Expanding Zone 1 - New Hugelkultur Bed

     One of the big things I am changing since finding out about permaculture, is to move our vegetable gardens closer to the kitchen.  It just makes sense, and I have already experienced the difference in how much more likely we are to use the garden in our cooking when it is close at hand.  In permaculture design, a property is divided up into zones based on how often an area needs to be accessed.  The living area is zone 0, and the gardens and other features that need to be accessed daily are nearby in zone 1.  There is an excellent explanation of zones on TC Permaculture, check it out if you want to understand the concept better.  Normally chickens are kept in zone 1, but since we are on just 1 acre, I am considering the food forest / chicken paddock area to be our zone 2.

     Last fall, we did our hugelkultur in a swale project just off of the porch (above).  This created a large bed that will be planted with a poly-culture of vegetables, herbs, and flowers along with some support species.  This Spring we were able to expand that to the other side of the sidewalk by creating a long hugelkultur all along the large rocks that separate the yard from the driveway (below).  If you are not familiar with hugelkultur, check out Paul Wheaton's awesome article on richsoil.com. 

     In the pic above you can see that I started out with 3 square foot gardens up close to the house.  Although they worked out ok, we will eventually transition that area into keyhole beds for their more interesting shape and increased edge space.  We are getting the layout started by creating a bed all along the rocks, where we can take advantage of the thermal mass of the rocks regulating the temeratures and the increased solar gain reflecting off the light colored gravel driveway to the South.

4/13/13

We started by cutting a line about 2' off the rocks and removing the sod along the one side.

4/13/13

4/13/13

     This was one of those rare days when we are both home and the weather is not too bad and we are able to work on the yard together.  Happy stuff!

This super high tech and complicated piece of equipment is called an A Frame Level.  Very effective for leveling a trench and it only took me about 10 minutes to build it.

The indicator is a snow stake duct taped to a washer and hanging on a screw.  Works pretty well, though it is tough to read if the wind is bad.

4/16/13

We left an island of undisturbed soil at the corner and trenched around the inside of it, then continued on toward the garage.

4/16/13

There was a height difference of almost 3' from one end of our trench to the other.  Once we got the garage side (above) down to where it would catch water instead of spilling onto the driveway, we started leveling our way back uphill.

4/16/13

Rather than dig out the entire side, we cut a narrower trench level with the other side so that water captured off the slope will hydrate the uphill side of the bed before overflowing onto the driveway.

The idea is that water flowing across the yard will get caught and fill the trench, getting a second chance to hydrate the higher side by the sidewalk and allowing the hugel bed to store as much as possible. 

4/17/13

With heavy rains the next day, we got to see it in action.  The overflow gently seeped onto the driveway through the rocks at several locations. 

4/17/13

4/20/13

We filled the trench completely, as tight as we could pack it, with all different types of wood.  All different varieties in different stages of rot.  Every size, from big logs to tiny twigs, where ever we could jam them in.

4/20/13

4/24/13

When we couldn't fit any more wood in, we covered it all with a couple layers of well rotted wood chips, then put the sod back on upside down.

4/29/13

4/30/13

5/4/13

And here it is finished and ready for planting.  We topped it off with some mushroom compost from River Valley Ranch.  This year it will be alternating tomatoes and peppers every few feet with carrots, lettuce, flowers, and herbs scattered throughout.  Eventually the young Chicago hardy fig I picked up last year will go on the corner, but it is producing so nicely in it's pot on the porch I think I am going to leave it be for now.

So far we only have a few sacrificial plants put in, but with no frost on the forecast it is starting to look more and more like planting time.

Hugelkultur in a Swale with Lasagna on top Rain garden

Click on images to view larger 

The front bed of our house needed a major revamping.  It was completely overgrown with grass, alfalfa, and field bindweed among other things.  We pulled out some over sized burning bushes, which left the terrain uneven.  The soil is heavy with clay and has lots of rocks.  To make matters worse, the base of the ill advised concrete porch that some genius poured up against the foundation of our 160 year old house was uncovered and even undermined at points.

06/19/2012

The design I came up with is an amalgamation of several techniques I have either tried or read about.  The goals are to collect and store water in the bed while diverting it away from the house.  We also want to smother the weeds and build a healthy productive bed, that eventually will be a mixed garden of flowers herbs and vegetables.

If you can read my scrawl, this drawing gives a cross section of the design.

7/12/12

I used a string level to even the grade on top, near the porch, and I cut a curvy but level swale into the ground.  I tamped and filled the slope up to the porch to a nice even grade away from the porch with the clay I dug.   All the decent looking black dirt I pulled out went to the other side of the house into a small terrace where Nikki's serviceberry is now.

7/12/12

7/17/12

7/17/2012

7/25/2012

I got the rough level from the string.  Spraying a little water over everything helped with compacting the slope.  The water pooled in the swale revealing the low spots.  Once it dried again, it was easy to see where I needed to scrape out soil to get a perfectly level bottom.

7/25/12

8/5/2012

8/19/12

Nikki is weeding the hens and chicks while I install the kill layer.

8/19/12

8/19/2012

It's Hugelkultur time!

8/19/12

Our neighbor gave us some old burlap sacks that I cut open and layed out in the swale so the logs wouldn't puncture the wet cardboard and newspaper.  The burlap formed nicely to the swale edge.  The open part at this end overflows onto a flat part of the driveway that I'm hoping will be effective as a level spillway.

8/22/12

8/25/12

9/6/12

No need for a gym membership when you've got a shovel and a wheel barrow! 

