Tree trimming arborist places often have free wood chips. Borrow a truck and fill the bottoms up. Then call around to a horse stable and go get a free load of bedding *see edit*. Its not as "hot" as most fresh manure and can be planted into right away. It's also considered "green" so it will contribute warmth and nitrogen to your compost. It's bulky enough to fill raised beds fast- and FREE. Then, if you want, you can top off with just a few inches of actual soil or finished compost for planting. Literally almost completely free. (No pallets of commercial soil) *edit: Do take care! Many stables and farms that feed grass hay (vs alfalfa, grain) COULD inadvertently contaminate the hay, and resulting compost, with aminopyralid herbicide. Ask me how I know😢. I lost a whole season. The good news is that the next season was fine and everything grew beautifully WITHOUT REMOVING the contaminated compost. So the claims of 5yr residual action are bullshish, thank God.
I save my soil bags by stuffing them into one bag and storing them until I need to do big overhaul/clean-up projects in the garden. Since they are heavy duty they can handle branches, twigs and dense debris-non problem.
A lot more durable that what's in the store! I save all my manure bags and bird seed bags as sticks won't tear these up near as fast and they don't explode when you pick them up or put in your car😊
Another tip I can give...if you have a local landscape supply place. Like a stone and soil...etc. They service big landscape companies...but some service small growers, as well. Less bags, cheaper costs, and you can find high quality compost there, as well. My partner is a landscaper. Also, my experience with the logs....when they breakdown the soil will sink heavily. So, if you have access to leaves...they make a great filler option. If you have a landscaper friend doing leaf cleanup during spring... it's a win win. Happy gardening friends!😊
@@tyler238 great! Double stacked 2x6. They're 4x8ft. Filled the bottom half with a bunch of branches and leaves we had saved then the top half with soil.
🌷 Isnt it funny how working the earth inspires that you share your knowledge as much as seeds, cuttings, roots, bulbs & on it goes !!! Working a garden is believing & having hope that a new day will come through faith just as new life begins all around us. Blessings for a full crop & thank you for sharing your knowledge 🌾
❤I do this with my 18gallon totes as well…I always compost in place. Find sticks, cardboard, food waste, leaves and place your soil on top and your plants will love you for it. I also do this for the winter once I’m done planting in them. Those leaves after fall goes right under the soil and sit all winter and it will be rich soil for the spring and summer.
I've done exactly this. I started my current raised beds 2 yrs ago and do still need to top up each bed with a few more bags of compost each year as the wood decomposes and the soil level drops but I'm thinking from 10yrs experience in our other gardens, it will take another 2 years of top ups before the level stops dropping so noticeably. Before I top up the compost, I dig trenches to fill with raw compost not yet composted so the soil microbes are building at the same time. once the beds no longer need topping up but mulching only, then I switch to no-dig. I have also, in low raised beds just gone straight to no-dig and skipped the trenching of raw compost.Still better than digging traditional beds. Thanks for sharing what you do.
Put the cardboard beneath the logs if anything. He is going to have a lot of settling setting up his beds this way. He needs to fill in between the logs with leaves, smaller branches, paper, or some type of garden friendly material. You can add logs halfway up a tall raised bed. I love these beds. They save your back, but they are a splurge.
Sawdust is a great way to fill your raised bed when you do this because it will help fill in those gaps and help with water retention and prevent weeds when you put in on top like mulch. I’ve gotten big bales for $4 before. That was before Covid but it still be more than $10 and it could totally fill one of those tanks with the top soil/compost mixed with more sawdust. I’ve done it before and I only watered my garden boxes once when I first planted everything. You can go weeks without watering again!
@@alexandersong72love the no watering idea I hate watering so much and can’t figure out the drip line stuff to save my life I mean I get how to lay out a drip line in the planter bit how are the hooking all their beds up to a water source, I sure don’t have spickets everywhere. So back to what your saying, you fill gaps in between all the logs with saw dust and then your top dressing with more saw dust?
I FULLY renewed 3 12ft old hedging cedars that the neighbors son had just pulled out with a small crane truck. We drug them over to a corner I'd made with 3 old stacked railroad ties. The had also just cut down a huge conifer. We had already scooped up a bunch of the sawdust and some of the trunk rounds, for compost and firewood. I put in 3 full trunk rounds, and filled the rest with sawdust. I was concerned about burning the roots, and used some of my compost to reduce it. I couldn't belive HOW perfect they grew!! It was truly astonishing. They were so full and brilliant. It works like a charm!
I recommend waiting at least a month after filling to let the soil settling between the branches. It usually falls a few inches and if you plant right away your plants may end up at different levels and if they aren't plants that you can bury up more like tomatoes, you may have trouble.
Fair enough. I was thinking that it would create space for the following season's topping off with new soil, it does seem logical that the cardboard would degrade--at least somewhat--during the first season. Thanks for pointing that out.
