Fill your raised garden beds for cheap! - the Hügelkultur method

Need to fill your raised beds? Use this hack to save money on soil. It’s called the hügelkultur method and it’s a German practice for using what’s around you to create incredible garden & permaculture soil. Have you ever used this hack?
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[@justagerman140]

Having a layer of stones and gravel on the bottom helps against moles and mice while providing drainage at the same time :)

[@mjcechman]

I’m starting this method this year. First time creating my own compost too!

[@legittopsy81]

How’d it go?

[@tgeliot]

My ex did this kind of thing in a large flower pot, but unbeknownst to me, used empty beer cans instead of logs. Then that winter rain poured into the pot, totally flooding it and floating the beer cans. I was baffled when I came out in the morning to a flower pot full of beer cans.

[@OoooshetriesSs]

I can see why he’s your ex… I just imagine trying to enjoy a nice relaxing morning in the garden & as ur watering wondering “… is that clanking?!?” Or if he just tried to play it off “WHAT?! The *pansies* had a rough nite!!” Rlly tho, all jokes aside..talk about weaponized incompetence. My garden means SO much to me, I’m not sure how I would’ve processed that.. specially after so much work. I hope u get to enjoy many years of gardening now w/o the “side of douche” lol.

[@tgeliot]

@@OoooshetriesSs Assuming you're responding to my story of beer cans in the planter, no, I was not upset. First of all, that gardening was my wife's work, not mine. Secondly, the floating beer cans happened in the winter, after the annual flowers had been pulled from the pot. So no harm, no foul.

[@ljs5757]

I do this to my raised beds and then I go to Walmart and buy a couple of packs of fishing worms and dump them in and let the worms go to town

[@Mityob67]

Nice to rescue worms from the shelves of Walmart, but if you do this method on the ground, native worms come on their own. Adding store-bought worms is great for beds on non-organic surfaces.

[@robertblahnik7685]

Had a friend that worked in the shipyard. He first started out by asphalting his back yard. but he trapped the run off to be Carbon block treated and used on his plants. Next, would bring home from work, lengths of both used and scrap metal until he had a large pile of it in the back yard, where he would slowly weld up his beds 2' off the ground. He would cross the frames with thick sea going treated wood so that it could contain earth. Then he covered it with this thick marine plastic and formed the sides over the top. before trapping it on the siding with notched PVC. Now all he needed was his own compost and a topper. Next he covered his entire veggie garden with aluminum bug screen. It's full sun. His property was made rodent proof some years ago and the tarped his entire house and treated it for longer than it's necessary. It's been 5 years and still no signs of critters. Their front yard is of a desert motif so there is no water, fruit or edible anything to be had. Now the back yard looks ugly with all that scrap iron but everything he got was free though his time wasn't and the asphalt in the back yard. Been two years and his wife has her own Farmers Market home delivery service. Her veggies are about twice the markets price but there is no comparison of quality. And their 6 fruit trees produce class A fruit. All organic. They use natural sprays that bugs hate. They don't last long and you have to keep at it but it's doable.

[@thefishfin-atic7106]

Compost layer should be on top of the soil, so that watering will leach the nutrients from the compost down into the soil, rather than being washed away and wasted in the leaves and sticks at the bottom.

[@bekind4018]

Better yet, layer tabs of straw. It will breakdown much faster and will become beautiful compost by the very next year. 👍

[@andyakomagaling8695]

Thanks for this video ❤

[@harakiri881]

I put Crape Myrtle logs not knowing those germinate. I had hard time removing them when vegetables were growing.

[@ridonculous9068]

Lmao the video right before this literally said not to use logs and branches for this specifically

[@mygardenburner]

The same one that claimed logs take 50-100 years to break down? 😅

[@Thehumbleprepper]

@@mygardenburner lol I seen that video to I don’t think that’s true do u I can see if u put like a whole ass big tree stump on mabey

[@teunlll]

​@@Thehumbleprepper even then it's not true. This girl didn't know what she was talking about. She just spit the nitrogen imbalance like she knew anything about the n-fixing that bacteria do, but clearly she didn't know a thing.