9/14/12

After the logs were in place I covered everything with some slightly aged wood chips. Above that the layers are just compost from bins I started this spring. They were only half broken down, but had heated up nicely when I first filled the bins.  The bulk of the material is just wood chips mixed with coffee grounds, so I plan to cut leaf mulch from dynamic accumulators such as comfrey and yarrow after planting this Spring.  This should help add minor nutrients that may be lacking from my compost.

9/20/12

I set large stones with flat tops on top of the swale edge and filled in on either side of them with compost leaving the flats exposed for stepping stones.

9/25/12

I finally tuck pointed the porch foundation, so I can finish the West side of the bed.

10/11/12

Here it is after a little grading, a layer of cardboard, some logs, and layers of mulch and compost.



10/11/12

A little crumbles and some Gardeners Delight cherry tomatoes was all it took to convince the chickens to till the mulch and fertilize for me!

One of my goals for next Spring is to install some Rain barrels over by the remaining burning bush that can be used to irrigate this area, as well as the 2'x6' box next to it.

In the early Spring we will get a pickup load of mushroom compost from River Valley Ranch and top off the bed.  Then its ready for planting.

This is my first attempt at several different design ideas, so wish me luck! 

I'm calling it my Hugelkultur in a Swale with Lasagna on top Rain Garden.  The neighbors probably think I'm crazy, and it's entirely possible that they are right.

Square Foot Garden #3

Bed #3

The Third square foot bed I made from 4' lengths of 2x8 lumber.  It is finished with a homade finish I found a recepie for online.  It is one part beeswax, and 5 parts mineral oil.  The mixture is gently heated and stirred until mixed, then cooled and applied as a paste.

I cut out the sod, similar to the first one, but this time I used cardboard instead of landscape fabric as a kill layer so that when it breaks down the bed will be connected to the ground and allow worms and such access.

Unfortunately I don't seem to have any pics from 2011, but the box was installed by mid Summer and it performed well.  We had Sweet Peppers (Margaret's), Cherry Tomatoes (Sugar Lump), Basil, and added Garlic (unk softneck)  in the Fall.  Everything did reasonably well.

2012 

03/29/2012

Here is the bed after spring cleanup.  The emerging garlic is visible on the left side.

05/07/2012

Planted with Celery (Giant Pascal), Broccoli (Deciccero), and a couple of cabbages all from starters

I was hoping that the broccoli would blanch the celery.

05/19/2012

06/05/2012

Added Pepper and Rosemary and sage where plants failed. 



06/19/2012

07/15/2012

The broccoli bolted in the heat and I cut off the flowers and mulched, hoping that it will start growing again in the cooler fall weather.  The Pepper (Margaret's) is doing really poorly.  Rosemary has not grown at all.









Square Foot Garden #2

Bed #2

The second square foot bed I built I made out of 2x12 pine instead of 2x6.  This time I sanded the wood and treated it with boiled linseed oil for a longer lasting box.  Unfortunately I had the pieces finished before I read the warning on the back of the linseed oil.  Boiled linseed oil contains toxic metal drying agents and is not recommended for use on children's toys or food prep items.  Hardly what I want to grow food on, but since I had it all ready to go, I installed it anyhow and Nikki uses it for cut flowers.

07/15/2012

Gladiolus in bloom.

Square Foot Garden #1

     After reading Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew, I really wanted to try the technique, and ended up building three 4' x 4' raised boxes near our house with the goal of raising salad greens and other vegetables.  Now that I have been using them for almost 2 full seasons, I am not entirely thrilled with the technique.  Mostly because I am learning about even better ones through permaculture.  Still I am glad to have tried it, and I credit Mel with getting me to think 2 dimentionally instead of just in rows.  I still reccomend the books as a great starting point to learn vegetable gardening, and get a handle on spacing in a grid.

     The three boxes I have, I plan to continue to use and document untill they are replaced with lasagna beds, which greatly outperformed the square foot beds in the extremely hot dry weather this year, and are much less expensive to install.

Bed #1

I wanted to try the technique as simply as possible with this one.  The box is untreated pine 2x6 connected with deck screws.  I cut out the sod, layed down landscape fabric underneath, and filled with Mel's mix, the reccomended mixture of  1/3 compost, 1/3 vermiculite, and 1/3 peat.

2011

Planted with various lettuce, Kale, arugula, cabbage, and Peas (Oregon Sugar Pod)
We did really well, harvesting numerous salads and grazing on the peas.
Made a simple trellise by bending a 10' piece of 1/2 conduit into a u and attaching coated wire fencing.

2012

03/29/2012





Unusually warm weather allowed me to get the raised bed successfully planted by late March.

Planted a variety of lettuce, and kale again.  With Peas (Golden Sweet) and a few Celery (Giant Pascal) transplants.

Sorry about the bad date stamp, I was not yet familiar with the camera.

05/07/2012

Kale (Blue Curled Scotch)

Celery (Giant Pascal)

Lettuce (May Queen)

Lettuce (Ruby Red)

Spinach (Nobel)

Everything was looking good.  The squirrels would dig in the beds, but they only killed acouple of plants, and I was able to reseed them.





05/19/2012

05/21/2012

Peas (Golden Sweet) flowering

06/05/2012

Peas are growing great!  Everything else was stunted due to high heat and bolted to seed or died without producing anything edible.



06/19/2012

07/15/2012

The only thing we got out of this bed so far was a boatload of peas.  Here is the bed after i ripped out everything, mulched with woodchips, and planted Bush Beans (Brittle Wax)

08/05/2012



The beans that germinated are doing really well, filled in the gaps with more seed.

08/19/2012

08/29/2012

08/29/2012

The beans that germinated first are producing reasonably well.

08/29/2012

One of the Beans found the trellis and reverted to climbing.