BY Story and Photos JIM COLGLAZIER Intern
Wikipedia defines Hugelkultur as a German word meaning mound culture or hill culture. A Hugelkultur is constructed by placing the different components in layers to build a raised garden plot that is capable of growing many different types of plants.
Our Hügelkultur is simply an addition to the garden in our back yard. The Hugelkultur structure can be constructed to any size convenient to your particular situation.
We were faced with the need to do an extensive tree pruning job. Generating a goodly amount of limbs, branches and twigs and then having to deal with all that was the catalyst that spurred us on to create the culture.
What better place to put it than in the existing garden that had been weeded and tilled waiting to be planted.
A natural depository to collect all that wood was a Hügelkultur starting with the larger limbs for the bottom layer and then adding the branches and twigs.
The first step, after deciding where to put it in the garden, was to trench the area 22’ x 4’ approximately 10 to 12 inches deep: trench excavation will be spread right back into the structure over layers.
Leaves, grass clippings, and shrub trimmings can help fill in voids. Now you are on your way, your first layers have been structured.
Compost will really give your culture a needed boost providing carbon and nitrogen, along with the oxygen. Water the different layers to aid in decomposing the organic material. We have a rotating bin, tumbler style, composter that is a great way to make compost.
Coffee/tea grounds, eggshells, and green kitchen scraps are put in the composter along with some leaves and some wet dirt. The composter should be loaded and allowed to sit for a couple of weeks and be rotated daily to start decomposition before being applied to the structure.
If you don’t have a composter you can simply mix the ingredients in a bucket, stir it up with a garden spade as it is decomposing and sread the mixture over the last layer. You can repeat this process to get more compost. Ripped up old newspaper and shredded paper can be used to provide carbon for the culture and more green clippings for adding more nitrogen. Add layers of dirt and mulch.
Don’t forget to water each layer of your structure good as you build your Hügelkultur up.
Needing more mulch and dirt as my structure developed I went looking for bagged material. Local home and garden retail outlets are good places to find inexpensive mulch and soil in bags. A mulch with tack is good to put on the top layer.
Keep layering your Hugelkultur by repeating the layering process. Dirt, mulch, compost, green clippings, shredded paper, twigs etc. can be layered repeatedly. I finished mine off at between 3 and 4 ft. high.
Mulch, a nice healthy layer of dirt capable of holding a root structure for planting and more brown mulch were my last layers.
Building a Hugelkultur takes some time and it can be a very helpful endeavor by giving you a place to dispose of yardwork debri, kitchen waste and paper.
At the same time you are building an environmental friendly raised garden bed that you will be able to grow and enjoy your own home grown organic food. The construction of the Hugelkultur can be a good family project.
Children can benefit from joining in with their parents learning that they are working to finish something that is going to provide them with a healthy food source while improving the environment and the results of their efforts are on display for all to see and they can be proud of what they have helped create.
On Saturday evening after contributing to the project it’s time to put something on the grill, have a cool drink, sit back and view the progress made on your Hugelkultur.
Good luck with your project and happy gardening.
Jim Colglazier
