Hugel anti drought; flood success

I've been lurking for a while now. Finally decided to share the result of what I learned. I started my first hugel early this year and I'm really happy with the result. I've mostly used willow and generous quantities of chicken manure with lots of straw and a small quantity of good quality compost on top. I went large to small ending with chopped wood that spend the previous winter in our chicken coop as ground cover (against the wet). I also dug out the topsoil and replaced it with fresh soil for the chickens to play in. I probably used the bare minimum of soil as I didn't dig a hole for the hugel and had to buy the replacement soil for the chickens. Fairly cheap but I have to bring everything in by wheelbarrow as I don't own a car. Hard work!

I've decided to try growing on a hugel because my garden patch on heavy heavy river clay get's really waterlogged in winter and bone dry in summer.

I love growing squash and tomatoes but these used to need constant watering. All in all I've watered once this summer. Mostly because I panicked when I saw a sign of water stress in a pumpkin. But probably I could have done without. And this summer we broke the drought record of 1976! BTW the winter has been exceptionally wet.

I need to add another picture of what the hugel looks like right now. Maturing pumpkins and plenty tomatoes ripening. Also another picture of what the patch next to the hugel looks like. I've had to water that one reguarly and still its too dry for my pickles. The plant have nearly all died. Only the zucchini and (some more) tomatoes survive but I gave them a really think layer of ground cover.

This winter I'll built another hugel and use this one for perennial vegetables who hate wet toes. I'd love to built more but I have to scrounge for wood.

Hi Tessa, just caught up with this. Thank you so much for sharing.
It's interesting to hear the hugel bed being used as a remedy for damp soil - usually it's used for drier conditions (although it sounds like it has been that way for you this year!) If you do have more photos that would be awesome.

I was wondering about old hardwood splits.

I think they were iron bark posts.

I pulled down alot recently about 30 all rotten and what not.

Would they still  be good to just bury randomly in the pasture about 60 deep and flatten as much as possible.

I was thinking to bury some like a square garden bed around some of my young fruit trees except fully buried with old lucerne and eggs then the roots will stretch out in time as they grow and suddenly tap into a massive garden treat.

Hi Nancy,

It's interesting to hear the hugel bed being used as a remedy for damp soil - usually it's used for drier conditions

I have drought AND flooding problems... I live in the Netherlands close to the coast right next to a (small) dyke. Our summers are getting warmer and drier every year. Alternating with extremely wet summers every few years. Our winters are getting warmer and wetter. Sometimes we experience short lived freakishy cold spells. Often at the end of winter when spring is supposed to make an appearance. These kill of animals and plants that are either used to warmer climes (having migrated due to the warmer temps) or didn't go into proper hibernation/ forgot to shed their leaves/ are already budding. If a plant in standing in heavy waterlogged soil it's doomed.

The groundwater level is always pretty high (mostly one to two spades deep) so when we have a really wet warm winter the soil turns to sloppy mud. This makes it near impossible to walk in the vegetable garden in winter. The soil consists of really heavy river/sea clay with little plant matter so it goes rock solid during a hot summer. Look at the picture taken in May. You can see the cracked soil right next to the hugel. It gets worse as summer progresses. I'd like to grow veg without bringing in lots of extra water and pumpkins are big slurpers.

In winter plants drown or their roots rot and in summer plants struggle to get moisture unless they have a deep established root system. Which most don't have because of the high ground water level and heavy heavy near impenetrable clay. For the past few years the ground water level has been lowered slightly in summer by the Water Authority (I don't have a better translation) in order to have enough water in the rivers to keep the salty seawater from flowing upstream. Trees have suffered.

I've been composting like crazy and adding as much plant matter to my soil as I can manage. And it helps, a lot, but not enough in the wettest parts of the garden.

So, hugel. Garden friends have already asked me to teach a hugel build class lol.

I've harvested my beautiful pumpkins and did some small maintenance. There is some rodent activity but not as bad as I had feared. Mostly some mice. And lots of toads, frogs and slamanders getting ready for winter. I've (carefully) started planting perennial food plants. I'll try to take some pics this weekend.

Last autumn, after harvesting my pumpkins, I planted some rhubarb and perennial kale and some frost resistant annuals. The annuals all got eaten (by animals) over winter. The rhubarb and perennial kale look pretty happy. Probably because I protected the kale and the rhubarb hid for winter

I'm curious to see if the rhubarb enjoys it's high perch and gets enough nutrients to grow well. And if so how it 'performs' compared to my rhubarb planted on ground level.

Lots of little critters have made the hugel their home. Not just rodents but toads as well so with a bit of luck no snail troubles this year.

I don't think I'll have much luck growing things like carrots, lettuce or beets on the hugel unless I device a way to protect them from hungry birds/rodents. So I've decided to plant some herbs and edible flowers on the edges and grow pumpkin and zucchini on top as these seem less popular. Maybe in time I'll add more rhubarb and maybe some asparagus.

My new hugel will be less high and wide. Mainly using entire tree trunks instead of lots of little chunks of wood. I think (hope) this will make it easier to protect against unwanted guests.

In the BC Gulf Islands and the uses for Hügelkultur are multifold.

They create soil. The islands were wiped clean by glaciers and the depth of soil for many of us is pretty shallow. Hügelkultur is first and foremost a soil manufacturing facility.

They clean up yards. In the coastal rainforest, wood debris is everywhere. Clean it up and more will come. Trees fall in windstorms, and often are too punky for firewood. Yard fires are problematic for many reasons, climate change, air quality, etc...  I have multiple mounds on my property, and additional ones on friends properties. Whenever someone complains about what to do with their grass cutting, leaves, tree debris I offer to take it and add it too one of my projects.

Uneven soil helps with storm runoff. The most damaging water is fast moving water. Building berms interferes with water, keeps it in place and allows it to go into the ground and the water table. Hugel wood is also a sponge that can wick up the water.

Logs full of winter water are moisture for the summer months. Our climate change is basically 10% wetter in winter and 10% dryer in the summer. Water in a hugel mound is like water in a barrel, maybe better.

Hügelkultur captures carbon. Burying carbon (logs) under ground increases the time and the steps it take for it to reach the atmosphere. As the soil systems expand it also increases the odds that carbon will remain sequestered in the ground.

And like many things outdoors they are fun.

Moving to a property that has lots of trees, so fallen timber will be easy. I have thought about hugelkulture as the area is a lot dryer than where I am presently...it will be.about 670mm a year (I'm in Australia). I read that they can create a lot of heat, so I wasn't sure how they'd go here in summer....any ideas about that?

I’m on a city lot in Seattle. I have very little space for a hugel. But I have three 4 inch diameter overgrown camellia trunks I cut down last year. There is one long narrow bed I’m thinking of burying them in.

Hi Walter,

Welcome to Permies.