Maintaining hugels

One of the premises of hugelkultur is that, unlike a conventional garden bed, hugel beds require no maintenance.

However, if you want the best from your hugels, they will require some regular maintenance, but the amount of effort you put in is up to you.

Over the first year, your hugels may sink as much as 30cm (1 foot) in height. This is due to the natural settling of the pile, decomposition, and also as as the woody and organic materials decompose, and spaces between the larger logs and branches are filled by smaller material and worm activity. Additionally, you may get a certain amount of soil erosion depending on how steep your hugels are. Without adding to the woody matter of your hugel, it may continue to function for ten years (reference), depending on the types and size of woody material you placed in the base.

At a minimum, you will need to refresh the growing medium by adding compost and fertilisers to the top and sides of your hugel. This is equivalent to top-dressing a conventional garden bed.

You don’t need to, but you can also choose to partially rebuild your hugels at the beginning of the season. I rebuild my hugels, adding in another 30cm of height. The taller your hugels, the more organic matter, and the better their water retention.

I recommend that you rebuild you hugels just prior to the start of the growing season (late winter, or early spring). I rebuild my hugels, one each month starting from the first week of spring (September in the southern hemisphere).

Here are three ways to maintain your hugels depending on the needs of the plants, and the amount of effort you want to expend.

Top dressing

What you’ll need:

  • worm castings, bokashi
  • blood and bone
  • growing medium
  1. Dig a series of 5cm furrows or ledges along the sides of your hugel. I put one near the bottom, and two further up the sides. This is to prevent new soil from simply pouring off the top of your hugels and down the sides onto the path.
  2. Dig a deeper channel (5-10 cm) into the top of the hugel along the centre and fill this with worms, bokashi, and a sprinkling of blood and bone.
  3. It’s not necessary, but my hugels are pretty dry by the time I rebuild because I often haven’t watered them at all over winter. Watering the mound will help to recharge the hugel and establish the water reservoir needed for the spring and summer months.
  4. In a wheelbarrow, prepare a mix of compost, cow manure, pelletised chook manure (optional), blood and bone, rock minerals, crushed eggs, and whatever other yummies you put in your growing medium.
  5. Shovel the growing medium over your hugel, aiming for a layer of 10-15 cms on the top and 5-10 cms on the sides. Roughly pat the mix down as you go (but not too smoothly as you still want to prevent the next layers from pouring off). If you’re struggling to keep the mix on the hugel, you can water the layer in, let it settle for a bit, then create more side furrows and keep adding soil to your hugel.
  6. When you’re done, water well to prevent erosion and recharge the hugel’s water reservoir.
  7. If you’re expecting a downpour, you can mulch with straw to stop erosion, but I rarely bother.

Woody rebuild

This technique rebuilds the bulk of your hugel to maintain hugel height and structure, and to ensure that there is a good amount of woody matter to continue your composting and biological processes. This is best done when you’re planning on planting leafy greens (such as brassicas, lettuces, beans, etc.), or fruiting vegetables (zucchini, tomatoes, eggplant, capsicum, etc), rather than root vegetables.

What you’ll need:

  • small sticks, partly rotting branches
  • wood chip, coir
  • leaves, grass clippings, partly rotted straw, garden waste
  • worm castings, bokashi
  • blood and bone
  • growing medium (compost, cow manure, pelletised chook manure (optional), blood and bone, rock minerals, crushed eggs, etc.)

Instructions

  1. Dig a series of 5cm furrows or ledges along the sides of your hugel. I put one near the bottom, and two further up the sides.
  2. Dig a 15cm deep channel along the top of your hugel and push any soil to the sides of the hugel.
  3. Fill the channel with a mix of small sticks, partly rotting branches, wood chip and leaves.
  4. Cover with a thin layer of soil and water well, hosing dirt into the woody layer beneath.
  5. Sprinkle a layer of blood and bone over the top
  6. Place a layer of wood ash, bokashi, and worms over the top
  7. Cover with grass clippings, straw, garden waste or coir.
  8. Water, to recharge the hugel
  9. Cover with 10-15cm of compost on the top, and 5-10 cms on the sides of your hugel.
  10. Water well

Soft rebuild

This technique rebuilds your hugel to maintain height and provide a soft growing medium for carrots, parsnips and alliums, while retaining moisture in the top layers. A soft re-build will sink more than a woody rebuild, so requires more growing medium to maintain its height.

What you’ll need:

  • leaves, grass clippings, partly rotted straw, garden waste
  • worm castings, bokashi
  • blood and bone
  • growing medium (compost, cow manure, pelletised chook manure (optional), blood and bone, rock minerals, crushed eggs, etc.)
  1. Dig a series of 5cm furrows or ledges along the sides of your hugel. I put one near the bottom, and two further up the sides.
  2. Dig a 15cm deep channel along the top of your hugel and push any soil to the sides of the hugel.
  3. Fill the channel with partly rotted straw and/or grass clippings.
  4. Sprinkle a layer of blood and bone over the top
  5. Place a layer of wood ash, bokashi, and worms over the top
  6. Water to recharge the hugel
  7. 15-20cm compost over the top, and 5-10 cms on the sides of your hugel.
  8. Water well

 

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