What is Hugelkultur Gardening (And What Are the Benefits?)
Learn about the many benefits of hugelkultur gardening and start your own highly productive and 100% sustainable hugelkultur raised bed!
This is a guest post by Sunflower Craig of Permies.com
Hugelkultur (pronounced: hoogle-culture) is German for “mound” or “hill culture,” and almost everyone we know really likes saying it out loud: “hügelkultur,” “HOOGLE culture,” hoog-AL kulture”…like some sort of meditation or chant. But beyond being fun to say, it’s also a sustainable approach to gardening that is especially popular among permaculture enthusiasts, but is not widely known or understood by most other gardeners. So what is hügelkultur exactly, and how can it benefit your garden or homestead?
Simply put, hugelkultur is the practice of building a garden bed out of decaying wood and then planting in it. This allows for the creation of elevated planter beds that are rich in organic matter, nutrients, and aeration for the plants’ roots, but the benefits extend far beyond this.
Related: The Principles of Permaculture (And How to Make Them Work For You!)
The benefits of hugelkultur
Your raised hugelkultur garden beds’ rich, deep soil will become home to a veritable feast of soil life as the years pass by and the wood decays. With the wood shrinking and creating additional microscopic air pockets, your hugelkultur bed essentially becomes a self tilling garden. The composting process will also gradually warm your soil over the first several years, extending your growing season. Plus, the woody material acts as a barrier, stopping extra nutrients from leaching into the groundwater. They are instead recycled to your garden plants.
Hugelkultur is gaining popularity as a more sustainable and environmentally friendly way to garden. Requiring fewer resources and less labor, it can help save water and the need for fertilizer, making your garden more diverse and productive. In our opinion at permies.com, hugelkultur is a prime example of permaculture in action.
In addition to the benefits mentioned above, the woody debris helps to retain moisture in the soil, reducing the need for frequent watering. This is especially useful in dryer climates. The soil structure also improves aeration and drainage, allowing the roots of plants to better access nutrients and oxygen. In addition, hugelkultur can be used to improve soil fertility. As the wood breaks down, it releases nutrients into the soil, creating a more fertile environment for plants to grow. This helps reduce the need for synthetic fertilizers and encourages the growth of beneficial microbes.
Related: How to Replace Irrigation With Permaculture
Hugelkultur also provides habitat for beneficial insects and animals. These helpful friends like bees, butterflies, and other pollinators use the woody debris as a place to seek refuge and eat. This can help improve the health of the garden and provide additional pest control.
Hugelkultur is also a more sustainable way to garden. Hugelkultur beds use woody debris, which can be found locally, perhaps even on your own property, and is a renewable resource. This gets rid of the need for artificial fertilizers and can cut down on the amount of water and energy used. Therefore, hugelkultur is a more sustainable and resource-efficient way to garden that also requires less labor and maintenance. If you’re looking for a way to create a self-sustaining and productive garden, then hugelkultur may be the perfect solution!
Photo submitted by permies.com
A hugel bed can also add beauty to your yard. For a flat landscape devoid of slope, a hugel bed can add contrast and aesthetic interest. Not to mention, through their naturally hilly form, hugel beds can more surface area per square foot, which increases your growing space and even provides sound insulation and a wind barrier. In this way, hugelkultur can be beneficial for exposed land, areas close to busy roads or sources of noise pollution, as well as smaller plots or areas in need of privacy, or those seeking to block a view.
Using hugelkultur to sculpt fertile mounds on your land increases your growing capacity, and also creates habitats and microclimates that can dramatically affect what you can grow. On your hugel mounds or hillside, you can grow plants that thrive in quite different environments, similar to an herb spiral. Moisture loving plants might prefer lower positions on the sheltered side of the hugel bed, whereas sun-loving plants will enjoy a more exposed, higher location. Those plants needing more drainage will also like a top slot. In the first couple of years as the materials start to decompose within the bed, it will be slightly warmed through the process of thermal composting, giving colder climates a longer growing season. In hotter climates, a tall hugelkultur bed can hold a lot of water and can even thrive with no irrigation, which is a sustainable solution for arid areas and may be a consideration for many of us as our climate continues to change.
