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Hugelkultur Bed Experiment

Posted by Adrien Lapointe 12 months ago

Some information on the convertion of one of my regular garden beds into a small hugelkultur bed.

This spring after hearing so much about the advantages of hugelkultur beds, I decided to convert one of my garden beds.

I got a hold on some old logs and on some freshly cut branches, dug a hole in my rocky/sandy suburban garden and put a layer of fresh compost on top and some wood shavings from a woodworking project. The new bed is not as big as I wanted, about 2 feet tall, 5 feet long and 3 feet large, but I had a limited amount of wood and it is just a beginning.

Here is what it looked like after I just established it (before the wood shavings and seeds were put on):

I broadcasted a mix of white clover, flax and radishes on top of the bed about a week after it was installed and sowed some fava beans. Since my compost was not fully decomposed, I also ended up with some other plants from last year's garden: leaf lettuce, squashes (they grow everywhere around my property) and even tomatoes.

I planted radishes in the regular bed at the same time I did in the hugelkultur one. The ones in the regular bed were sown with clover and buckwheat and ended up being heavily damaged by slugs whereas the hugelkultur radishes were not touched at all at first and only had very minor damage since then. I am not sure if it has to do with the compost I put on the hugelkultur bed or to the nature of the bed.

Few weeks ago, I transplanted some Red Fife wheat on the hugelkultur bed. If I am to plant wheat again, I will sow it directly: transplanting takes too much time.

One last thought is that erosion can be a problem. Until a good root system was established, a lot of the soil ended up at the bottom of the bed along with the seeds. Some areas have lots of clover and radishes at the bottom and empty spots in the top/middle.

Here is what it looks like now at the end of May 2012: