Hi All,
Looking to build my first Hugelkultur this fall or next spring. I was recommended to come join this community by a man who introduced me to this concept. Looking forward to what I'll learn, and hoping you all can help me do my first Hugelkultur the right way.
I live in northern Maryland, my property is approximately 1 acre, and my soil isn't great - a decent amount is orange/red clay. Half of my property is in heavy shade, with some very large oak and ash trees covering it. This half of the property is fenced in. the other half is in the open and gets a good portion of the day's sunlight.
Several years ago, we put a pond in, and I have a significant amount of the clay/soil leftover. On to some starting questions:
1) Should I use my available clay, or will it cause issues not allowing water to penetrate the "core" of the hugelkultur well? I'd love to use available resources, but don't want to do that at the cost of the project being successful!
2) I have two types of wood available on my property. I oak firewood, which I originally intended to burn but could sacrifice for the project. I also have a full large Ash tree in various sizes from the trunk to the twigs. It was cut down this past spring. I haven't seen much on the forum about whether Ash is OK or not, but I certainly have a lot more of the ash, and a wider variety of sizes of it.
3) What would you recommend my first/second year of planting be to get this going for my area?
4) Assuming I should put the hugelkultur in the sunny half of my property, are there any tips on dealing with deer (all over my non-fenced half of property) aside from completely fencing it in? Would I have any success in a shadier area, where the deer can't get?
5) Would the fall or spring be a better time to start the project?
Thanks for any help you pros can provide to get me started on my first one. I've never had great success with the gardens yet (just getting tomatoes and peppers really, struggling with a lot of other things), so I hope a new approach will prove to be successful.