Strategically placed, hugelkultur beds can be a great permaculture solution for soils that need improving. Similar to any raised bed, hugelkultur allows you to build up the soil on top of poorer soil with good quality, local ingredients. Ideally, you’ll want to source wood from your own property or from a trusted supplier in order to avoid any persistent herbicides or other nasties that could actually do more harm than good. This will improve the soil over time and bring a host of insects and beneficial microbes into the mix, which can help with the overall health of your garden ecosystem and the essential soil food web. This also means that if you’re struggling with clay soil or sandy soil and don’t know what to do, installing a hugelkultur bed could be a great way to start building organic matter and creating the garden soil you’ve always wanted.
What type of wood to use for a hugelkultur garden bed
Since wood is essential to the construction of hugelkultur garden beds, it’s important to consider what type of wood to use as different types of wood are better or worse for using as the foundation of your garden beds.
For example, cedar isn’t something I’d use. Cedar breaks down slowly, owing its durability to its natural insecticidal, herbicidal, anti-fungal, and anti-microbial properties. While this makes cedar a fantastic wood for building structures with, it’s not so great for hugelkultur.
Alders, apples, cottonwood, poplar, dry willow, and birch are a few of the known great woods for hugelkultur gardening. Maples could work too. Very decayed wood is preferable to moderately aged wood.
Another consideration is that wood is heavy in carbon and will use up nitrogen in the composting process. What might happen is that the nitrogen gets locked up and is no longer available to your plants. This is less of a problem with wood that has been properly decayed. If the wood is sufficiently mature, it may have taken in so much nitrogen that it is now exuding it. Some tannins will be present in pine and fir, but once the wood has been dead for a while, the tannin content diminishes significantly.
How big to make hugelkultur raised beds
If you want your hugelkultur raised bed gardens to survive a summer with no rain, you’ll need to make them at least six feet high, but they will become smaller as the wood decays and the soil compacts. The majority of the activity occurs within the first month. That’s why it is often recommended to make your hugelkultur beds a full seven feet high!
Two-foot-high hugelkultur garden beds can retain moisture for up to three weeks. Although it’s not nearly as wonderful as a taller bed, it’s more within the comfort zone of many of our neighbors in the city.
Photo submitted by permies.com
Some people will start out with hugelkultur garden beds that are two and a half feet tall and plant only annuals, and they will slowly increase the size of the bed by a foot each year. After a few years, they’ll have the larger beds and the neighbors won’t notice. And if those neighbors have had the chance to taste what comes from these mounds, they might just be converts! (Sometimes it takes a bit of patience and creativity to avoid those annoying HOA letters;)
Raised hugelkultur beds can be made any size and opinions vary, but a good hugel bed is at least five feet in width. This results in some very slanted bedding. To keep the soil in place, pack it down and plant a variety of plants with deep roots – think comfrey, dandelion, horseradish and artichoke, to name but a few. But be sure to do so before it rains!! If you’re going to construct beds that are less than three feet high, we would recommend keeping the width to no more than four feet. However, you can get away with making your beds broader if you’re building raised garden beds in a keyhole pattern.
How to use hugelkultur to become more sustainable
Sustainably speaking, using wood to build your hugelkultur bed is a fantastic way to return the materials back to the land. Instead of burning dead wood or taking it to the dump, it can be utilized in ways that directly benefit your land, improve your growing conditions and provide a myriad of other benefits. If you need to cut down some vegetation or have had trees fall over or break, building a hugel bed can be a good way to put this ‘waste’ to good use, closing the loop by utilizing the resources in your own backyard.
If you think about how debris piles up, decays and feeds new life in the forest, you can see how hugelkultur –like all permaculture methods and approaches– mimics nature. At the end of the day, this is the best way to garden sustainably, and the best way to build your soil, improve your garden and homestead smarter (not harder) over the longterm. What’s not to love about all that?
If you’re intrigued and ready to start your first hugelkultur garden, check out this micro-documentary on hugelkultur gardening from Paul Wheaton of Wheaton Labs and permies.com, or alternatively, learn everything you need to know in this hugelkultur-focused webinar.
