New to Forum, installed first Hugel spring 2014 High Desert Colorado!

Hi there!

My name is Cara and I had been planning our hugel this winter. With a lot of work and info from this forum and the web I have put our own together!!! I finally have time to share it today

I've been reading and reading and finally am on maintenance around the house so have some time to sit down and share our hugel experience!! We live in an area where we get county wise, a little over 13.64" of precip. annually. Even less on our own property. We have to haul our own water as there are no viable wells in our area and no irrigation that comes down. So hugel is perfect for us!! I have increased my viable plants by at least 100% thanks to hugel annnnd have reduced my water usage by up to 50%!!! That's HUGE when you are hauling water yet trying to grow your own veggies!!!

Thank you for letting me share my pics with you fellow hugelkultur'ers!!!

And from today!!!

that looks great . (and the view is beautiful )

Thank you!!!

Nicely done Cara, welcome to permies!

Your hugel Looks great!

Again, thank you!! I'm really tickled with it. I planted everything that "says" it should grow in our zone and so far everything is doing great. I made the mistake of starting indoors and transplanting, which our environment is too harsh for, even with hardening off. But, I replanted seeds of everything that kicked the bucket after transplanting and literally EVERY seed I have planted is growing!!! The only problem I've been fighting is the flea beetle. It pretty much destroyed my cabbages that were healthy until the surge... I've been fighting them with wood ash, and I think I might finally be winning, lol.
I've also planted fruit trees on the north and south end of each hugel. A peach and apple on each of the smaller hugels (they won't be planted until next spring but will have strawberries and rhubarb - I simply ran out of time, lol) and then on the large veggie hugel I have two cherry trees. They've been in the ground for almost 2 months and so far so good! I'm super excited to be able to do this for my family where before we thought it would not be possible due to our water situation.