Great video Sir! I would like to share a tip with you for when constructing your Hugelkultur. When your putting in the larger logs at the start try digging holes in the original soil and standing the logs vertically in them, instead of laying them horizontally. This way they are much more efficient at acting as a wick and drawing up water from the deeper moist ground.
Thanks, will do! I am planning on closely monitor all the 4 beds and give you an update whenever possible. Do you want me to test another gardening method?
@@SmallGardenQuest no sir, the comparison you did was exactly what I was interested in. The timing could not have been better as I just finished a new 7’ x 2’ foot bed (20” high) and based on your video, I was motivated, and did a hugelkutar bed. Thank you and stay safe.
Logs that big and fresh do better beneath the ground (two-three foot or a metre down) with manure (even fresh because it is so deep in the soil), then one can use twigs about the size of a inch cube (or 3cm) for the upper "soil" that rots in compost in a raised bed. It might eventually break your raised bed though, so expect to replace or patch some planks. Using kitchen scraps (cabbage leaves, teabags etc.) allows cheap compost to become good compost in the decomposing wood.
@@SmallGardenQuest Those logs would do better beneath the soil and their heart-wood should be exposed othwerwise it won't decompose fast enough. For that, they should be "cleft in twain" longways, if you see what I mean. Above soil, such logs would outlast your planks and you don't want that.
@@SmallGardenQuest Studied 4 years in high school and was lucky enough to do a bit of traveling with my class near Düsseldorf at our sister city gymnasium!
I have 3-4 big trees in my garden, that every year blanket the ground with leaves. The usual method is to rake them up and bag them, then put them on the curb for someone to pick them up. So I have started to opt in for my own method. I don't put any big logs or anything, I use the usual soil ingredients, maybe 1-5% less, but I rake all the leaves up and just throw them into a pile at the bottom of the beds before I fill them up, and throw all the twigs and small sticks I collected from my garden that naturally fell of the trees and throw them in there too. It doesn't make much of a difference, but when it comes to clean up, it's so much easier, and I feel like the beds get more nutrients over the years from the decaying matter, and also I feel like I can get away with adding less "organic material" from compost, etc. I think it saves me about 10 dollars per bed, which might not seem like much, but when you factor in 12 raised beds, that's 120 dollars saved by just reusing what is already in my yard from nature.
Using what we have is one of the best practices. I wish I would have more trees, bushes and other wild plants that will get me free organic matter... I need to plant some trees :D
I have a 14" 3x7 raised bed to fill and a lot of spare logs, so your video has come at the perfect time :) Thanks for the information, it is fantastic to have you back :)
Great to hear that you notice and that you appreciate my return! :) Yes, now its a perfect time to make some and if I recall correctly I made mine last March. A 14" 3x7 raised bed can really add up in soil costs so this method will definitely help you out!
Yes I was also surprise! Maybe the fact that they grew in a semi shade area pushed them to grow tall who knows. Next year I want to find a seed for the sunflowers with a big flower head instead of a lot of small ones.
What's growing on.... Huge sunflowers wow... I appreciate your efforts & look forward to the updates. I'd go for hugleculture especially after the decomposition of the woods and sticks.....its an investment lol
@@SmallGardenQuest I'm do exactly that in the next two weeks! I have 30" raised beds - the bottom 18" will be Hügelkultur and top 12" would be Mel's mix. I'm thinking of mixing some Coop Poop into the Hügelkultur portion for the wood to absorb some nitrogen from there the first year. The Hügelkultur base will serve as a slow decomposing source to heat up the rest of the raised bed. The beds also has 1" R5 foam insulation on the 4 sides, which should allow me to extend the growing season a bit (8b here). What I'm undecided about is whether or not to put a landscaping fabric layer between the Hügelkultur part and the Mel's mix. I do want the plants to be able to root down, but on the other hand I don't want weeds to grow up... What do you think?
Great! I think that weed fabric for the purpose of preventing weeds to sprout is unnecessary. With 30" there is enough new soil that will act like a mulch suppressing the native weeds from sprouting. The plant of adding coop poop sounds brilliant. I should try this 😊 thanks!
oh I did the Hügelkultur all the time in my raised bed, but didn't know there was a german way to do it (I'm german myself). If the raised bed is high enough (50cm), logs can be put on the button. I prefer to start with the small branches and leafs as the buttom layer (cuttings from my hedge), because my raised beds are only 25-30cm high. Almost half of it needs to be the small wood branches, even get up on the branches and flatten them with your shoes as much as you can. Then compost on top and final a top layer of soil (my compost is not complete at the time), again a litte bit of stumping above it, to get the soil to really drop down in every crack between the small branches. This way the bed won't shrink too fast. I can plant carrots or other root vegetables, just fine this way.
