Thanks everyone, I will definitely update all ya'll!

I live near the bottom of a long hill, but not quite right on the drain. I have a large swath of lawn on the south side of our property where I want to create a very large perennial bed. In the spring this area of lawn gets quite soppy. I think a bed directly in the ground would create quite a bit of rot for the perennials. I think a raised bed would be perfect. I envision a bed bordered by medium field stones to mimic the feel of the large boulders that line the existing beds.



Just for curiosity last spring I had a landscape company quote me prices for various sizes. Ha! The size I envision would have cost $6000!! The smallest size they would do would have run $2000. So the next plan was to buy the "ingredients" and make the bed myself. The money never materialized for that either. But I did find a source for lots and lots of rocks just down the street. Not exactly the size I had originally planned. But free (except my labor)! I started hauling them in the fall. I will resume in the spring.

I had hoped to have a load of soil, compost, and worm casting mix delivered this year and spread it and put the rocks around that. But my old dog has needed lots of medical attention so my summer fun money has been diverted. I'm now thinking a modified hugelkultur bed is perfect for this project.

I have about 15 bins of clay that has been removed from existing beds as I was amending them. Could I use these in some way? I really need to find a way to use this clay.

We have a large wood pile of maple and maybe dogwood?? that were cut down in 2012. That has just been sitting around stacked by the fence uncovered since then. I have access to a pile of old spongy wood from my neighbor across the street. I have some bins of shredded leaves and I am sure I can gather more old leaves from another neighbor. Plus access to lots of fresh grass clippings. What am I missing? I currently do not compost so I would have to buy compost. Could I throw kitchen scraps directly into this pile since it will all get covered? Also, I would have to buy some good soil to top everything I would imagine.

My neighbors won't be too happy with this project the first year I'm sure. Heck, I won't even like the messiness of it at first! But it seems like a good option given my lack of funds but availability of free materials.

What do you all think?

Hi Jennifer:

It looks to me like you have the makins of one or more great raised hugelkultur style beds. The trick to using clay soil is to mix as much organic matter in as possible.

The rocks will make a great border (and give you some great muscles if you try to move them).

The wood will make a base for the bed and add organic matter to the soil. After that you can layer the clay, pine bark mulch, kitchen scraps. shredded paper, coffee grounds, leaves, and whatever (green) organic you can find to put in there. Come spring, you could add a few bags of top soil to plant in, or just plant in the amended clay.
I don't see that you would have to buy anything, except maybe some bags of topsoil, and some pine bark mulch and that would be optional.

Those are great rocks. Your neighbors should be happy to see your raised beds come next spring.

Here an idea for using clay in raised beds: http://nestinstyle.com/garden/...

What kind of limits should I observe to the first year planting in a hugelkultur bed? I get the impression you have to assume there won't be a lot of nitrogen in it at first?

I kind of wanted to try potatoes in one, and "three sisters" in the other. But if I should wait a year I will.

Definitely potatoes will do very well the first year, and I have found onions do well in first year beds, as well. I wouldn't try really heavy feeders like corn during that first year; you'd likely be disappointed.

I did well with sweet potatoes in my 2nd year hugelkultur beds.

OK, thanks!

Here are my hugelkultur beds all tucked in under a blanket of snow.

Love it!

Last year when i was planting for the pumpkin patch I gave my then 3 year old a handful of seeds to plant wherever and it turns out he put a few in the hugel beds. I didn't even know until the leaves started sprouting and I was really amazed how well they did. Though I wouldn't recommend putting such a heavy feeder in, I'm mainly trying to show how awesome the beds are. We had a lot of luck with onions, sweet potatoes, and legumes. Some wheat also randomly came up and did well. We also had a cottonwood sprout from it and that guy has done amazing.

Trish said:Love it!

Thanks!

Today I spread mushroom compost over my long skinny hugel bed. I have been looking for a local source of organic topsoil, to no avail. Might have to buy that in bags too.

I've started 20 onions under a grow light to plant here.

As for my rectangular hugel bed, it looks good to me. The mulch I put on top of the leaves last fall worked its way underneath during the winter (as shown by the little hole I dug). A layer of soil and it should be good to go. I'll plant this one in potatoes.

I live in souther BC interior. alkaline soil and lots of beetle killed pine trees on 4 acres of hillside. i want to make some hugelbeds and swales to catch water(1 foot per year).
i know its an aromatic, but i dont want to import if i dont have to. i sure hope the pine will do. any other suggestions?

Once the sticky sap from the pines is gone, the wood is perfectly fine for use. We use a tremendous amount of rotted pine here with great success. In fact, it's great hugelkultur material once the bark is gone.

My hugel mound is about 4.5 feet high and only about two feet wide, with steep sides and 6 feet long. I got a little carried away with the leaves and coffee grounds. I also added 50 pounds of alfalfa meal. I plan to get some big stumps and smooth it out to about two feet high, four feet across and 8 feet long. All the snow is off it now, and am waiting for it to thaw. I plan to throw lettuce, onions, peas, and spinach in there as soon as it thaws out enough to work in a little.

As I said before, I plant to fill it with melons, winter squash, and some beans. Who knows what else. It will likely be a hodge-podge of robust vegetation!

I just planted potatoes in one of the hugelkultur beds I created last year. First I added a bag of worm castings/bat guano outdoor planting mix on top. Fingers crossed!

Future taters in the hugel bed!