Hugelkultur

There are a lot of things in the works here at Triple H Ranch.  I have been reading about hugelkulturs and that has started some wheels turning in my mind.  'What is a hugelkulture' you might ask.  Well essentially it's a raised garden bed using woody debris as a base and covered in soil. The wood retains moisture and slowly decomposes, adding nutrients and moisture to the soil. Since part of our property is wooded, we have lots of broken branches and rotting logs I could put to good use.  

Photo Credit

As good as this method sounds, I do have some concerns.  Many of the after images I've seen, include hugelkulture's that are covered in weeds.  One comment my husband made after watching a video with me was "it looks like any pile of dirt after a couple weeks".  Weeds love having dirt stirred up (why I don't till) so we would have to be careful where we get dirt for this project.  However, by using the same mulching method that I use in the garden, perhaps it would work for us.

If anyone has used this method I would love to hear your thoughts.