Build a Hugelkultur - PEP BB gardening.sand.hugelkultur

Here's my hugel-ey adventure. I dug it by hand, and everything (except seeds and tubers) arrived under hand-power.  I dug down, and then piled back up to 7', because it's more Sisyphean that way, and art imitates life. If you need more detail, more pics, more picts, or higher-resolution pics, that can be found in this thread: Ash's Hand-Dug Hugel for PEP

I also want to brag on my son a bit. He's the one who spontaneously made the deal that got us the fresh-cut maple wood for the hugelkultur. This twig of a kid then lugged firewood-sized pieces across the street. Then, this otherwise "I don't wanna get messy" kid was toes-deep in the mud digging in the trench. I'm impressed, and quite proud.

In an effort to make certification easier, I've copied the required documentation list.

To document your completion of the BB, provide the following:
 - Two pics of the site before the work is started with the intended location marked out.
       o probably marked with wood laid on the ground that will soon be buried!
 - Three pics of three different stages of construction - showing the contents of the hugelkultur
 - One pic when the hugelkultur is completely built but not planted or mulched showing it is 7 feet tall
 - Pics of all the stuff about to be planted
 - 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
 - Two pics of the site after the work is complete from the same two locations as the beginning pictures.
       o include some people or something in the pics so we can gauge that the size is probably correct

Then quoted and answered each in sequence.

 - Two pics of the site before the work is started with the intended location marked out.
       o probably marked with wood laid on the ground that will soon be buried!

View from SouthEast:


View form SouthWest:

 - Three pics of three different stages of construction - showing the contents of the hugelkultur

1 - As hurky as I can make it


2 -


3


(bonus) 4

 - One pic when the hugelkultur is completely built but not planted or mulched showing it is 7 feet tall

 - Pics of all the stuff about to be planted
 - 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

The wood inside this Hugel is mostly fresh-cut maple wood, some several-months-old ?ash trunk wood, and some fresh-cut fir branches which arrived to the party in the late-stages. Also inside is grass to give the soil a tensile aggregate, and later fir fronds for the same.


Everything to the right of the pencil/eraser divide is a nitrogen fixer, everything to the left is not (that I know of). Comfrey and Jerusalem Artichokes are in the top left two plastic tubs. Homegrown red clover and dandelions are in the upper right plastic tub. Homegrown sunflowers, yarrow, and presumed harebells are in the smallest plastic tub on the left.  (No, I didn't plant the entire 5lb bag of Ladino clover, it's there to make sure I hit the 75% overall N-fixers requirement). Except for the smaller bags of beans, I did not plant an entire bag of anything.


Plants List. Anything new to this location is marked Gen0. Something that has grown here for one generation is Gen1. Something that has grown here for an unknown number of generations is GenQ.

Nitrogen Fixer Seeds
- Crimson Clover (Trifolium Incarnatum) Gen1
- Crimson Clover (Trifolium Incarnatum) Gen0
- Ladino Clover (Trifolium Repens) Gen0
- Prairie Clover (Dalea ?sp.) Gen0
- Lofthouse Fava Beans (Vicia ?faba) Gen0
- Snap Peas (Pisum Sativum) Gen0
- Garden Beans (?Pisum ?sp.) Gen0

Non-N Fixer Seeds
- Comfrey (Symphytum ?sp.) Gen0
- Sunchoke (Helianthus tuberosus) Gen0
- Sepp Holzer Grain (Secale ?cereale) Gen0
- Dandelion (Taraxacum ?sp.) GenQ
- Purple ?Harebells (??Campanula ?sp.) GenQ
- Sunflowers (Helianthus ?annuus) Gen1
- Yarrow (Achillea millefolium) Gen1
- Yellow Mustard (Sinapis Alba) Gen0
- Stinging Nettle (Urtica Dioica) Gen0
- Camas (Camassia Esculenta) Gen0
- Lofthouse Harmony Corn (Zea ?mays) Gen0
- Lofthouse Cucumbers (Cucumis ?sp.) Gen0
- Lofthouse Great Mullein (Verbascum thapsus) Gen0
- Black Mulberry (Morus ?nigra) Gen0
- Lemon Balm (Melissa officinalis) Gen0
- Orach (Atriplex hortensis) Gen0
- Leeks (Allium porrum) Gen0


The big plastic tub are the N-fixers, except the Gen1 Crimson Clover, in the narrow tub on the top.

