Caleb Sturtevant

I had an idea for a way of combining a hugelkultur and a greenhouse that would hopefully maximize the benefits of hugelkulturs and minimize the greenhouse suck factor. I don't have much experience with hugelkultur beds so I want to get your thoughts and ideas on this one. My idea is to use a very large hugelkultur bed as the northern wall of the greenhouse. See the picture for the concept. The northern side of the greenhouse would be anchored to the top of the hugelkultur and then arch over to form the top and opposite wall.

There would be several benefits to this system. The hugelkultur would capture water runoff from the roof storing it for plants thus reducing the constant watering that greenhouse plants require. The hugelkultur increases growing area inside the greenhouse and also would have increased solar insolation during the winter months. In the winter, greenhouses lose a lot of heat to the north side. The hugelkultur would act as an insulating wall to keep the greenhouse warmer. Lastly, if you've worked with small greenhouses you know that they warm up and then loose heat too quickly. The hugelkultur would act as a heat sink for the greenhouse. The heat of the day is captured by the greenhouse then absorbed by the hugelkultur which releases it through the night. Pipes could be added to the hugelkultur to increase heat penetration into the thermal mass.

There are some questions that I have about this. Do hugelkulturs settle or slump as the wood decomposes? Is there an initial period where the dirt settles and then that's pretty much it? Is there something big that I'm missing for why this wouldn't work?

Also, I usually put chickens in my greenhouses over the winter. They take care of any weed seeds and pests that found their way in over the season. What do a flock of chickens do to a hugelkultur bed? Would I have to fence off the hugelkultur to save it?
Thanks.

Alison, that's too bad that it hasn't worked out for you. I want to encourage you that no till farming does work. In my experience to keep grasses and weeds from choking out your seedlings you'll have to mulch. This should generally be done before planting to kill anything that was there and to protect the crop as it comes up. A cover crop is the best way to do this as it grows in place and can be cut down or crimped to supply that mulch layer. This video is a good introduction on the benefits of no till and cover crops in particular. The aren't permies, by any stretch. They plant monocrops and use some chemical fertilizers and herbicides, but you can take what's good. Hopefully you can keep experimenting with no-till at least on a small part of your fields.