Hugelkultur - Creating Raised Beds that Mimic Nature

What is hugelkultur? Basically it is wood buried in soil with plants growing on top. Sounds a bit strange right? But this way of making raised beds can greatly reduce or even eliminate the need to water your garden.

Are you interested?

Check out this week's blog post on my site all about hugelkultur beds: Hugelkultur Beds: The Best Raised Beds for Your Garden

The post covers the basics of hugelkultur beds and is the first in a 3 part series that covers the basics, the types of hugelkultur beds, and how to build your own.

What is a Hugelkultur Bed

Collage showing a hugelkultur bed I built last year in various stages.

There are a number of variations of hugelkultur beds but at its most basic a hugelkultur bed is made by placing logs/wood on the ground where you want your bed to be.

Then you cover that wood with soil and plant into the soil.

That really is it.

You can make it a bit more complex by using big pieces of wood at the bottom, adding some soil, then adding medium sized pieces of wood, add some more soil, then add small pieces of wood, and then add a final layer of soil.

I started out doing it that way but now I just go with the easier way of large and medium pieces on the bottom and soil on top.

Hugelkultur Bed's Mimic Nature

Nature has its own version of hugelkultur beds--the nurse log! Image credit: Virginia State Parks (CC BY 2.0)

So are hugelkultur beds really mimicking nature? They are but nature takes a slower route. Have you heard of the term nurse log?

Basically, this is when a tree falls in the forest and slowly rots creating the perfect habitat for other trees to grow. Often you can find young trees growing out of the rotting log before it even turns fully into soil!

But this can take a long time to work. The log slowly breaks down due to fungi, microbes, and insects working their way through it. Falling leaves and other organic material will also build up around the log.

That is all good but slow.

By taking the wood and burying it in soil you can still get the nice slow release of nutrients and water holding ability but you have the soil to start planting in. Plus the soil helps to keep the wood moist which speeds up the decomposition.

This is a great way to get the benefits of a nurse log in your garden on a timescale that works for the busy homesteader or gardener.

Are You Ready to Build a Hugelkultur Bed?

The same hugelkultur bed shown being built 6 months later in full bloom. In addition to flowers I also grew tomatoes and many other vegetables and I only watered it once to get the seeds and seedlings established in May.

So are you ready to get started with hugelkultur beds? Then don't forget to check out my blog post to make sure you have the basics covered. Over the next few months the next 2 blog posts in this series will be released covering types of hugelkultur beds and how to build one.

Another great resource is the micro-documentary offered on permies all about hugelkultur beds. You can buy the micro-doc for just $3 over on permies using my affiliate link which helps support my site with no extra cost to you.

So what do you think about hugelkultur beds? Are you going to build one? Have you already built one? Please leave a comment with your thoughts on hugelkultur beds and if you liked this post please upvote it :)

Thank you!