Baymule’s 2019 Garden

baymule

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Bay, did your hugelkulture bed produce anything?
I was thinking about that method the other day. Remember Boggy [Boggybranch maybe?] from years ago? He was experimenting with it, but he hasn't been on for a very long time.
No, it was hard to keep the dirt up on it. Finally got the dirt to stay, but stuff just didn't grow well on it. A lot of the logs in it have rotted, so may tear it down and spread it flat. Where I dug a trench and buried logs flat, seemed to do better.
 

flowerbug

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No, it was hard to keep the dirt up on it. Finally got the dirt to stay, but stuff just didn't grow well on it. A lot of the logs in it have rotted, so may tear it down and spread it flat. Where I dug a trench and buried logs flat, seemed to do better.

in primarily sandy soil in a hotter climate you wouldn't want a hugel piled up very high so i'm not surprised by your observation.
 

flowerbug

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I tore mine down after 4-5 years, also becasue it didn't work all that good. Made it into a raised bed, boy was that great soil! not all the wood was rotted away, but everything I planted and sown did very well!

i had only seen them used as part of a temporary swale in a cooler climate. the slope was 30 degrees or less so the dirt mostly stayed in place and amount of topsoil used to cap it was plenty to give the vegetables enough space for growing. as the logs rotted the swale settled but it seemed to be as productive as any other garden space with that same soil.

in an arid/sandy soil i wouldn't be burning anything organic. bury it down about a foot and a half and forget it. worms, fungi will be happy to call it home and feed it to your garden plants through time.

around here i use random pieces of wood on the surface around edges and the ants, worms, wood lice, etc. break it down or the raccoons, skunks, etc. will tear it apart as it rots looking for grubs or ant larvae. the wood acts as a mulch to protect the soil from the rain and wind and where that chunk of wood is means a weed won't have an easy spot to grow in.
 

baymule

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We went to the garden and laid out more rows of triple thickness pumpkin boxes. We put wood chip mulch over them and quit because we were tired. The Kawasaki mule quit in the middle of the garden. Still sitting out there. It may have to sit there until Thursday, got other things to do tomorrow. Eh. Next week we have temps in the 20's, hope it warms up after that. I need to get my cool weather plants set out and the Painted Mountain corn is 4" tall now.
 

seedcorn

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Won’t be 4” tall after 20 degree weather......
 
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