Hugelkultur

In a recent post I used a planting technique that is well established in permaculture circles referred to as Hugelkultur ( I also misspelled it). For anyone that may be unfamiliar with Hugelkultur, here is a video that explains a few different ways of using it.

 

 

I think this is a great planting method for sandy soil. 

 

First tree in the food forest

Today I transplanted a small Fig tree that was in the area where my future vegetable beds will be. This is the third time I have transplanted this tree since I moved here . It is being planted in the area that will become my food forest, so this should be the last time it gets moved.

I'm going to be using hugel culture methods for my food forest. I've read that hugel culture is German for mound culture, which means growing in a mound. This would be accomplished by placing a stack of wood (tree trunks and limbs) on the surface and covering it with a mound of soil. But in Florida's sandy soil, I think a mound will dry out too fast. So I will be burying the wood, then planting on top of it, creating a bed that is only slightly raised.

I started out by digging a planting hole about 2 feet deep and 3 feet wide.

 

 

Then adding 2 layers of well aged fire wood with a rotten stump in the middle.

 

 

 

On top of that I added some rotted moss covered limbs that came out of my Oak trees during some recent high winds. This layer along with the rotted stump, should start soaking up water quickly, to retain water during dry spells.

 

 

 Then I topped that off with some leaves and palm fronds that came out of a load of wood chips.

 

Then I backfilled with soil and planted the Fig tree, creating a watering ring as I watered it in.

Inside the ring I mulched with leaves and twigs from a Wax Myrtle (Myrica cerifera), which is a nitrogen fixing, native plant that grows in this area. I think this should start decomposing by spring, releasing nitrogen into the soil to replace nitrogen that it being used up by the rotting wood. Outside the ring, I mulched with a thick layer of wood chips, creating a bed for this tree that is 6 feet in diameter.

 

 

In the spring I will plant some beneficial plants around it to create a fruit tree guild. By this time next year, we should be able to see the benefits of this permaculture method.

 

 

Sooo.... Until next time....HAPPY GARDENING!

 

 

OOOH MY ACHING BACK (Revisited)

Over the last 2 days I have been able to finish digging everything out of this bed.

 

 

I have 20 hours invested in this project. That's 20 hours of digging, squatting, kneeling, tugging, pulling, standing up, squatting some more, tugging some more, lifting.

 

 Oh, and did I mention digging?

 

       I'll say it again.......OOOOOH MY ACHING BACK!

 

 I'm glad this part of the project is over!  From here on out it will get easier. I'm going to leave this bed like it is for a while and let any weeds that want to come up, do so, then I can hoe them down. When the leaves start dropping I'll put a thick layer on for mulch and they will decompose and enrich the soil some by spring.                                                                                                                                        

 

While digging this bed, I dug up some roots from some Maple trees that I had cut down 5 years ago. Some were about 1 1/2 inches thick.  One was very soft and when I gave it a squeeze, water poured out like squeezing out a saturated sponge. I was quite surprised. Evidently, there could really be an advantage to the hugelkultur method. I will be using this technique when I plant my fruit trees.

 

This Red Bud tree was planted right in the root zone of the old Maples.

 

That is probably the reason it has grown so well. I planted it 3 years ago as a bear root sapling.... now it is 12 feet tall. When I dug the hole for this tree I had to use an axe to chop thru a 6 inch layer of tangled roots, so I know there is lots of rotting wood in the ground.

That is all for now.

Soooo..... Until next time..... HAPPY GARDENING!