I did this with my Beds last year and the year before. I wonder now if the decaying process is taking nitrogen out of the soil as this year's plants were stunted and yellow. Even with the addition of manure over winter.
I am trying something similar by burying limbs, last year's straw mulch, kitchen scraps, coffee grounds and filters, etc . with original soil backfilled on top, then covered it with cardboard. Most likely I'll add a bag of mushroom compost and a bag of raised beg soil to give a little more depth. I made it 2 months ago in anticipation of planting summer crops on June 1. Originally I had planned to plant corn there, but now I am thinking I may want to put my tomatoes there, instead. All I know is the worms are having a big party down there!
Thanks for a.great video. I am building Hugelkulture beds this year for the first time. I have one raised bed near our hen house and backing onto a shed. Only built this year it has cavities in the bottom around the wood and twigs, unfortunately the rats have decided they like this and have moved in. I have found several tunnels coming up from below. Have filled with water so far, hoping this has out them off. Anyone else come across this problem? Any good ideas for getting rid?
Yea I think the wood if not filled completely with soil can be a nice nest for rodents. A solution would be to put a chicken wire at the bottom of your raised bed.
@@SmallGardenQuest thx. Did look into mesh, too expensive. Will make sure I fill the gaps more thoroughly in the next ones. On the plus side the rats haven't come back it the first bed after their soaking 😉
Who did do better? Hügelkultur or Compost?
Great video Sir! I would like to share a tip with you for when constructing your Hugelkultur. When your putting in the larger logs at the start try digging holes in the original soil and standing the logs vertically in them, instead of laying them horizontally. This way they are much more efficient at acting as a wick and drawing up water from the deeper moist ground.
Thanks for the tip! I told that in this video that this was one of my mistakes :p But I realized that when I already finished the build... :(
Thanks for the tip!
Thank you for the side by side comparison; well done. We look forward to future updates on this effort.
Thanks, will do! I am planning on closely monitor all the 4 beds and give you an update whenever possible. Do you want me to test another gardening method?
@@SmallGardenQuest no sir, the comparison you did was exactly what I was interested in. The timing could not have been better as I just finished a new 7’ x 2’ foot bed (20” high) and based on your video, I was motivated, and did a hugelkutar bed. Thank you and stay safe.
Logs that big and fresh do better beneath the ground (two-three foot or a metre down) with manure (even fresh because it is so deep in the soil), then one can use twigs about the size of a inch cube (or 3cm) for the upper "soil" that rots in compost in a raised bed. It might eventually break your raised bed though, so expect to replace or patch some planks. Using kitchen scraps (cabbage leaves, teabags etc.) allows cheap compost to become good compost in the decomposing wood.
Great tips thank you! I will save them for when I will build more hügelkultur raised beds!
@@SmallGardenQuest Those logs would do better beneath the soil and their heart-wood should be exposed othwerwise it won't decompose fast enough. For that, they should be "cleft in twain" longways, if you see what I mean. Above soil, such logs would outlast your planks and you don't want that.
Hügelkultur, sicher! I am sure of it and only 3 minutes into this excellent video. Wunderbar!
Mohamed are you from Germany or you just know German language?
@@SmallGardenQuest Studied 4 years in high school and was lucky enough to do a bit of traveling with my class near Düsseldorf at our sister city gymnasium!
I have 3-4 big trees in my garden, that every year blanket the ground with leaves. The usual method is to rake them up and bag them, then put them on the curb for someone to pick them up. So I have started to opt in for my own method. I don't put any big logs or anything, I use the usual soil ingredients, maybe 1-5% less, but I rake all the leaves up and just throw them into a pile at the bottom of the beds before I fill them up, and throw all the twigs and small sticks I collected from my garden that naturally fell of the trees and throw them in there too. It doesn't make much of a difference, but when it comes to clean up, it's so much easier, and I feel like the beds get more nutrients over the years from the decaying matter, and also I feel like I can get away with adding less "organic material" from compost, etc. I think it saves me about 10 dollars per bed, which might not seem like much, but when you factor in 12 raised beds, that's 120 dollars saved by just reusing what is already in my yard from nature.
Using what we have is one of the best practices. I wish I would have more trees, bushes and other wild plants that will get me free organic matter... I need to plant some trees :D
I have a 14" 3x7 raised bed to fill and a lot of spare logs, so your video has come at the perfect time :) Thanks for the information, it is fantastic to have you back :)
Great to hear that you notice and that you appreciate my return! :) Yes, now its a perfect time to make some and if I recall correctly I made mine last March. A 14" 3x7 raised bed can really add up in soil costs so this method will definitely help you out!
