Daniel Lenox

Is anyone else being overrun by these critters. I am looking for info on how to keep them out of my gardens, trees, and animal cages without much luck. They stripped an entire Chinese tallow tree in one night, and carry off my chicken feed faster than the chickens.

I have a couple of 40x40 colonies on my two acres, each with several million workers. Has anyone had any luck with deterrents.

Cannot wait to see it progress. What crops do you have in mind?

That sounds great, Daron. I promise to share whatever the result is. That way we can both learn from my inevitable mistakes.

And thanks for all the feedback, Tracy. I am in the southeast side of Texas. We do have hot summers, but high humidity so close to the coast. I imagine you're familiar with that.

The soil supports a fair amount of grass on my neighbor's side of the fence. One of my two acres is wooded. The other is lightly wooded and was heavily over grazed by horses. The weeds that popped up after the horses are deep tap rooted, but are thriving.

The goal is 4' to 5' mounds that will be built up more each year. It is also on a natural slope, so I am hoping water retention is good.

I wanted to harvest everything for the build from the property, but I may end up heavily mulching with leaf litter and hummus from the wooded acre, then buy some straw for the top layer.

I am just starting my adventures into permaculture. After buying two acres in Southeast Texas, I began researching how to generate sustainable output. I've decided to forgo a traditional row garden in favor of a bio-diverse hugel mound.

The base is a mix of green hardwood, and dead fall from the wooded portion of the property. I am currently in the process of hand chopping the thinner branches so they will stack a bit better. After that it is getting layers of leaf litter, compost, aged horse/cow manure from the neighbor and rabbit manure from my meat rabbits.

The soil is basically river sand. If I mix the sand with compost, will that be a sufficient soil layer, or do I need to source something better?

Is this your first? I am currently building my first, and kinda winging it. Love the layout.