Building hugelkultur beds along the fence line and mulching the whole property

Hi

This is my first post here. I do enjoy reading the forums.

for the first 5 years after moving into our ranch of 12 acres, I have raised cows, sheep, goats, chickens and pigs. then next 5 years didn't do much on the ranch. July 2023 started planting Agaves (americana, artichoke agave, blue weber and other varieties). I started spreading mulch everywhere and goal is to do it the whole property.

Also i have tree companies drop off the tree rounds to create hugelkulur beds and goal is to create them like a berm along the fence line. Yesterday one of our neighbors started complaining about how mulch is fire hazard and duraflame logs are made from mulch etc. I have told her this is tree mulch over the time it decomposes and soil becomes wonderful (we have clay). I explained to here all the logs will be covered by soil and the fire can't reach to the logs under the soil. She said this looks ugly. She threatened to call the county.

Granted I have lot of tree rounds 10 trees worth of logs not covered and bunch that are covered. She basically doesn't like the look of my property because of the mulch and logs.

Did anyone spread mulch in their whole property? I am in northern california zone 9b.

Thank you.

Jhansi Bobba wrote:Hi
Also i have tree companies drop off the tree rounds to create hugelkulur beds and goal is to create them like a berm along the fence line.

It sounds like you are thinking of long term soil health, which is a really good thing. She's probably thinking about short term fire risk, which is also understandable given recent fire issues in California and the risk of losing home insurance. In Southern California there have been issues with people's coverage being cancelled because of drone flyover pictures showing too much clutter in yards/properties. Not sure if that is an issue further north.

I used a huge amount of mulch early on, but I live on a city/suburban lot, so my situation is different. Personally I try to check in with my neighbors before making any changes along a property line. Similar to you, I explained about the reason for the mulch to my neighbor, but made sure to note that I was keeping it a certain distance away from buildings (local termite issues).

It's your property and you have the right to change it right out to the property line, and on your own timeline...but you are potentially going to be living next to these people for the rest of your life. Perhaps it would be possible to set back the hugelkulture beds slightly? Or to incorporate some kind of decorative fire break, such as a walking path around the perimeter of your property? Or could you rush the process on one small section of the property line where it borders her place, so that she can see what the final product will look like? It's not as efficient as doing the whole fence line at once, but it might eliminate the resistance from the neighborhood.

Final thought--I'm assuming you have already considered if this change in soil height is significant enough to affect the flow of water to your neighbor's land, but if not, that's worth looking into. I don't know if Northern California has the same flash flood risks or drought-flooding patterns that Southern California does, though, so this may not be relevant.

Best wishes with your project.  

I am envious that you have a tree company that will make deposits for you.

I would not worry about what my neighbor says.  I would give her a link to the forum so she can start learning about the benefits of permaculture.

By the way, where I live the county recommends doing brush piles as shelter for wildlife.

I would check with the county/city  codes to see if she has any  "legitimate" complaints.
I would not ask any officials because they will probably want to know exactly where you are located and they might come after you  if they are in agreement with her.
I suspect you are not in violation of land use code, raising large livestock usually means you are zoned agriculture, and there are a lot fewer restrictions on you.
Wild fire isn't really a thing here where I live,  it is possible you have a hazardous situation there, but I kinda doubt you and the tree guys who delivered the material wouldn't be aware of that if it was really a problem.

I do think a pathway along the fence line separating it from the hugle line makes sense for fence maintenance and harvest of the hugle.

Thanks everyone. I am happy to receive the replies and ideas. Hope to answer all the questions and ask more.

Our zoning is Agricultural rural and we have right to farm. The neighbor who is complaining is not next to me or across me. She is one house away from the house across me. I don't border her anyway.

I am building hugelkultur beds leaving space between fence and the bed. I am also building in the pasture. I get so much wood from one company, second company not as much. I give away plenty firewood to neighbors every year. This year I am planning to cover up with manure and soil. I totally believe in mulch. The clay becomes beautiful soil over time with manure and mulch on top of that.

I wish my neighbors can see how natural this is, repurposing the natural materials and doing good to the land to grow beautiful plants whatever they are. I have noticed once their helper washing the trunks of the trees in the driveway. we are all on well water.

Since I am doing this in such a big scale, I don't have bandwidth to arrange each bed. Is there anything I can do to accelerate decomposing of wood rounds. My goal is to plant agaves and cactuses on these beds. We have deer rabbits squirrels and gophers. I am fighting a war with gophers as they are devouring agaves.

Thanks again.

Be careful you're not building a gopher paradise.  You probably need to get some cats and a good dog to help with that.  I'd take the neighbor's feedback seriously and see if she has a point.  It's one thing to take on a wonderful project, but be sure you get the project done and the risk of fire, while temporary, is handled as quickly as possible.  

Lots of well intentioned projects start, and never get completed that become eyesores or worse, dangerous.  I think it's abundantly clear, southern California is on it's own for fire suppression, so it's understandable people are looking at their surroundings differently, knowing the state has basically set the stage to burn everything.  Look at your property right now, if it caught fire today and nobody came to put it out, what would happen?  

If that causes you to suddenly panic, fix it.  

I utilize quite a bit of woodchips each year in my various gardens. I have some pollinator patches, some wildlife patches, some perennial growing spaces as well as my annual gardens. Woodchips go with perennial plants as well as pathways and are inoculated with a variety of spores with the primary type being winecap mushrooms.

The speed in which you break down wood rounds is relative. They are going to be slow decomposers. There are a bunch of medicinal and edible mushrooms that you can grow on certain species of wood but you would have to pair them up appropriately and do the work placing plugs.

