Hugelkultur on concrete floor

We have a very large greenhouse with concrete floor at our property, build by the previous owners. I live in north of Norway, so a greenhouse can really be a blessing, but I feel the concrete floor makes the distance to nature so big.
Im thinking about building a hugelkultur inside the greenhouse, as it will be a permanent bed for many years, rather than grow in relatively small containers. Anybody who have thoughts on hugelkultures inside a greenhouse with concrete floor?

Thanks!


Julie

If the hugel culture is quite thick with adequate soil on top you can do this in a green house with concrete floors, You do want to make sure that the moisture you add has a way to escape outside otherwise you will have a soggy and maybe smelly mess at the lower layers of the hugel culture beds.

Adequate soil, adequate moisture and adequate drainage is the main things to consider.

Michelle gives good advice here.  You might want to have your entire floor covered with hugulkultur beds and paths.  Make your paths drainage areas, planning them so that they drain excess water off the floor to the outside.

Many concrete floor systems meant to have excessive moisture (such as greenhouses, steam rooms, saunas, bathrooms) come equipped with central drain holes.  If your floor has one or more drain holes, these should be protected and utilized during your planning and operations.    

I did something like this a couple months ago. I ended up making my own synthesis of a hugel bed, a SIPP system and a small climate battery in one.

I built my frame 24" high with salvaged redwood, then ran 4"corrugated black drainage pipe (w slits all over) diagonally across the bottom from the high end corner to the low end (my slab is on a slight slope) and thought the frame to form an intake/outtake for water. I ran more of this around the edges of the bed and might have benefited from doing the whole bottom of the bed but that'd be getting expensive.

In the center of the drain pipe/bed I cut a 6" hole and put a stiff 6" pvc pipe standing straight up elbowing of it. On the top of this pipe is my intake fan, pulling air in though the black drainage pipe from outside and through the soil. This pipe was then buried in river sand, gravel and lava rock with forearm sized sticks embedded there in to absorb water weeping out of the drainage pipe, which I water from the bottom through. On top of the gravel, more woody debris mixed with my composted chicken bedding, leaves and some raised bed soil up to 24". I just put plants in felt pots directly into the bed, which is also planted with seeds.

The soil moderates my intake air towards 60f or so, the air keeps my soil happy, and I water about once a week from the bottom with less than 10gal for a 600ga bed.