Hugelkulture Bed

Hugel what?? Hugelkulture is a German word for high bed. A Hugelculture bed is simply a high mound of soil over top woody materials. I suppose it could be considered a way for decomposing wood. A true hugel bed is usually 5 to 6 feet high, with very steep sides. The reason for the wood core is for several reasons.

1. Water retention
As the wood starts to decompose, it will hold water like a sponge, therefore giving any plants on the bed access to water. Ive also heard that if there is wood exposed through the soil, it will wick up moisture and dry out the soil around it. Not sure how true this is though.
2. Fertilizer
The wood as it decomposes will release nutrients. If you are using "green" wood into a hugel bed, it will initially take in nitrogen, and then will slowly release it back into the soil as it breaks down.
3. Light tilling
As the wood brakes down, it will create small air pockets in the soil giving roots easy passage to water and nutrients. So it acts as a light tilling, without the destruction of soil life that a tilling machine would create.
4. Fungi
Wood is broken down by fungi in the soil. This fungi helps soil retain water, and has many symbiotic relationships with other plants. This would be things like nutrient exchange, among many other things we probably will never understand.

So what are some benefits of having a hugel bed. Well, if you have a bunch of wood laying around, its a good way to get rid of it and grow some food at the same time. Ive even seen people just dig a garden bed and put woody materials in the hole and cover it with the soil. Its not really hugelkulture, but still has most of the same benefits. Having the steep sides of a hugel bed will make harvesting a little less hard on the back. Hugel beds also create many little micro climates. The top will be dryer than the bottom, and the south facing will be hotter than the north facing. Hugel beds can be put anywhere, but will probably be better on contour with the land. They can be a great addition to a swale if placed just down slope of a level spillway off the swale. This will act as another way to slow down water on the land.

As much as I love hugel beds, I found out this year some downfalls as well. During its first year, it will probably be a bit dry until the wood core really starts to break down. Ive heard that the beds get better with age. I found this to be true. My bed in its first year was very dry, and made it difficult to get seeds to sprout. I planted 5lbs of seed potatoes of 3 different varieties, making a total of 15lbs. Ive read that potatoes do well in hugel beds. Well, mine did terrible, and I'm guessing its because of how dry it was. Next year it will be interesting to see if there is a change. All the potatoes sprouted and were looking good until the heat really hit. Even with periodic watering with the garden hose, all the plants suffered and produced very small taters, or none at all.
I did get some dill, calendula, carrots and parsnips to grow on the bed. And I had lots of lambs quarters show up all on their own. They ended up taking over the bed, which was fine because my spinach did horrible this year too. (lambs quarters grow wild here in central PA and have edible leaves that taste like spinach)
Another thing I wasn't that impressed with was its all but impossible to harvest anything off the top of the bed. And there can be erosion issues if no precautions are taken. To prevent erosion, put long straight branches on the sides of the bed and hold them in place with small stakes under them. They act like a shelf and keep the soil from falling down the sides.
So with all the downfalls of a hugel bed, Im starting to wonder if its not better suited for a perennial system, instead of trying to grow annuals. Im thinking of doing more of a perennial  herb and low bush type planting for my hugel bed next year. I may still experiment with some veggies in there as well as the bed matures.

My hugel bed came to be thanks to the two ginkgo trees I cut down to open up some prime real-estate for my tiny food forest. They were large mature trees and produced quite a mess when they were cut down. Some of the wood I gave to my neighbor for his own hugel beds, and the rest I used for mine. It was a great way to get rid of the mess, and put the material back into the land. Here is the wood stacked at the future bed site. We threw all the leaf and twig debris in the middle as well.

The next photo was after the dirt was delivered. I used a screened top soil, mixed with 20% compost. This points out another problem, you need to have dirt to cover the wood, or your gonna pay for it and have some delivered. Thats why most people dig a hole to put the wood in. Then it becomes more like a woody bed, not hugelkulture.

Thanks to Phil, my neighbor and good friend, the soil was put into place with his tractor.

Next went on a layer of compost I had left over from the garden.

As you can see in the photo, the north side (shovel side) was steeper then the south side. That is because there's a slight slope to the south. The north side was good for harvesting while the south was harder because of the more gradual slope. Thats one other reason I may do perennials next year. 

In this next photo you can see the hugel bed just south of my swales completely covered in lambs quarters, dill, calendula, potatoes, parsnips, sage, carrots, comfrey, and on the left of it is a honey berry bush. I also planted some tomatoes and winter squash at the base.

So even with some disappointments, Im excited to see what I can do with it in the next couple years.