You can stop at construction sites and ask for dirt. Most will give it to you free. Some will even deliver it to your house for free. You can add a layer or two on top of the cardboard then add the soil in that. The dirt from construction sites isn't the highest quality but the worms and sticks and branches breaking down will add nutrients. So will the top soil you add. Easy and cheap way to add some more filler
Yup. We constantly have dirt and my buddy constantly needs it. We don't have to pay to get rid of it, and he doesn't have to pay a dime for regular dirt deliveries
I tried that all around my area. People acted like I was a criminal. We finally found a little dirt and used that..and then we added the compost & top soil. 😂
@@SometimeAgo65 I live in New York State. People here are generally stingy and won't help you even if it costs them nothing because of the "no free lunch" culture here.
This is a great idea. I made a1 10 foot diameter raised garden and used logs from a tree I had cut down. Cardboard is a good filler material. The only thing is that plain brown should be used as any printed out with color has chemicals.
I always heard that water retention was also key to hugelkulter. Drought does happen even here in southern Appalachian mountains. The dead trees evolve into sponges before they break down.
Tip: When you have loads of empty compost bags, lay them out flat on top of each other, grab one end and roll them up like a sausage roll, and then slide the roll into another empty bag. Easier to dispose of instead of trying to wedge them into one bag in a mess.
Yeah this guy in video is from the generation screaming at the world that we are ruining it with litter and pollution…yet they are the most wasteful and irresponsible generation ever! I reuse everything possible, but that takes ingenuity and effort so I don’t expect gen Z etc. to participate as they are not mentally or emotionally capable!
Great idea, I’ve used wood mulch from my firewood splitter or if I get wood delivered after stacking, there is a huge pile of bark and sticks. I separate the stick for starter and bark for garden mulch. Always more than I need.
Reusable grow bags: 30% garden soil, 30% manure, 30% coconut coir, 10% vermiculite. Fish emulsion for a nitro boost as needed. Homemade bone meal as needed. Dried and powdered banana peels as needed. Mulched up leaves as needed. Still content has been the easy thing here. Constant monitoring of how much sun is enough or too much; when to switch from nitrogen to phosphorus or potassium; moisture control; and pesky critters... that's the real challenge. So that bountiful crop makes a person feel real pride! This year, I'm starting some tomatoes and peppers from seed, pampering the seedlings, and hardening them off before transplanting into my back yard. Wish me luck? We grow paste and slicing tomatoes, jalapeno and bell peppers, potatoes, carrots, onions, cucumbers, bush and pole beans, beets, strawberries, cantaloupe, and watermelon.
Or go to your local farm or stable yard and ask for some bedding muck. In the UK you can get it for free so long as you don't mind bagging it yourself.
We did that at the Police Stables in Balboa Park in San Diego...a long time ago. We showed up so often, that we got invited to the stables while they were being mucked . We didn't have a truck..and the car reeked for days. 😂 '67 Mustang. 🎉 We couldn't go to the grocery store after packing it the the car. 😂. They normally deposited the mucking in a dumpster right outside the stables FREE for the grabbing.
Great advice, I've done this mainly to get rid of tree trimmings in my yard... but... Question: Do you want to cap the branches with cardboard like you did in that one example? I'm sure it was to keep the soil from falling down to fill spaces bc it would require way more, but won't it do so anyway as cardboard breaks down? I've heard air pockets can be bad for root formation; opinion? Also, if the goal is to have worms and microbes 'compost' branches, don't you want the soil in contact? I really don't know for sure, so open to suggestions.
In this short video he explains the log filling as a means to 1.get rid of waste timber 2. to fill the lower portion if the raised bed without going broke filling it with costly soil! note #3. it will EVENTUALLY break down to a cohesivive organic hugle bed but you will probably have to top it up with soil/compost for a few seasons before that really happens.
Hogelkultur does not need any cardboard, and soil is always placed directly on the logs. Its also about bacteria and fungi more than anything else, check out the soil food web will totally change how you see soil and plants.
@@tammymammy2464- Grazon is a broadleaf weed killer that is typically sprayed on hayfields in order to "improve" them by killing pretty much everything but the grass. Then, when the grass is cut, dried and baled, Grazon ends up being eaten with the hay and eventually finds its way into the manure of the animals that ate the hay...and all too often, in the compost made from the manure. It can still kill your tomatoes even after being digested by cattle and horses, and often ends up in commercially prepared mixes. There are other herbicides that are used on cereal crops that can also kill a garden, so if you're into using straw mulch, it's very important to check that your straw is pesticide-free.
