Permies Poll: Do you currently have a Hugel?

I have a hugel bed that I put in last year.  Grew potatoes, fairly successfully.  During the winter of this year, I emptied the contents of my bokashi bucket in the bed.  This is my first experience with bokashi.  I have high hopes this spring for an even better than last year hugel bed!

My husband made our first hugel back in the Pacific North"wet", where we had an abundant yield of wood yearly.

We moved to the very hot Mojave desert, zone 9a, 4-6 inches of rain a year. The soil was literally sand.  It was easy to dig in! Like digging in a sand dune.

That yard had lots of chopped up eucalyptus and pine trees, plus loads of leaf debris from eucalyptus, pine, chinaberry, and olives.

It was so hot there we didn't need the wood for firewood, so we started our first fully hugel garden. We did it sunken, which is better described as a zai pit.

We had no way of knowing if it would work.  Many resources will say that two of those trees are allopathic. To our delight, it worked very well. Tomatoes, peppers, basil, corn, and different greens all grew well in those beds. I had never grown such nice basil!

The next year, I dug into one of the beds to see what was happening. I suspected that termites were going to be that desert's main soil creation organisms. And that is what we found, along with cockroaches and crickets. Those seem to be the desert trifecta of soil creatures for aridland soil creation!

Next we moved to the Chihuahuan desert. We did our gardens the same way. Here it works even better as we actually have soil, plus more rainfall.  It is very sandy soil with some clay- and the last desert location had no clay.

The pictures below are the first year progressing in Garden #3 here. That first year, we developed the soil using mostly annuals. Perennials are in there, but in our very hot region they usually can't put on aboveground growth until the second year.

So in the first year, we develop the soil organic matter with fast growing annuals. Now in its third year, the garden is mostly perennials with some reseeding annuals including loads of wildflowers.

No manure or off site sourced inputs except organic kitchen scraps. The material to fill the zai-hugel beds comes from plants on the property, and any excess wood we have laying round.

This has worked very well, though it is more labor intensive than most people want to do initially.

In the end though, we have our hugel "sponges" in the ground creating the foundation for a fungal and bacterial web.  I think it is a fast track to creating an active soil biome on a soil that is naturally low in biological activity.  

It's very typical of the sort of permaculture that is high labor at the beginning, and then pays dividends in low management and good yields after that initial time investment.

I have 3 hugle  beds, and one half assed bed.

The 3 huglekutures were dug two feet deep by 3 feet wide by 22 feet long in soggy soggy clay. I put in the remnants of a plum tree that stood two years after death and spent another summer and most of the winter fallen down. The wood was very punky. After all that, I was tired. I still had some twigs 1” diameter or smaller. I had 1 more bed left in this area. I tossed them on the surface, no digging thank-you very much, then buried them with 3 inches of dirt.

Spring rains arrived and charged the proper huglebeds. None of these beds have needed water, excluding establishing seedlings.

I temporarily gave up on trying to do anything with our soil (until I can create some!), but I've been using the concept in cattle mineral tubs, as my 'potting soil'. So, in doing container hugels - each is about 30" in diameter and 24" deep. If my livestock and the squirrels didn't love them so much, my yields would be pretty abundant! The strawberries, tomatoes, saffron crocuses, and sweet potatoes do beautifully in them. This year, I'll be trying pickling cukes, too.

I built one for my birthday last year on my sister's property. It was build late in the Fall. It will need another layer of soil on top before planting this Spring.

I’ve recently moved and had to make a new Hugel. It’s not quite finished because I haven’t added the dirt. In the meantime I Hugel everything! I use quite a few earthbags because our new place is very difficult clay, and I always start with a layer of sticks! This works really well.

First one is in. The plan is to do a circle of them at the tree edge. Really, the point was to have some way to deal with the old, rotting logs from years gone by. Last year we had tree work done and have enough wood that we've been giving it away. The wood glut meant that the old logs which were set aside for splitting and hadn't been, which had become homes for insects, snakes, etc. needed to be dealt with. So does the end of the straw I covered the beds with last fall. ALSO wanted something which looks deliberate rather than simply messy.

