This little patch of land is going to be the hugel kulture bed
My son started looking at perma culture ideas. “Hey Dad, I was thinking about building a Hugelkulture bed. You put in logs that are loaded with mycelium and plant in them. You don’t ever need to water.” “That’s interesting,” I said, “but you don’t have any room for something like that.” “No, but YOU do.” That’s true and I’m always game for trying out a new idea. My son has helped me so much. He installed my solar projects, roofed my house and shop, and repaired a bunch of rotten siding on the house. Why NOT try this out? I’ve got lots of rotting logs too.
Pick and shovel work. I don’t think I’ll go down any deeper because I’ll hit water at this time of year.
This will be a little experiment. I’d like to plant bee-loving flowers like Nasturtiums, Wall flowers, and other flowers which the deer won’t eat so I don’t have to fence it in.
The next weekend I was working on a burn pile of accumulated storm debris. This had been piled up for a few months. We wanted to get the place cleaned up for visitors, this weekend it wasn’t raining, so it must be done NOW! Everything was so wet it, it was going to be an all day affair. As the fire got built up, I started pulling out branches to burn and starting seeing wonderful mushrooms and examples of mold. I didn’t want to destroy this beautiful living organism, so I started collecting it for my hugelkulture bed.
White tinged dusty pink mushrooms on log. It would be a shame to burn it…toss it into the bed.
Yellowish mold on branch…into the bed.
White mold on stick
Whitish pink mold on branch, save it for the bed.
This log is saturated, look at the moss growing one it. Good candidate for the bed.
I figured the mushrooms and mold grew because it was in contact with the wet branches and bamboo leaves, so I better add them to the mix.
Double split-pea soup made from scratch by my sweetie, so we could eat while I tended the fire.
Not as neat and tidy as the Hugelkulture web site, but hey, let’s face it, nature is messy.
Rotting firewood, mold all over it…into the bed
Are these drops of sap? Are they feeding the mycellium? I don’t know, but it’ll be good for the bed.
What it looks like so far
Added more rotting logs this end
Centipede roaming around in the power wagon…into the bed!
I think it’s ready…”Honey, you can shovel all the dirt in now…”
The folks at Shroomery were kind enough to tell me what the ‘mushrooms’ are…”metabolites, fungal pipi, or mycelial piss.”
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 
It will be interesting to see what happens
You’re right…it’s a gamble, but I saved a bunch of weird looking fungi from the burn pile…who knows, if this were to work, I might want to try it out on some of my very established raised beds. I hope I don’t have to wait too long to see the results.
Fascinating post, I’ve never seen this tried before, soo look forward to seeing it progress, hope you can keep the deer off 🙂 We don’t have a wood resource here sadly. Not sure if the blobs are sap or fruiting bodies of another fungus? Very impressive fungi diversity.
I’d really like to know about the blobs…that piece of wood had been touching the soil for over five years, so it probably wouldn’t be sap from the tree. Who could I ask? Maybe Paul Stamets.
That would be a good idea, looks fungal to me, be interested to know if you find out.
The “sap” might be slug eggs.
I was thinking of trying one of these this summer…but I didn’t know I had to look for mushrooms, etc. on the branches. Will have to do some more research, but keep us all posted. Very interesting!
I thought the mycelium was the big part of it, but I could be wrong. I just didn’t have the heart to throw all those beautiful spore organisms in the fire if I could somehow save them. The hugel pit was close by so they will live on. 🙂
How very clever. I’m not sure that it would work where i live, as the climate is very dry and hot. Over winter might be a good time to start it when the ground is really wet. Its a fascinating technique none-the-less.
It’s fun to try out something different. I’m lucky enough to have some extra space…don’t know if it’ll work here either, but it’s worth a try and I really hate to have a burn pile. I’m always conflicted whether I ought to use fossil fuel to truck it all to the county dump or pollute the air with smoke while I burn. That old song is going around in my brain…”Should I stay or should I go?” 🙂
Do neither! Make an experimental garden bed, and keep the fossil fuels, smoke, and the nutrients in the soil where they belong! Let me know how you go with it
I would definitely burn. The ash can then be evenly distributed where it is needed. Ash is full of vital nutrients needed for fresh growth, such as potassium and phosphorus. Don’t chuck out your homegrown nutrients!
But heck, why not try it! Burying it will certainly make sure that carbon is fixed in the ground and not in the atmosphere.
I don’t understand the people that are talking about burning vs…hugelkulter? why on earth would anyone burn? If you haven’t experienced it,at least read about it- the wood fiber HOLDS WATER as it breaks down, and everything else is a bonus. Even if you don’t dig a hole, but simply pile up wood in various stages of decay. PAUL!!
Terre, thanks for your comment. I couldn’t tell where you are from, but here on the Oregon Coast we get buckets of rain. Come spring it’s almost like a green tsunami that will swallow us up if we don’t trim back a little. That and the fact that we cut a portion of our own firewood. That leaves piles of too thin to saw branches. If I had unlimited property I could probably make more hugelkulture beds, but I then I would need piles of dirt to cover them. I don’t have extra dirt.
I do feel bad about burning the piles of twigs and branches, thinking that in a third world country, people have to travel long distances to get ‘stove wood.’ This wood is green and would have to be seasoned for about a year. Where can I pile it? If I rent a shredder or take it to the county waste disposal, I’m burning fossil fuel.
thank you for your respectful response.I would bury it. I live in Florida where we get periodic rains followed by dry spells and everyone wants their lawn to be a golf course regardless! I wonder if you have looked at Permies.com where they talk about rocket mass heaters and hugelculture alot. I never cover my twigs- I just bury them and use the same dirt and forget it. It settles very quickly and then that is much improved soil-esp the sandy soil of Florida. It slows the water down alot, preventing runoff AND adding amendments.
I sometimes trench compost kitchen garbage, leaves, and coffee grounds (even crab shell when available) in the garden beds. https://solarbeez.com/2012/07/17/enhancing-the-soil/
It’s amazing how fast it breaks down. Right now I’m working up a new artichoke area. I’ve had to use a pick to get down the first couple of inches, than spade out all the blackberry and salal roots. Every time I come back to an area of already buried garbage, it’s completely gone, even after only two or three weeks.
Your idea of burying twigs and branches might be a good one…I’ll try it out.
Nice post! Love your humor and perspective. My husband is a big Bug/Flower/Frog photo taker – I have to sort through them when we’re looking for a construction view we need… But it keeps things fun and shows me how he spends his time when he’s working alone. Posts, trusses, Frog, shoveling, Turtle! Looking forward to reading more of your stuff. We’re pretty sure we’ll add bees this year for our homestead and I’m hopeful you’ll have good reference material for us.