building a 7 foot tall hugelkultur bed for a PEP BB

Ashley is here to get her hugelkultur BB certified. She has to build a hugelkultur 7 feet tall and plant it. Not the logs going to side to side - this helps to keep the sides of the hugelkultur nice and steep. Here is the full requirements for this BB: https://permies.com/wiki/98574/PEP-BB-gardening-sand-hugelkultur

More info on the PEP program in the PEP forum: https://permies.com/f/178/

And hugelkultur is so popular, that we have a full forum dedicated just to hugelkultur stuff: https://permies.com/f/117/hugelkultur

Note that the wood that is inside the hugelkultur is all sorts of directions. This helps keep the shape a bit more vertical - contrary to the angle of repose.

I think ashley's operation is a bit clunky - but this IS her first time ever operating an excavator. Overall, I would say she did pretty good for a first time.

The BB requires that the final hugelkultur is at least 7 feet tall. A common approach is to dig down three feet on the sides and use that material to stack stuff 4 feet tall - making a hugelkultur that is a net 7 feet tall.

The BB requires four different kinds of mulch. Ashley chose sawdust, bark, mullein, knapweed and tumbling mustard. Five types of mulch!

She also must plant at least a dozen species. Ashley chose three different types of clover, vetch, daikon radish, kale, black locust, cherry, sunchokes, sepp holzer grain and a few more.