what is hügelkultur?
Hügelkultur (German for hill-culture) is an altertnative composting process that creates raised beds based on wood left overs that are decaying and other biomass compostable plant materials. The Hügelkultur process improves water retention, soil fertility and raises the soil temperature, which all help plants grow faster on such mounds.
There is no limit to the size, some are big and some can be very small, like a raised vegetable bed for instance.
This video explains it well:
The Hügelkultur experiment that we, at La Tierra are going to build, will be aprox. 7-8 meters long en 2 meters high. In time, as the wood decomposes, the hill will shrink.
What we are trying to achieve, apart from the basic principles from Hügelkultur, is to create a micro climate (our own Costa Tropical) that can be used for growing tropical plants like banana and pine:
One side will be south orientated, it will receive direct sunlight and reflected light of the pond. The Hügelkultur hill will hold back the northern winds.
A warmer niche will be the result, it will be warmer than the rest of the garden and hopefully warm enough to grow tropical fruit.
In the image above I drew the outline of the planned Hügelkultur. And below you see the wood I collected for the main structure of the hill. I also saved a lot of smaller branches and home made compost to cover it. The orange tree will be part of the project, it will stand right in the Hügelkultur. (I am not sure if it will survive though).
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