Build a Hugelkultur - PEP BB gardening.sand.hugelkultur

I built a Hugelkultur at the SKIP 2024 event at Wheaton Labs in line with 5 other people.  I had the 6ft spot second from the south end. Each Skipper worked independently but are in some of my photos. I primarily used decayed wood that was scattered on the forest floor nearby, primarily Fir, Pine, and Spruce. The best trees in a hugel are decaying trees which also happened to be the easiest to carry!

I used the excavator to move dirt from each side of the hugel over each carbon layer until I reached the desired height. For the last carbon layer I used a lot of branches on the tops and sides to attempt to prevent the dirt from falling right back down into the trenches on either side. It was an exciting experience to use the excavator to make so much progress in such a short amount of time!

I transplanted comfrey and sunchokes from base camp and selected the following seeds for planting: sweet yellow clover, bush beans, clover mix, field peas, black bean, alfalfa, white clover, fava beans, sunflower, millet, dandelion, corn, sepp holzer grain.

I harvested pine branches, smooth brome, orchard grass, blue stem wheat grass, and mullein for mulching.

To complete this BB, the minimum requirements are:
  - 7 feet tall, 7 feet wide, 6 feet long
  - mulch it with at least 4 different kinds of mulch
  - seed/plant at least a dozen different species
  - seeds are mostly nitrogen fixers (>75% by volume)
  - at least three comfrey plants
  - at least three sunchokes
  - at least a dozen sepp holzer grains

To document your completion of the BB, provide the following:
Attachment 1   - Two pics of the site before the work is started with the intended location marked out.
         - Probably marked with wood laid on the ground that will soon be buried!
Attachment 2   - Three pics of three different stages of construction - showing the contents of the hugelkultur
Attachment 3   - One pic when the hugelkultur is completely built but not planted or mulched proving it is 7 feet tall and 6 feet long
Attachment 4   - Pics of all the stuff about to be planted
See above  - A paragraph or two of what wood was used and where it came from, what was planted, what mulches were applied and anything else interesting
Attachment 5     - Two pics of the site after the work is complete from the same two locations as the beginning pictures.

During the SKIP 2024 event I built a six foot section of a much larger hugelculture mound on the flat area south of the gate into the lab. I filled it with scavenged surface wood from the area and the excess length removed from the trunk end of junk poles I felled. Much of the wood was a bit punky so it should hold moisture well.

I placed all the soil using Paul’s excavator to complete my 5 scoops BB at the same time. I excavated a small trench (about 2.5 ft deep) on each side of the mound.  Total height end up almost 6 ft above grade and around 8ft above the bottom of the trench.

I mulched the mound with mostly branches of Frasier Fir and Ponderosa Pine, but also some unidentified bark, mullein, a variety of field grasses harvested close by, and a heap of fast growing shrubbery in the currant/gooseberry family that was encroaching on the road around the lab.

Back in the spring my sister and I built a 7’x7’x6’ hugulkultur in our backyard. We dug it down 2 feet into the ground so that it was not too tall for the neighbors. We used mostly oak and mulberry wood from tree trimming in the neighborhood. We used 75% by volume nitrogen fixers: buckwheat, lupine, beans and peas. Also, chamomile, borage, calendula, mullein, beet, elecampane, cucumber, chard, collards, lettuce, watermelon, anise hyssop and more than 12 Sepp grains.  Planted 5 sunchokes and 3 comfrey plants and some nasturtiums. Our mulch is straw, dried grass cuttings, leaf litter, decomposed tree mulch and yard trimmings.

In the 3rd to last picture, I have 3 pots with comfrey and one pot with about 5 sunchokes in it.

I have a few more details to add so its not a BB yet.

At Wheaton labs in July, I completed a 7-foot high, 7-foot wide, and 6-foot long (no slope). The pictures include the poles for marking the premeasured spots. I completed the hügelkultur with help from the excavator.  What a fun experience finding all the materials in the majestic woods!    

The wood used for the hügelkultur consisted of mostly pine fallen trees, downed pine dead trees, and twigs/branches found on the ground from the surrounding area (less then 1/2 mile away). Three comfrey plants and three sunchoke plants were planted into the Hugel, and then I mulched with brome grass, Fraiser Fir, Ponderosa pine branches, pine cones,   The interesting part was the blessing for the fruitfulness the Hugel will one day provide. I did a shimmy.


Here are the photos showing the requirements are being met:
1. Two pics of the site before the work is started
2. Three pics of three different stages of construction
3. One pic when the hügelkultur is completely built but not planted or mulched
4. Pics of all the stuff about to be planted
5. List of the seeds used for
6. Sepp Holzer Grains- At least a dozen
7. Two pics of the site after the work is complete from the same two locations as the beginning pictures.

 - mulch it with at least 4 different kinds of mulch
  - seed/plant at least a dozen different species
  - seeds are mostly nitrogen fixers (>75% by volume)
  - at least three comfrey plants
  - at least three sunchokes
  - at least a dozen sepp holzer grains (currently available as a prize for anyone who reaches BB20)




 

Finally getting around to putting in my submission for the first 6 ft section completed of hugel bed at the specifications for this bb. It is intended to be a good deal larger at some point but other tasks have my attention for now. This was a slow hand-build process aimed at achieving long lasting fertility. My techniques evolved as I went. You can see my more detailed series of posts on the ongoing project with lots more photos here: https://permies.com/t/269642/Hand-built-hugelkultur-frog-pond#2830247

Most of the soil came from digging a pond on the site and thoroughly mixing that mostly subsoil with ground charcoal and compost from onsite. I live in Atlanta, city in a forest, so plenty of wood around our properties and the neighbors. We deal with a lot of aging trees coming down or dropping limbs, especially the massive water oaks (Q. nigra) which grow very fast but are relatively short lived. A large pecan had come down a couple years earlier and a lot of that went in too. Beyond that there was beech, boxelder, privet, black cherry, american elm, mimosa (Albizia), a little pine, and probably more species that I have forgotten.

Aside from the required comfrey, sunchokes, and Sepp grains I also transplanted tomatoes, milkweed, elecampane,  trailing nasturtiums and kale. I seeded with iron and clay cowpeas, bush beans, illinois bundleflower, vetch, and burr clover for nitrogen fixers as well as beets, carrots, salsify, vegetable mallow, papalo, other greens and a packet of mixed edible flower seeds.

The mound was somewhat mulched as it was built as I used weedy plants (lots of cleavers) to hold the soil in place as it ascended. I used lots of old plant stalks of things like goldenrod in a penetrating manner as I did the secondary covering of the steep sides. A little bit of full on wattle construction was helpful at holding it up here and there too. Additional mulches came in the form of old tomato vines and such from spring garden cleaning, fast growing green weeds like lactuca and pokeweed, as well as the material from cleaning off the nearby woodshed roof and gutters. I also coppiced some nitrogen fixing Albizzia and stripped it of leaves and twigs and bark for mulching with.

This took quite a while working on it intermittently and I found it a challenge at times. I would prefer to construct them a good bit wider for that height but the space was too tight for that. Hopefully I'll get back to completing the next 12 feet before too long.