hugelkulture meets container gardening

I was working on my first attempt at a hugel and thinking about some seed starting supplies I had put aside. I had bought some 'kitty litter' to set egg cartons on to start seeds. The litter was feline pine. Compressed pine nuggets.

I thought, why couldn't that product work as a layer in a container? So I'm trying it to see if it helps.

Has anyone else tried something like this already?

I've used wood chips thickly to side dress before with good results, even in potted plants. It helped retain moisture even during drought conditions. I would be concerned, however, to use them as a base. Part of the appeal of hugelkulture is that there are air pockets there that you wouldn't find in processed wood.

Of course, my two cents aren't worth as much as someone who has experience in both wood mulching and in hugelkulture.

I have used 2" wood bark mulch as a drainage layer when I ran out of drainage gravel for my pots. A year later when I went to repot, the wood was covered in fungus and very wet.

I was surprised the plant hadn't been consumed by fungus so I chucked it all out and replaced it with gravel...

Thanks for your replies! I guess I won't use them as a planter box base then. Good to have people to get these kinds of questions asked.

Um first things first.. Fungus good mkay! It's the fungi that make hugel culture work so well IMO. Second the kitty litter may have some nasties in it, I would check it out before using to grow things. Other than that it should be fine.

Shawn Harper wrote:Um first things first.. Fungus good mkay! It's the fungi that make hugel culture work so well IMO...

Well I know that now!

I only heard about hugelkultur in the past month!

Is there good fungus and bad fungus or is all fungus good, I know that for people there is a difference between mushrooms and toadstools but maybe plants are not so discerning.

Been trying lots of different things in containers for awhile now.

http://lowcostvegetablegarden.blogspot.com/2012/09/corn-cob-seedling-mix.html
http://lowcostvegetablegarden.blogspot.com/2012/09/eggplant-stump-branch-pot-comparison.html
http://lowcostvegetablegarden.blogspot.com/2012/09/pepper-containers.html

Eric, I found the corn cob mix most interesting because of the Native American tradition of the "Three Sisters"!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Sisters_(agriculture)