[@raw_va]

So how long does it take to break down? Wondering if they’ll be there next season.

[@rlopez18m]

@@raw_va depends. How old or dry they are when put in there. Already rotting wood will go quicker then not rotting wood. I’d imagine a few years. But even small amounts of decomposition helps add nutrients. Then the bugs coming to aid in the process as well. Perfect set up :)

[@Alphasig336]

Add cardboard strips to the list.

[@justagerman140]

No, please don't, they are filled with toxins

[@gendoll5006]

What about branches from diseased trees? We have a large tree (I think it’s a type of wild Cherry or something, it and all the other ones like it have a common disease that’s been killing them) and has been dying the past few years, leaving very dry and brittle branches in the yard and I want to use them for this but they’re covered in lichen. Will the disease hurt the plants?

[@rogerjackway429]

definitely the sticks from the trees. adding logs is good to take up space but most logs take 10 to 20 years in a raised bed to decompose. mycelium takes a while to eat it. as for branches they are higher in nutrients and nitrogens and break down faster to free up available nutrients faster. by 3 to 5 years all the branches will be broken down and is a good time to flip the soil and recharge with new sticks.

[@johnsheppard4428]

Don't use city or bagged compost. It has too much micro plastic. Better off making your own even if it takes a while. We harvested potatoes that had bits of blue plastic in the skin from what looked like a tarp or something.

[@ethanknokke1518]

What does top soil consist off, what is top soil?

[@lanesteele240]

Buck compost from the city is a sure fire way to get nutgrass

[@late10ppot41]

Does this modified technique work in grow bags or planters? I want to start small in October 2023.

[@gregbeeso980]

Depends what youre growing. I like to replenish my soil every year so this would be a pain

[@marleemall]

I mixed my topsoil and compost together. I didn’t know it was supposed to be layered.

[@shugocharaikuto]

It doesn't really matter your bed will be fine

[@marleemall]

@@shugocharaikuto ok thanks

[@EvCreates]

It will perform better mixed rather then layered like this. 50/50 topsoil and compost is a great standard for planting

[@joannebenith500]

Hello. How often should we replace everything from logs to soil? thanks

[@nataliefecteau1233]

You dont! It breaks down, you'll add compost/mulch from the top!

[@charlieguy6872]

Never. It keeps getting better over time if you take good care of it

[@kellygreenwood7291]

Is mulch the last layer over topsoil?

[@kellygreenwood7291]

@@cory4909 Thank you!

[@shaolinfist8323]

There are 2 types of mulch, the kind that you plant in and the kind that you lay over the top of the soil

[@Makemydayoutdoors]

Does anyone realize that it takes about 35-50 years for logs and branches to compost, and while they are composting they are stripping your soil of nitrogen and when they are done composting they'll release crazy amounts of nitrogen back into the soil whitch is bad in both cases.

[@timpearce1778]

The logs aren't necesarily simply as compost material, that's what the leaves and actual compost is for. As far as I understand it, the logs have a bigger purpose in providing drainage for the bed above, and a perfect home for fungi and microorganisms to propagate. Providing fertility to the soil for as long as the logs are there. You'd also benefit from throwing a small animal in amongst the logs. If you think logs take a long time to decompose you should think about bones. But it's all good for the soil. If you can provide short term fertility in the form of compost, mid term in the leaves, and long term in the logs and animals, then you'll be laughing

[@Makemydayoutdoors]

@@timpearce1778 by any means i am not telling anyone what to do, i just feel like peple now days go with what ever is trending.

[@adilbougma3114]

There is more cheap method it's to make biochar and fuel it with organic matter like compost or anything that organic even your food scraps and its will your soil high on nutrition for decades ❤❤

[@connieferguson430]

Would if there is ants in the wood.?

