Agri Vehicles Insurance from Greenlands

Author Topic: hugelkultur anyone??  (Read 31409 times)

chairmanphil

  • Joined Feb 2012
  • Oxfordshire
Re: hugelkultur anyone??
« Reply #30 on: March 04, 2012, 01:14:33 pm »
just been to see a neighbour and asked about rotten willow. he says come with me and takes round the back and there is about 10 tonnes of 15 year old willow logs completely rotted! you can have the lot he says and that 6 tonne of horse muck! so it has been a very good day so far!  :thumbsup:
1 acre of land where i am clearing trees and a swimming pool so we can make the land productive. MK3 hilux single cab pickup which has been completely rebuilt over the last 2 years matt black and cool as! no animals yet except a very furry black cat called Hansel (he is so hot right now)

knightquest

  • Joined May 2010
  • Birmingham
    • Knight Pet Supplies
Re: hugelkultur anyone??
« Reply #31 on: March 05, 2012, 05:49:04 pm »
Nice!  :thumbsup:

Ian
Ian (me), Diane (my wife) and 4 dogs. Ollie (Lab mix) , Quest (Malamute), Gazer and Boris (Leonbergers)

chairmanphil

  • Joined Feb 2012
  • Oxfordshire
Re: hugelkultur anyone??
« Reply #32 on: March 11, 2012, 08:18:18 pm »
getting a tonne of grass clippings off a mate next week so should be able to seal the first beds soon!
1 acre of land where i am clearing trees and a swimming pool so we can make the land productive. MK3 hilux single cab pickup which has been completely rebuilt over the last 2 years matt black and cool as! no animals yet except a very furry black cat called Hansel (he is so hot right now)

chairmanphil

  • Joined Feb 2012
  • Oxfordshire
Re: hugelkultur anyone??
« Reply #33 on: March 24, 2012, 08:44:53 pm »
nothing been going on with this for some time but made up for it today!











so now it is a case of letting it settle for a week get a few more grass clippings on in that time and then cover with soil.
1 acre of land where i am clearing trees and a swimming pool so we can make the land productive. MK3 hilux single cab pickup which has been completely rebuilt over the last 2 years matt black and cool as! no animals yet except a very furry black cat called Hansel (he is so hot right now)

clydesdaleclopper

  • Joined Aug 2009
  • Aberdeenshire
Re: hugelkultur anyone??
« Reply #34 on: March 25, 2012, 10:43:00 pm »
Make sure you get it planted up as quickly as possible and it will help to stabilise the beds. Its a good idea to use nitrogen fixers in the first year of a hugel bed and if you don't know what was previously grown in the top soil that you have imported then you might want to use an innoculant to ensure that the nitrogen fixing bacteria are present.

I think hugel beds are great and one of my 4 year old's many talents is spotting rotten logs  ;D
Our holding has Anglo Nubian and British Toggenburg goats, Gotland sheep, Franconian Geese, Blue Swedish ducks, a whole load of mongrel hens and two semi-feral children.

chairmanphil

  • Joined Feb 2012
  • Oxfordshire
Re: hugelkultur anyone??
« Reply #35 on: March 25, 2012, 11:20:25 pm »
Make sure you get it planted up as quickly as possible and it will help to stabilise the beds. Its a good idea to use nitrogen fixers in the first year of a hugel bed and if you don't know what was previously grown in the top soil that you have imported then you might want to use an innoculant to ensure that the nitrogen fixing bacteria are present.

I think hugel beds are great and one of my 4 year old's many talents is spotting rotten logs  ;D

what is a nitrogen fixer? as for the top soil it has been screened and had some compost and sand added. it comes from a quarry in farringdon. as the cut in the have tonnes of top soil to sell. so it had grass on it before i got it.
1 acre of land where i am clearing trees and a swimming pool so we can make the land productive. MK3 hilux single cab pickup which has been completely rebuilt over the last 2 years matt black and cool as! no animals yet except a very furry black cat called Hansel (he is so hot right now)

clydesdaleclopper

  • Joined Aug 2009
  • Aberdeenshire
Re: hugelkultur anyone??
« Reply #36 on: March 25, 2012, 11:48:15 pm »

what is a nitrogen fixer? as for the top soil it has been screened and had some compost and sand added. it comes from a quarry in farringdon. as the cut in the have tonnes of top soil to sell. so it had grass on it before i got it.

They have nodules that form on the roots that fix atmospheric nitrogen and this becomes available to other plants when they are cut down and the roots die.  Legumes such as peas and beans are the main type of nitrogen fixers that most vegetable gardeners are familiar with.  There is a useful list here http://www.tcpermaculture.blogspot.co.uk/2011/05/plants-nitrogen-fixers.html of different nitrogen fixing plants that are suitable for temperate climates.