I would not worry about your neighbor too much. Mulch will only be a fire hazard if it gets completely dry. Wood mulch does a bangup job retaining moisture and you can just pop your finger in to prove it. If you do get some warm streaks, consider your water access and how you can remoisturize the areas on your property.

Thank you all. Is there any ground cover that grows on mulch. I can throw seeds on top and they grow their roots into the mulch. I weed in the mulch and there are some weeds that grow their roots so far.

I am attaching few hugelkultur beds pictures I am building

Wow, it looks amazing. Permacutlure is always a work in progress. Inoculate the huglekulture beds with giant batches of compost tea and use a sprayer via tractor or atv to innoculate the beds.  Keep them wet with a hose or sprayer as much as possible. This will break down the wood faster as soon as mycellium finds its way into the wood rounds.  :-)
Ground cover should be wildcrafted/gleaned from a day trip to the National forest/BLM. Check with California State law at the local Parks and Recs. Dept. for the specifics on what is legal. But Northern Cal. forests have tons of hostas and ferns that grow in the shade and undergrowth. Of course this ground cover will probably be in full sun. You could try a few cans of wild flower seeds from the Home Depot atop the beds with dirt. This will make your neighbor happy and provide further mulch in the fall and winter.
I am also a huge fan of mulch.  The more the better. I'd invest in an industrial sized chipper if I could and use it as a side business to make money.

Thanks Jon. I love mulch and it does wonders to soil. The tree companies fight over to drop the mulch for us here and also the rounds. It is a great idea to buy bulk seeds and throw them on the beds to see if they sprout. I am thinking about using hose pipe on a time and small sprinkler on beds so it gets wet slowly and  waters down the logs. there are many gaps between the logs since we have not arranged them manually. Hoping to push the manure into the gaps when time permits.

Great project Jhansi - I'd love to see what it looks like in a year or two.

I don't think the rounds are a big fire risk, and the wood chip too is unlikely to be a problem - my understanding is that small loose branches are the biggest risk. You could check with your local fire service - they probably have information on reducing risks for homesteaders, which would be good to check up on anyway.

The hugels will probably work much better if you can get the soil in good contact with the wood rounds - holes are inviting vermin to move in, and the logs will not decompose, or feed the beds properly. It might even be worth knocking the rounds over and scooping them back up with more soil.

Thanks for sharing, and I hope to see an update as the project progresses!

I wonder if clover and alfalfa would work as ground cover on the woodchips?
Wood chips should be a locking up some of the nitrogen, so these nitrogen fixers could have an advantage over the weeds.

I have to say that I am a little envious. Your place looks great.

All the tree companies around take all the trimmings to the dump. I guess it is cheaper than maintaining a chipper.

As far as the neighbor, there are a lot of factors with that. That they think wood chips are more of a fire hazard than if you had a wooded property or dry pasture grass makes me chuckle. Also that their property does not even adjoin yours. I would bet there is zero recourse for them to take against anything you do. That does not mean they can't be a thorn in your side.

Our neighbor had no idea we owned the property 70' off of their back patio until we hung some hammocks in the trees there and installed a few fence posts along the property line. They do not understand what we are doing here either but we let them talk and nod our heads and press on with our plans. We are not going to allow their opinions dictate how we develop our property.

Keep up the good work!

Thanks Nancy. I will definitely post updates on the project.

William: Clover and alfalfa would that attract deer, need to look into that. I need drought resistant ground cover as I am not planning on watering the pasture.

Thanks Josh. Yes the bottom line is they built this castle with a 7ft wooden fence all around with lots of trees for privacy and they think my property is ugly because I spread mulch do things unconventional. Their adjacent neighbor right across me planting a lavender farm and those lavenders more fire hazard than the mulch I am spreading. The tree surrounding her property lost leaves in fall and winter, so she can see my pasture through her window and it is ugly.

I would love to create swales on the hill I have and let the rain water flow through my property slowly and absorb as much as possible before running off into the creek across the road.

I am happy to be part of this community.

Thank yoiu.

Jhansi Bobba wrote:I would love to create swales on the hill I have and let the rain water flow through my property slowly and absorb as much as possible before running off into the creek across the road.

I am happy to be part of this community.

Thank yoiu.

Swales are great. I have found they really help with my decision making. I make the swales and when I have something to plant, they become my go to spot.

I fill mine with mulch because during the summer drought, the mulch in the swale helps retain the moisture and distribute over time. My swales are 16"x16".

If you have equipment and make them wider and deeper, you'd probably not need the mulch. You could put the logs down in the swales and over time come back and harvest the composted material and refill. We will dig ours out and replenish the mulch as it breaks down and move it onto the down hill hill side where we have all manner of things planted.

I've got this bookmarked to watch your progress.

Great project - glad you're doing it before the whole county discovers the wonder of wood chips, because it used to be easy to get them where I live and not anymore! Everybody wants them now!

Just a couple of quick suggestions to add to what people have already said:
1. The neighbor doesn't know how important "messy" is to nature. Look through permies and other sites and see if you can get some before and after pictures to show the neighbor and reassure her that even if you were to stall, Mother Nature will turn it into a paradise if you just give her time.
2. Have you considered turning some of the chips into biochar? Dumping inoculated biochar on top of the rounds of wood before covering them with wood chips would provide great homes for microbes which might help speed things up.  At your scale, some version of the trench method might do the job, but there are other options also: https://permies.com/f/190/biochar
3. One concern about disturbed ground in California, is if lots of plants grow then dry and die, they provide fuel for potential fires. (this is why in some areas they are using goats to deal with the weeds and low growth). So I would definitely try to choose some plants that in your specific ecosystem, are known for drought resistance and fire resistance. Yes, your fire department and forestry people may have that info, possibly even on their website.