[@kaywhygg6980]

Yea but Hugelkultur needs years to be at their prime and have all the qualities one offers, i did 2 beds as a trial one old rotted wood and another with fallen logs but were still heavy and had that fresher stump bed took 5 years it still r worked but now it producing the other bed w rotten wood that can be pulled apart by hand took id say 2.5 years. Fresh wood when decomposing underground in a hugel takes a lot of nitrogen from your soil leading to deficiencies . Also they need to know about hugelkultur and what it does and how it works before throwing a ton of fresh branches & stumps People need to know before filling a bed with half ton branches n logs, buy soil by the load you can diy or pay them to unload it but u can get as little as a half yard , it took me 3-4 yards to do my whole garden and its was like 30 a yard delivered but id expect to pay higher prices if they don’t offer lower quantities but smile and be nice say your interested in this they’ll almost make an exception . Hope someone reads this its not any BS rant i know y’all hate reading paragraphs but its a good thing to consider, dont wanna fugg up a bed for some time or three.

[@JalbColors]

Will pine tree logs work too?

[@jarlskane1214]

Logs and branches take way too long to break down. Use wood chips instead. Or twigs. Break them down as much as possible!

[@bduncan13132]

Nooooo! This did not work out well for us! The layer of scrap branches/wood created space for rodents to live in, so we ended up having that problem. Leaves and sawdust are fine, but branches and scrap wood is not a good idea.

[@Trivdgun-]

Get a cat.

[@shaolinfist8323]

When you add the first layer of soil over the logs you need to water it so that it fills the gaps. It prevents sinkage and also voids for rodents to live in

[@Dindoes]

Logs can take up to 100 hundred years to decompose and become beneficial

[@Madronaxyz]

The loud and raucous music in this video makes it hard to hear you're very soft voice

[@bananablisss]

Lofi does tend to be on the more raucous side

[@Meganbiller1234]

Logs can take up to 10 years to break down and create an imbalance in the soil

[@mygardenburner]

These logs are 5+ years old and have been rotting for a long time. Wont take long to break down. 😊

[@troyalger1603]

Did you hear him say use logs or use decaying logs?Yes a normal log will take many years but he said to use decaying logs.

[@PuertoricanPatriot1]

This is a misconception. Hugekulture has existed for millennia. You don't know better than our ancestors that relied on this method to survive.

[@Guest32198]

No

[@lordbanhmi3389]

yes.

[@Guest32198]

@@lordbanhmi3389 no

[@Liu-Kang-Xi]

Yes and no

[@Guest32198]

@@Liu-Kang-Xi no no

[@bananaslippers9]

@@Guest32198 nes yo

[@MechaNick03]

Way to much organic matter

[@rachelkerns86]

Do not do this!

[@Liu-Kang-Xi]

Never again

[@jthorpe1989]

The only problem is going to rob your bed of nitrogen the logs won't breakdown for years

[@mariap.894]

Incorrect! The logs are so way down that will not affect the plant growth

[@wifeu6966]

I wish I didn’t live in a fucking desert

[@jRod5000]

Why don’t you just call it Hill Culture instead of stealing other peoples videos who are actually professional. Shame on you for not giving credit to the original video you absolutely gronk

[@mralmosthonest]

I've read filling with logs is very bad for the soil...takes about 50 yrs to decompose as well

[@mygardenburner]

Maybe some massive ones or some that are extremely hard, but when covered with soil, the microbiology found in a hugelkultur bed will break them down much, much, much faster.

[@JustinMentionedIt]

Introduces mycorrhizae too

[@MrThatguy333]

​@@JustinMentionedIt thank you for the word, helped me google and learn a little about a process I've never heard of

[@JustinMentionedIt]

@@MrThatguy333 you’re welcome

[@lml9299]

где можно купить такие грядки ?

[@cameronrussell6443]

Adding logs is useless because they usually take about 50 to 100 years to decompose

[@mariap.894]

😂😂😂😂😂😂wrong😂😂😂😂

[@marcow1964]

I will go to decaying-logs-r-us and leaves-r-us before Hügelkuluring.

[@JM-_-MJ]

Would adding worms 🪱 speed the decay of the logs