So, atop fallen (brown) leaves from last year and beyond, rotting log sections, sprinkled with compost, covered with straw/leaves, and when I get the hostas, will be covered in more dirt and compost (maybe, if I have enough?) and planted.

I have the first section done, without the hostas. I have a LOT more to do!

I created mine a couple of years ago with a couple of different purposes: We live in a very sandy and flat area, so the rain and snowmelt when the ground is still frozen tends to run in the ditch. With the first long [300 ft] hugel along the road, the rain and snow have a chance to hang around and do some good. On this one, I also added soil, [yes, imported] but I wanted to have a place to drop seeds that I failed to plant in previous years. These old seeds usually won't grow, but when they do, they can make quite a showing. [I mow the ditch so the county doesn't climb too far on my side of the ditch!".
The reason for the second one, running parallel to the first one and about 30 ft from the first was that we can get fierce winter winds from the West/Northwest. Planting 2 rows of timber with about 24" between the 2 and stacking dead oak branches in between slows the wind a smidge, captures some snow, invite critters to get a little shelter from the worst of the elements. [All our red oaks are dying of the wilt and we must keep them on the property. We can't sell the wood, even for burning].
The original timbers are rotting  and the wood in between has gone down a lot, creating a barrier that is still a good 4'+, and we can't see through any more. That barrier, in turn is helping me capture more snow. I've seen some deer beds on the East side [I'm on the east side of a North South road], so I know it helps keep them around. I've spooked a quail last year and I had not seen a quail in a few years.
As you see, I'm not really doing it to have a place with deeper soil in which to plant crops. I've got a garden and a couple of orchards for that. But it is worth doing just to improve critter habitat and the forest at this point.

Has anyone recently built a Hugel?

I'm thinking about biting the bullet and start some earthworks next year when the ground thaws.

Timothy Norton wrote:Has anyone recently built a Hugel?

I'm thinking about biting the bullet and start some earthworks next year when the ground thaws.

If a Hugel is first a trench that gets built up by adding boughs and branches and dirt, I don't have one. But if it is a long construct made by adding and adding more and more boughs and a little dirt, I have 2. Long ones [300 ft], not very tall [2 ft ant 4 ft.], separated by a lower strip where the snow  accumulates and many plants are now starting to grow. Remember that central Wisconsin is particularly sandy, and very flat where I live. A double barrier is particularly effective against the dominant winds from the North West.
I would have dug a trench first if I had the earth moving equipment, but I don't. The low one is just oak boughs, branches and leaves. They all have the wilt]. I then paid good money to add a bit of dirt on top so I could grow some flowers right away. Now, I can grow bushes.
The second one was more involved: I placed 2 rows of standing timbers [8 footers] and in between, I placed dead boughs, branches & leaves. At first, I could see right through it but it was 6 ft, tall and really gave us great protection against the wind It shrank to 4 ft. The standing timbers are rotting but I keep adding oak stuff. I can no longer see through them as they decompose. Many critters inhabit this one, and in the winter, the lee side protects quails,  partridges, wild rabbits... I plan to keep adding to it as there is a whole forest of dying oaks here. Of course, we can't sell it, so this is the best use we can make of it.

Timothy Norton wrote:Has anyone recently built a Hugel?

I'm thinking about biting the bullet and start some earthworks next year when the ground thaws.

Planning on it - https://permies.com/t/267761/Spring-Hugel-Planning

For conservation of energy and time, my plan is just to pull off the "sod", then start laying down wood.  With a pile of dirt right beside, the compact Kubota with front end loader should be able to handle the limited amount of earth-moving.

As for earthworks, we've decided to dig a pond...we have enough clay in the soil that it should hold water...if not, it will become more like a moist garden.  Either way, I plan to scrape off the topsoil to set aside for various uses, and to collect the clay based subsoil either for use in cob or as part of a base of further small hugel berms to create a barrier from the neighbour's industrial ag chemicals.

