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livingontheland - Re: [Livingontheland] Wood does belong in the soil?

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  • From: laurabrownmckenzie@att.net
  • To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Wood does belong in the soil?
  • Date: Tue, 24 Nov 2009 04:22:25 +0000

Harvey, you are right in that what I've read describing hugelkultur, one
makes mound above ground. In our case, we both bury the wood and pile it
too. The ground is rock solid. But if we only piled, the mound would just
wash away. So we dig, make hugelkultur mound in the ground and then have a
pile above ground level too. Once we create the mound with wood debris,
rotted logs, leaves and kitchen scraps, we put some of the soil back over the
pile... but not all of it.

When making a hole for a hugelkultur bed, we have extra dirt left from the
hole. This dirt is placed in layers with compost materials in the compost
bins and also placed on top of each compost pile when the pile is nearly
ready spill over its fence. Then we plant in this dirt.

I also compost in situ and I haven't found problems with anaerobic
conditions. I attribute this to the fact that I add woody debris and this
creates oxygenated spaces. All is lightly buried. As time has progressed,
the garden has only gotten better with these two methods.

One final point. I compost in the ground in spots where I don't plan to grow
anything for about 5 months.



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