I recently trimmed up a 30' spruce in the corner of my yard to improve sight lines to the street and to attempt to get enough light under it to establish a little spruce guild. Now I have a BOATLOAD of needles spread around my front yard waiting for a home. I am going to dig a little mini hugel and throw the more substantial wood pieces into the bed. Right now I plan on throwing the needles in with it. Does any one have any experience telling them that this is a dirty, rotten, no good, very bad plan? Work begins this weekend.

Thanks everyone.

In another post, we were talking about how much conifer is too much in a hugelbed and you might want to look at that. I'm of the opinion that if it is properly inoculated (with lots and lots of mushrooms) that it will break down and by spring you will have a very fertile mound.

Thank you John. I think I'm going to make a keyhole row with my spruce leavings in the spine and just a pile of dirt with some mulch as the ribs. Then I'll do a little compare and contrast between the stuff planted in the spine and the stuff planted on the ribs. Hopefully the results will be both conclusive and productive.

Thank you again.