posted 2 hours ago
Hello. I'm learning more about hugelkultur and trying to plan how I'm going to apply it to my situation.
I live in a former mining area and my soil has very little nutrient and no nitrogen. I'm in the, many years, long process of trying to reconstitute the soil over time. But, in more of a hurry when it comes to the garden as you might imagine. LOL
Additionally, I'm on a relatively steep slope. The bottom of the slope, across the street, is a lake. So all my water runs down the, mostly clay soil down to the lake.
Currently, I have raised garden beds and have had slightly more success with them but watering is tedious and extremely time-consuming. The beds compress and lose a lot of soil over the year and have to refill every year. I am older as are my parents, so this is quite difficult for us.
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So, I'm wondering about my idea here. I'm thinking to replace my standard 6x3 garden bed with a hybrid of that and hugelkultur by digging the trench 6x3 or better, then put the raised bed frame on top of the filled trench/ wood. Then continue filling with compensated soil. Also using hay to mulch, which I haven't done previously. I'm also considering a hugelkultur trench uphill of the garden and/or a berm to slow and collect water prior to it running down to the lake.
These adjustments would create the hugelkultur benefits under the garden beds & help with the loss of soil over time.., I hope.
Thoughts?
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