Anybody used hugelkulture? share thoughts, please

[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.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I need to do some trimming...is it ok to use fresh cut logs? Not really logs, but more like BIG branch trimmings. I like to experiment...maybe I'll give it a shot if I can find a spot.

 

[baymule]

I need to do some trimming...is it ok to use fresh cut logs? Not really logs, but more like BIG branch trimmings. I like to experiment...maybe I'll give it a shot if I can find a spot.

Dig a trench and put the branches in there, cover with manure, cover with soil, top with wood chips. I see no reason why it would not work, it might even loosen up your clay!

 

[Wannabefree]

In my experience that's about the only way to loosen up clay. I did some experimenting. I like lasagna gardening.

 

[Wannabefree]

That's good input.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

Most of the hubbards were 20 - 30#.

That's awesome!

 

[freemotion]

The agricultural exemplar they most often point to on the Permies site is Sepp Holzer (Google that name with Google Images and you'll get a swack of hits). There's also a Wikipedia article about Holzer. Thing is, he inherited a multi-generational farm with farm equipment to move earth around. And he developed his own methods & techniques over many years.

Some of Holzer's experiments didn't work out, some did - so he's continued with the ones that worked. But his approach to various things developed in-place. So some of the aspects of his approach wouldn't necessarily work in other situations.

I'm not sure if his farm in itself is a profitable business, it might be... But I've read that his household earns money by conducting paid tours.

No, that's not who I'm talking about. I was referring to the list owner at least at the time. At the time he had no land it was not living a self-sufficient life. I found Holzer's work to be very interesting, not necessarily applicable to my life but I did try the raspberry bed and it worked out quite well.

 

[Britesea]

Permaculture is great, but it's not the be-all and end-all of food production; I still want my tomatoes and peppers! My small plot has necessitated being very careful where I place trees and shrubs, lest I lose all sunshine for annuals (plus I NEED at least SOME light coming into the house!) We are surrounded by pine trees on other people's land as well- which makes the available sunlight even more iffy. So far, I have a decent area of sunshine for a garden and greenhouse, with a little more available for future growth. I need to keep any new trees to the north side of the property though, or I will lose it.

 

[freemotion]

Oh, right, but I don't really care what other people plan, I just look for ideas! Some of the things I've learned on those sites have inspired me to add different things to my property and some of the methods have increased production quite a bit. Very useful when space is limited.