Hugelkultur

Hugelkultur is the permaculture technique of burying large volumes of wood (such as tree limbs, branches and trunks) under soil into a 2 to 6 foot tall "raised bed" to increase soil fertility and soil's retention of water.

The decomposing wood acts as a wick/sponge when underground thus during rainy season the buried wood absorbs enough water to support the crops planted on the raised "hugel bed" throughout the dry season. Hugelculture is promoted by permaculturalists Paul Wheaton, Jack Spirko, Geoff Lawton, Masanobu Fucuoka, Sepp Holzer, and many others.

Hugelkulture is part of earth works techniques that also include swales, and terraces used in agriculture throughout the world, especially in Asia, and particularly Vietnam and China. It can be part of a "food forest" and the practice of agroforestry.

Hugelkulture is often part of the permaculture integrated techniques of companion planting, polyculture (Large diversity of plant species in one garden or farm), plant guilds, support species, function stacking, intercropping, and microclimate development.

Benefits of Hugelkulture Raised Bed Gardening

The benefits of hugelkulture raised bed gardening include water catchment-retention and the warming of soil thus helping to create a microclimate..

Because the decomposing wood that is buried acts like a wick-sponge]] as it decays, it is able to capture and store water for ongoing future use by the crops planted on top of the raised bed.

Appeal to Homesteaders, Preppers and Survivalists

The specific practice of hugelculture "woody" raised bed gardening has been adopted by many in the conservative-libertarian Homesteader, Survivalist-Preparedness movements according to James Wesley Rawles, Paul Wheaton, Jack Spirko, and Backwoods Home Magazine.

Use of hugelculture "woody" raised bed gardening in permaculture results in long term productive ecosystems that require minimal maintenance and little to no inputs once well established. Such woody raised bed gardens can help create an abundance of food on arid, infertile, rocky or marginal land often considered not viable for agricultural use. (See the YouTube video "Greening of the Desert")

Quotes about Hugelculture Raised Bed Gardening

• "All the world's problems can be solved in a garden." - Geoff Lawton, Permaculturist, and one of the primary proponents of permaculture science

External Links

• Wheaton, Paul's http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur "Raised garden beds: hugelkultur instead of irrigation" - This such and Pauls's http://Permies.com contain the most information on the internet on the practice of Hugelculture Woody Raised Bed Gardening
• Family-Scale Permaculture Gardening
• Paul Wheaton's http://Permies.com and http://RichSoil.com in the American Redoubt's Montana countryside
• Permaculture Principles and Design Video Series with Jack Spirko

Bibliography

• Fucuoka, Masanobu. The One Straw Revolution. Rodale Books (US). Holistic Agriculture Library
• Hart, Robert. Forest Gardening. Green Books (UK) ISBN 1-900322-02-1.
• Hemenway, Toby. Gaia's Garden. Chelsea Green Books (US) (2001). ISBN 1-890132-52-7.
• Jacke, Dave with Eric Toensmeier. Edible Forest Gardens. Volume I: Ecological Vision and Theory for Temperate-Climate Permaculture, Volume II: Ecological Design and Practice for Temperate-Climate Permaculture. Edible Forest Gardens (US) 2005
• Law, Ben. The Woodland House. [Permanent Publications] (UK) (2005), ISBN 1-85623-031-7.
• Law, Ben. The Woodland Way. [Permanent Publications] (UK), ISBN 1-85623-009-0.
• Mollison, Bill & David Holmgren Permaculture One. Transworld Publishers (Australia) (1978), ISBN 0-552-98060-9.
• Mollison, Bill. Permaculture: A Designer's Manual. Tagari Press (Australia).
• Mollison, Bill Permaculture Two. Tagari Press (Australia) (1979), ISBN 0-908228-00-7.