Sunflower Craig is a mother, author, and herbalist. She did her studies at Central Washington University in the Pacific Northwest of the United States and continues her education with hands-on experience in the foothills of the Cascades. She now works with Paul Wheaton, founder of Permies.com and Wheaton Labs to spread the permaculture bug and advocate for sustainable energy alternatives, regenerative agriculture, and sustainable solutions for global issues. When she is not writing, working, or creating, she spends her time with her son and husband exploring the lesser-known nooks and crannies of the local national forests.
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It’s easy to romanticize homesteading, but the truth is that those homegrown vegetables, those freshly laid eggs, that loaf of bread rising on the counter, and that pantry full of home-canned food takes time, effort and dedication. It doesn’t “just happen” overnight!
But if you work on learning one new skill at a time and gain confidence in it before moving onto the next, one day you’ll be looking back and marvelling at how far you’ve come.
That’s where I’m at now. Life today looks a lot different than it did 10 years ago, when our homesteading and self-reliance journey was just beginning.
Back then we still lived in our city condo and were just beginning to dabble in all of this stuff. But my husband Ryan and I felt a sense urgency to start pursuing a more self-reliant lifestyle, and we committed to taking small steps, one day at a time to make that vision a reality.
Over the years we’ve continued to put one foot in front of the other, adding new skills and tackling new projects along the way that have helped us get to where we are today.
While there’s always more we want to learn and do, as I look around me right now, I’m so grateful that we took those first steps, especially considering what’s happened in the world over the past few years!
If you’re also feeling the urgency to take the first (or next) steps toward a more self-reliant life, this is your final reminder that today is the last day to join The Society of Self-Reliance and start levelling up your homesteading and self-sufficiency skills so that you’ve got what it takes to:
• Grow your own groceries
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And more!
If you’ve been feeling called to level up your self-reliance skills (because let’s be honest, we’re in for a wild ride these next few years with everything going on in the world), now is the time to heed that call.
Link in profile to enroll before midnight tonight, or go to thehouseandhomestead.com/society
#homesteading #selfreliance #selfsufficiency #homesteadingskills #preparedness
There are so many reasons to grow your own food at home:
💰 Saves you money at the grocery store
🍴 Healthier than conventionally grown food
🔑 increases your overall food security
🫙 Gives you an abundance to preserve and share
But perhaps the number one reason is because it just tastes better!
Not only does food taste better when it’s freshly picked or allowed to ripen on the vine, there’s something about putting in the work to grow something from a tiny seed and then getting to see it on your dinner plate that just makes it so much more satisfying than anything you’ll ever buy from the store.
Plus, having to wait all year for fresh tomatoes or strawberries or zucchinis to be in season makes that short period when they’re available just that much more exciting!
With the world spinning out of control and food prices continuing to rise, it’s no wonder more people are taking an interest in learning to grow their own food at home. But that also means changing our relationship with food and learning to appreciate the work that goes into producing it and the natural seasonality of organically grown fruits and vegetables.
(It also means learning to preserve it so you can make the most of it and enjoy homegrown food all year long).
In my online membership program, The Society of Self-Reliance, you’ll learn how to grow your own food, from seed to harvest, as well as how to preserve it so you can enjoy the fruits (and vegetables) of your labor all year long!
You’ll also learn how to grow and craft your own herbal medicine, detox your home, become your own handyman, and so much more (because self-reliance is about more than just the food that we eat… But that’s a pretty good place to start!)
The doors to the Society are now open for a limited time only. Click the link in my profile or go to thehouseandhomestead.com/society to learn more.
#foodsecurity #homegrownfood #homesteading #selfreliance #selfsufficiency #homegrownfoodjusttastesbetter
If you’ve been watching events unfold over the past few years and you’re feeling called to start “cutting ties” with the system and begin reclaiming your independence, The Society of Self-Reliance was made for you!
When I first launched this online membership program last year, my goal was to create a one-stop resource where members could go to learn and practice every aspect of self-reliance, as well as a space to connect with other like-minded people pursuing the same goal. And that’s exactly what you’ll get when you join!
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn inside the Society:
🌱 Food Security and Self-Sufficiency: Learn the art of growing and preserving your own food, ensuring you and your loved ones have access to nutritious meals year-round.
