Hey Keith,
that idea sounds very interesting. Don't you have the problem of the wood sucking the nitrogen out of the soil as it decays? I have a friend who ploughed wood chips into his garden bed and then said he couldn't grow anything in them for quite a while - thought they removed the nitrogen.
Selwyn
Paul,
Hugelkultur works great. I've been doing it for about 15 years.
On your page you say:
"Hugelkultur is nothing more than making raised beds filled with rotten wood."
I might say 'rotting' rather than 'rotten' since even fresh green wood can be used. Also it is not absolutely essential that the material be covered with dirt. I have created wood "terraces" with any carbonaceous material I could get my hands on...logs, brush, etc.....and raked the annual deposition of leaves over the material. Here in NC, where we have high precip and humidity, the material breaks down much quicker than it would in, say, California. I grew fabulous pumpkins, for example, in Ca in the 8 month dry period (no rain at all) without irrigating. I used everything organic I could accumulate, from logs to leaves, and laid it out about 2 feet deep and planted into soil pockets.
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