Hügelkultur: A Beginner’s Guide

Hügelkultur (pronounced “hoogle-culture”) seems to have taken the gardening world by storm. Are you ready to try it?

I just made my first hügelkultur bed. It took a bit of effort and working around a baby and a toddler, but I got it done in about a week. And it didn’t cost me a thing!

What Is Hügelkultur?

Hügelkultur is a German word that loosely translates to “hill culture.” It refers to a natural gardening practice that has been used in Europe for centuries. Basically, you take logs, sticks, and other yard waste (preferably all from your own property), pile it into a mound, then cover it with soil. As the woody materials rot and decompose (pretty much composting in place) they hold water, release nutrients, warm the soil, and increase biodiversity in the soil.

I have seen many videos online of people filling their raised garden beds halfway with branches, logs, and sticks before topping them off with soil. They are using a form of hügelkultur which both saves money and creates a richer planting medium for long-term soil health.

Benefits of Hügelkultur

As its popularity suggests, hügelkultur offers many benefits in the garden.

• The rotting woody materials act as a sponge, efficiently managing water. After a couple years, many hügelkultur beds rarely need to be watered!
• Like with compost, as the organic matter breaks down into the soil, it releases nutrients that then feed the plants.
• Because the materials slowly rot and decompose, these beds get better with time. Depending on the materials used, some beds can continue releasing nutrients up to 20 years!
• The process of decomposition creates a small amount of heat. This can help get an early start on spring planting and can extend a gardening season later into fall. I am excited to see how this holds up here in Montana!
• Hügelkultur contributes to soil biodiversity by creating a welcoming environment for worms, microbes, and healthy fungi and bacteria. Biodiversity is a major component of healthy soil. You can read more about soil health here.
• Making a hügelkultur bed is cheap. Ideally you will be using items from your own property such as fallen trees, pruned branches, rotting firewood, dead leaves, grass clippings, and animal waste (but not from your cats and dogs). Like I said, I made mine for free, though I did acquire a few things from Facebook Marketplace.
• Hügelkultur is environmentally friendly. First, you are using your yard “waste” rather than sending it to the dump (or wherever the garbage trucks would take it). Then since you are sourcing your own materials, you don’t need to bring in products with their excessive plastic packaging. Reduce, reuse, recycle, right? Also, one source I read said that hügelkultur beds “sequester carbon” since you don’t turn or till the soil, reducing your carbon footprint.

Hügelkultur Sounds Too Good to Be True…

So that all sounds great, but what’s the catch?

Hügelkultur can cause some challenges. For instance, especially in the first couple years of a new mound’s life, plant growth can be stunted because the decomposing wood uses a lot of nitrogen, temporarily “locking” it from the plants. But this can be alleviated by using a good amount of soil and compost on the top layers.

It is best to avoid planting annual vegetables in a hugelkultur bed during its first season. Giving it about a year to rest will help it be more productive. However, if you are impatient like I am, giving it several weeks and topping the mound with a fairly deep layer of soil and compost should allow for decent growth in the first year.

Mounds can sink after a few years as the materials settle. Adding soil or compost within the larger wood layers can reduce this. Topping off the mounds with more soil or compost may be necessary.

Preparing a hügelkultur bed requires more physical labor than preparing a traditional garden bed.

Pests (including termites!) and diseases can be a problem. Make sure your materials are not infected before using them.

(I got these new Hisea garden and rain boots as I was working on the hugelkultur bed. The were so much easier to clean than the tennis shoes… and sandals… I was using before.)

Should You Hugel?

Incorporating hügelkultur into a garden is a great option for many people, but it is not for everyone. If you live in an urban area with no trees and little yard waste, you may want to look into other gardening methods. But if you live in a woody area, or have lots of yard “waste” and access to logs and branches hügelkultur could be a great fit.

What Materials Can Be Used?

• Wood. Logs, stumps, branches, and sticks from most kinds of trees work great, especially if they have already begun to rot. Hardwoods like oak, apple, maple, beech, ash, and poplar are the old stand-by’s. Softer woods like spruce, pine, fir, and birch just break down more quickly. Avoid using black walnut (and other allelopathic trees that release chemicals that block plant growth), as well as cedar, redwood, and black locust because they are resistant to rot.
• Woodchips and sawdust
• Leaves
• Grass clippings, dried or fresh (beware of weeds!)
• Straw and hay
• Compost
• Manure
• Corn husks and stalks
• Other garden and yard plant waste
• Brown paper bags
• Cardboard

I also used some pine needles and pine cones, but this could potentially make the soil too acidic. Time will tell.

How to Build a Hügelkultur Bed

Choose and prepare the site

Either dig a trench (up to 18″ deep) or lay down an overlapping layer of cardboard to kill off grass and weeds.

I chose an area of our yard that used to house a shed, so the ground was already a little sunken. Plus, I have had a tarp over it for the past month, so the grass underneath was dying. Most of this area receives full sun, though parts of it do receive shade.

Place your largest logs as a base layer

I used firewood that had been left outside in the elements for a couple of years. You can use much bigger logs than these, even stumps; I just used what I had available.

Arrange larger branches and sticks

Try to arrange them as tightly as possible, to prevent future sinkage. I didn’t do this very well.

I also added a lot more smaller sticks, but I forgot to take a picture.

Top and fill in gaps with smaller organic materials

I used leaves that were leftover from last fall, smaller sticks, pine needles and pine cones.

Cover with soil and amendments

If you chose to dig out a trench, you can use the displaced sod and topsoil. Make sure to put the sod root side up so you don’t end up growing unwanted grass.

It may end up looking like a grave…

I then topped the bed with composted chicken manure and wood shavings and finished with a rock edging, all of which I got for free from Facebook marketplace.

Keep your hügelkultur bed moist and watered to encourage everything to settle in and begin decomposing in place.

I don’t think I can wait until next year to try planting something in this bed, but I will wait at least a few weeks before trying to grow some winter squash.

Now it’s time to get your hands dirty. Happy hügeling, Friends!

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