site. Apparently they didn't like pointed questions as to the efficacy of this method for producing food, as no one could really give me a definite answer as to if the work involved and space involved yielded more food~or even as much food~ than the traditional gardening on flatland.

 

[Joel_BC]

I asked all of these questions on the Permie site and got shut out of the site. Apparently they didn't like pointed questions as to the efficacy of this method for producing food, as no one could really give me a definite answer as to if the work involved and space involved yielded more food~or even as much food~ than the traditional gardening on flatland.

I'm a member of Permies.com. My status there is not all that high - I'm identified, I believe, as a standard organic gardener (but a serious one).

I respect the site in that I believe its aims are to promote & discuss permaculture design & methods that are associated with it (or emerging within the permaculture movement). The people at the center of site management at Permies are dedicated to that. But I have found some experienced homesteaders and small-scale farmers on the site.