Hugelkultur Mound?

A what?!?

I think with all the brush we’ve been clearing, and all the yard clippings, the best thing to do is build a hugelkultur mound. I’ve never built one, never mind grown in one, so this will be interesting.

(Not my photo)

Hugelkultur is a permaculture technique for building a raised bed using otherwise “useless” material. You start with your logs and larger pieces of wood, layer sticks, leaves and compost into a hill or mound and top with soil. Some resources say top with overturned sod, or hummus. I don’t think it matters much exactly what you use. There are some types of materials to avoid, but in general, use what you have. The benefits of this type of garden bed range from more surface area, to better water retention, and even heat generated by decomposing wood. We will see how this one fairs, and if we decide to do more.

I think I’m going to wait a year before planting. I want some of this stuff to break down, and settle, plus, that’s a lot of dirt necessary to cover and we are on a bit of a budget. Besides, it’ll give me time to throw some greens in there in the form of grass clippings and yard waste and maybe find a local farm to get manure from. The plan is to make that my berry patch- raspberries, blackberries and blueberries. It’s full of lovely acidic pine needles, thanks to the 10 or so large pines out back. Blueberries are known to enjoy a slightly acidic soil, so this is perfect. I can’t wait. to see how this turns out.