Hügelkultur Raised Beds

[Land of Lincoln]

Very nice. I see you had an audience, too.

Oh yeah, I had an audience. They’re all supervisors and told me how I was doing it all wrong. For a minute, I thought the wife was out here…

 

[akroberts1085]

I finally got some pallets. As soon as I start feeling better I will be making some raised beds for my garden next year. My husband delivered a load to Costco in Sumner WA and they left 11 really nice pallets so my husband brought them home for me.

 

[gtaus]

I am feeling my age, and digging in the ground is difficult. My knees won't let me squat or kneel, so I invested in raised beds.

Thanks for all those great pictures. For some reason, I never got any BYC notifications that anybody posted to this thread, so it was not until today when I checked the thread on something else that I noticed a number of new posts.

Thanks to everybody who adds to the conversation.

Yeah, I'm at that age where I really enjoy the benefits of having higher walled raised beds. I have terribly poor native soil, which first got me into raised beds. Now that I am getting older, I really appreciate not bending over all the time to work the in-ground garden.

I added chickens to my life in February 2023, so now I add composted litter as well as yard clippings. I have added four more beds, three which I have used this year. The fourth is full of "hot" chicken litter and will be planted in the Spring.

Since I got my backyard flock and started making my own chicken run compost, I have more than doubled my gardening space these past 4 years! My chicken run compost is better than the bags of compost I used to buy at the big box stores. Just need to let it age a bit before use.

All the beds have had logs and branches added to the bottom when assembled, and lots of compost. They have been very productive and I wouldn't, couldn't go back to gardening in the ground.

I first started using the hügelkultur method to get rid of old, junk wood I had on my property. I had heard that the wood would act like a giant water battery, soaking up the water and releasing it when needed.

I never really noticed much difference with the hügelkultur versus normal raised beds until one drought summer. All my in-ground plants dried up and died. All my plants in my non-hügelkultur raised beds dried up and died. Only my plants in the hügelkultur raised beds lived long enough to produce fruit.

I got maybe only 60% of a normal crop that year in my hügelkultur raised beds, but everything else had dried up and died by mid-summer. Since that experience, I have only made hügelkultur raised beds and converted my other "normal" raised beds to the hügelkultur method.

Like you, I'll never go back to in-ground gardening due to my poor native soil and me aging to the point where I don't want to work bending over all the time.

 

[gtaus]

I have three more beds identical to this one to fill and my goal is to have them all done before winter hits so they can absorb all of the moisture we may get. Any settling will be topped most likely with either fall leaves, compost or a combination of the two.

Hopefully I’ve created a good home for all of the microbes and worms so they can move in and do their thing.

Thanks for all those great pictures. Love them!

I know my hügelkultur raised beds have lots of worms in them. Having an open bottom should help with worms finding the beds.

I consider the annual settling of the hügelkultur beds as a good thing. The wood at the bottom is breaking down and the existing topsoil bed mix is filling in the gaps. Then I top off the bed every year with fresh chicken run compost. The plants get fed from both the bottom and top that way. It just gets better every year!

 

[gtaus]

I finally got some pallets. As soon as I start feeling better I will be making some raised beds for my garden next year. My husband delivered a load to Costco in Sumner WA and they left 11 really nice pallets so my husband brought them home for me.

Looking forward to see what you make out of those pallets. Hope you feel better soon. Take care.

 

[akroberts1085]

I'm excited to be able to make some beds from the pallets. I'm trying to figure out how I can make a hexagon shaped bed. It might not be ideal but it will definitely be different

 

[fuzzi]

I'm excited to be able to make some beds from the pallets. I'm trying to figure out how I can make a hexagon shaped bed. It might not be ideal but it will definitely be different

Keep in mind you'll need to be able to reach the middle of the bed from the edge.

 

[gtaus]

I'm excited to be able to make some beds from the pallets. I'm trying to figure out how I can make a hexagon shaped bed. It might not be ideal but it will definitely be different

I'm not that creative. Sounds like an interesting idea.

Keep in mind you'll need to be able to reach the middle of the bed from the edge.

I agree. Most people have a maximum reach of 3 feet into the center. That's why most raised beds are only 4 feet wide, allowing 2 feet to the center from either edge, which is easy to reach for most people.

Here are some Google pictures to inspire you...

And a couple of YouTube tutorial videos...

 

[akroberts1085]

I'm not that creative. Sounds like an interesting idea.


I agree. Most people have a maximum reach of 3 feet into the center. That's why most raised beds are only 4 feet wide, allowing 2 feet to the center from either edge, which is easy to reach for most people.

Here are some Google pictures to inspire you...

View attachment 3986439

View attachment 3986442

View attachment 3986447

And a couple of YouTube tutorial videos...

Thank you for the inspiration of photos. I don't know which one I would want to make more but I just have to wait out the weather now.

 

[gtaus]

I don't know which one I would want to make more but I just have to wait out the weather now.

I live in northern Minnesota. When I say I have to wait out the weather, I'm usually referring to about 6 months of winter ice and snow. Oh well, in the winter "down time" I watch a lot of YouTube videos and take note of things I might want to build come spring.