My first year raised bed with hugelkutur

[Rairdog]

looks really good. How did you flood proof?
I can't do that here, no wood lying around and wood touching the ground anywhere invites termites.

It's flood proof because it drains easy and is raised. Traditionally people dig holes or make swales on hillsides to catch the water and store it in the rotten logs. If you had a clay soil that held water it could be a problem. The main reason I did it was to create a garden with a neutral ph. I could use soil acidifier on my other gardens but is costly and reverts back to the native high ph. I'm just happy I can finally grow peppers. My other garden peppers only got a couple feet high and gave me 2 or 3 peppers all season.

You have ph issues also if I remember. I would try calling some tree trimmers. There should be a native Hawaiian tree that is termite resistant.


@ RBG
I have found out that in my new locality, the county will chip up trees and branches brought in. They then sell the partly broken down would chips for $20 a ton. So I am planning a hugelkulture bed that will have a few logs and then a ton or so of the wood chips.

That's a good price. The organic lady that I get the leaf mulch/top soil blend has playground grade wood chips for $15 a yard. I am going to use it next year to mulch. I am kinda confused on how to incorporate a fall cover crop and wood chips together.

[Rairdog]

A 1 pound 5 ounce tomato?!!
Just so you know, you are like an angel that was sent to me to help me solve my excess wood problem. I have some leftover firewood and can't seem to sell it because the air quality control board is phasing out wood stoves in my neighborhood and I want to turn that old wood shed into a greenhouse but I must first find a home for the wood. So what I am going to do is use it as a base layer for hugelkutur garden. That will be a perfect solution. Thank you for your post with pictures of your amazing garden!

There was a youtube vid I saw. He cut round logs in 12 in lengths and set them upright in a dug out area in his greenhouse. Then he put the other scraps, bark, branches on top and in the gaps. Just remember it can take a year or more to break down. I overcame that my topping with leaf mulch, top soil and Alpaca manure.

I don't know about using Cedar since nothing ever grows under a cedar tree. There is some good info on permies dot com about hugel's and what wood works well. Most of it seems to be unwanted or invasive trees.

[applestar]

I think on the whole, hardwood and hard to decay, bug resistant wood are better used for any kind of frame work or for mulch and rapidly decaying soft wood is more suited for burying in hugelkultur. I would still intersperse nutrient dense hardwood like oak and sugar maple and fruitwood in the hugelkultur though.

[Rairdog]

The county did a school bus trimming the last few days. I got 6 yds of leaf and chips dumped for free. This will go as a mulch path in my bee garden, an added mulch topping to my existing raised hugel bed and start a new hugel bed over my existing garden. Sorry, those that tell you about not taking forest soil, waiting for a few years for compost to break down are wrong.....you just need to give the plants a balanced start on top. The roots will make their own decision on where to go.