Building Hugelculture Beds

 I like raised beds because they make gardening easier and keep gophers out. 

 This is how Im making my hugelculture raised beds.

Rounds ready to be dropped into the hugelculture bed

Large logs over 1 foot in diameter were used

I packed small branches in between too fill in the spaces

Looking down from a nearly completed section

Ive covered the logs with dirt and washed it down into the material below 

Next I will add about 8" to 12" of top soil

This raised bed is also filled with wood scrapes below the top soil
I have potatoes planted in this box

In a few years these hugelculture beds will act as a large sponge reserving  rain water for the dry month.   If you have a hugrlculture bed Id like to know how happy you have been with it.

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Earthan Beds

Over the past 21 months I have experimented with variations and combinations of Aquaponics, (vertical towers, wicking pots, deep water culture, and media beds), plus several other gardening methods such as Bio-Ponics, Wicking Beds, Hugelkultur, Two forms of Hydroponics (Dutch Bucket Hydroponics, and Kratky Method), and Dirt.

What I discovered worked best for me was all of the ponic methods -Aquaponics, Hydroponics, and Bio-Ponics The Kratky Method (a form of Hydroponics) also worked well.


Wicking beds or Wicked Beds as the Aussies like to say,  provide uniform moist soil,  even when I forget to water, and they conserve water due to the bottom up watering method.

The Ponics which are not normally soil based, provide nutrient rich water on a regular basis.

I am now ready to combine the techniques that I found worked best for me.  I was working toward this conclusion when I saw this link to the Earthen Group.  The details of this solution were instantly clear to me.  Paul Van der Werf  appears to have worked out all the kinks, and has detailed the construction of his system in the link above.    

http://youtu.be/lkSMkTpdt7U
http://www.earthangroup.com.au/earthan-beds-how-they-go-together/


Since I built my Wicking Beds as conventional raised beds, and used sand in the reservoir I will have to replace that sand with 1-1/2" drainage rock in order to facilitate the faster movement of water from the Bio-Ponic or Aquaponic system.  Im leaning towards Bio-Ponics because Im not into eating fish, and it comes with less overhead.  Either way the nutrients will flow below the soil in the Wicking Beds.

This should create a very large area for nitrification, and be very good for the fish if I choose that path.  CLICK HERE FOR UPDATE

I considered utilizing one bed for the soul purpose of vermicomposting  Eisenia Hortensis (European nightcrawler) or more likely Eisenia Foetida (the red wiggler, Californian red worm).  But the leachate from a worm bin would not be beneficial to an aquaponic or even a bio-ponic system.

Converse  wrote a very good description of the risks involved. [LINK]

To be clear-  keeping red wigglers in all of your grow beds is a good idea, but the leachate created in composting worm bins is better suited for a Bokashi Compost than used directly in the garden, or introduced to aquaculture, so even though it may sound like it would increase the micro-nutrients in the soil, it is not recommended.

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Wicked Beds

A look at the construction of my Earthan Beds. Previously these beds were Wicking Beds with sand in the bottom, but now I want to be able to let aquaponic water flow freely through the beds so Ive replaced the sand with rocks. The soil I place back into the Earthan Beds is a mix of sand, compost, pumice, and garden soil, amended with Azomite. Pumice is not required, but it provides plenty of surface area for bacteria while making the soil light and airy. When I first started to use my wicking beds I noticed the smell of anaerobic bacteria. By allowing some water to flow out of the overflow tube each day I was able to prevent this anaerobic condition. When I removed the sand and soil from the wicking beds I found no sign of anaerobic bacteria. By letting the water flow through the Earthan Beds I will create a good environment for nitrification and prevent anaerobic conditions. The water from the Bioponic System will also provide nitrates and other elements for good plant growth.

The first video shows how I constructed the Earthan Beds

This video starts out with a tour of my fall garden.  

Click the hot spot to skip ahead to the nearly finished wicking beds.

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Construction of 8 Watt Earthan Beds

This video shows the construction of my Earthan Beds using an extremely quiet 8 Watt General Hydroponic Air Pump, and four individual air lift pumps.  Watering from below the dirt provides the perfect moisture with very little evaporation, and makes gardening easy.  The beds will remain moist for a long time even if you are away and the sump tank runs out of water.

The economy and dependability of the air lift pumps combined with recirculating water are so appropriate during this era of water, mineral, and energy shortages.

Earthan Beds provide the advantages of bioponics or aquaponics with real dirt where the soil web is allowed to flourish. 

Nutrients can be supplied by eco-friendly methods such as urine or weed teas.  5% of the natural gas we suck from the earth goes into making fertilizers.  Phosphorous is becoming harder to come by and some estimate our reserves will be exhausted within 50 years.  Urine contains amply amounts of nitrogen, phosphorous and many other trace minerals.  Less than a century ago none of the nitrogen was supplied by petroleum. Instead microbes made nitrogen available to our plants. The aerated water circulating through rocks you see in these beds provide the perfect environment for nitrification.

Return to natural resources.  Grow your soil and your plants will take care of themselves,

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