If the soil was growing grass before then it is unlikely to contain the rhizobium bacteria that are necessary for legumes to fix nitrogen unless the grass also contained clover.
Our holding has Anglo Nubian and British Toggenburg goats, Gotland sheep, Franconian Geese, Blue Swedish ducks, a whole load of mongrel hens and two semi-feral children.

chairmanphil

  • Joined Feb 2012
  • Oxfordshire
Re: hugelkultur anyone??
« Reply #37 on: March 27, 2012, 08:15:19 pm »
i am going to just see what happens if it is just left to do its thing for this experiment, will plant it with peas and beans with a couple of pumpkins. it is using logs that were not rotten but had been seasoned for 3 years and most of it is Lime which breaks down very quickly if it is wet. i had about 10 tonnes of wood on the farmers field like he said i could. but now he wants to be able to turn his combine round on this land and wants the logs and wood chips gone by harvest. this is why i am doing the hugels. just thought it would work with the lime very well. we shall see! i have got about 6 single cab hilux pickup loads of powder rotten willow i can pickup anytime and am going to set about a massive back bed running the whole south facing span. this is about 60 meters and will make a great place to put the beech leaves from the avenue and i can blag 10 or so bales at harvest for being a good boy and getting it all clear! this is the plan anyway!
1 acre of land where i am clearing trees and a swimming pool so we can make the land productive. MK3 hilux single cab pickup which has been completely rebuilt over the last 2 years matt black and cool as! no animals yet except a very furry black cat called Hansel (he is so hot right now)

YorkshireLass

  • Joined Mar 2010
  • Just when I thought I'd settled down...!
Re: hugelkultur anyone??
« Reply #38 on: March 28, 2012, 09:04:28 pm »
This looks fascinating.... I have taken inspiration and layered up a load of twiggy brash with some manure and grass clippings, and shovelled topsoil over it. It's about 1x2m and1m high. I'm thinking a squash plant or two - but should I throw some clover seeds on to fix nitrogen? By volume there is more "twig" than manure/straw/grass.

clydesdaleclopper

  • Joined Aug 2009
  • Aberdeenshire
Re: hugelkultur anyone??
« Reply #39 on: March 28, 2012, 09:08:48 pm »
This looks fascinating.... I have taken inspiration and layered up a load of twiggy brash with some manure and grass clippings, and shovelled topsoil over it. It's about 1x2m and1m high. I'm thinking a squash plant or two - but should I throw some clover seeds on to fix nitrogen? By volume there is more "twig" than manure/straw/grass.

The more twig the better - it will last longer  :thumbsup:
Our holding has Anglo Nubian and British Toggenburg goats, Gotland sheep, Franconian Geese, Blue Swedish ducks, a whole load of mongrel hens and two semi-feral children.

chairmanphil

  • Joined Feb 2012
  • Oxfordshire
Re: hugelkultur anyone??
« Reply #40 on: March 28, 2012, 09:27:19 pm »
This looks fascinating.... I have taken inspiration and layered up a load of twiggy brash with some manure and grass clippings, and shovelled topsoil over it. It's about 1x2m and1m high. I'm thinking a squash plant or two - but should I throw some clover seeds on to fix nitrogen? By volume there is more "twig" than manure/straw/grass.

sounds like a good combo, will be very interesting to see the different results. what kind of twigs are you using Yorkshire Lass?
1 acre of land where i am clearing trees and a swimming pool so we can make the land productive. MK3 hilux single cab pickup which has been completely rebuilt over the last 2 years matt black and cool as! no animals yet except a very furry black cat called Hansel (he is so hot right now)

YorkshireLass

  • Joined Mar 2010
  • Just when I thought I'd settled down...!
Re: hugelkultur anyone??
« Reply #41 on: March 28, 2012, 09:57:47 pm »
This looks fascinating.... I have taken inspiration and layered up a load of twiggy brash with some manure and grass clippings, and shovelled topsoil over it. It's about 1x2m and1m high. I'm thinking a squash plant or two - but should I throw some clover seeds on to fix nitrogen? By volume there is more "twig" than manure/straw/grass.

sounds like a good combo, will be very interesting to see the different results. what kind of twigs are you using Yorkshire Lass?

Um.
Things I butchered last autumn.....a fair bit of ornamental quince, some rose, some willow, some fuschia. Before burying in manure I noticed the twigs had mainly dried so I stomped on the pile to break them up a bit. In the pic, the twigs are in the left corner and you can just see the muck pile on the right.

Edit - I did remove the cardboard and bin bag!

chairmanphil

  • Joined Feb 2012
  • Oxfordshire
Re: hugelkultur anyone??
« Reply #42 on: March 28, 2012, 10:10:17 pm »
should be a goodun then  :thumbsup:
1 acre of land where i am clearing trees and a swimming pool so we can make the land productive. MK3 hilux single cab pickup which has been completely rebuilt over the last 2 years matt black and cool as! no animals yet except a very furry black cat called Hansel (he is so hot right now)

Mel

  • Guest
Re: hugelkultur anyone??
« Reply #43 on: March 29, 2012, 11:30:27 am »
Thank you Chairman,love this idea and we are going to make a start! :thumbsup:

chairmanphil

  • Joined Feb 2012
  • Oxfordshire
Re: hugelkultur anyone??
« Reply #44 on: March 29, 2012, 12:32:20 pm »
Thank you Chairman,love this idea and we are going to make a start! :thumbsup:

taking off all over, couple of lads this way are just going to do the same thing!
1 acre of land where i am clearing trees and a swimming pool so we can make the land productive. MK3 hilux single cab pickup which has been completely rebuilt over the last 2 years matt black and cool as! no animals yet except a very furry black cat called Hansel (he is so hot right now)

 

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