How to Make Hugelkultur Beds for Growing Vegetables

, written by Barbara Pleasant us flag

Garden bed edged with logs

I confess to being a long-term skeptic of the permaculture bed-building technique called hügelkultur, in which waste wood is used as the base layer in compost-filled mounds. Hugelkultur (pronounced HOO-gel-kul-tur) always seemed like a lot of work to me, with extensive digging and piling of soil and dragging about of heavy logs.

But change is good, and due to a convergence of events, I find myself on the verge of hugeling. This past spring after renovating several terraced beds, the poor things looked sadly sunken, and we’d like to avoid the volume issue next year, when we redo two more beds. The beds are being dug out anyway and I have plenty of woody materials on hand, so I plan to gain the 12 inches (30cm) of loft I need at the bottom of the beds using hügelkultur methods.

“Hugel
My new hugel beds are inspired by these created by Jon Roberts

How Hugelkultur Beds Work

There are endless ways to build beds atop wood waste, which rots slowly and serves as a source of stable organic matter buried deep in the soil profile. Fungi are primary decomposers of wood, so soil near the rotting wood becomes permeated with hair-thin fungal mycelium. Some hugel beds are built atop logs, while others use small brush as woody filler. The best wood is old and ready to rot, for example old logs from an abandoned wood pile, or in my case, a brush pile of weathered fruit tree branches.

In addition to pieces of wood, the most successful hugel beds include layers of organic matter such as rotted hay, grassy sod turned green side down, pulled plants, or food waste. Dryness is a commonly-reported issue with new hugel beds, so it’s also important to sift some soil into the crevices between wood pieces to eliminate dry pockets. To help new hugel beds retain moisture, they can be shaped to have flat or concave tops rather than peaked ones.

“Hugel
The author’s plan for her new hugel beds

Do Hugelkultur Beds Attract Termites?

Well, they can. Termites have no interest in small pieces of wood, like wood chips or buried brush, but they are natural scavengers of buried pieces of wood large enough to support a colony. This is why hugel beds always should be located at least 30 feet (10m) from your house.

Subterranean termites are common in the heavily wooded area where I live, and they are hugely important decomposers of dead wood. I often have seen small colonies in wood used to frame garden beds, and we watch our woodshed for earthen tunnels the termites build to connect themselves to moist ground. But termites much prefer living in standing dead trees, which is a far different ecosystem from buried logs and compost. The small pieces of aged wood I plan to use in my hugel beds are not what termites want.

“Termite
Termites stay connected to moist soil with earthen tubes, the best evidence of their presence.

Are Hugelkultur Beds Worthwhile?

Digging a big hole and hauling heavy wood and dirt is a lot of work, so unless you have access to heavy equipment, think carefully before breaking ground for a hugel bed. Read critical reviews and look at lots of pictures and videos. One of the best reasons to undertake the project is that you have compacted or rocky subsoil. Compared to impenetrable subsoil, a big hugel mound is promising garden space indeed.

Building hugel beds is also quite practical where you want to use broad berms to add structure and dimension to your landscape, or you plan to install berms and swales to channel water. Or, like me, you might simply need to add significant depth to a new or renovated garden bed.

“Rotting
Rotting logs in the woods provide a natural model for hugelkultur beds

Mimicking Nature’s Plan

I live amidst woods that are rich with fallen trees, some of which have been on the ground for decades. On walks I regularly encounter rotting logs and stumps that have become hills due to accumulated organic matter, examples that prove Nature knows how to put dead wood to good use. We’ve used logs planted on end to frame beds in the past, and they lasted ten years and left the soil better for their presence. As to whether my new hugel beds succeed or fail, I’ll keep you posted. For now, it’s great to look forward to trying something new.

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Comments

 
"Thank you, this is most practical basic guide I've seen yet! In the process of creating firewood I've established a pile of rotting logs, branches, and bark that I draw from to use as a bottom layer for small projects but this post has given me several new ideas."
Nancy Hildebrandt on Saturday 19 December 2020
"The primary reason for doing hugelkulture is to attract and preserve moisture. Fields of logs buried in desert areas have supported gardens where nothing had grown before. And you should know that as wood rots beneath the surface the surface will sink. I am putting a layer of old slash and twigs, with dirt fill, in the bottom of my raised beds, followed by old chicken straw and compost, topped off with last year's dirt. Aside from adding compost annually I will not disturb or till the beds. My objective is to conserve moisture and improve my garden soil."
Roberta McCanse on Sunday 20 December 2020
"Nancy and Roberta, Thanks for chiming in, and please keep sharing your experiences on this interesting topic!"
Barbara Pleasant on Friday 1 January 2021
"I used this method in our raised beds too, and found it effective. It does drop quite a bit each year, but it just means there’s room for mulching each spring. I did make the mistake of planting rhubarb in one of the beds, and the crowns don’t like being covered. I manage, but I would never again choose to plant rhubarb in a hugel bed. By the way, all our raised beds are high enough for me to garden without kneeling down, as I have mobility issues. I can either sit or bend a bit. This was how we got onto hugel in the first place, as it would take an awful lot of soil and compost to fill such deep beds! "
Caroline on Saturday 27 February 2021
"My beds are also raised, about waist high. We have ground squirrels that eat everything they can reach so we put metal flashing around the upper edge s of our four by four beds on pallets. We also garden in bathtubs that sit up on cement blocks. I am anxious to see how things look this spring as the wood has had one season to rot in the bottom of the beds. I have compost and chicken straw to add before topping off with planting soil."
Bobbi McCanse on Sunday 28 February 2021
"I tried this gardening method for the first time in my vegetable patch. It was a lot of preparation work but once my vegetables were planted the maintenance seemed simplier. Weeds were easy to remove and control, all the vegetables I planted flourished. I will be enlarging my garden and looking forward to next year."
Zoe A LaRocca on Wednesday 15 September 2021
"Bobbi, I feel your pain with the squirrels. I planted spinach in my back yard garden. The back yard has a 6 foot wooden fence but also had a Chinese Holly just inside the fence line. I called that tree the Squirrel Interstate. Late this past winter, I had the tree cut down and the wood removed. Amazing that my spinach suddenly was staying around and we actually got some this year!! The squirrels are a pain. I planted beets last year in ground and got up one morning to find little "holes" in the ground. Those devils ate my beet seeds and then ran across the fence top as though they were taunting me! I put some tulle out on top of the fence and bulldog clipped it to the roof of my garage. Got one caught up in his front claws and his teeth. That rascal worked hard for about 10 minutes trying to escape but he was seemingly trapped on top of the fence. He eventually got up on the garage roof and ripped out a nail to free his foot and then worked to back out until he freed his caught tooth. That was about a month ago and I haven't seen one since. I still have some in my side yard garden but my neighbor has large barking dogs. The squirrels are brave until one of the dogs gets off his/her chain and then they hide out in the tops of the oak trees! I would love to have Granny Clampett around to give her all the squirrel she could use for squirrel stew!!"
Anne on Wednesday 26 April 2023
"I've just started a Hugelkultur bed on an allotment plot. The plot had been neglected for 4 years and there were self-seeded trees and a lot of weeds. I dug a trench and placed a lot of lopped small branches from elms, a sycamore and dogrose trees into it, and added other woody twigs, half rotted rhubarb leaves and gooseberry bush offcuts. There is some grass sod that I can turn over and add but not enough to cover the whole area. Should I also add the mountain of weeds I've pulled? I don't have any compost, is it necessary or can I just add the topsoil and start planting?"
Cherry on Sunday 9 July 2023

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