🌿 Natural Living and Herbal Medicine Mastery: Discover the secrets to creating a low-tox home and and to growing, making and using herbal remedies to support your family’s health, naturally.
🔨 Essential Life Skills: Learn essential life skills like time management, effective goal setting and practical DIY skills to become more self-sufficient.
As a member, you’ll enjoy:
📚 Monthly Video Lessons: Gain access to our ever-growing library of video lessons, with fresh content added each month.
📞 Live Group Coaching Calls: Participate in our monthly live group coaching calls, where we deep dive into a different self-reliance topic every month, and do live demonstrations and Q&A’s.
🏡 Private Community: Join our private community forum where you can ask questions, share your progress, and connect with like-minded individuals.
I only open the doors to The Society once or twice each year, but right now, for one week only, you can become a member for just $20/month (or $200/year).
In today’s world, self-reliance is no longer a luxury, a “cute hobby,” it’s a necessity. Join us inside The Society of Self-Reliance and empower yourself with the skills you need to thrive in the new world!
Link in profile or visit thehouseandhomestead.com/society to learn more.
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Got out for an early morning harvest today. Been up since 3am, contemplating life, the future and the past, the order of things…
There is a rumbling right now, not just in North America, but around the world. Many of us can feel it, and know we are on the precipice of something big.
I’d been hearing about this new song that’s become an overnight viral sensation, written by an (until now) unknown singer named Oliver Anthony. His new song Rich Men North of Richmond has had 14 million views on YouTube in the past week alone, so I decided to check it out.
I also saw a clip of him playing a Farmers Market last week, and anything that has to do with Farmers Markets always has my attention;)
I can’t tell you how many tears I’ve already cried listening to that song. If you’ve heard it already, you probably know what I’m talking about, and if you haven’t, I highly recommend giving it a listen. All I can say is it’s been a while since a song resonated so deeply with me, and in this strange new world, I know I’m not the only one.
One of the lines in Anthony’s song is “Livin’ in the new world, with an old soul,” and that’s something I think so many of us in the homesteading community can relate to.
Trying to cling to better days; To a simpler time; To the old ways, all while doing our best to get by in the new world.
The world has changed drastically in the last few years especially, and it’s set to change in immense ways over the next few years. Today I’m feeling thankful for people like @oliver_anthony_music_ who give a voice to what so many are feeling right now.
Know that if you’re feeling it too, you’re far from alone. And while the future may feel uncertain and even a little scary, remember that if we stand united, we the people are a force to be reckoned with.
(Continued in comments…)
Another garlic harvest in the books!
Garlic is easily one of my favourite crops to grow. It’s pretty much a “set if and forget it” crop. We plant in the fall and leave it to overwinter, fertilize a couple times in the spring, start watering only once the ground starts to dry out, and then harvest in the summer. We can even plant a fall succession crop after our garlic if we want so it really makes great use of garden space all year round.
Over the years we’ve managed to become completely self-sufficient with garlic. We now grow enough to eat all year (and then some!), plus we save our own seed garlic and usually have extra to sell or give away. And around here fresh, organic garlic ain’t cheap, so it’s a good cash crop for anyone who’s serious about selling it.
It took me a few years to really get the hang of garlic, but it’s one crop I’m now very confident with (knock on wood, because it’s always when we make statements like this that next year’s crop fails! Lol.)
A while back I compiled a comprehensive guide to growing, harvesting and using garlic both as an edible and medicinal crop. This is usually only available as part of a paid bundle (or in the fall 2022 issue of Modern Homesteading Magazine if you’re a subscriber;), but for a limited time I’m offering it for free, no strings attached!
Plus you’ll also get access to my step-by-step video lesson on planting garlic so you can set yourself up for success with your garlic crop this year.
Comment “Garlic” below or head to thehouseandhomestead.com/garlic-guide to get your free copy!
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#garlic #garlicharvest #homesteading #selfsufficient #selfsufficiency #selfsufficientliving #selfreliance #homegrown #groworganic #growfoodnotlawns #gardenersofinstagram #homesteadersofinstagram
Going through photos and videos from our trip to the @modernhomesteadingconference and the vast majority are of our daughter having the time of her life!
