Hugelkultur vs Composting

Hi Everyone! One thing I’ve been really confused about since researching Hugelkultur is that in a sense, the compost pile is built on top of the logs, and then covered. Some questions I have are:

Can it be planted in immediately or do you have to wait? If so, is it less effective than composting and applying that compost?

I’m trying to figure out how to amend my sandy soil. I’m not sure if building a hugelkultur bed and adding a bunch of organic matter to it would be best or if I should wait a bit more for my compost to be finished and supplement with purchasing some materials? Or perhaps a combination of do the hugelkultur bed and mulch when my compost is finished? This is also going in a partially shaded area, not sure if that makes a difference.

Hi Daniel,

Welcome to Permies.

As with conventional compost, much depends upon what compost goes into your Hugel.  I have 2 ft deep raised beds that I fill with straw from my stalls in the fall. I have had no problem planting on them in the spring .

Hugelkultur is awesome when it's appropriate.

If I had sandy soils and I wanted to get started quickly then I'd plant alliums and root veggies in the sandy soil and just apply a good compost top dressing and mulch then in a more concentrated area I would add sphagnum manure and compost and double dig it. Really labor intensive and purchased inputs I usually try to use minimally. So use this limited space for the finicky plants you are concerned will do poorly in your current soil.

After getting the annuals bed ready I'd put my energy into some hugel mounds to really build some soil over the years and have more 3D gardening spaces to take advantage is space edge and microclimate!

Really just getting something in the ground encourages me to keep doing more and more!

Good luck

Daniel Kalcik wrote:I’m trying to figure out how to amend my sandy soil.

The problems I'm always reading about with sandy soil is that it doesn't hold water or nutrients. I know that one thing David the Good has added in the past is biochar, so if you've got a lot of bits of wood around, that might be an option. It can be done with a trench that's quenched or make a simple TLUD.
Lots of info here: https://permies.com/f/190/biochar