Anastasia Elliott

Hello everyone,

could any of you recommend someone to come to my place near DC and help me decide what to do with the space around my house. I would like to have a homestead farm. Thanks!

Hello everyone,

could any of you recommend someone to come to my place near DC and help me decide what to do with the space around my house. I would like to have a homestead farm. Thanks!

Joshua Myrvaagnes wrote:Besides Paul and Sepp's wisdom, I can say this, I talked to a guy about hugekultur who live in the DC-ish area and he said it works but it has to be 7' tall to work at all.  In other words, don't even bother if you're not going all th way with it, from his experience.

Hi Joshua,

the quote button finally worked for me and I just wanted to ask you:

It's been six months since you replied to me. I am still working on my hugel place in my back yard near DC.

I am looking for someone to come out and look at my place and help me decide what to do. Would you recommend I talk with him?

Thanks.

Joshua Myrvaagnes, you were the first one to reply to my post. You wrote: "I talked to a guy about hugekultur who live in the DC-ish area and he said it works but it has to be 7' tall to work at all.  In other words, don't even bother if you're not going all th way with it, from his experience."

I am looking for someone to come out and look at my place and help me decide what to do. Would you recommend I talk with him?

Thanks.

steve bossie wrote:

Jen Fulkerson wrote:If you're worried about the construction impurities you can put wood chips on the top and add wine cap mushrooms. They will help eliminate toxins, and break down the wood chips to make amazing soil.  Good luck.

make sure you discard the mushrooms that grow in another spot as the toxins are concentrated in the flesh. ;)

So, I would cover the toxic layer with wine cap mushrooms (I already covered it with wood chips), and then discard the new mushrooms that start growing out of that? Or do you mean I discard any mushrooms that grow on my Hugel bed? Where do I get the wine cap mushrooms? EBay sells it for $30 a pound! That's too expensive. As an alternative, I was thinking to get rotten wood and the good dirt that it turns into (by the way, there are some mushrooms growing in the rotten wood) and cover my toxic layer with that. Will that work?

Thank you all very much! All your comments are so helpful, encouraging and inspiring! I am learning a lot!!!

Ok, I thought about it a little more. I am not planning to use this Hugel bed for a couple of years. So, I do not think now that I need top soil. I will just do what I described above, minus the top soil, even out the slope and wait. That should turn into good soil, right? I do not need to add any dirt/soil, as far as I understand after reading your comments. I will be adding my kitchen scraps, grass clippings and leaf mulch to it. It would be nice to cover it with wood chips on top. I guess I'll have to rake the wood chips in order to keep mixing in this additional stuff and then rake the wood chips back? Thanks.

Ok, I thought about it a little more. I am not planning to use this Hugel bed for a couple of years. So, I do not think now that I need top soil. I will just do what I described above, minus the top soil, even out the slope and wait. That should turn into good soil, right? I do not need to add any dirt/soil, as far as I understand after reading your comments. I will be adding my kitchen scraps, grass clippings and leaf mulch to it. It would be nice to cover it with wood chips on top. I guess I'll have to rake the wood chips in order to keep mixing in this additional stuff and then rake the wood chips back? Thanks.

Mike Barkley wrote:I would be very cautious about the source of any materials coming from external locations. Wouldn't want to import disease or toxic chemicals. I think some topsoil will help add minerals & worms & provide a bit of stability. I've always mixed leaf mulch into new gardens & then add a thick layer on top. It seems to work well.

I guess I already spoiled it. I have 200 cu yards to fill and good dirt costs a lot! So I just had this bad construction type material (with bricks, drywall, cement in it) dumped first to fill in the volume on the bottom (see picture). According to Tyler Ludens' one of the last comments here (https://permies.com/t/80/52077/Buried-Wood-Beds#1104956), he suggests that "it's best if each piece touches the soil." So, now I am thinking I need to order top soil (https://denchfieldnursery.com/collections/mulch/products/bulk-topsoil-1-cubic-yard) to put on top of the bad layer, then lay down my trees, fill the gaps with wood chips, add some horse manure, leaf compost, my kitchen scraps, grass clippings and some rotten wood from the forest nearby to bring some life to this Hugelkulture bed. Good plan? They are coming to cut trees the day after tomorrow, so I need the top soil delivered today-tomorrow. So, I need to decide quick what to do. Thanks for your input! And the second picture is of the place that I am trying to fill - the area around my cherry tree from the left side of the picture to the fence.

I think I spoiled my Hugel Slope. I have 200 cu yards to fill and good dirt costs a lot! So I just had this bad construction type material (with bricks, drywall, cement in it) dumped first to fill in the volume on the bottom (see picture). According to Tyler Ludens' comment above "it's best if each piece touches the soil." So, now I am thinking I need to order top soil (https://denchfieldnursery.com/collections/mulch/products/bulk-topsoil-1-cubic-yard) to put on top of the bad layer, then lay down my trees, fill the gaps with wood chips, add some horse manure (taking the idea from Steve Bossie above), leaf compost, my kitchen scraps, grass clippings and some rotten wood from the forest nearby to bring some life to this Hugelkulture bed. Then, I probably need more top soil in the areas between the logs where there will be two layers of logs, and repeat the above procedure. Good plan? They are coming to cut trees the day after tomorrow, so I need the top soil delivered today-tomorrow. So, I need to decide quick what to do. Thanks for your input! And the second picture is of the place that I am trying to fill - the area around my cherry tree from the left side of the picture to the fence.