You’ve built a fantastic hugel, exactly three feet tall, and now it’s only two feet tall. Is something wrong?
ANSWER:
That’s perfectly normal.
- After building, your hugels will settle and sink a little. The weight of the material will compact the mound, and as water permeates the soil air pockets will disappear.
- Larger air gaps are filled in as the smaller material composts, and worms move material around to fill these gaps.
- As the larger wood decomposes, it will naturally cause the whole mound to sink.
Unfortunately this means that your hugel can sink below the optimum height (120cms, 3 feet). You can rebuild your hugels by adding more woody material, or better still plan ahead and build your hugels extra high (180cms, 4 feet) to begin with.
