2018 Garden, Day 22: No Hugelkultur!
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 2 ก.ค. 2018
- Today I explain why I am NOT doing hugelkultur, and you'll see how much we got clear. Hugelkultur is not always the answer. I think Sepp Holzer would agree on this one.
And man, there is a lot of trash on this lot. And it's almost time to plant pumpkins. And I plant my perennial cucumber. And I talk about the non Pinterest-worthy trellis I built yesterday. And I plant my last edible Dioscorea bulbifera. It's a good time.
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I did reverse hugelkultur. You dig a giant hole, or as many big holes as you want, or deep trenches all over the place, at once, or over time. You dump tons of wood in there, cover back with soil. Rake over, spread surplus soil all around, leaving just a slight mound. The soil settles pretty fast. Works fine. Because I do not like mounds and hills. I like it flat.
I made my hugel bed without a trench, just did it on top the ground. Much faster, and still works. No dig method plus hugel mound combined.
Sounds kind of hard to direct seed in though...
Or even a shallow trench
@@ThahnG413 why? Pull back the top a little bit, bury the seed, water.
@@HotMessCarnivore42 Mounds are annoying because of the uneven planting, like normally if you plant pepper plants 18 inches apart they are hardly going to touch each other by the end of the season unless if you grow some variety that grows very large, however if you do it in a mound it can be a lot easier to crowd out the plants because you are planting some plants above others, and that is why some people just choose the easy options like planting squash or pumpkin in mounds.
@@ThahnG413 It softens over time, that's the beauty of it.
You could have a wicked boulderkultur hill with all those rocks. Just sit back and watch the lichen grow.
I did my hugulkulture on top of the ground with cardboard bc we also have clay.. see how it turns out
No cardboard here, but same on other fronts. Glacial outwash hardpan and my overground hugel-style beds did just fine this summer.
How did yours perform?
"I don't own this property"
know your place, serf
I love your pragmatism, independence, and 'occasional' sarcasm. Keep up the amazing work.
Thank you.
I think the trellis is Pinterest worthy, under the "rustic" section of trellises! BTW, your plot there reminds of the quote, "The world is the wilderness and the Church is the Garden." Always good David!
Oh, don't bother about what people may think of you! You ARE unique! People can only watch you in awe, not make judgments about things many cannot do!
Love your channel. Very educational and entertaining. Bought a couple of your books. Keep up the great work.
Thank you, K.
First of all you don't have to dig a trench for hygge culture you can lay out riding logs on the ground and then cover them all up install raised beds around the the file using simple things like logs tree limbs maybe your best bet would be to do container gardening so when the day comes you can take your garden with you
Yep, he needs Hugl bins with lids.
Yay, another calvinist gardener. We were meant to watch this episode!
That trellis looks like the beginning of the house that Pooh and Piglet built for Eeyore 😀
YES
I love your bean towers trellis thing. I think it’s pretty, especially when the beans grown up it. Love the sink. The plot is coming along and looking good
Those beans are permaculture magic beans that must be planted in a hugelkultur if you want them to grow tall enough to steal the golden goose as Jack did in Jack and the Beanstalk.
I have extremely hard soil where we live in mountains of Southern California, what I do is pile tons of mulch/woodchips on top of the logs, they break down and turn into soil over time. and you have hugelkulture with little work, relatively speaking of course.
Good idea. I used to just put logs all around my trees and let them break down over time. The mulch would keep them wet, though, and increase the decay rate.
Hugelkultur is a great idea, if you plan on leaving your garden to your kids, as it will take that long to break down. I also like deep, loose soils, for things like potatoes and deep tomato planting, and I don't want to keep hitting stuff while trying to dig a hole. However, I DO put rotten wood and chips into a pile to break down separately, and I can "mine" a bit each year to add to my deep, loose soils. It's all about personal preference.
I really like the trellis. Garden hardware makes everything look more charming.
Being covered with vines will help a lot too.
My ground in Nova Scotia is pretty full of rocks and a good amount of clay. I dug out a hugelkultr bed in early spring so I could get a head start and the ground was still frozen solid. It was a crazy amount of work for one garden bed lol
I tried a little hugelkultur in my pots by putting a few small sticks on the bottom, also to keep the soil from coming out the holes. All I got was root rot.
not smart for pots. it's built in mounds because it allows plenty of air flow
i found your video to be very comical in your expressions, very positive vibes and you are very content. i never comment on anything but i had to on your NO Hügelkultur video
David, I love you so much dude! The hugelkulture was so classic and spot on. Doing the same thing in my rock hard clay soil..that I call "death clay" and I would be completely crippled if I even got halfway into building a mound. No bobcats here either and I aint spending 40K on a permaculture weekend. You rock and I love your vids.
