As someone who has had a life long love of both writing and gardening, I was so honored to be invited to submit a fall gardening article for the inaugural issue of Lake Time Magazine, a publication that celebrates the countless reasons why Minnesota is such an incredible state to live in. I could not have been happier to oblige. And for those of you who have followed my blog for any amount of time, you probably know quite well that I’m a real cheerleader for sustainable methods of gardening, and specifically hugelkultur. If you give me an opening to discuss it, I will. And passionately so. It’s transformed the way I look at gardening and has given me the ability to not only provide my family with purely organic sustenance, but bountifully and in a way that is in harmony with nature.

So being given the chance to share that passion with such a broad audience is super exciting. I’ve also been wanting to write a more condensed form of my previous hugelkultur post from last year. And so I thought I would share the article with you all here. I hope you enjoy it and find that it gives you a more simplified reference for your own venture into this method of gardening.

(for the full digital version of the magazine, you can find it here.)

Any good gardener knows that the work doesn’t end with the summer’s heat or the conclusion of the harvest.

Nor must spring’s arrival be waited on for those planning next year’s garden. Fall is the absolute perfect time to prepare for the season to come, and to consider a sustainable method of gardening tailor-made for the cooler climate in which we live.

I’m talking hugelkultur. And for those of you saying “hoogle-huh?”, it rhymes with “google culture”…which is rather appropriate for our day and age.

Now that we’ve got that covered, let’s talk a little bit about what hugelkultur is. Essentially, it is nothing more than creating raised beds by piling up rotted logs, brush, branches, leaves, and other woody debris. On top of that you add a layer of manure, followed by some soil and a nice thick blanket of mulch. What this gives you is a garden bed loaded with organic material that does the following:

• retains water like a sponge in its woody foundation, meaning less watering
• soil temperature heats up more quickly than a traditional garden due to the constant composting that occurs inside, giving you a longer growing season
• as the wood breaks down overtime, it is self-tilling as air pockets are opened up
• the wood will store valuable nutrients which it then feeds to the roots of your plants
• allows you to utilize downed trees, excess brush, leaves, etc. that are typically found in abundance- and often considered a nuisance
• provides habitat for garden friends like snakes and toads
• gives hope to the gardener currently fighting their rocky, sandy, or clay soil situation

It also allows you a method of gardening that eliminates the following:

• the need to roto-till your garden every spring, which destroys the soil structure and beneficial microorganisms along with it
• the need for walkways between rows- build your hugel bed so that you can reach across to all areas for harvesting
• since there are no walk paths, there will be no soil compaction between your plants in the bed, which can inhibit root growth and functionability
• weeding, when properly mulched

Has your interest been piqued? Good. Then let’s continue.

As mentioned, Fall- right now- is the best time to prepare for the spring planting season by building yourself some new hugel beds.

So let’s get started:

1. Choose an open, sunny location where your beds can run north to south.
2. Decide on the type of woody debris you would like to use: logs? branches? wood chips? Keep in mind that the largest stuff should go on the bottom.
3. Size: your typical hugelkultur raised bed is 3 feet wide x 6 feet long and up to 6 feet tall. I prefer my beds 7 feet wide and 14 feet long, but you can choose what works best for you. The taller you stack those beds, the more water retention you will have throughout the growing season and the longer life of your bed. If 6 feet tall sounds intimidating to you, be assured that within a month of building, it will shrink at least a foot or so as it settles.
4. As you are preparing the base of your bed, try to fill up any holes with smaller wood pieces, leaves, etc.
5. Next comes a 4-6″ layer of manure. Don’t be afraid to really pile it on if you have an excess available to you.
6. Follow up the manure layer with a healthy 3-5″ layer of good garden soil.
7. Finally, some mulch. I like to use straw mulch during the growing season, but since we’re constructing some Fall beds, use leaves. Chop them up beforehand if possible. Leaves break down quickly and efficiently, adding organic matter to your soil layer and giving your spring garden an extra boost.

That is it. And by it, I mean some good old fashioned work put in now for a garden from which you will reap the benefits of bounty for many years to come.

Hugelkultur.

If you can pronounce it, you can do it.

Here are some start-to-finish photos of my 2015 hugelkultur garden:

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