My first Hugelkultur, feedback please!

I suppose I should have posted these from the start!

They came without many planks on them, and i just salvaged planks from other pallets, pryed them off and nailed them on with the same nails!

Thanks Tim!
That solves the "ship in a bottle" mystery.

great idea! thanks so much for sharing.

Pallet garden winterised! I found this pop up greenhouse 80 dollars and it was the perfect size for my garden. I hope to kick start the growing season and then remove it for summer.

Okay 2014 spring update! As many of you predicted the upper levels have fallen quite dramatically. The slumping effect has caused problems retaining the soil in the sides with big open gaps and preventing the water from being able to saturate into the mound. I have started to correct this problem by planking up the sides and filling the top with much more soil. I did not transplant things this year like I did last year but on the lower levels the seeds I broadcasted took well. I think if the soil had not slumped so much the upper seeds wouldn't have been buried or washed away.

Also this project is what has led me to trying my current project. Vertical Garden Wall, I have posted this on another link but i'll put it here too. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pBpwU4Yl7M

Okay it all started caving in so I boarded up the sides and added some nifty shelves. If I had done this sooner I think the whole mound would be as abundant as the lower half.

I did no transplants this year only broadcasted seed and the top was caving in so I suspected not a lot of variety but I was surprised!
- Rhubarb, Lettuce, Mint
- Kale, Poppy, Spinach
- Eggplant, Stinging Nettle, Morning Glory

Totally cool! Thanks for the updates. Definitely going to try this.

Tim, those are cool designs. I am very interested in the side hugel/garage door project and can't wait to see further development. The only concern that creeps up for me is support for the hoop rings in the center. Growies and add a lot of weight. But overall that design is something I just might have to steal, mwhohahaha.

I really enjoyed reading this thread . I think the top levels will be best for low water plants .

So after experimenting with 4 more raised garden bed systems I have found that this particular design does not work very well .....The rain has a hard time getting into the mound and it is also difficult to water, I used far too much wood so the soil is still not fully settled after 2 seasons....I wanted garden beds that I didn't need to water more then a couple of times a season but also vertical. If you follow my other posts you will know I tried a thin vertical wall and also a wicking style raised bed, but this one is by far my favorite. I call it "the garden cube". It is basically a hugelkultur mound inside of a big liquid shipping container with the sides molded so that I can plant in all 4 sides plus the top. The rotting wood will give it fertility without digging and you can top up with compost tea if you want a boost. All liquid is recollected via the bottom drain which can be recycled again as to not waste water or nutrients. This one I planted with a blueberry on top, but next year I will try full fruit trees. Thanks for all the feedback! Also if you use facebook, please check out and like my page "Tim's Permaculture" For pictures of all my other projects and updates on my new ones. Thanks!

Good job Tim, I loved the ideas and the updates. Innovation is awesome and we all learned with you !

Tim, thanks. The pallets are a welcome addition to a design I have been working on to use up some excess downed wood and create a privacy fence in my Zone 1. I was planning to hold the bed together with stakes of Catalpa, which I have, and use up a bunch of Ailanthus and Box Elder tree trunks. already fallen or that I am going to fell in the next couple of months. Pallets help me solve the problem of gravity dropping and spreading dirt at the base.

My first one, which I am drawing up right now, will be between two of our outbuildings, a distance of about 40', and we will use gutters to capture rain water from the buildings' roofs, to soak the wall from the top, using a flat piece of gutter with holes pierced in it. The shortest of the two buildings has a 9' roof edge, so I'll build up to maybe 8'.