Heck yeah. Thank you.
It is just too much work in my yard too. Back to Eden with wood chips have heal my ground the best. My yard had spent 4 decades as a parking lot with gravel. I still have problems digging. I do have a layer of rich black soil.
Sheet mulching is truly amazing. It takes time, but it's powerful.
plain leaves on top of soil also works wonders, i can dig with my hands where i have kept them more than a year.
Garden Trellis : suitably stable
Gardener : not so much
"People would stop watching me on TH-cam........I'm very concerned about what people think........obviously..........Should have tried aquaponics......"
LOL!!!
BTW, I've been meaning to ask about your nursery. Do you still have those wonderful trees you collected for when you get your own property?
I have some of them - some I gave away.
Hey David, I totally agree about hugelkultur. Actually in dry climates they tend to dry out faster at the top, even with moisture in the core. In dry climates like mine, sunken beds are ideal and retain more moisture. That combined with twigs, leaves and kitchen scraps dug underneath sunken beds will form rich soil over time, once one is ‘anchored’ to a location :) mulch helps me greatly too. I need to try sunken clay ollas when I feel in the mood for those. All the best during your temporary garden journey ... I’ll pray for the yam too.
Thanks. Raised beds in North Florida always dried out too fast - I could see hugels doing that during the dry season.
The only reason to do hugelkulture here in sandhills is strawberries. The neighbors have had extreme success in keeping them overwinter and still producing in hugelkulture. Though I bet an abundance of rotting material of any sort would work. I did everything in my garden as sunken beds (swales, really) though i put in the wicking wood and greens under.
All I can think of is Jack Spirko yelling "Hugelkulture, you gotta do hugelkulture!!"
Oh Dave, you always make me feel better about being me! LOL! You're a traveling farmer for sure. What's your next destination, or do you not know yet?
Don't know yet. I like it here, but need land.
Get a break from the hurricanes down there? Granted, there is rainy season, but I'd think it's quite different.
DTG is easily one of my favorite youtubers!
It would be interesting to see what would grow under the sink drain. You know it's got to be moist.
Good thought.
Mint?
I was thinking the same thing...what could we plant next to that drain that could help...notice I said 'we'. Sorry David, I know you're doing all the heavy lifting LOL
I'm doing hugelkultur in buckets this season. If I like the results I'm going to do the same in my raised bed next season.
Awesome!
The area is looking great, all your hard work is showing! Well done, brother. I'm curious. I know squash is a pretty good crop to almost always get some yield out of, and I've met a TON of gardeners who grow pumpkins. I eat a lot of squash,, but not pumpkin. The only thing I've ever had is pumpkin pie (of course) and pumpkin soup which I didn't think was very good. What do you make out of or how do you guys eat your pumpkins? Any other comments are welcome of course, I just think it's strange that a butt load of folks grow it, but never talk about what they do with it. Where's Rachael's cooking vids? I know she's got some tricks up her sleeve.
The pumpkins I grow are also called winter squash. Almost all C. moschata, as C. maxima and C. pepo species do badly for me. We mash them with butter, add them to soups, etc. I enjoy growing them more than eating them. And I haven't had any luck with summer squashes.
You can do it in raised beds
It makes me sad you’ll be leaving the property so soon. When I first started watching your videos awhile back, I loved you’re developed food forests. You were actually the very first person I saw talking about that idea
Thanks. I bought new land and am about to plant a new food forest - it all worked out fine.
I love your bean trellis. I want to see pictures of it on Pinterest when the beans are sprawled all over it.
The video is titled "No Hugelkultur" but you kind of made a Hugelkultur raised bed at 9:12. Again, kind of. A tropical Hugelkultur bed.
I plan on doing Hugelkultur in raised beds while I wait for my sheet mulch to compost. I'm just worried it's too hot here in Florida zone 9b to start gardening unless I use the heat loving plants (which are a bit limited for annuals and I'm new to perennials).
Thanks for the videos. They help more than you know.
Always love the humour and my young adult son likes your channel...he says it makes him feel better about the gardening challenges we face (:
Exactly the reasons I don't hugel. I'm on heavy Aussie red clay, and in a rental!! Even though our rental has ended up being more long term, there are no guarantees, right?
(Also, termites are a HUGE problem, here, and the council can fine you out the wahzoo if they find massive termite mounds in your yard and decide you've caused it. You cannot be blamed for mulching, but piles of logs, etc, it can get messy.)
