I have also really been interested in making a large hugelkultur bed where a portion of my property slopes off. This was a lot more work then I thought it would be and I still need to add another layer of wood, manure and compost to get it up to the 6ft that I want it at. I do think that after this is complete it will be a great system for retaining water during those long hot days of summer and provide another form of water catchment and retention.
Let me know if you have any questions or suggestions for improvements.
A-frame that helped me find my contours.
I cut the bed about 8 inches down along the contour line that I marked with the a-frame and started to pile large logs in the bed.
I was amazed to find such nice rich soil with virtually no rocks! I will save this for the top growing layer of the hugelbed.
Hugelbed filled with large wood pieces and covered with the grass that I scalped off the ground before I began digging the bed.
Look at the great life on this log.
Stacking smaller trees and branches on top of the large logs and green matter.
Here it is after adding the first layer of manure. I realized that I wan this much bigger so I am going to be adding another layer of wood and manure to get this up to around 6 foot. Hopefully with this size it will really cut down on watering in the hot summer in the years to come.
Seth
