Hugelkultur: Permaculture in Practice

German is a fascinating language, isn't it? That a massive word with a complex meaning can be created by merging individual words together!  My favorite is Verknüpfungspunkt, or Junction Point, a sense of buttoning or linking things together.  

This brings us around to Hügelkultur.  Basically, this is a permaculture practice of gardening on mounds, or hills: Hügel means hill or mound, and kultur is culture, meaning management practices.

In a visit to Loganberry Farm, Organic Rose mentioned Hugelkultur as being ideal for berries.  So the wheels started turning.  We weren't in a position to go all out, meaning waiting seasons in order for nature to have worked to build a nice mound over a pile of decaying wood.  We knew we needed to modify the practice a bit to fit our time, space, planting needs, and equipment.  What follows is a photolog of our breaking in a new field.  

For the most part, the mounds were built within a month of planting.  Fortunately, we have a couple of rows/mounds to cure before planting them next year.  This should help with the manure being more fully composted and all the layers settling in together, much like lasagna improving with slow cooking.  

The photos below will give you a sense of how we adapted Hugelkultur to fit the needs at Bramberi Farm for a new planting of Blackberry and Northern Highbush Blueberry.

Rows are tilled (5 foot swath to 8 inch depth).

Using a Middle Buster, a trench of 6 inches deep by 12 inches wide, is created.

The trench runs along the entire length of the row.

Using old, rotting logs and branches from Bramberi Woods. the trenches are lined.

On top of the rotting wood, a 4 inch layer of composting sheep manure is added, along entire length of the row.

The soil displaced from the trenching process is then replaced on top of the wood and manure, creating a mound.

Blueberries were planted in these mound-rows, and then topped with ramial chip mulch and drip irrigation.