I adore abandoned sinks. I have a Moreton Bay Fig that came from my grandpa's house when he died, and although they are stunning native trees, they also have CRAZY roots that will grow out the bottom of pots and into the soil below and then you have a huge, house wrecking problem. Enter the old laundry sink- elevated off the ground, but plenty of space for that thing to grow. Flowers around the base, and I have shade for the side of my house, and a place for beneficial critters to hang out, including native food for native birds. We do what we have to, with what we have, right? Lols.
I adore your methods of doing things. It doesn't have to be pretty, it just has to work, use what you have, and free stuff works just as well as spending a fortune. I just don't have the budget for what others are doing. This is what works!
BTW, please tell me you are using all that charcoal you're making? I take all that black magic from our fire pit, soak it in worm tea and weed tea and seaweed emulsion, add a handful of blood and bone, and handfuls of that go in the hole when I plant ANYTHING, and it's the best thing I've ever done for my patch. Amazing growth, every time. Charcoal for the win!
Keep being amazing, Mr David.
Never mind, of course you use biochar. I'm pretty sure one of the vidoes that got me started on it was yours. Duh.
that's why i have raised beds. rock in the Andes right at otherwise topsoil areas. I am not into digging and hacking and ruining my back. so, raised bed with twigs and old boards makes sense to me.
Yeah. If the soil isn't there, raised beds for sure.
I came across this episode on my recommended. I was curious what is the name of the perennial cucumber?
David, I have been trying to get my hands on a perennial cucumber. I live out in rural South Carolina and have loads of room for them to run wild. where on earth can I get my hands on some?
Out there, I don't know. It's out of their range. You really need a piece of root or some cuttings - seeds never seem to work.
David The Good, 😕 aww well I guess my dreams of a cucumber wonderland will be on hold untill I get a hookup. * anyone out there in the U.S. wanna hook me up with some roots or cuttings?*
Lisa Albarras if I buy an achocha vine, I could send you some. Also, try Florida Gardening Friends group on FB. I’ve trade with people there.
Lisa Albarras I’m on FB with sunset profile picture
😂 sorry but I'm really childish but arn't we all. Sorry but great metaphore 👍
It looking alto better David and Family. Happy 4th of July.
Great job as always
Thank you.
You're supposed to pray like it is your last plant over your whole crop.
I love it . Container gardening in anything including the kitchen sink. You must find an old toilet and use it as a potty. LOL Sorry I couldn't help myself.
Nice.
I think everyone who gardened in the 70's had a toilet planter in their yard somewhere. Ahhhhh, the good ole days, when people were more impressed with the reuse and utility of a no good bowl than they were offended about it's low brow humor. Another era.
You are hilarious!!! I love this video!!!
Thank you.
I did the trench thing at the house I rent. Should’ve done what you’re doing!
I wonder how the vanilla plants are doing back at the old place?
I should go take a look. I hope they made it through the dry season.
Mio Giardino all the kahlua I could make if only I could grow my own vanilla beans... yeah, that'd be nice.
Even with the internet spanning the globe, it is SO hard to find vanilla orchids. I've never grown one but it's been on my 'list' for a few years. It's just not a natural thing for me to experiment with a $150 root cutting. One day, I'll live next to someone that has one on the cheaper end and my true learning can begin.
*Beansie* there's a farm in central florida that sells them. I wouldnt say cheap, but way better than hundreds for a cutting.
As a public service: this is a terrible video to watch if you have, or are recovering from, a deep cough. 😂😂
i usually dig with a shovel
I started mine right on the ground, not in a trench.
The legs of your trellis could be tighter without undoing the knot. Take your middle leg and rotate it bottom over top. This will tighten the rope much tighter without retying the knot. I love you're vids keep it up.
Thank you.
Question: my mom said to never plant into materials that will compost (as the bottoms of your freezers and kitchen sinks) because the seeds, bedding roots will rot. Is that true at all?
I haven't found that to be the case. It might be true with some plants, though.
Your beans will look cool with that trellis, I've tried that before.
I’ve been following you for years! Even you’re not in my growing zone.
I don’t dig my hugel beds. I lay on top and build. Works for me in #SEColorado. #WorkSmarterNotHarder ❤️
'Pinterst Worthy' ? Poh!!! The 'worthy' ones always start with 'fails' or now I guess 'Nailed It's .....