Even if I personally got nothing else out of this gathering (which I most certainly did), watching her discover her own love of this lifestyle outside of what we do at home made my heart grow three sizes!
Homesteading is about so much more than homegrown food and self-reliance. It’s about passing on invaluable skills and an understanding of and respect for our connection to the land that provides for us to the next generation.
Being around so many other kids and families who are also pursuing a homesteading lifestyle helped show our little one that this is a movement that is so much bigger and greater than what our own family does on our little plot of land. This is a lifestyle worth pursuing, with a community unlike any other.
Glad to be back home and more excited than ever to involve my kids in everything we’re doing. But also, I think I speak for my whole family when I say we can’t wait to go back someday!
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#homesteading #modernhomesteading #raisinglittles
If you’re simply looking for ways to save a little extra cash this summer and live well for less, here are 12 tried and tested frugal living tips for summer that you can use to save money this season without sacrificing a thing.
Head over using the link in my bio!
https://thehouseandhomestead.com/12-frugal-living-tips-summer/
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A brand new issue of Modern Homesteading Magazine just dropped!
In this issue:
🌱 How to forage and use five common edible and medicinal weeds
🏠 A sustainable, affordable alternative to traditional homes, greenhouses and more
👨👩👧👦 Tips for managing a homestead while raising a family (big or small!)
🫙 What to focus on when preserving food for true food security
🌹 How to grow and arrange your own cut flowers at home
🍓 The many ways to preserve summer berries (including 5 delicious recipes!)
💇How to make your own all-natural herbal hair care products at home
🧑🌾 Why “community sufficiency” is the new self-sufficiency
And more!
Visit modernhomesteadingmagazine.com (or click the link in my bio) to subscribe or login to the library and read the latest issue.
Plus, be sure to check out all of our past issues as well! There’s a wealth of information in our library on everything from farming and gardening to cooking and canning to herbal medicine, natural living and so much more!
*** This will be the last quarterly issue! ***
This little magazine has grown so much over the past 4 years and 32 issues, and now it’s time for another exciting evolution.
I’m excited to announce that we will be moving to an even more robust annual publication with the intention of offering the first ever print edition this fall if there is enough demand.
I’m also excited to announce the brand new Modern Homesteading Magazine blog, which is currently under construction and will be launching soon. While we will still be maintaining digital subscriptions, the blog will be accessible to all, free of charge, so that more people might benefit from the empowering and increasingly important information that we cover in each issue.
Thanks to everyone who helped make this issue happen! @homesteadingfamily @oatsandhoneyhomestead @omnivore.culture @thetaylor.leigh @doeraydesign (and more who don’t have IG pages;)
And a HUGE thank you to everyone who has subscribed over the years. Modern Homesteading Magazine would never have become what it is today without each and every one of you.
#homesteading #modernhomesteading #selfsufficiency
If you’ve ever grown your own garlic, you might have noticed the spiral-shaped shoots that suddenly pop up in the centre of the stem, usually about a month or so before the garlic bulbs themselves are ready to be harvested.
These are garlic scapes, and believe it or not- they make delicious pesto! Get the recipe through the link in my bio- https://thehouseandhomestead.com/garlic-scape-pesto/
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This honey and chive blossom vinaigrette is a frugal, easy and healthy homemade salad dressing that pairs beautifully with fresh garden salads all season long.
Get the recipe through the link in my bio.
https://thehouseandhomestead.com/chive-blossom-vinaigrette/
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Whether you live in the city and grow a few herbs on your balcony, have a few backyard chickens in the suburbs or live in the country and have a larder full of enough home-canned food to survive the apocalypse, if living a more homemade, homegrown, self-sufficient lifestyle is important to you, Modern Homesteading Magazine was made for you!
Read it today through the link in my bio!
https://modernhomesteadingmagazine.com/
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This radish top pesto recipe makes good use of the edible radish greens that often get discarded once they’re separated from the root. The end result is a peppery, slightly spicy twist on a classic pesto recipe.
A perfect condiment for all your summer snacking!
https://thehouseandhomestead.com/radish-top-pesto-recipe/
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