Awesome job BCG! Do you have a place that you’re finding great deals on those metal garden beds? I’m in Ohio and they want an arm and a leg for them here! 😩
@@carollynt lots of plastic bags?? How does buying bulk soil/mulch = plastic bags? Don't tell me you've never gone to a local garden center and had them fill the bed of a truck with soil... 1 cubic yard of soil is ~27 sq ft.. for $30.. no plastic bags.. fake ass environmentalist has 0 clue about what was suggested. has 0 clue that soil can come in bulk (no bags), yet has to inject her unknowledge. lmao
My local mulch/soil distributor sells "bush and tree soil" for $45 a yard and the "garden soil" for $80 a yard. So if you do have a place you can bulk buy, ask what kind of soils they have and what's the difference between them all.
you think that is what happened lol at my place the termites just live very happily with the garden plants until they swarm. My plants go "what happened? Where did the party go!? lol Pure soil! Wow I wonder what that looks like? Gotten at the garden store a bag of "Pure Soil"? Imagine the cost of filling thos container beds!! Aiee!!!
This is fine as long as you don't get termites from it! In some places it is highly illegal to bury large chunks of wood like this because it causes termites that can take over the neighborhood. Just saying. Check it out, make sure you're doing the right thing in the right place at the right time of year and such. I don't do this anymore because of this reason.
@@Metqa Many municipalities will indeed trace it back to you and blame you! And you will be in a lot of trouble. Termites are like a disease that is needing to be stopped, let polio or typhoid only instead of infecting people that destroys houses! There are laws in many areas for good reasons about burying stumps, logs, and large chunks of wood! You can say what you said but that's silly, because if you are responsible for your neighbor's house being ruined or your own, or a commercial building being ruined, that's no joke. Anything that causes termites to breed is often controlled similar to like if somebody was putting open human sewage in places where that could affect someone's food or something. Think it through!
I like saving the bags from the soil and I usually cut them in half and use them for a cheap pot and put them around These bigger raised beds to bring the beneficial insects around. Because I grow cannabis so that helps out a lot.... I grow mint and lavender. And then put them around the raised beds to keep unwanted pests out also.
Here in Germany it would only partially work that way. we have a lot of problems with voles. even with raised beds we need mouse protection grids. They are simply placed on the ground in the raised bed so that mice can no longer get from the ground into the raised bed. Nice video💙
I wouldn’t necessarily use logs. Logs have a decay process of 50-100 years. It wouldn’t add pretty much any good value to the quality of the soil/compost in your raised beds. The best bet is to pack in leaves and soak them
Leaves decay rapidly but also mess with nitrogen levels. So you’ll still need to add something for nitrogen but when you do it makes the best tomato growing soil you can get.
I did a hugelkulture bed 2 years ago and it's completely broken down and ready to be replanted. The soil in that area is great. Now I'm doing one next to the old one. How fast it breaks down varies with climate and wood used
My beds I filled ⅔ with logs like in video. Then I used local fill dirt to fill the log space. Allowed it to settle. And the top ⅓ of my bed, about 10" I filled with top soil, compost and peat moss. I never purchased bagged soil and my yields have been beyond I ever imagined.
I have grown in straight straw/hay bales and I didn't even think about that when considering building raised beds. Which is pretty ridiculous since I used our soiled waste hay from our cows to grow potatoes in a single raised bed made from pallets this season. Smh... can't see the forest for the trees sometimes 😂
hay and straw work great and are cheap instead of cardboard which might have glue in. it also add compost starter which has the good bacteria in it. Great looking beds!
Also. The large logs act like sponges and absorb excess water and when the soils drying out it lets out that water. I puy large logs at the bottom of everything now, even small planters, just to have this extra water buffer. I did a side by side of a raised bed with just soil, large logs and soil and then a traditional large log plus other organics hukelkuture bed, and the large log and trad. Hugel were ofcourse showing the largest veggies by end of summer.
Raised beds are such a pain. They become root bound and have be dug out and the soil replaced. This year I'm just planting directly in bags of soil with holes poked in em. You're welcome.
I've seen it done before this one owner of apartments I use to stay at was building beds for a new look it's a smart way to garden resourceful and a money saver in my opinion
I stopped buying bags when I found a landscape supply that would deliver yards of soil to my driveway. It was easily half the price of the bagged soil and they had different grades including organic to choose from. Your garden is awesome!
Great advice, my beds are filled this way, but with a lot less soil, seriously only use a couple of inches of soil, the rest is fallen branches, logs (those narly ones that are just too much work to make firewood from) everything that's get cut in spring, leaves (never throw leaves!) dirty bedding from my chickens, moss, grass and so on, basically anything I have, only exception are plants with some sort of sickness or stuff that are toxic to touch. Make sure to pack it in really well, it will shrink down, when its almost full add some soil on top, I even grow carrots the first year and they came out perfectly normal not even twisted. When filling up I just push the top layer to the side and add stuff underneath, if you want you can ofc just put small things like leaves and lawn clippings on top but not so much with larger items, after a few seasons they won't shrink down as much anymore. The soil gets really heavy compared to bagged soil but since it has so much activity from worms and other creatures it is easy to dig deep in. There's a big chance mushrooms will grow after a while especially when you use a lot of wood but thats just shows that the soil is healthy and full of life and mycelium (mushroom roots) is beneficial for plants and can make them healthier since they live in symbiosis. I didn't have enogh material too fill as many beds as I wanted so I started with the ones I could fill up and then used a couple as cold composts untill they were full, and they had the worst shrinking gone by that point, and it's so convenient to have cold compost right were you grow things so easy to just get rid of the things you otherwise would have to haul around. There are huge environmental benefits of making your own soil and it will be better anyway, but ofc we all have to start somewhere and not every garden has a lot you can compost and composting takes a lot of time.
