Go | New | Find | Notify | Tools | Reply | |
| Hügelkultur | Login/Join |
| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana  |
Has anyone here done it? I am preparing my first hügel. I don't have any logs, per se, but a lot of chunks of tree trunks and big branches. A lot of small branches, some of which I need to cut up. And lots of dirt. Since I am on class A/B glacial till, I'm not going to trench it; I plan to just scrape off the inch or two of topsoil and put that back onto the top. I'm looking at about 5 feet wide, maybe 20 feet long and starting at 6 or 7 feet high. I know they will shrink a lot in height. My current brushpile -- where these branches are currently -- is about 7 feet high. I'm looking at planting cucumbers, onions, strawberries, and maybe a few other things. Tomatoes are always hit and miss in this climate.
| ||
|
Beatification Candidate |
I'd never heard of this type of gardening! https://www.almanac.com/news/g...-ultimate-raised-bed Good luck, sounds like a good project.
| |||
|
| czarina Has Achieved Nirvana  |
We plan to do it using our long horse manure berm. Should do well for all those plants that need a longer growing season like squashes, watermelons, cucumbers
| |||
|
Has Achieved Nirvana |
Never heard of it. Totally cool. We'll need pics from anyone who decides to try this technique!
| |||
|
| czarina Has Achieved Nirvana |
it's an honest-to-god social movement in missoula.
| |||
|
| Serial origamist Has Achieved Nirvana |
Be careful with horse poop. IIRC, Jodi got a load of it for her garden and found that it killed everything. The broadleaf herbicides they put on the grass/hay fields pass through the horse and remain active. I'm still moving dirt around to clear the area where I want to build my hugel. I'll take some pictures when it stops raining.
| |||
|
| czarina Has Achieved Nirvana |
Thanks for the reminder. This is my own horse poop and there aren't any herbicides in the hay I got the past three years. I'll double check with the new hay guy for this years--but that poop is piled so far down the hill I doubt we'll plant in it. Most hay in Montana is not treated with herbicides unless it is the certified weed-free hay, which is very spendy.
| |||
|
Has Achieved Nirvana |
Interesting. Assuming you’re going to feed it to livestock, why would you prefer weed free hay?
| |||
|
Has Achieved Nirvana |
I’ve trashed my garden three times now over the years with horse manure that came from horses eating grass hay that had been sprayed to kill everything but the grass. Twice from a boarding stable, and once from a private place where they sprayed their pastures for weeds. So unless you know where your hay comes from, don’t use horse manure! (Btw, activated charcoal helped me a lot dealing with it. I am actually suspecting one of the bags of purchased cow manure I used this year, it smelled uncomposted, but I used it anyway So from now on, activated charcoal gets mixed with water and poured over anything I’m not sure of.
| |||
|
Jodi| Has Achieved Nirvana |
There are weeds that get into hay that are not good for the animals. And I think a lot of the good irrigated hay here gets shipped overseas. So it probably has to be certified weed free?
| |||
|
| czarina Has Achieved Nirvana |
Montana is 1/3 public lands. If you want to ride or camp on those public lands, any hay you feed while there must, by law, be certified weed free. This is to keep invasive weeds out of wild places. If I'm headed to public lands I just pick up a bale of certified on my way there. The state has a list of certified hay growers. Or you can stop at a feed store and get it. Or you can buy certified hay cubes or pellets. They also ask you to feed only certified weed free hay for 3 days before you take livestock to public lands, but i almost never know that far ahead if I'm going out there.
| |||
|
| czarina Has Achieved Nirvana |
Jodi I know my hay grower personally. Feel free to take all the manure you want from my place.
| |||
|
| Powered by Social Strata |
 | Please Wait. Your request is being processed... |
|