Hi Everyone,
I'm new to the gardening scene. One thing I hate about our soil is that its heavy silt/clay... especially during the cold months or during heavy summer rains our 2 acre field turns wet. Water doesn't stand to much on the surface, but you have that squishy sound under your feet for awhile until the water is evaporated or drained. If we get a hard rain, you will need at least a week of very hot/dry weather before the soil can become worked again. It's sticky and wet.
I'm planting trees... medium sized conifers that get to around 15' tall x 4' wide. On this two acres, I would like to create a lot of beds with grassy pathways between... the entire 2 acres will be a garden. So essentially a normal sized bed will be roughly 60' long by 30' wide. I'm wondering if hugelkultur can help fix this drainage problem. The problem with my land is the lack of organic matter in the soil and the fact that it's completely flat, water has no place to go.
I don't plan on create huge mounds... just hugelkultur on a smaller scale. I have an unlimited supply of logs, sticks and paper. I'm thinking of putting a lot of this stuff on the surface of each bed, then backfill with a mixture of composted leaves and topsoil. After planting, top the mound off with mulch. The mounds will be small at only 10" in height. I only plan to do it 10" in height because I have dozens of beds I'm creating and topsoil is pretty expensive. I'm only planting 3-4 trees per 60'x30' bed. So I won't put a lot of sticks/logs where plan to place the trees.
My concerns would be that will this good topsoil/compost/logs eventually mix in with the native soil below improving it as well so my trees will root into the native soil? Will this hugelkultur bed ever become saturated from absorbing to much water from the clay below? Will the soil wash away at all or will it pack down?
Has anyone ever did one of these beds on a wet ground? It doesn't flood, just remains squishy to your feet while walking mostly during spring or fall when temps are cooler. Any help would be greatly appreciated Thanks!