Fam! 🤜🏽🤛🏽 respect. You did that all on your own. I know how that feels, especially when your married with teenagers. Feels good ones everything is done. Sit out there with a beer and thank the Lord for giving you the passion and strength to do it. Great job 👏
Tree trimming arborist places often have free wood chips. Borrow a truck and fill the bottoms up.
Then call around to a horse stable and go get a free load of bedding *see edit*. Its not as "hot" as most fresh manure and can be planted into right away. It's also considered "green" so it will contribute warmth and nitrogen to your compost. It's bulky enough to fill raised beds fast- and FREE.
Then, if you want, you can top off with just a few inches of actual soil or finished compost for planting.
Literally almost completely free.
(No pallets of commercial soil)
*edit: Do take care! Many stables and farms that feed grass hay (vs alfalfa, grain) COULD inadvertently contaminate the hay, and resulting compost, with aminopyralid herbicide. Ask me how I know😢. I lost a whole season. The good news is that the next season was fine and everything grew beautifully WITHOUT REMOVING the contaminated compost. So the claims of 5yr residual action are bullshish, thank God.
This method is called a hugelkulture and is perfectly acceptable
Handy info if you have those options available thanks
Thanks for the info on the horse muck. It’s answered a question I had before I asked it
@@chunkyfecalbreakfast 👊🏾
thanx I want a garden
This is the most wholesome comment section I've ever seen. Just tips and tricks to help others.
This comment section is so helpful and clean. Thanks UA-cam
I save my soil bags by stuffing them into one bag and storing them until I need to do big overhaul/clean-up projects in the garden. Since they are heavy duty they can handle branches, twigs and dense debris-non problem.
Great idea. My daughter always cleaning yards but uses my garbage bags up like they're hers. I can save those heavy bags just for her.
I recycle them. Flip them inside out and rinse and dry. I cut imagine sticking twigs and branches into plastic.
Me too!
A lot more durable that what's in the store! I save all my manure bags and bird seed bags as sticks won't tear these up near as fast and they don't explode when you pick them up or put in your car😊
You also can use the plastic to line wood troughs and or clay pots to conserve moisture and extend the life of wood containers
Another tip I can give...if you have a local landscape supply place. Like a stone and soil...etc. They service big landscape companies...but some service small growers, as well. Less bags, cheaper costs, and you can find high quality compost there, as well. My partner is a landscaper. Also, my experience with the logs....when they breakdown the soil will sink heavily. So, if you have access to leaves...they make a great filler option. If you have a landscaper friend doing leaf cleanup during spring... it's a win win. Happy gardening friends!😊
great idea. Thanks
Partner? Do you mean husband?
Each one, Teach one. Thank you for sharing, and enjoy your day, Sir!
Got a bunch of sticks and branches from trimming my trees and gonna build 4 new beds tomorrow!
How’d they turnout?
@@tyler238 great! Double stacked 2x6. They're 4x8ft. Filled the bottom half with a bunch of branches and leaves we had saved then the top half with soil.
@@daveclark1904 nice man! Good to hear
Maybe put attorneys and politicians at the bottom then cover with concrete
Do your best to fill in the air space, or the roots will die. Research hugelculture
WHAT an enjoyable video..
CLEAR AND concise.
THANK-YOU!!
Yes, I've heard about this technique and I heard the results are amazing. I'm actually going to try this this year with my beds.
😊
🌷 Isnt it funny how working the earth inspires that you share your knowledge as much as seeds, cuttings, roots, bulbs & on it goes !!! Working a garden is believing & having hope that a new day will come through faith just as new life begins all around us. Blessings for a full crop & thank you for sharing your knowledge 🌾
I did this two years ago. Ton of life in the rotting logs. Decaying not rotting. I love making soils and being creative with it.
The idea of using different materials to make soil and seeing what’s more fertile does sound cool. Imagine making the most fertile soil on earth.
@@ryanleblanc6817 Add bio-char for that. ;)
❤I do this with my 18gallon totes as well…I always compost in place. Find sticks, cardboard, food waste, leaves and place your soil on top and your plants will love you for it. I also do this for the winter once I’m done planting in them. Those leaves after fall goes right under the soil and sit all winter and it will be rich soil for the spring and summer.
A few years ago I heard about hugelkultur, and have been doing this just like you do ever since.
