Ven Wood

wayne fajkus wrote:What about letting the hugel bed be the berm of a swale. This would keep the hugel bed "true" and should help recharge it by keeping water there longer

I've read to keep Hugels off contour. Sepp Holzer and Paul Wheaton both advise against burying wood on contour. I think I am going to just do the pond idea and whatever clay is mixed into the topsoil while covering the hugels, I'll just mulch and plant a cover crop and hope for a speedy transition into good tilth. Thanks for the suggestion.

Hello. I'm building some sunscoop Hugelkulturs, off-contour, uphill from a swale, and they are above-ground, true Hugelkulturs. I have a small Kubota with a backhoe attachment and I am thinking of what would be my best option for sourcing my topsoil. I was thinking about doing another swale and just leaving it without a berm, to use the topsoil on the Hugelkulturs. I was also thinking of digging a pond out and using the topsoil from there. I am also wondering if I could use any of the materials from further into my soil? Beneath the topsoil, a clay soil appears. Could I put topsoil/clay on the Hugelkulturs? Or should I stick with topsoil. Most of the topsoil seems to be adhering to the roots of the grass/other wild species that are all over my property. Thanks for any advice.

Johann Paetsch wrote:What about this video?

Thank you for this video!

Hello. I have been making cuttings of various trees to attempt to root them and some have developed roots. I will be needing to fill hundreds of pots with cuttings in a medium that drains well is verified to be good by experts. How can I make a rooting mixture that does not rely on buying bags of things like perlite and peat moss? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks!

Hi. Pleased to meet everyone involved in this wonderful website.

I live in Springfield, MO, and am working on a proposal with two friends to get a few abandoned lots from the city to use as food forest space. We are trying to find information on how burying wood can increase the carbon sequestration and/or tie up carbon in the soil. Basically, we need someone to help us with explaining the science behind how hugelkulturs within a perennial food forest system can be a benefit to the environment, and specifically how burying wood can help. The reason we are focusing on (sunken) hugelkultur beds is that we are currently taking tree waste from local trimmers and using it in gardens instead of allowing it to sit in compost piles or be burned. We want to take more and put more tree waste, as much as possible into the soil, on a bigger scale, and we want to convince the city that it's a good idea to have these perennial polycultures instead of the alternatives of burning and composting. If anyone can help, we don't need a lot of ongoing support. Just enlighten us uneducated yet impassioned people!

Also, with the idea of a food forest in mind, and with 10,000 square feet per lot to work with for planting, while using sunken hugelkulturs, with access to unlimited wood and chips and brush, a backhoe, and a bobcat, where would you look in order to make the best decisions for design? Thank you so much for the help.

Ven