I went to Paul's hugelkultur class in San Diego County 2013. The pictures show the progress over the years. I've been getting better crops every year since 2018. In 2024, the uneven wearing down of the wood in the hugelkultur made the wire mesh floor of the hoop house rip at the seams letting a squirrel in and he ate a cauliflower plant! Also, the whole hoop house had tilted 18" lower on the low slope side. So, time to repair. The drawing shows how I plan to make the whole thing better. I've been getting lots of tomatoes, carrots, kale, melons, garlic, peas, beans and lettuce.

I started mine post ice storm that downed a lot of trees ...then a tornado that downed even more.  I didnt know what hugel was until a friend said "that looks like hugelkulture"

I put it in an old pool hoping to keep a few inches of water in there and to grow mushrooms ...theold pool liner leaked too much for that

This year I repaired a hoop house that is on top of a hugelkultur bed. Then, I built a raised bed on top and filled it with forest soil from down by our seasonal creek and moved it to the sunny garden. Added compost containing chicken manure from a local nursery. Drip irrigation keeps the plants happy. I have a second hoop house that is done the same way except it is 8 feet longer.
Both are doing really well.

I was going to vote no but Timothy said anything hugeley could count.

First one started 10 years or more in my backyard in town is still really just a pile of decaying scraps and branches I keep adding to each year. Some soil but since I'm not done adding to it, it is not finished and covered. I've grown very little in it so far. Buns and squirrels love it though.

The one that counts is a washing machine drum filled with poplar scraps and covered with soil. 6 years old maybe. So far just prairie smoke and strawberries growing in there. And mushrooms out of what was green wood when I started it.

I have started a proper one inside my fenced garden but it will be awhile before it's done depending on how much time I'm able to spend there.

I have 3. The first one got tossed together in our first few months in WV. It has hostas, comfrey, heuchara(?)and a few snapdragons this year. It's between 2 red maples in the front yard.

#2 is at the back of the barn and for a 2nd year is hosting hot peppers plus rhubarb.

#3 has its first plants this year. There were large rotting logs along the road in what is becoming the food forest.  We just added the twiggier bits and 2 years of layering on straw, rabbit manure clean outs (so everything that drops into the catch trays, like wasted hay, urine...), wood ashes as they are available,  and topped finally with good dirt. I've planted 4 seeds each of 5 large winter squash across it, along with a few other random garden seeds.  

I spend about 10 minutes each week lately changing the growth direction of many tendrils to keep them off the road. There are perhaps a  dozen fruit set so far and the vines are in conquer mode, reaching over some overgrown weeds and saplings and it looks like they want to go down the hollar!

Awesome Deedee!  Your squash plants look a bit thirsty, but they are doing so much better than any of mine this year.

On a completely different note, I passed through WV for the first time a couple weeks ago...we spent a night in Lewisburg before visiting the New River Gorge NP on our way home.  Some lovely countryside through there (and interesting driving on US 60).

Derek Thille wrote:Awesome Deedee!  Your squash plants look a bit thirsty, but they are doing so much better than any of mine this year.

On a completely different note, I passed through WV for the first time a couple weeks ago...we spent a night in Lewisburg before visiting the New River Gorge NP on our way home.  Some lovely countryside through there (and interesting driving on US 60).

My squash always droop like that in the heat. Always have. Its their way of staying cool. They were watered the day before the photo.

US 60 is also known as Midland Trail, and I've been told it has been there longer than we are a country, the wildlife and Native Americans used it long before Europeans arrived. We are located closer to Huntington at the western edge of WV, up in the hills where the roads are very narrow and winding, and opposing traffic likes to drive in my lane, when there is a painted line and especially when there is no line!

I think I will combine some of the in-ground garden beds at the end of this season and put a hugel between where the walkway was. Should help with the perpetual nutrient drain (garden sits atop ? tons of sand, our leach field) and maybe with the slow-growing plants I have... this year's squash and tomatoes mostly.