I've done exactly this. I started my current raised beds 2 yrs ago and do still need to top up each bed with a few more bags of compost each year as the wood decomposes and the soil level drops but I'm thinking from 10yrs experience in our other gardens, it will take another 2 years of top ups before the level stops dropping so noticeably. Before I top up the compost, I dig trenches to fill with raw compost not yet composted so the soil microbes are building at the same time. once the beds no longer need topping up but mulching only, then I switch to no-dig. I have also, in low raised beds just gone straight to no-dig and skipped the trenching of raw compost.Still better than digging traditional beds. Thanks for sharing what you do.
Put the cardboard beneath the logs if anything. He is going to have a lot of settling setting up his beds this way. He needs to fill in between the logs with leaves, smaller branches, paper, or some type of garden friendly material. You can add logs halfway up a tall raised bed. I love these beds. They save your back, but they are a splurge.
Sawdust is a great way to fill your raised bed when you do this because it will help fill in those gaps and help with water retention and prevent weeds when you put in on top like mulch. I’ve gotten big bales for $4 before. That was before Covid but it still be more than $10 and it could totally fill one of those tanks with the top soil/compost mixed with more sawdust. I’ve done it before and I only watered my garden boxes once when I first planted everything. You can go weeks without watering again!
@@alexandersong72love the no watering idea I hate watering so much and can’t figure out the drip line stuff to save my life I mean I get how to lay out a drip line in the planter bit how are the hooking all their beds up to a water source, I sure don’t have spickets everywhere.
So back to what your saying, you fill gaps in between all the logs with saw dust and then your top dressing with more saw dust?
Itll settle either way. The logs will eventually breakdown
@@alexandersong72 whered you get it from?
Yes.
I thought so.
If you got gopher problems use non degradable wire mesh on bottom of your raised beds
Yes, I did this too. I didn't want to prevent worms and microbes, but needed to keep moles out. So far so good!
@@MissChievousRN 👍
Moles too
Cold-dipped galvanized hardware cloth will last for many years. Bricks or pavers would be good too. Beds this tall could go right on a concrete slab.
I use it to keep moles/voles out.
Beautiful! Wishing you an abundant harvest this year 👍
I FULLY renewed 3 12ft old hedging cedars that the neighbors son had just pulled out with a small crane truck. We drug them over to a corner I'd made with 3 old stacked railroad ties. The had also just cut down a huge conifer. We had already scooped up a bunch of the sawdust and some of the trunk rounds, for compost and firewood.
I put in 3 full trunk rounds, and filled the rest with sawdust. I was concerned about burning the roots, and used some of my compost to reduce it.
I couldn't belive HOW perfect they grew!!
It was truly astonishing. They were so full and brilliant. It works like a charm!
I recommend waiting at least a month after filling to let the soil settling between the branches. It usually falls a few inches and if you plant right away your plants may end up at different levels and if they aren't plants that you can bury up more like tomatoes, you may have trouble.
Fair enough. I was thinking that it would create space for the following season's topping off with new soil, it does seem logical that the cardboard would degrade--at least somewhat--during the first season. Thanks for pointing that out.
mantap jiwa uuuuurrrrrraaaaaaa tebarkan kebaikan dan ilmu yang bermanfaat
You can stop at construction sites and ask for dirt. Most will give it to you free. Some will even deliver it to your house for free. You can add a layer or two on top of the cardboard then add the soil in that. The dirt from construction sites isn't the highest quality but the worms and sticks and branches breaking down will add nutrients. So will the top soil you add. Easy and cheap way to add some more filler
thanx
Yup. We constantly have dirt and my buddy constantly needs it. We don't have to pay to get rid of it, and he doesn't have to pay a dime for regular dirt deliveries
I tried that all around my area. People acted like I was a criminal. We finally found a little dirt and used that..and then we added the compost & top soil. 😂
@@SometimeAgo65 I live in New York State. People here are generally stingy and won't help you even if it costs them nothing because of the "no free lunch" culture here.
Thats a great way to make sure you have low to no yields.
This is a great idea. I made a1 10 foot diameter raised garden and used logs from a tree I had cut down.
Cardboard is a good filler material. The only thing is that plain brown should be used as any printed out with color has chemicals.
I always heard that water retention was also key to hugelkulter. Drought does happen even here in southern Appalachian mountains. The dead trees evolve into sponges before they break down.
That's true,keeps the moisture in.
It works like a charm in Deep East Texas that hits drought level every July with temps over 105! The decomposing logs saved my garden!
Excellent information ❤
Tip: When you have loads of empty compost bags, lay them out flat on top of each other, grab one end and roll them up like a sausage roll, and then slide the roll into another empty bag. Easier to dispose of instead of trying to wedge them into one bag in a mess.
Use them as trash bags in the garage or shed!
I roll up and reuse
Yeah this guy in video is from the generation screaming at the world that we are ruining it with litter and pollution…yet they are the most wasteful and irresponsible generation ever! I reuse everything possible, but that takes ingenuity and effort so I don’t expect gen Z etc. to participate as they are not mentally or emotionally capable!
