Willy Kerlang wrote:Hi Steph, I am in Nova Scotia too (South Shore). Like David said, if your goal is both to absorb and redirect water then you might consider both a swale and a hugel bed. The ditch uphill of the bed will hold excess water and release it into the hugel bed, and you will have a source of dirt to pile atop your wood.
I live on a hill also and have dug several small swales to deal with the temporary streams that crop up in our (increasingly heavy) summer rainstorms. And at the bottom of the hill, also like David, I made a long hugel bed, probably about forty feet, which I did not dig at all. I just piled wood in a line and then buried it under massive amounts of dirt. I did not dig a ditch on the uphill side of it, because there would have been a lot of tree roots to deal with and I am lazy as hell. This will actually be my first season growing in that bed and I am excited to see how it works.
Good luck and post pics if you can.
Hi Willy
Hi Steph
We live in NS as well. We are in Cape Breton & are just looking into starting our first hugelkultur beds. We have acreage with mixed forest...... some dead spruce, young maple, fir, birch, pine, hazel nut, lots of wild blueberry. We want to take down some of the trees so we have room for a food forest. So much to learn. Just starting to look at the hillsides & sun & wind directions. I think we are in a frost pocket as the snow stays here untill mid May. We are on the border of zone 5a / 5b I'd love to grow fruit ..... apple, cherry, plum ..... but trying to figure out best placement for the fruit trees ...... also want to grow enough veggies for ourselves & neighbours to share.
Nice to connect with people in our area
Any advise comments appreciated
