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additional activator in Hugelkultur raised beds in greenhouse?

 
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I'm in the Rocky Mountains in Idaho at 6500 feet.  We just build a greenhouse attached to our house and put in 3' raised beds - direct contact with the earth.  The soil is bone dry in there right now and looks completely lifeless.   I've started to put snow and snowmelt in there and covered with cardboard to hold in some moisture.  I plan to add logs, sticks, soil, and finished compost to mimic Hugelkultur.  I've been collecting my kitchen scraps all winter in an Urban Composter using their Accelerator spray ("This organic spray breaks down and ferments the organic waste in the bucket")   When the indoor bucket fills up, I dump it in a bin that lives outside in the cold.  I don't know if that kills all the living organisms, or if they just go dormant.  I want to add this collection to the raised bed Hugelkultur mix too.  Questions:
1.  Should I add anything else to activate life in the soil?  Or will critters find their way in when it gets warm out?  (the concrete walls around the greenhouse are buried about 3')
2.  Should I add any mycorrhizae?
3.  What order would you layer all this?
4.  Other advice?
raised-bed-2-25-24.jpg
Raised Beds in Greenhouse
Raised Beds in Greenhouse
 
master gardener
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Location: Upstate NY, Zone 5, 43 inch Avg. Rainfall
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Preface note - I do not have this deep of garden beds and I'm totally jealous of you right now.

The way I look at filling raised beds is that you are not starting with any established microbiological life that is at balance. It is going to have to find its balance ONCE you get it filled. I would not worry so much about hurting/effecting microbiological life especially because it is frozen out.

I have not made a heugel bed but I think three foot deep would work out rather well. I'd encourage you to not worry so much to start, get the wood in there and fill the soil up. Once you start getting to that top foot or so I would be intentionally working in compost throughout the soil. If you have a way to till it once it is all in, you might as well dump the soil in followed by the compost and then dig it all in.

I would not worry about mycorrhiza because it requires roots to live and flourish. That can be added to each planting hole as you put in your plants.

What is the soil you are putting in look like? Is it just what you excavated out? It might be a good time to consider other amendments depending on the soil structure. I've cut in some vermiculite into my beds to improve the soil structure and water retention. Biochar is fun and would be excellent to add in alongside the compost.
 
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Beautiful  project you got there!
I would add urine and plant a gree manure crop of legumes.
I make most of my soil from autum leaves, but they may not be available to you.
 
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i've hugeled all my garden beds and i can tell you, digging down 3 feet is more of a lofty goal and probably by the last bed a far cry from the reality. lol. 3 feet is great, your setup looks lovely.

As for order, I'd put the wood in first, then small branches, then some smaller stuff, add some slop from your buckets, then whatever organic matter you have hanging around (hay, leaves, shredded stuff) and then the dirt on top. i didn't catch if you're adding external dirt or going to use what you have in there (in which case you'll need to dig it out while you put all that good stuff in the beds).

Whether you'll have critters invading basically depends on what kind of critters you have, and luck. if you have rat issues, maybe i'd consider putting the slop on top of the largest wood and under the smaller stuff (not so close to the surface, in other words), although honestly I trench compost a lot and almost never have problems. (again, your varmints may vary)

I also wouldn't worry about the mycorrhizae and microorganisms. They will all show up once it starts warming up.
You've got some good suggestions already. Urine is good, biochar is good, nature is good at rotting stuff down, I think you're going to have a great garden.
 
pollinator
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Location: Central Texas
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I would definitely put the bokashi in the upper layer.
Logs
Branches
Leaves, straw, etc
Dirt
Bokashi trenched in
Finished compost layer (if you have)
Mulch

I just made 3 new beds this way minus the branches. My logs were not huge so I used two layers of them
 
Alison Godlewski
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Progress!  Thanks everyone for hte advice.
Huhulkultur.jpg
[Thumbnail for Huhulkultur.jpg]
 
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