 - Two pics of the site after the work is complete from the same two locations as the beginning pictures.
       o include some people or something in the pics so we can gauge that the size is probably correct

Mulched

Mulch List
- Fir branches
- Sunflower stalks (on the south facing)
- ?SowThistle stalks (on the southeast facing)
- Grass (on the southwest facing)

For "or something," please refer to the house in the background of the pics.

Oooh, a name! Nothing final yet. I like the idea.
While digging, "Garden Hill" came to mind, as did, "The Maw."

My son is probably the better qualified namer in the family. I'll confer with him.

Here's  my 6' hugelkultur.

My seeds were Austrian winter pea, tendril pea, sepp grain, black locust, scarlet clover, golden clover, giant clover, hazel nuts, quinoa, chicklen vetch, hairy vetch, yellow blossom sweet clover, alfalfa and psyllium. Everything except the sepp grain, quinoa, hazel nut and physillium were nitrogen fixers. I also added 3 sunchoke bulbs and 3 comfrey roots.

My mulch consisted of saw dust, hay, fir branches and mullein.

The wood used in the hugel was fir. Mostly small trees but also some branch litter on the ground.

Hugel time!!!

I used wood from near Allerton Abbey, mostly Douglass Fir and a bit of Ponderosa Pine.

I planted:
Yellow Blossom Clover (n)
Crimson Clover (n)
Golden Clover (n)
Giant Clover (n)
Tendril Peas (n)
Austrian Winter Peas (n)
Alfalfa (n)
Buckwheat
Chickling Vetch
Holzer Grain

I mulched with sawdust, straw, pine and for bows, and mullein.

Good times!!!

Here is my submission for the Garden - Sand - Build a Hugelkultur BB.

To document the completion of the BB, I have provided the following:
  - Two pics of the site before the work is started with the intended location marked with 4-ft fiberglass rods
  - Three pics of three different stages of construction - showing the contents of the hugelkultur
  - One pic when the hugelkultur is completely built but not planted or mulched showing it is 7 feet tall
  - Pics of all the stuff about to be planted
  - Two pics of the site after the work is complete from the same two locations as the beginning pictures.

  - 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

Mike, Beau, Penny, and I set out to build a combined 30-ft long hugelkultur berm at Allerton Abbey on Wheaton Labs.  I believe the berm runs northwest to southeast paralleling the fence to the northeast of the new Wofati Greenhouse.  For ease of reference and perspective, I'll call the side of the berm facing the fence the north side and the side facing the center of the plot the south side.  

The wood used in the hugelkultur bed is Douglas fir and came from inside the 1-acre plot called Allerton Abbey.  The seeds included nitrogen fixers alfalfa, clover, tendril pea, golden clover, hairy vetch, yellow blossom sweet clover, and giant clover.  Other seeds and plants included buckwheat, quinoa, phacelia, and vetch plus Sepp Holzer grain, 3 comfrey plant roots, and 4 sunchoke tubers.  The mulch included sawdust to help hold the seeds plus some understory shrub (snowberry, I think), straw, and Douglas fir branches which mostly came from preparing junk poles just outside the fence of AA.

Are the logs not supposed to be burnt before they are covered? Or am I thinking of a different technique?

I think you're thinking of shou sugi ban which is a way to prevent wood from rotting.  In hugelkultur you want the logs to rot.

Sorry if this has been covered previously.
In hugekultur does the wood/logs need to be whole or can they be wood chips?
The reason I as is several companies in the area offer to give wood chips free a d will deliver them free if they Re in the srea.
Any ideas and feedback appreciated.