Permaculture help

[Amiga]

The best thing for the root zone is material that has already at least mostly composted, as well as some mineral components. Recognizable leaves, straw, and wood bits will still be using up more nitrogen than they release.

There are some seeming exceptions. When growing potatoes in a tower, one fills in straw or leaves as they grow. However, to my experience, the potato pieces used to start the plant sit on soil or in compost - and that's where the primary roots go to feed.

Some of the nitrogen draw of high-carbon material can be mitigated if material high in nitrogen is included. I am thinking cottonseed meal or blood meal. I have grown in a pile of used duck bedding by digging a hole, filling that with compost, and setting my winter squash plant in there. Over time, as the bedding broke down, the squash could send its roots through, and also down into the parent soil the bedding was sitting on. But I made sure it had a basic bucket of plant-usable organic material to get going.

 

[Mini Horses]

Wild cherry -- wilted leaves & the cherry pits can be toxic for many grazing animals. You mention Black Walnut trees and that is another toxic tree.....leaves & even the wood if used as chips where horses tread.

Quantities eaten have effect on the affect the plants have on them. Often they taste bitter and they leave them, then there is the oddball who LIKES the taste. Of course, if other forage is not available, guess what they eat? Some are just more "intensely" affected and a little can kill them.

 

[CJ1]

I currently and in the foreseeable future will only have iron horses on my property. So that's not an issue. But do have a couple goats and will likely have hogs in the future. Though it would be fairly simple to keep them away from those areas. Well not simple. But you see what I'm saying.

The black walnut will hopefully be a retirement find of sorts. I'm not really worried about deer getting to them as there are plenty of cornfields around and we will be maintaining several food plots that should provide well into the winter.

I do have access to lots of aged cow manure and have plenty of compost. So should I use that as the top blanket while I wait on the lower logs to begin to rot?

Also I'm assuming that I would dig in deeper if in were to plant trees using this method. How deep should I go for for the raspberries and what not? Or would I dig to the same depth regardless of what I'm planting on top?

I did walk around my woods a little after work and there are lots of downed and rotting poplar and other trees in there I could use for the upper layers of trees.

This is probably going to be an end of the summer project as instill have so much more information to research. But I'm excited and can't stop thinking about it.

 

[baymule]

I dug a trench in my garden and filled with wood chips, covered with dirt and another layer of wood chips. Going to plant purple hull peas.

 

[frustratedearthmother]

I need to find room to plant me some of those!

 

[Britesea]

It occurs to me that King Stropharia mushrooms might do well on your hybrid Hugel...

 

[lcertuche]

This winter the power company cut down a lot of trees and brush and I'm thinking maybe we could grow squash or melon hugelkultur style. Last year the rabbits and deer didn't bother our squash so this is a possibility.