We finished deconstructing the hugelkulture beds. Now I’m using the area for a traditional raised row garden. I ran the tiller through the area several times, then used my new hiller/bedder/hipper attachment to create the rows. I wound up with 3 rows, about 50 foot long. Next, I’ll move wood chips into the walkways (low spots) and then plant in the raised areas.
hiller / bedder / hipper 3 point implement3 raised rows for in-ground vegetable garden
After 2 years of ho-hum results, I’ve decided to tear apart 3/4 of my huglekulture bed. I expected poor results the first year, but everything I planted in it the second year didn’t do that great. Other problems I had with it are that it is really hard to plant things in it due to the awkward position you have to put your body in to reach the soil surface, it was hard to mulch because any mulch you place on it just slides to the bottom. It is hard to water because if you water it too fast, it melts. (makes seeds especially hard to deal with) Fire ants seem particularly attracted to the bed, making it gardening in it a painful experience. I think having the soil so high off the ground made it too hard to retain moisture. It seems like the plants always needed water, and many of the plants I would expect to last though the winter dried up and died.
Maybe I should give it one more year, but I want to use the area in a different way, so deconstructing most of the bed was the path I choose. If I were to build another one in the future, I’d dig down into the existing soil and add my wood below-grade instead of stacking it all above grade. I think this would help steer the soil moisture in the right direction. I really wanted this permaculture method of planting to be awesome, everything I grew in the hugelkulture bed did much worse than plants in my raised beds.
I’m keeping a small section of the bed and I’ll continue to compare the results I get to the other types of grow beds I use. I’m going to use the area where this bed currently is for a traditional in-ground row garden.
I dug a new swale just downhill from my first swale. It is a few inches lower than the top swale, but won’t fill until the top swale is filled nearly full. I’ll add rocks in the area where they are connected to resist erosion.
New Swale dug to promote in-soak– Looking SouthNew Swale dug to promote in-soak– Looking SouthExisting swale in foreground, new swale in background – looking eastnew swale connects near middle of old swale – looking north
I planted 9 new fruit trees on the downhill side of the new swale. Here are the types and varieties of the trees:
I ordered some fig cuttings from figbid.com. I potted and set them outside next to a south-facing wall. I have 3 Italian 258, 2 Smith, and 2 JH Adriatic.
We are bad chicken owners! Our hens have grown enough that they can fly over their protective fence, so they wind up free-ranging during the day. We talked about clipping their wings, but then they wouldn’t be as able to get away from predators. Turns out they still aren’t able to get away from most predators. Chickens are food for almost everything.
We’ve had a stead stream of melons this season. Amber picked up several cantaloupes tonight. (don’t pay attention to the weeds and dead strawberries in the background!)
