Why not, we say! Hugelkultur (from the German, hill culture) is a method of building a garden bed. It hails from the permaculture world and means building a bed either by piling up wood and branches on the surface of the soil or digging a hole (or trench) and laying the wood in the hole.

Next soil is piled on top to bury the wood.

Our enable garden features 150 sq. ft. of raised bed gardening area of varying heights. We were looking for an organic method to fill the raised beds that was sustainable and inexpensive. Hugelkultur is great for two reasons:

• it creates a nearly no-need-to-water bed
• it improves the soil tilth and nutrients

Wood has a very high moisture content. As it decomposes, it continues to absorb water like a sponge. Having a base of rotting wood beneath a garden bed is like building your garden on top of a dense, sodden sponge that is in the process of becoming rich humus.

Here’s some pictures of the process to create the beds on May 26, 2012. We’ll continue to update this page as the beds transform.  Thank you to the following volunteers who prepared these beds so folks of varying abilities can now participate in this wonderful community garden: John Long, Diana Moore, Frank Downie, Madeleine Berrevoets, John Murphy, Roger Mackay, Carol Muncer, Carol Maurey, Garth Hood, Edee Klee, Luke Saunders, Sherry Coffey and Rob Palo. What a team!!!

Step One: create a gravel base to improve drainage

Step Two: fill more than half-way with rotting logs, stumps and branches

Step Three: fill to about 4 inches from top with sod compost (this is sod that was originally cut away during our double-dig sessions last Spring and has been sitting in a pile since May 2011 quietly awaiting its valiant return to the garden!)

Step Four: add composted horse manure (aged 7 years from a local stable)

Step Five: add top soil

Step Six: Mix it up

Step Seven: repeat Steps 4,5 & 6 until a mound of about 8 inches is created above the edge of the bed. This will drop as the contents settle and the organic matter decomposes.