It’s been such a lousy growing season for me this year. Still unsure of why so many things failed. My suspicion is that the straw mulch must have had herbicide residue. That, and the fact that so many of the things that have been done to establish permaculture features haven’t had long enough to develop to be what they will become in time.

It started like this
Though, I have to say that the first year of the #1HugelkulturBed, it was planted and had fairly good success; especially with beets and chard.
At any rate, the thought now is to devote much of ongoing efforts to developing soil to be healthier and able to retain more of the limited water that arrives in this hot, hot desert. Hopefully over-watering won’t be quite such an issue; it may have been part of the trouble too.
So, time for another Hugelkultur element in the #SouthFortyTriangleLot next to the Plum tree. A #SquashPit (see embedded video at the end for a how-to) was ‘planted’ there at the beginning of the growing season and when I dug up to it for the new trench, it was full of worms. The squash pit is just in front of where the yellow watering wand is stuck in the blocks to mark it.

Pyracantha trimmings from a recent culling in the #ParkwayProject
First thing was to dig a trench. Second thing was to use the Pyracantha debris in the bottom of the trench as it is very prickery and not fun to deal with on the surface layers later on.

Pyracantha debris before being lopped down

All of the Pyracantha debris lopped down
Part of why a trench is dug is to give you the dirt you need for adding over the wood and other materials. A Hugelkultur structure can be built from the ground up if you have other dirt to use. More dirt would have been nice, but it will settle in time and there are all of those wire rounds with composting material that can be used to fill in some of the holes. This is all that the Pyracantha debris, that was sitting on the sticks, amounted to after it was lopped down. It was put in the trench first. It was still somewhat ‘green’ so will add some nitrogen for breaking down the other wood.
Next the sticks were added.

Putting the sticks in the trench
The littler ones are useful for filling in gaps.

All of the sticks are in

Green things
Watermelon, pumpkin, and tomato vines that were pulled to make the trench were added atop the sticks. More nitrogen to activate things.

Stuff from out front that was waiting for this build
The stuff from the front yard that was just sitting in the #TriangleRaisedBed waiting for this build was brought over to add over the sticks before covering with the trench dirt.

More debris added over the sticks

A little bit closer view

All available dirt added over the debris
It’s taller than it looks in this image. This was after using all of the trench dirt. More dirt would have been better. I think the things decomposing in the wire rounds will make a nice topping in the not to distant future.

A little perspective for height
It got watered in to help the dirt settle some and to start activating things.

Little Red-Haired Girl sniffin for grubs
Both of the doggies love when dirt gets dug so they can hunt for grubs, which were many.

Little Brown Noser

This big critter came to give its approval and see if there were any bugs to spare

Blue/black waspy flying thing
And this critter was burying itself in the straw until I disturbed it to try to take an image. It flew off and came back to burrow into this mulch; looking for a place to lay some eggs I presume.

Voila! Another Hugelkultur element at First Do No Harm Front Yard Farmacy
#4HugelBed is complete for now. Hopefully this will act as a water sink next to the Plum tree and be another place with lots of nutrition (eventually) for planting. Hugelkultur building is a great way to keep wonderful resources out of landfills and be better utilized (here) for an eventual, hopeful food forest.
The moral of this story is:
“Tis a lesson you should heed:
Try, try again.
If at first you don’t succeed,
Try, try again.”
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Similar to you, last year my first hugel bed seemed to be great for growing by cucumber and sweetcorn. However, this year the latest beds have been a bit of a let-down. Maybe because I put more wood in and so more nitrogen was taken from the soil, away from the plants. Certainly, the bay tree leaves (I put one if those in a new hugel bed) turned yellow, which I understand to be due to lack of nitrogen.
Could that be an issue for you perhaps?
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I’m fairly convinced that the straw that I used all over every bare piece of earth must have had herbicide residue in it. My local feed could not identify an organic supplier as he uses a broker and they are all lumped together. So, I think there have been different issues in different areas. Some had wood chips, some straw. The #1HugelkulturBed had a thick layer of the suspect straw on it that I separated to plant in. Also, the ‘dirt’ there is still fairly compacted, even with the breakdown of the straw. I would love to use wood chips but have not found a reliable local source. Time for a chipper/shredder so I can utilize my own arbor debris.
Thank you for your comment. Good luck with your own endeavors. Isn’t it fun even with all of the challenges?
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Yes, it is 😊
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