Or use bulk soil, save all that plastic and money. 😢
Great idea, I’ve used wood mulch from my firewood splitter or if I get wood delivered after stacking, there is a huge pile of bark and sticks. I separate the stick for starter and bark for garden mulch. Always more than I need.
Reusable grow bags: 30% garden soil, 30% manure, 30% coconut coir, 10% vermiculite. Fish emulsion for a nitro boost as needed. Homemade bone meal as needed. Dried and powdered banana peels as needed. Mulched up leaves as needed. Still content has been the easy thing here. Constant monitoring of how much sun is enough or too much; when to switch from nitrogen to phosphorus or potassium; moisture control; and pesky critters... that's the real challenge. So that bountiful crop makes a person feel real pride!
This year, I'm starting some tomatoes and peppers from seed, pampering the seedlings, and hardening them off before transplanting into my back yard. Wish me luck?
We grow paste and slicing tomatoes, jalapeno and bell peppers, potatoes, carrots, onions, cucumbers, bush and pole beans, beets, strawberries, cantaloupe, and watermelon.
@@SquidgyTTV We like to eat. We trust what we grow. We like saving money. We dislike relying on the supply chain.
Did this and loving it! So much rich soul once it breaks down and so cost effective!
Thank you sir for your very fine tutorial! ...so very informative and enjoyable!
I built a raised bed garden in 2020 with this technique, and it works great!
Or go to your local farm or stable yard and ask for some bedding muck.
In the UK you can get it for free so long as you don't mind bagging it yourself.
We did that at the Police Stables in Balboa Park in San Diego...a long time ago. We showed up so often, that we got invited to the stables while they were being mucked . We didn't have a truck..and the car reeked for days. 😂 '67 Mustang. 🎉 We couldn't go to the grocery store after packing it the the car. 😂.
They normally deposited the mucking in a dumpster right outside the stables FREE for the grabbing.
Good idea throwing the logs in. Save the dirt, and also feed the soil and plants too
Great short Vid 👍🏻 informative 👏
save leaves in fall , branches in fall and u will have half ready mulch in spring .
I used the styrofoam from packaging and many things that would sour the landfill. Good article here! ❤
I've never used styrofoam. How did that work out for you
Looks good.
Absolutely love this post, righteous directions for beginners
Great advice, I've done this mainly to get rid of tree trimmings in my yard... but...
Question: Do you want to cap the branches with cardboard like you did in that one example? I'm sure it was to keep the soil from falling down to fill spaces bc it would require way more, but won't it do so anyway as cardboard breaks down? I've heard air pockets can be bad for root formation; opinion? Also, if the goal is to have worms and microbes 'compost' branches, don't you want the soil in contact?
I really don't know for sure, so open to suggestions.
Yes you are correct.
Hugulkultur sounds nice but doesnt work that well
In this short video he explains the log filling as a means to 1.get rid of waste timber 2. to fill the lower portion if the raised bed without going broke filling it with costly soil! note #3. it will EVENTUALLY break down to a cohesivive organic hugle bed but you will probably have to top it up with soil/compost for a few seasons before that really happens.
Hogelkultur does not need any cardboard, and soil is always placed directly on the logs. Its also about bacteria and fungi more than anything else, check out the soil food web will totally change how you see soil and plants.
After the logs, I put a few bags of leaves and grass clippings (non fertilized), then hot compost, some dirt and sand, then compost and topsoil.
AND ALWAYS TEST YOUR SOIL before filling. Just used beans seeds which are fast growing. There have been soils contaminated with Graze On.
What’s graze on?
@@tammymammy2464- Grazon is a broadleaf weed killer that is typically sprayed on hayfields in order to "improve" them by killing pretty much everything but the grass.
Then, when the grass is cut, dried and baled, Grazon ends up being eaten with the hay and eventually finds its way into the manure of the animals that ate the hay...and all too often, in the compost made from the manure.
It can still kill your tomatoes even after being digested by cattle and horses, and often ends up in commercially prepared mixes.
There are other herbicides that are used on cereal crops that can also kill a garden, so if you're into using straw mulch, it's very important to check that your straw is pesticide-free.
He looks so happy and healthy.
Those discarded bags make good plastic covers to get rid of grass in pathways
Cut open the top line carefully and re use them for garden trash bags.
Put them over tomato cages for protection and mini greenhouses
Thank you💚
Awesome job BCG! Do you have a place that you’re finding great deals on those metal garden beds? I’m in Ohio and they want an arm and a leg for them here! 😩
Vego Garden
@@hoosiermama6430 thank you!
Good way to promote natural fertilizer benificial bacteria worms etc. We feed the soil the soil feeds the plants the plants feed our Family!!
Love a positive video.
Thank you very much for watching and for the comment
That's the same thing I did with my beds. Worked great and keeps feeding the soil as it breaks down. 😊
Call your local mulch/ soil place. Only 30$ a yard where I'm at. Thats a LOT of dirt.
@@carollynt and less resource consumption all together
@@carollynt lots of plastic bags?? How does buying bulk soil/mulch = plastic bags?
