How you know you are a lazy gardener: trying to sort out the easiest way to make your beds, that require the least amount of weeding, the least amount of watering, and yields the most food.
Enter: HugelKultur Mounds
I first learned about HugelKultur method of gardening from Mindy Rainey on the show “Homestead Rescue”. She was helping someone who had very little water available to them, and she explained this method (HugelKultur or HK from here on out) would self-water from natural rain water collected into the logs at the bottom of the mounds. As an island dweller, I am on well water and access to fresh water is at a premium. We also had just purchased 5 acres, 2 acres of which was covered in rotten alder logs. This felt like the perfect fit!
So, I hopped on my Kubota tractor and began hauling load after load of Alder logs, which would be the base of my three beds. Why three? I have no idea. It was random and felt right, and after my first season, I was SO impressed at how much food these yielded for me! I cut my grocery bill in HALF, since as vegetarians, the bulk of our food is produce.
Each bed is 12′ long by 3-4 feet wide, and another benefit of the HK mounds is the planting area is amazing! You can plant on the sides, the ends, and the top, and since the plants are searching for both nutrients (of the composting logs beneath them) and water, the roots of the plants grew strong which meant larger yields! I had broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, kale, chard, cucumbers, eggplant… and so, so many herbs.
Year one yielded a ton of food, and now I am looking forward to year two. I’m leaning into what worked super well (kale! broccoli! lettuce!) and adding companion plants to complement these (Blue lake green beans! Dill! Cilantro!).
More on companion planting later, but for now, all I can say is YAY to HK mounds! If you want to see the step by step video (and photos of the growing season) – check out my YouTube video here: https://youtu.be/wx5-dDqrKPw
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