Hi,

I already made a Hügelbeet 6m long by hand at home and another 200m of Hügelbeets with the help of tractor while Wwoofing..
I know it expands the growing area vertically, and is a long term bed with plenty organic matter ..
But its a lot of hard work if you do it by hand .. and you have to burry Organic Matter..
I like the principle to look at nature and do it as she does.. Nature doesnt burry organic matter, nature doesn tills and excavates (just in some cases).
so i ask why everybody loves hugelkultur so much? because the plants grow vigorously? because you expand the area, if you have a small garden?
otherwise i prefer to mulch and do it like nature does, fukuoka style

Gabriel

Gabbriel Guhr :See the picture of the old beaver dam in the link below ! After a while The preferred saplings in an area get eaten and the beaver move
on to better forage The Dam stays in place maybe even for decades eventually the dam fails catastrophically, or becomes more porous and a new smaller/
lower height pond forms behind the dam,often the dam is revisited by the beavers who make repairs and a new cycle is started !

My Point is where old dams have been abandoned you find that the Remains of the dam slowly form a 'Natural' Hugelbeet turning in their entirety into
Humus rich Black soil, the Best I have ever seen, worked with !

http://www.semissourian.com/images/misc/pavementends/blue-pond-beaver-dam.jpg

For the good of the Crafts ! Big AL

The main attraction of growing mounds or as the german's say hugel is that it holds water, the buried rotting wood acts as a sponge, giving up the held water slowly, this is very good should you have a dry spell that last more than five days.
The Native people used this method over 10 thousand years ago, they are still using it but we only call it a growing mound. The advantages are several, first off it provides water with out having to haul it to the garden during the heat of summer or in dry spells. Second it give you a way to use leftovers from hunting and gathering since when building the rotting wood stack you can include just about anything including meat scraps, bones, vegetable leftovers, and everything else you would normally include in a compost heap. There is more space for plants and you do not have to always be stooped over or squatting down to harvest or plant.
The growing mound can also have multiple layers of plants that complement each other, all growing in a "three sisters" style. You can plant melons or squash on the top, corn at the bottom and just about anything else in between the top and bottom. It is efficient when done right. awkward when done wrong.

Getting things out of a wet ground and onto a mound does wonders for many plants. That's why it works for me.

I think it is famous because it is "new" and "interesting" to most people.

Everyone can relate to the problem: "what am I going to do with all these sticks?"

Hugelkultur is not nearly as relevant in the sub tropics. That may be why it doesn't seem to be a valuable system at your location. I am not familiar with your region in general. Maybe some one else will voice in. But something such as banana circles may be more of use to you, in regards of soil building, organic waste management, water stabilization, food, habitat, and biomass. All things that temperate climates benifit from, while building and using hugels. (Which is where i see most of them being built)

Gbriel Guhr : I just noticed your Elevation, is this Cloud Forest country ? There are regions of Mexico / Belize that are Cloud Forests and
have a lot in common with regions on the U.S. Canadian border ! Certainly Hugel beds /mounds seem to do better in normal climes !

Watering your garden Food forest should not be a major issue in a Cloud Forest so Hugel beds are not as needed !

For the Crafts ! Big AL

Nature also doesn't have excavators that scrape off and sell all of the topsoil from your property Totally agree with your POV, but it is a quick way to get a base of slow-release organic matter that will hold water properly into poor soil. That and compost!

George Meljon wrote: Everyone can relate to the problem: "what am I going to do with all these sticks?"

George, Luckylly I dont have this problem where I live.. everything decomposes so fast...

allen lumley wrote:Gbriel Guhr : I just noticed your Elevation, is this Cloud Forest country ? There are regions of Mexico / Belize that are Cloud Forests and
have a lot in common with regions on the U.S. Canadian border ! Certainly Hugel beds /mounds seem to do better in normal climes !

Watering your garden Food forest should not be a major issue in a Cloud Forest so Hugel beds are not as needed !

Allen, didnt know these beaver dams.. cause i dont have beavers where i live.. intresting natural hugelbeets! haha

Near from where i live, where its higher there are regions that you could call a Cloud Forest.. but 1800m+ .. there the trees survive by absorving the humidity by the leaves...
Normally the winter is dry and clear sky so no clouds.. but during summer the higher regions are in the clouds like more of 50% of the time..
Its so intresting that we have forests up to 2000m+ and when it gets higher the vegetations change.. there are special plants up there.. the highest mountain near is 3000m+
The spring of the Aiuruoca (my city) River is the highest spring from Brazil ! haha

Bryant RedHawk wrote:The main attraction of growing mounds or as the german's say hugel is that it holds water, the buried rotting wood acts as a sponge, giving up the held water slowly, this is very good should you have a dry spell that last more than five days.
The Native people used this method over 10 thousand years ago, they are still using it but we only call it a growing mound. The advantages are several, first off it provides water with out having to haul it to the garden during the heat of summer or in dry spells. Second it give you a way to use leftovers from hunting and gathering since when building the rotting wood stack you can include just about anything including meat scraps, bones, vegetable leftovers, and everything else you would normally include in a compost heap. There is more space for plants and you do not have to always be stooped over or squatting down to harvest or plant.
The growing mound can also have multiple layers of plants that complement each other, all growing in a "three sisters" style. You can plant melons or squash on the top, corn at the bottom and just about anything else in between the top and bottom. It is efficient when done right. awkward when done wrong.

Agreed, but still prefer not to excavate the earth and burry organic matter...I grow the tree sisters but not on hugels.. plant corn and pumpkins and 2 weeks later azuki beand at the foot of the corn..
I think its too much work , effort and agression not worth the result.. IMO and in my climate..

chad Christopher wrote:Hugelkultur is not nearly as relevant in the sub tropics. That may be why it doesn't seem to be a valuable system at your location. I am not familiar with your region in general. Maybe some one else will voice in. But something such as banana circles may be more of use to you, in regards of soil building, organic waste management, water stabilization, food, habitat, and biomass. All things that temperate climates benifit from, while building and using hugels. (Which is where i see most of them being built)

Yes, thats right.. hugels are more fot temperate climate.. the 200m i did while woofing was in Germany.. not here..
I have Banana Circles for grey water treatment.. but wouldnt use them for building soil.. too much work digging.. i prefer fukuoka

Alex Veidel wrote:Nature also doesn't have excavators that scrape off and sell all of the topsoil from your property Totally agree with your POV, but it is a quick way to get a base of slow-release organic matter that will hold water properly into poor soil. That and compost!

i think thick mulching a whole are with branches underneeth straw and dry weeds is also a quick and effortless way to get a slow releasing organic matter... Prefer Mulch than compost..

Agreed
the amount of work involved and accessing the materials is prohibitive.
Built my first one in germany back in '84 for a small garden, where it is appropriate.
Berms are more suitable on larger areas and let the trees and plants do their thing once planted.