An experiment in Hugelkulture in containers

[Mick Emery]

And 9 pages was worth getting that Marck guy out of here.

It seems no matter where or what forum; there is always someone who changes the topic & turns it into a pissing contest.
"My D$@k is bigger than yours." And, "Here's all the reasons why you're wrong."

My take is to block someone who does that with me.
"To argue with a fool, makes two fools."

 

[Oliver Buckle]

This year did the 8 HK containers from last year. I took 4 of them emptied and put 50 wood pieces and 50% hay in the bottom. covered with same sol.
I am watering the hay containers about 50% less.

I tried other things on the wood too, l like Michaelmas daisy stalks that have only half rotted, and moss I have raked out of the lawn that takes forever to rot. Not had time to see the results yet. My restriction is having ordinary size buckets, just too small for a lot of things. Good for tomatoes and peppers.
A bigger container would be hard to handle, which defeats the point a bit. For example. three buckets of carrots germinated in the greenhouse then moved outside, if it turns to freezing I shall put them back in. Mobility is key and I'm to old to lug big stuff about

 

[Mr_Yan]

I like the conversation. Can I suggest something to upgrade this method a step further into easy mode gardening for old fellas? Simple really, you just need a deep watering tray for the container to sit in that has either a drainage plug or drainage valve (in my case I drain to prevent mosquito larvae from hatching). I think you'd be surprised how much water those containers can absorb and how much root veggies (beets and carrots in my case) love this consistency of moisture availability. It's a pure joy to have such an easy watering schedule with such vigorous plant growth to go with it, whether you try it or not I like the style of trying new things and testing what works for you so cheers for having this discussion to begin with.

as in a wicking bed?

How do you keep the water tub portion from going anaerobic and getting nasty?

 

[Zig]

as in a wicking bed?

How do you keep the water tub portion from going anaerobic and getting nasty?

This is exactly what scared me from trying it for a while but I decided to try it first with some plants that are capable of growing roots in hydroponics and it worked great so I decided to try it with a few more plants and it's also working great, however I don't know the science of it. From thinking it over myself though here's my current thoughts - the root system has access to air through the upper layers and evaporation and doesn't seem to mind just growing right through the bottom most soaked anaerobic bottom layer right into the water tray. The trays collect rain water but also whatever else they catch and it kinda brews itself into a water they seem to like even more than regular water, animals seem to love drinking it too more than regular water also helps that I'm flushing out the water tray every 5 days or so it never sits for too too long to get nasty. In the giant tubs these guys are running their hugelkultur tests though I doubt most plants would ever even get roots down to the bottom soaked layer they would just be benefiting from the constant moisture feed and never have to worry about the bottom anyway, however I can confirm this works in regular potted plants as I have things like strawberries, green onions, basil, and thyme all growing in that type of set up in various pot sizes and none seem to not like it even the smaller pots. Basically I can't teach you by the book on this one but I can say it works in practice, so unless something takes a turn for the worst I will continue it and expand upon it.

 

[redback]

Fantastic and long topic. My wife loves pot plants but can't lift the heavy ones, so she cuts up pool spaghetti [polystyrene straws about 3" (70mm) in diameter and about four foot (1200mm) long] and puts that in the bottom third of the pots.
Not as good as this old wood as far as fertilizer goes, but lighter. I'm up to page three of this topic.

 

[sugarapsa]

Here's a quick status update on the brassicas. The table below shows the height and width of the brassicas in inches comparing the HK plant to the ground plant. For example, broc 1 Hügelkultur (HK) is 15 inches high and 10 inches high in ground.

Consistent, significant outperformance by the Hügelkultur plants thus far.

Brassica type	Height to fruit, in	Width, in
Broc 1 HK-ground	15 -- 10	31--21
Broc 2 HK-ground	14--10	32--16
Cabbage 1 HK--ground	12--8	25--14
Cabbage 2 HK--ground	12--8	23--15
Cauliflower HK--ground	10--7	25--11
Brussels 1 HK--ground	10--8	19--12
Brussels 2 HK--ground	10--9	19--14

Broccoli HK
View attachment 93166

Cabbage HK


View attachment 93167

Cauliflower HK

View attachment 93168

Brussels sprouts HK
View attachment 93169

I enjoyed reading through your thread and I am impressed to say the least with the results. Can I ask how these containers given the layers of organics fair over time? I can't help but think the decaying wood will eventually counter act the purpose they were intended for. In other words breakdown to the point of compost.

 

[Meadowlark]

Thank you for your comments.

It has been since March of 2022 and the HK tubs have simply improved in productivity over time. Part of that is learning curve for myself especially on watering.