And your ship's rigging may be askew - but the beans are thrilled .... and I know just what is happening today with all those limbs the city left out on the street and my birdhouse gourds will love it just like your beans do!!!!
Never fear - sails work with wind, and beans make wind! You;ll go far!!
If that yam does grow, does that mean that it was one of the elect?
Definitely.
Bryce Byerley I pray over my plants as well. God hears our prayers and if we don’t ask.....
You should totally bonsai some of those stumps.
1st. Peter 3:21. There are MANY different Baptisms! All very meaningful and IMPORTANT and NECESSARY!
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
Coconut husks in a sink should count for a huglekulture bed. no dig stile.
who digs a sink?
Hugelkultur is definitely not one size fits all, takes a lot of time. On another note, my father is a calvinist and a Baptist, whoda thunk it was possible. Hope you and the fam are doing well. Love ya like a brother, be well.
We went to a Reformed Baptist church for a while - I agreed with most everything except for Baptism. I believe in infant Baptism, so we just couldn't quite fit.
David The Good my father also believes in predestination, confounding? I think yes.
Yes. There are twin rails: free will and predestination. I don't think the finite mind is capable of determining where the boundary is.
Can you sell the brush, wood, and sticks to a landscaping company that wants to turn it into wood chips to sell like they do here in the U.S.? Also, do they recycle over there?
No, and no, not really.
Hey, I like that trellis!
Great information
Why not buy the property?
If you're leaving in a year maybe growing in pots is better. Then you can do hugel pots :)
I didn’t think you had to dig to start hugelculture
You have to get the soil for the top from somewhere, even if you just pile the logs on top of the ground.
No. You don't have to dig at all. I piled mine on top of the ground. I added tons of greens and leaves on the wood layer. Very little compost was needed on top of that before mulching.
That lot is starting to look much better. You're doing great.
The main reason for trees under the soil is not for them to be energy for the plants - it is for fungi to exist below the plants. And even then, you need to have the right wood - such as hardwood and the right strain of fungi such as mycorrhizae. But even then, you don't need the wood to do this, you can keep a warm container full of mycorrhizae and just put it on the roots of your plants when you plant them. Charcoal is probably better than rotting wood as it will store and hold nutrients - even a thousand years later - according to geologists and such that study the charcoal layers in the amazon. But I'm not a full-time gardener like I used to be so I'm more of an encyclopedia that parrots what I study - other people will know what works from experience.
TheOriginalMakaaka charcoal works, but you have to charge it.
Lol, have I mentioned how cool I think you guys are?! No silly, fluffy, pinteresty, self righteous-y garbage.
Thanks.
I like your style 👍🍁💚👊💨
If you only going to be there about a year I'd think hugelkultur would be the last thing you'd want to do.
Yeah, it just won't work for this place. One day.
Mine is 3 years old 40 feet long 4-5 feet thick and over 6.2 feet high all done by one person me, I didn't dig any dirt just made layers of everything leaves dead grass clippings sticks you don't need heavy machinery to do this just a good amount of space to add the stuff, I got over 100 trees so it's nice to have a spot where I can add endless materials, I feel like burning is a waste cause I can see bugs on sticks and leafs so I don't wanna kill the life I make life, there'd squirrel holes all over it but It feels good I made them basically a city that's probably so warm on the inside , it's winter now so the first foot of the "wall" is rock soild frozen but psst a foot the material is like warm summer leafs and dry, I don't water during the winter but dry spells keep that life wet so it stays alive
Good work.
Protestant humor...HOOT!
Those little lizards didn't need sticks to get in that bin why would they need one to get out
Since the property is not yours, are you clearing the land for an owner who's letting you live there for Work?
No, I just was allowed to clear it for gardening. They let me use it for free.
A tip of my hat from a fellow Calvinist.
All kidding aside I like the way u make it all work.
"I'm Calvinist, it may not be foreordained to grow." Lol!
Calvinist make great gardeners!
hey, why don't you do a hugelkultur?
"shoulda tried aquaponics" in my sink...
You couldn't resist, could you? So you built a little hugelkultur after all, in a tub! Now if you were to water that potting soil with 50% pearlite in & then add a few shovels full of real soil from your garden, & keep watering it in & adding more soil, you'll end up with enough soil in there for your cucumber to survive! Not trying to be a smart-ass, but - it needs more soil than that to survive dude!
