Hugel design mods.

Hello,

Many people try and build hugels on slopes, this is can be disasterous, additionally many people have issues of the hugels decomposing and sinking so for some they can not plant trees in hugels.

this is because they lack the stones,

Question whats the difference between a hugel mound and a beavers dam?

Stones, that hold in place the mounds and help it to hold shape.

i managed to massively reduce the break down time of hugels while keeping the shape.

I did this with using boulders "rocks 200mm or larger".

I also placed mushroom spores into the hugel, and broke open the stick and logs, this allows the water, and decomposers and shredders to get into the logs,
I then add to the mounds later, as I plant, and this allows trees to anchor around the rocks, this means I can build hugels in places others can not and I can have effective hugel mounds as berms, mulch pits, and yes I can grow nitrogen fixer in these hugel mounds and chop them and add them next layers of the hugel mounds.

I`ll wont go overly complicated with the bell siphon, system mods for berms,

Regards,
Alex

This sounds very intriguing.
Do you have a sketch of what you are describing?

William Bronson wrote:This sounds very intriguing.
Do you have a sketch of what you are describing?

I have several, But they are not good yet, My rocks look like logs, and I need to practice and become significantly better at drawing designs on paper and in Drafting programs in regards to permaculture designs!

I am practicing drawing when waiting for meetings, or being driven, and breaks!

I am also sad to say that much of this idea is just utilising the great aspects of Key holes, with elaine white, and holzer, with Guilds of host species for beneficial bacterial.

Simply put imagine ring of branches, to form a hole for an elaine white, tree planting, above ground in a hugel mound of holzers but with a trapezium shape with the 70 degree slopes. inside the slope is little mounds of rocks, and if needed dry stacked rocks over the embankment,

with several hosts of nitrifying bacteria, Black locust ect, Rhizomes for rhizo host bacteria, and brassicas and some cereals for health, with fungal spores mixed in for good measure,  shrubs for wind protection growing up with the Nitrogen fixing trees, then this is all cut back at regular intervals, building soil. along the mounds,
This is great for edges of paddocks. and on slopes.

This is about making better use of choosing great aspects of materials! rocks, are heaver and maintain shape, they are often porous and great habitats for microbes. where as wood alone breaks down, and aerates, and becomes nutrients, but this is less stable than rocks, and its lighter and easer to move about! you can also consider the thermal capacity of wood vs rock! Rocks are also great for trees to grow roots around!

and only seasonal maintenance,