I have not yet seen any need to refurbish other than the top layer of soil. I replace it with prepared garden soil every year...very easy to do just shovel out old soil and add new. I have also refurbished soil in situ as demonstrated in this thread

Small scale demonstration of biodynamic farming, soil replenishment, cover cropping, crop rotation, permaculture, polyculture, and organic gardening

No worries. Nothing more anoying than someone banging on endlessly about their pet project and inserting it into every thread going. My bad xx LOL

www.gardening-forums.com

In just over 6 weeks, I restored the soil in an HK container in situ to "No N,P,K, required" status.

Eventually the bottom layer will rot to just compost and I suspect I will know when that happens due to settling. When that will happen is TBD, but very easy to replace the wood.

 

[sugarapsa]

Thank you for your comment. I am currently using cattle/ horse troughs. Drilled holes in the bottom and layered it with gravel, landscape fabric barrier of good quality above the gravel, soil, and my own composted leaves and other carbon, manures from my chickens, rabbits, goats, including coffee grounds from the local coffee shop, all incorporated into the same composted pile. What I will say is that my early season crops are flourishing. My only thought now is if I get this wrong it will be a chore to reconfigure the layers within these rather large 3'x3'x8' containers. Your plastic barrels would be much more manageable.

 

[Meadowlark]

... Your plastic barrels would be much more manageable.

Yes, and with a layer of old rotting wood in the bottom, each tub is very portable and liftable which is important and of growing importance as aging go forward.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

I have been using sticks in some of my buckets, mostly because they are lying about everywhere, but it also struck me that earth will wash down between them and root systems will surely follow. They might rot a bit quicker than chunks of wood, but in the meantime I think I might have a bit more growing room.

 

[lifegardener]

I have been using sticks in some of my buckets, mostly because they are lying about everywhere, but it also struck me that earth will wash down between them and root systems will surely follow. They might rot a bit quicker than chunks of wood, but in the meantime I think I might have a bit more growing room.

Be careful with sticks. Thought the same, and placed several (what I thought were lifeless grapevine sticks) in a raised bed. Several months passed, and I noticed plants were stunted. Reluctant to dig, decided to see what was going on below the soil - many of the grapevine sticks had rooted throughout the soil, preventing other vegetation from sending down roots themselves.

 

[Mr_Yan]

Be careful with sticks. Thought the same, and placed several (what I thought were lifeless grapevine sticks) in a raised bed. Several months passed, and I noticed plants were stunted. Reluctant to dig, decided to see what was going on below the soil - many of the grapevine sticks had rooted throughout the soil, preventing other vegetation from sending down roots themselves.

Yeah, I'm afraid of this with my mulberry trimmings. So I have a pile of sticks from the fall's trimmings sitting out drying before I put them in the base of a HK container.

 

[Oliver Buckle]

Mostly using sticks that fall from the oak tree, so pretty safe. I did chuck the stump of the grape vine I dug out of the greenhouse in the bottom of a trench I dug though. It was well chopped up to fit and has more wood and four inches of dead leaves on top of it. There's another foot of compost and soil to go, and it might not survive outdoors anyway, we shall see, but at least I know to keep an eye out, thanks.

 

[Meadowlark]

Two years ago, almost to the day, I started this thread about an experiment in the use of Hügelkultur (HK) containers. I was looking for a way to enable gardening in my advanced years. I not only found that but also found a very valuable productive tool for gardening.

From the two initial tubs of two years ago, the "fleet" has expanded to now twenty (20) tubs with a variety of different veggies in production. Each growing attempt I've made in these HK containers has been successful and especially so with leafy veggies.

Currently, I have 6 broccoli plants, 6 cabbage plants, Bok choy, red onions, Vidalia onions, Ailsa Craig Onion (World’s largest onion), rutabaga, Tokyo turnips, carrots, Tatsoi, Ginger, and Horseradish.

This year, I’m expanding the use of the HK containers beyond veggies to include fruit trees. I’m starting with 1) the LSU fig, 2) the Black Mission fig and 3) the Osage orange. It’s my intent to add Myer lemon and Satsuma oranges at a later date.

The LSU purple fig, first available in 1991, is known for its above-average pest and disease resistance and sweet fruit. Because this self-pollinating fig has closed ostioles on its end, pests and diseases can’t enter the fruit.

The black mission fig, one of the top (if not the top) commercial figs around, is easy to grow, container compatible, and produces delectable fruit for the table.

The Osage orange tree is also known as a bodark, hedge apple, prairie hedge, yellow-wood, bow wood, or horse apple. It was once indigenous in this area but has disappeared and I’m looking to re-establish it. The HK container has been planted with Osage orange seeds one of which has germinated, and these will be thinned down to one or two best seedlings to grow out.

If you are interested in how this phase turns out...stay tuned.

 

[skinyea]

do fig trees take a few years to produce?