My guess didn’t even come close! 🤣🤣🤣 Those were some very tall sunflowers! Wow! 🌻🌻🌻
Yes I was also surprise! Maybe the fact that they grew in a semi shade area pushed them to grow tall who knows. Next year I want to find a seed for the sunflowers with a big flower head instead of a lot of small ones.
What's growing on....
Huge sunflowers wow...
I appreciate your efforts & look forward to the updates.
I'd go for hugleculture especially after the decomposition of the woods and sticks.....its an investment lol
A secure investment indeed :D
Hope the market doesn't crash and I get my returns in form of some fresh vegetables this year :D
What do you think about starting a new hügelkultur raised bed and putting Mel's mix for the top layer? I love your videos!!
That's a great idea! I should try it in one of my beds :D Maybe we will call it the ultimate raised bed :p
@@SmallGardenQuest I'm do exactly that in the next two weeks! I have 30" raised beds - the bottom 18" will be Hügelkultur and top 12" would be Mel's mix. I'm thinking of mixing some Coop Poop into the Hügelkultur portion for the wood to absorb some nitrogen from there the first year. The Hügelkultur base will serve as a slow decomposing source to heat up the rest of the raised bed. The beds also has 1" R5 foam insulation on the 4 sides, which should allow me to extend the growing season a bit (8b here).
What I'm undecided about is whether or not to put a landscaping fabric layer between the Hügelkultur part and the Mel's mix. I do want the plants to be able to root down, but on the other hand I don't want weeds to grow up... What do you think?
Great! I think that weed fabric for the purpose of preventing weeds to sprout is unnecessary. With 30" there is enough new soil that will act like a mulch suppressing the native weeds from sprouting.
The plant of adding coop poop sounds brilliant. I should try this 😊 thanks!
Nice!
Thank you! Cheers!
oh I did the Hügelkultur all the time in my raised bed, but didn't know there was a german way to do it (I'm german myself). If the raised bed is high enough (50cm), logs can be put on the button. I prefer to start with the small branches and leafs as the buttom layer (cuttings from my hedge), because my raised beds are only 25-30cm high. Almost half of it needs to be the small wood branches, even get up on the branches and flatten them with your shoes as much as you can. Then compost on top and final a top layer of soil (my compost is not complete at the time), again a litte bit of stumping above it, to get the soil to really drop down in every crack between the small branches. This way the bed won't shrink too fast. I can plant carrots or other root vegetables, just fine this way.
We learn stuff everyday :D
I did this with my Beds last year and the year before. I wonder now if the decaying process is taking nitrogen out of the soil as this year's plants were stunted and yellow. Even with the addition of manure over winter.
Also a great way to get rid of branches and twigs if the alternative is hauling them to the dump! 👍😂
How do you think I got the idea to try it :D I had a huge pile of wood on the property and I was to lazy to chop it and hauling it to the dump :D
@@SmallGardenQuest Ha, ha! It's a win-win situation! Isn't nature wonderful? Nothing goes to waste. 🥰
I am trying something similar by burying limbs, last year's straw mulch, kitchen scraps, coffee grounds and filters, etc . with original soil backfilled on top, then covered it with cardboard. Most likely I'll add a bag of mushroom compost and a bag of raised beg soil to give a little more depth. I made it 2 months ago in anticipation of planting summer crops on June 1. Originally I had planned to plant corn there, but now I am thinking I may want to put my tomatoes there, instead. All I know is the worms are having a big party down there!
Great job and a splendid plan! Yes the worms love this kind of environment :)
Thanks for a.great video. I am building Hugelkulture beds this year for the first time. I have one raised bed near our hen house and backing onto a shed. Only built this year it has cavities in the bottom around the wood and twigs, unfortunately the rats have decided they like this and have moved in. I have found several tunnels coming up from below. Have filled with water so far, hoping this has out them off. Anyone else come across this problem? Any good ideas for getting rid?
Yea I think the wood if not filled completely with soil can be a nice nest for rodents. A solution would be to put a chicken wire at the bottom of your raised bed.
@@SmallGardenQuest thx. Did look into mesh, too expensive. Will make sure I fill the gaps more thoroughly in the next ones. On the plus side the rats haven't come back it the first bed after their soaking 😉
Question: Does hugelkultur lower the pH of the bed? I can NOT figure out what is causing this!
If I use the logs to fill the plant bed, could it get termites?
Yes unfortunately you can :/
Dig a hole and bury them under the soil. That's what I did.