Don't tell me you've never gone to a local garden center and had them fill the bed of a truck with soil... 1 cubic yard of soil is ~27 sq ft.. for $30.. no plastic bags..
fake ass environmentalist has 0 clue about what was suggested. has 0 clue that soil can come in bulk (no bags), yet has to inject her unknowledge. lmao
@@carollynt if they’re selling it by the yard it’s not in bags. It’s loaded with a loader into a truck bed or dump trailer.
@@abandonedxship she's implying that you would not be using all those bags that you would otherwise get with store bought bagged soil.
My local mulch/soil distributor sells "bush and tree soil" for $45 a yard and the "garden soil" for $80 a yard. So if you do have a place you can bulk buy, ask what kind of soils they have and what's the difference between them all.
Beautiful! You're so lucky to have such nice raised beds!
I did this but unfortunately the wood brought the termites around and the ruined the garden so I have to come up with something new or pure soil.
Leaves
you think that is what happened lol at my place the termites just live very happily with the garden plants until they swarm. My plants go "what happened? Where did the party go!? lol
Pure soil! Wow I wonder what that looks like? Gotten at the garden store a bag of "Pure Soil"? Imagine the cost of filling thos container beds!! Aiee!!!
Diatomaceous earth
TY for sharing GOD'S GIFT of working the land anywhere that you live!!! Very important job!!! ❤
This is fine as long as you don't get termites from it! In some places it is highly illegal to bury large chunks of wood like this because it causes termites that can take over the neighborhood. Just saying.
Check it out, make sure you're doing the right thing in the right place at the right time of year and such. I don't do this anymore because of this reason.
What if the wood from your own back yard? If the termites were already there... can't be blamed for nature.
Wow! Great point
Great point.
@@Metqa Many municipalities will indeed trace it back to you and blame you! And you will be in a lot of trouble. Termites are like a disease that is needing to be stopped, let polio or typhoid only instead of infecting people that destroys houses!
There are laws in many areas for good reasons about burying stumps, logs, and large chunks of wood! You can say what you said but that's silly, because if you are responsible for your neighbor's house being ruined or your own, or a commercial building being ruined, that's no joke.
Anything that causes termites to breed is often controlled similar to like if somebody was putting open human sewage in places where that could affect someone's food or something. Think it through!
I like saving the bags from the soil and I usually cut them in half and use them for a cheap pot and put them around These bigger raised beds to bring the beneficial insects around. Because I grow cannabis so that helps out a lot.... I grow mint and lavender. And then put them around the raised beds to keep unwanted pests out also.
Those metal beds are expensive!
I recommend the spicy mustache on you tube for cheaper options. he has a whole playlist on how to mal ed them.
Yes they are. Fabric bags/beds are a little bit of a cheaper option.
Investment. Last long.
@@pyramidion5911 make sure not to let those dry out. Moisture loss can be an issue. 😉👌
Here in Germany it would only partially work that way. we have a lot of problems with voles. even with raised beds we need mouse protection grids. They are simply placed on the ground in the raised bed so that mice can no longer get from the ground into the raised bed.
Nice video💙
I wouldn’t necessarily use logs. Logs have a decay process of 50-100 years. It wouldn’t add pretty much any good value to the quality of the soil/compost in your raised beds. The best bet is to pack in leaves and soak them
You are absolutely right. Don't use logs
Hügelkultur works perfectly bro, after 5-7 years you perfect soil
Great idea, thanks for the video man
Logs can take a lifetime to decompose, it's better to use smaller branches or chopped up sticks if you want to use tree parts
The idea of the logs is to take up space in the bottom of the beds, he’s not trying to actively compost them.
Logs are a far better choice than plastic milk jugs.
What a great idea. I have a raised bed of sorts on my sun porch. This will work perfectly and save soil costs👏🏿👏🏿
Those take decades to decay and mess with the nitrogen levels.. use leaf’s
Learned this recently… your correct it takes decades for wood like this to decay … leaves are the best
Leaves decay rapidly but also mess with nitrogen levels. So you’ll still need to add something for nitrogen but when you do it makes the best tomato growing soil you can get.
I did a hugelkulture bed 2 years ago and it's completely broken down and ready to be replanted. The soil in that area is great. Now I'm doing one next to the old one. How fast it breaks down varies with climate and wood used
He says to fill the beds up with sticks and logs to cut out cost on soil but then cuts to an entire pallet filled with soil LOL
Maybe it would've been two pallets without the logs
I love this setup...thanks for sharing this video..I learned something about the logs and cardboard mixed in..
My beds I filled ⅔ with logs like in video. Then I used local fill dirt to fill the log space. Allowed it to settle. And the top ⅓ of my bed, about 10" I filled with top soil, compost and peat moss. I never purchased bagged soil and my yields have been beyond I ever imagined.
I have been this for years. . People thought I was crazy until they saw the harvest
Huge shout out to you brotha. I wish I was there to help and learn.
