Greenhouse raised Hugelkultur bed update pt 3 (tomatoes and peppers)
So far I am very happy with my results from this hugelkultur experiment in my greenhouse, I have been getting great growth using very little water despite the daily temp of 115 degrees farenheit or more every day in the greenhouse.
The walnut tree out front of the green house has provided a much needed wind break and loves the heat the greenhouse provides the soil.
I have several peppers starting but haven't gotten any harvests off them yet, the tomatoes are starting to flower and a few small tomatoes have formed shouldn't be too much longer!
Thanks
I was thinking you were rather late getting the tomatoes in, but then I saw your post about the stuff you had growing in the bed earlier in the year.
Everything certainly seems to be growing well.
I think I'd have to build another greenhouse or hoophouse if I was going to try a hugelkulter bed in a greenhouse.
I was pretty late getting them going this year, but with the greenhouse extending the season I think there's enough time. You might want to try hugelkultur outdoor rows instead of building another greenhouse, that's how I have my outdoor garden set up this year and it's yielded tons of lettuce, kale, radish, carrots, cucumbers and pak choi so far this year. I'm loving how low maintenance the hugelkultur method has been so far and the soil is much less compacted than it used to be.
I've thought about doing some hugel beds here, but my space is fairly limited, living in town. One of my raised beds was built as a small hugel bed, I don't know how efficient it is because it's pretty small.
I'm not sure how big they need to be before you get much benefit, maybe as an experiment i'll try out hugel in some small containers
That could be an interesting experiment.
Hey there @gunsmithing! I definitely believe in hugelkulture as a great method for using less water while promoting native fungus in the soil to help break down wood to release nutrients slowly to your plants! Your plants look great!
Thanks, I added mycorrhizal spores to all the beds at the time of planting to help accelerate the fungal decomposition.
We are getting close to starting our swale & berm system in. Eould you recomend use this system in our berms??? Great post, thanks for the information!
I'm not an expert on permaculture, I live at high elevation in a dry climate and I love them. For me the benefit is having to water less, no tilling, I can inoculate the beds with mushrooms(king stropharia), it composts the large woody yard waste, the amount of soil life went up(ie. worms), and it takes me less time physically to manage. I don't know what it will do in your climate, but it might be worth trying. I think it could be awesome with swales
Live in KY, Zone 6B. We have a 35 acres of woods that need to be thinned out. I am going to try a swale or two & see what happens. I will let you know if it works....
Thanks again!
Sounds like a great plan, best of luck!
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