Designing mushrooms into huglekultur

Hey. New to the forum so first off - Hi y'all.

So. Hugelkultur. I like it. But I have a few questions. Also, I guess I should set the scene. I'd take pictures, but I'm just now starting to embrace the digital age - am cash strapped - and would rather focus on land assets than consumer goods. So it'll have to wait.

Right - I'm wanting to make a berm along my property line and the ditch. This way I'll turn a flat space into a gentle sloping hill with a southern exposure. since its on the property line the shade ends up on the road - where nothing is growing or likely to grow. Basically I'm envisioning a dun like earthen wall with a living fence on top of it to screen out the cars and keep my animals in.

It seems to me like in building what is basically an earth skinned log raft there is the opportunity to integrate mushrooms directly into the decomposition process for quicker nutrient release. I've been playing with Oyster mushrooms a lot this year. I was thinking since alder is really the only common non coniferous trees around here and my soil is already mildly acidic it makes sense to me o notch and scratch the logs, dump colonize alder chips over that (I have a lot of them) put a layer of straw over that (which is an off sight resource) and then follow with soil. Maybe leave a couple of the alder ends hanging out and seeing if I can an oyster yield too. Mostly though I'm looking to accelerate the nutrient cycling. Downsides? Perhaps less longevity in the water retention. Alder breaks down quick. I figure good mulching on top will keep it a very active spot though.


I'm brainstorming on what to sow over the bare soil. Perhaps that's a topic for another post. but I'll be super inflammatory and say it involves grass.

OK. Well, provided the internet remains a thing and I can afford regular access to it we'll get to know each other

-Landon

Wish I had some spawn handy, as I am just putting in a new hugel with big trunks, lots of brush & wood chips. I know almost nothing about growing mushrooms or hugels, but just from observations of random mycelia in woodchip piles, hard to imagine it wouldn't work, at least to a degree.

So I set my plan into action last night. I have the logs down and swimming in oystery goodness. I borrowed a supercomputer and took lots of pictures. I'll have them up this afternoon. Its still just covered in wet straw and shade cloth (with some large leafy branches on top to further defuse the harsh beating sun) I'll be out and about today doing work for others in exchange for the topsoil. Its a sandy loam with rotted chicken manure. Very similar to the endemic soil for this part of the lawn (I have a weird swirling mix of soils on my property from supper sandy to moderate clay)

Hi, I'm new too and liking your designing mushrooms into your hugel attempt.
How far has it progressed since the 7th and have you worked out what cover to put onto the bare soil yet?
I'm interested in having a go as I have some lopping of big branches coming up soon and this sounds a good use for the logs.
I am where I will get quite a bit of harsh sun in summer, and want to know what you think would eventually be covering the area to prevent it killing off the fungi.
Thanks

Check out this thread. It examines the same issue. A guy named Dale, came up with more questions than answers and the idea has sat there for a year.

Log End Hugelkultur - grow mushrooms at the end of the bed. --- https://permies.com/t/18788/hugelkultur/Log-Hugelkultur-grow-mushrooms-bed

That was a quick response, thanks Dale. I have been reading up from your link. I have chinese elm, grevillea - silky oak, wattle and fraxinus (ash) logs to dispose of so am thinking different fungi will prefer different woods, I have a lot more to learn about the types that will be most successful in my area and with my wood types, so off to do more research
cheers

We didn't innoculate our logs, but in places where the soil is shallow we have all sorts of mushrooms popping up. The downside being that sometimes they take over and small veggies get popped out or when the mushroom putters out greens around are ruined. It would be interesting to see if integrating winecaps into the beds word work. Then you could keep the ends covered up.