Should also help stifle the bindweed, which is a perpetual problem!

Ellen Lewis wrote:Years ago.
Made a heap of branches, centered on a stump, edged on short side by wood rounds set on cut edge.
Had no turf, tried to put mud & seeds on it. Sides too steep but roughly worked. Short-lived clover & buckwheat, soon reverted to nasturtium & pellitory. Never worked for vegetables.
Rounds were stable & rotted away nicely.
Branches are the favorite thing of bermuda grass & poke. I tried to consolidate them as they broke down, but they didn't break down much.
The shade & moisture of the branch pile helped the stump begin to bear mushrooms & now it's almost broken down enough to remove & use the hole for planting.
It's dark out now, so no picture.
Just looks like a weedy mound anyway. 12 or 18 inches high.

Hi! Are you still here?
I searched for stumps & hugelkultur and you're all I found. I was wondering how your stump-pile worked out. Did you ever add more stuff to it? Is it now just barely a lump? How many years before you couldn't tell it was a stump anymore?

I have some stumps in my woods, in particular I have 2 near each other so I thought of making a hugel bed in between them (including on top of them). My logic says it would be a fantastic idea because the stump is still "alive" down underground in a way, drawing water to it, possibly. Or at least holding a lot of moisture. But before I go through the trouble I was hoping for anyone with experience to chip in either for or against it. Maybe there's some decay issues I'm not aware of.

Sadly, due to some timber theft, I am left with about a half a dozen stumps and piles of smaller decaying wood that was too small for them to take (About the thickness of my arms & legs). I get upset when I walk through and see it, so I was thinking that making some of it into something useful would help me feel better. I guess it sounds like I'll be doing it anyway, at some point... but still wondering if there's anything to consider, using stumps.

Thanks to anyone who can give input!

Kim, my only concern would be with ensuring the stumps don't sprout like a coppiced tree.  From your photo, I'd consider cutting the stumps closer to ground level.  If the stumps were living when cut, you may also want to consider drilling down into them to aid rotting - if the trees were already dead, I'd be less inclined to deal with it.  It almost looks like the smaller multi-stemmed tree could be in the way (that could just be an illusion though).  If it is, you could curve your hugel to go around it.

Is that area treed enough for the hugel to be in full shade?  A bit of a rhetorical question, but you'd want to match your hugel plantings to the amount of light you get.  Another consideration is the land orientation - frost will want to move downhill, so you may want to consider whether or not you might create a frost pocket up against your hugel.  I didn't do a good job of that placing the one I built this year and a pumpkin plant paid the price.

Good luck.

Derek Thille wrote:Kim, my only concern would be with ensuring the stumps don't sprout like a coppiced tree.  From your photo, I'd consider cutting the stumps closer to ground level.  If the stumps were living when cut, you may also want to consider drilling down into them to aid rotting - if the trees were already dead, I'd be less inclined to deal with it.  It almost looks like the smaller multi-stemmed tree could be in the way (that could just be an illusion though).  If it is, you could curve your hugel to go around it.

Is that area treed enough for the hugel to be in full shade?  A bit of a rhetorical question, but you'd want to match your hugel plantings to the amount of light you get.  Another consideration is the land orientation - frost will want to move downhill, so you may want to consider whether or not you might create a frost pocket up against your hugel.  I didn't do a good job of that placing the one I built this year and a pumpkin plant paid the price.

Good luck.

Thanks for all those thoughts. The stumps were definitely alive when cut about 3-4 years ago, and they have not sprouted by now, so I guess they won't.
I see how drilling holes or cutting them more could be helpful.
I think the thin trunks we're seeing are all individual saplings, if I remember correctly. Hmm.
The area is in shady woods on a hilltop. I want to grow medicinal forest herbs, and if I need to protect them from deer I was thinking that it's way less fence to enclose a hugel than the same area of flat ground. I figure I could get 2-3 times the surface area.

Thanks again!