Hugelkultur Method - 2024 11 07

 

Every year our giant Lombardi Poplar tree drops leaves and branches by the truckload. In the past we would send this windfall to the City composting system. 

This year I started to think about the leaves, how I could use them to create a base for my garden beds instead of using cardboard.  The leaves don't break down for the worm bins because they retain their shape unless they are mulched with the lawn mower. Mulching with the lawn mower doesn't work because there are so many leaves they clog the machine. My thinking this year is that I am going to use the leaves to create an organic barrier between the moisture and nutrient thirsty tree roots while providing a semi-permeable membrane so the worms can move in and out of the garden bed.

At the same time, I don't want to make any permanent garden beds, I want to be able to move the beds around to continue building up the layer of leaves season after season. 

This year, I started an experiment of creating a moveable raised bed by using garden bags as the border for the bed. This is working so far, I can move the garden bags, even with plants in them. I poked holes in the bottom of the garden bags so the worms can get in an out. I can move the bags to keep the tree roots from taking hold inside the bags. The bags provide structure to hold the pile of garden soil in place.

Now I'm reading about the Hugelkultur Method, which is basically making small hills, or mounds, of dirt to grown vegetables. This feels like a natural extension of what I am already doing, but now I can also put those tree branches shed from the poplar tree into the bottom of the piles, too.

My plan now is to collect all the leaves and branches that fall from the poplar tree and layer them in piles in the garden. I will take the soil we trucked in from the city last spring to create new piles of dirt. I can add compost from my kitchen composting system into each pile, and also, I can add buckets of worms and worm castings from my worm farm. The worms will survive the winter in the ground under the pile, the pile will process the leaves, branches, soil, kitchen compost and worm castings to create a rich bed for planting next spring. 

I am very excited by this idea! I finally have a way to use the resources I have at hand and cut down on my use of machine-made materials.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

East Vancouver Rain Forest - 2024 04 07

Image
  It was a great day for gardening. First, we loaded the truck with 6 empty trash barrels and headed over to the Burnaby Lake equestrian barn. It didn't take long for the two of us to fill all 6 trash barrels with manure. I was digging from the back of the manure shed. The manure, sawdust and straw were already composted to the point that there were worms in the pile. Matt was out at the front of the other shed. He collected the fresh droppings and straw. It was easy enough to maneuver the full trash barrels back up onto the truck bed. Our second stop was the Coast Salish Plant Nursery at the Wild Bird Trust of BC just off the Dollarton Highway. It is hard to describe the feeling of returning to the salmonberries, huckleberries and thimbleberries of my childhood. Also the sword ferns and liquorice ferns.  I have been dreaming of turning our east boulevard into an indigenous understory planting in the shadow of the giant Lombardi Poplar tree. I pulled up the sad turf grass year...
Read more

Rain barrels installed - 2024 06 10

Image
  We installed the rain barrel issued from the City last fall. It has been collecting rainwater from the shed roof and the awning. It is 75 gallon capacity and fills quickly during a rainfall. Yesterday we finished installing three 80 gallon rain barrels purchased from Barr Plastics. We are now able to store over 300 gallons of water on site from rainwater collection. According to my calculations based on 1" of water per sq ft of garden per week, 300 gallons of storage capacity should be able to support 100 sq ft of garden for one month. Based on rainfall patterns here in Vancouver, it is reasonable that we should expect to be able to fill these rain barrels once per month, even during drought months. Last night when it started raining, I could hear the trickle of rain water outside my bedroom window as the empty barrel started to fill with water. The sound lulled me back to contented sleep. Calculations: 4' x 4' = 16 sq ft garden bed needs approx 10 gallons of water per w...
Read more

Water conservation - rain barrels - 2024 01 27

Image
  Buyers Guide.org Finding the best rain barrel product to create a water conservation infrastructure on your property. Our property has 5 existing downspouts draining rain from the main roofs of the house. If we have a 50 gallon water barrel under each downspout, we could have at least 250 gallons of water in reserve for the summer drought. If we put 2 water barrels under each downspout, we could have 500 gallons of water on hand. The average cost for a plastic 50 gallon barrel is between $150 and $250, budget $50 for extra fittings, say $300 per barrel for materials. Installation will depend on each setting, but there will likely be work to establish a footing for the barrel and then downspout and house connections. There is also the option of having a drip hose installed in the garden to connect to the rain barrel. The drip hose would be installed during garden bed installation.  The rain barrel could serve as a water distribution centre, so the garden hose could also be pl...
Read more