BYW, when I had asked why you're not doing some hugelkultur, I didn't mean you'd have to dig a trench. That's how I've done some, & I had rocky soil & clay too, but used a pick ax, shovel & garden fork & bent one trying to get a large stone out. I got enough stones removed to build 3 low retaining walls. I wanted to plant in an area that had bad, gritty soil & I wanted a trench to redirect water that was moving towards the house - so well worth the effort. Digging a 2' to 3' deep trench which I filled with junk mail & branches, which helped absorb some of that water moving down a slope towards my foundation causing damp spots from groundwater once the lot next door was cleared.
On top of the the papers & branches, I shoveled back on top the amended mixture of the clay with gypsum & composted manure, plus fall leaves. I took a while for such a seemingly small area, but then I composted there for several years. It did turn into a deep, true soil - but - like you said - that takes a few years.
But now I have more trimmed off branches, so I'm doing another one. This is on a slope. I'm using branches laid directly on the ground to form a wide curve - with no trench. The branches will be used to hold the things I'll be tossing in back, behind the curve - to prevent paper & leaves from blowing around, once I water in the composting veggies. Then I may have to pay for a truckload of soil to be dumped on top.
Then I'll spread it out, water it in a few times & see how it settles in. Then I'll have a new place to plant divisions of perennials & some low shrubs, flowering ground covers, spring bulbs & other things from a front spring bulb garden now taken over by poison ivy. The whole thing must be dug up to eliminate the PI.
Like before, I'll be using saved junk mail as a bottom layer & weed block, covered by leaves from last fall, plus weeds from this year's weeds, saplings & trimmings, + veggie scraps I've been cold composting in tubs to help get that all breaking down. It won't be ready to plant in immediately, since I'll need a truck load of soil, but the stuff underneath will begin to break down if I keep it watered well..
I can't burn all my stuff since I have neighbors, & their trees & my trees in back are about 75' to 100' tall - or taller. Some are maples, others are oaks. They have long, overhanging branches, which I don't want to singe or to set on fire.
Each to his own & I get why you're doing what you're doing. My property is only 9,600 sq ft. I could never burn on a windy day like that!.I use branches for trellises too. They do the job & are temporary, since the parts in the soil begin to rot.
Looking forward to watching your garden grow.
I've made an A frame and wound general garden twine around for peas to climb up ☺🌱yours PEAcefully. 😄wipes a tear from ones eye 😒
Pseudo Nym i did 4 t posts at the cornerss of my garden, and wrapped nylon boat rope around, before typing rocks with old yarn and hanging them down from the rope. Works a treat, and when I rotate my beds, i can use the tposts for tying up tomatoes
hell yeah, doing STUFF!!
Totes doin stuff.
For all practical purposes, you are building hugelkulters in every bed, you just use the carbon most appropriate for your situation, and avoid pointless toil by building up, instead of digging down.
Build it on top of the horrible ground? Sheesh.
Did u get into the rum before you built that trellis.....
No, though it might have helped.
Your soil probably holds water better then the sand I got in fla your kitchen sink is Hugelkultureish
Yes, definitely holds water better.
nice video
dude, you don't need a trench, just put on top. Additionally it will improve your rocky clay soil. much better than polluting with all that unnecessary wood burning
😂what is your self talk telling you. Marvellous.
Anyway. Do you have a deal with the land owner to expand the land usability while you stay there?
Basically, we have carte blanche on cultivation. I'm also clearing and throwing away lots of trash, which should make the absentee owner happy when she moves to the country.
David The Good . Well that's a good agreement. Better than bullsht money. I have no qualms working if it is for people/community and not the fking government economy. Which is why i am increasing growing my own veggies to piss them off.
Lookin good. Aloha
Can u Owen land there ?
Yes, though it takes a bit of a process.
Down with Pinterest. That trellis looks like a very functional hot mess lol.
Word!
May your pumpkins always be weird.
burn baby burn - love fire - big fire
YES! I like to give the forests lots of Carbon dioxide.
You do not need to dig in order to have an extremely healthy hugelkulture. It is all above ground no dig gardening.
I would still have to dig up some dirt to cover it.
A boy scout could help you lash that tripod together at 11:30.
If there are any left actually doing that sort of thing instead of scrapbooking.
A commercial woodchipper would have bern good here to build the insta garden bed... burning is never a good idea as a “sustainable agriculture” answer.
Except we don't have woodchippers available in most of this area. I saw one for 2,000USD at a shop 25 minutes from me... definitely not good. I would love the shredded material, but can't justify that.
You don’t necessarily need to “buy”...become friendly with an arborist and borrow or rent, etc. but yes the home chipper/shredders are worthless to be honest. If all the wood is prepped and piled a good towable chipper would go through all of that stuff in say 1-2 hours.