You just got a new sub! 👍
Good man! Teaching people to feed themselves
I like your creative ideas and as a farmer myself l learned about urban farming today. 😃keep up the good work
We are a amazing people!! Learn that, teach that know that!!
Great looking beds! Makes me really miss mine! I added a bunch of vermiculite to the mix and it made for some amazing soil.
Straw bales on the bottom help me a lot! It will compact over time, as it decomposes but I add compost the next year.
Great idea
I have grown in straight straw/hay bales and I didn't even think about that when considering building raised beds. Which is pretty ridiculous since I used our soiled waste hay from our cows to grow potatoes in a single raised bed made from pallets this season. Smh... can't see the forest for the trees sometimes 😂
Love this method and lord knows it works the best!!!!
hay and straw work great and are cheap instead of cardboard which might have glue in. it also add compost starter which has the good bacteria in it. Great looking beds!
It's a German technique called Hügel Gartenarbeit or Mound Gardening. My German wife has great results with this.
Great job man! I made this the same way in my garden. Works just great!
Great video illustration. Thank you.
Nice great idea. My mom used to use milk jugs and aluminum cans. The old trees feeding the soil is pretty damn smart
Great inspo! Thanks for sharing!
Nice set up. Wood chips would be better though. It keeps your soil level more even and enrich your soil more rapidly. Keep sharing and inspiring bro.
Yes, I was thinking of buying a wood mulcher for smaller trunks, branches etc or cutting rounds from larger trunks. ❤
Also. The large logs act like sponges and absorb excess water and when the soils drying out it lets out that water. I puy large logs at the bottom of everything now, even small planters, just to have this extra water buffer. I did a side by side of a raised bed with just soil, large logs and soil and then a traditional large log plus other organics hukelkuture bed, and the large log and trad. Hugel were ofcourse showing the largest veggies by end of summer.
Wow ! One of the coolest ideas ever !! 👍
You make it looks so easy!
Glad I ran across your short- I am now subscribed! Thank you for sharing!
Beautiful, thank you my man!
THANK YOU FOR SHARING AND CARING.
Raised beds are such a pain. They become root bound and have be dug out and the soil replaced. This year I'm just planting directly in bags of soil with holes poked in em.
You're welcome.
My husband does this. It also is a great garden waste solution
I've seen it done before this one owner of apartments I use to stay at was building beds for a new look it's a smart way to garden resourceful and a money saver in my opinion
Thanks for the info!!! I am getting ready to build some beds and wouldn’t have considered this!
A friend and I did this a few years ago for her raised beds. They were really good holding moisture the 3rd year.
Thank you. Looks Great!!!
That bagging at the end was really satisfying 😅
Oh man, that's so smart and i don't think i would have ever thought of it
That is hugelkultur a century's old technique very clever one , everyone should use
I stopped buying bags when I found a landscape supply that would deliver yards of soil to my driveway. It was easily half the price of the bagged soil and they had different grades including organic to choose from.
Your garden is awesome!
Great advice, my beds are filled this way, but with a lot less soil, seriously only use a couple of inches of soil, the rest is fallen branches, logs (those narly ones that are just too much work to make firewood from) everything that's get cut in spring, leaves (never throw leaves!) dirty bedding from my chickens, moss, grass and so on, basically anything I have, only exception are plants with some sort of sickness or stuff that are toxic to touch.
Make sure to pack it in really well, it will shrink down, when its almost full add some soil on top, I even grow carrots the first year and they came out perfectly normal not even twisted.
When filling up I just push the top layer to the side and add stuff underneath, if you want you can ofc just put small things like leaves and lawn clippings on top but not so much with larger items, after a few seasons they won't shrink down as much anymore. The soil gets really heavy compared to bagged soil but since it has so much activity from worms and other creatures it is easy to dig deep in. There's a big chance mushrooms will grow after a while especially when you use a lot of wood but thats just shows that the soil is healthy and full of life and mycelium (mushroom roots) is beneficial for plants and can make them healthier since they live in symbiosis.
I didn't have enogh material too fill as many beds as I wanted so I started with the ones I could fill up and then used a couple as cold composts untill they were full, and they had the worst shrinking gone by that point, and it's so convenient to have cold compost right were you grow things so easy to just get rid of the things you otherwise would have to haul around.
There are huge environmental benefits of making your own soil and it will be better anyway, but ofc we all have to start somewhere and not every garden has a lot you can compost and composting takes a lot of time.
Loving the shape of your raised beds.
Fam! 🤜🏽🤛🏽 respect. You did that all on your own. I know how that feels, especially when your married with teenagers. Feels good ones everything is done. Sit out there with a beer and thank the Lord for giving you the passion and strength to do it. Great job 👏
Thank you! You've given me so many ideas. I have tons of tree branches and leaves.
Sometimes we can create soil mixing common topper with sand and vermiculite with a gravel and charcoal base for soil drainage.
you are truly a master of your work.