First year highlights
Guild block planting
UPDATE: I have updated my Guild block planting recommendations based on a more comprehensive rotation system. With all the variables of companion planting, I can’t remember which: plants can be planted together which plants can’t be planted together and the plants that can and can’t be planted in the following …
What to plant
You can grow pretty much anything in a hugel that you can grow in a conventional garden bed, but you need plan ahead. Hugel characteristics Although a tradtional or hybrid hugel increases the growing area of your garden, different sections of a hugel are not identical. I divide each of …
Intensive high-density planting
Sometimes called square inch, or square foot gardening, intensive planting schemes can help you to grow more in a small space, and use every space in your garden as effectively as possible. To make this system work you need to: plant in 30x30cm blocks (1 square foot) use permaculture stacking …
Maintaining hugels
One of the premises of hugelkultur is that, unlike a conventional garden bed, hugel beds require no maintenance. However, if you want the best from your hugels, they will require some regular maintenance, but the amount of effort you put in is up to you. Over the first year, your …
Water efficiency of hugels
I chose hugelkultur because it was said to be very water efficient, with some people claiming that they did not have to water at all. So how did my hugels perform? Hugels excel at retaining water. I watered less than in my previous gardens, but the plants were healthier and …
Planting your hugel
Traditional Hugels are not suited to all plants. Avoid planting: Trees or shrubs over 1m tall. The hugel will not provide enough stability for the root system and they may blow over. Also a concern is that the heat of the decaying wood might burn the tree roots. Use a …
Step by step hugelkultur
A step by step guide on how to build a sunken hugelkultur bed (more on types of hugels here). What you will need: Cardboard (optional) A range of larger woody materials, at least a year old: logs, thick branches, etc., no more than 60cm (2 feet) long. A range of …
How to design and build hugels
When building hugels, it’s helpful to think like a forest. Rotting trees fall on the forest floor, leaves, bark, and sticks layer on top of this. Worms, fungi and animal droppings have their place in creating rich soils. Size The optimum size for a hugel is at least 3feet, or …
Why Hugelkultur?
If you have free access to the materials required to build a hugel (logs, sticks, mulch), it’s much cheaper and easier than any other form of water efficient garden bed. Benefits What are the advantages of using hugelkultur over other gardening or permaculture techniques? The main benefits of Hugelkultur beds …