posted 5 months ago
So I've been doing "lazy man's hugels" around the place for several years now. Mostly in the form of dumping logs and stumps in strategic places and then covering (or not) with wood chip and cut grass or weeds. Most of the time I'm not planting in them but instead using their beneficial presence to help out neighbouring trees and berry patches. The first one I did alongside a stand of hazelnut and chestnut trees has just about rotted down to nothing in places and the trees seem to have been enjoying its existence.
But I'm currently feeling the itchy aftereffects of a dozen or more wasp stings I got last Saturday when I was wandering around collecting seedheads from red clover and lotus to spread around. I leaned over a fence to grab an armload of dried vegetation and was attacked. Turns out there was a big nest of invasive wasps under some rotting logs and branches that I had piled in that corner. A couple got under my shirt and nailed me multiple times, one falling into my waistband and causing mischief there as well.
This is the fourth time in the past couple of years that I have discovered wasp nests in the hugels. It's exactly what they look for: soft, punky wood that's easy for them to tunnel into and close to the ground (unlike paper wasps, who like to be up at least a meter in trees and brush, on a fence, or up under a roof overhang). The last one I found was back in February under one of the hazelnut trees as I was crouched down picking up nuts...at least I had my wits about me and avoided stirring them up.
So I'm reassessing whether I keep doing this and be more wary, or go back to the "mulch everything" default that works well for me. I don't want to add wasp patrol to my ever-expanding seasonal task list, but maybe I just need to accept that it's like cutting all the baby cherry trees and pulling ivy seedlings: something that needs to be done every year because they keep showing up.
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