Hugelkultur is a traditional way of building a garden bed from rotten logs and plant debris topped with compost and soil. 

Downed trees, fallen branches and rough lumber can all be used; you are essentially taking rotting wood and letting it compost in one place for a super-fertile, moisture retaining garden. 

These mounds can be 5-6 feet high - massive heaps of wood, straw, grass clippings, leaves, cardboard, manure or compost mounded to be wider at the bottom than at the top. As the wood shrinks down and composts, a 6 ft high bed will shrink down to be 2 ft tall after several years of composting and settling. 

In the first few years, the heat-producing compost process warms the soil in a hugel bed, providing a somewhat longer growing season. The decaying woody matter is a source of long-term, slow-release nutrients, and helps to keep excess nutrients from filtering into groundwater. 

The wood, acting like a sponge, stores rainwater to release during drier times. Hugel beds are self-tiling over time. As woody matter breaks down, tiny air pockets open in the crumbling soil, allowing air to reach plant roots. In time, you can plant into the topmost layer of soil/compost, which becomes rich with beneficial organisms. 

So what are the benefits of hugelkultur? The rotting wood works as a host for beneficial fungi, bacteria, worms, and microbial growth that creates nutrients that your plants can use. You will have created an ecosystem in which beneficial organisms will thrive. 

Hugelkultur is popular for gardeners who have struggled with heavy clay, and/or poor or compacted soil. It is a good way to build up a planting bed and turn woody debris into a garden. 

More Hugel Tips - 

• The best woody species for hugel beds are: alder, apple, cottonwood, maple, oak, poplar, dry willow and birch.

• Avoid treated wood, cedar, and allelopathic or toxic species such as black cherry and black walnut. 

• Super-rotten wood is better than slightly aged wood.

• Plants that grow especially well in hugelkultur beds include sprawlers and vines, such as cucumbers, legumes, melons, potatoes and squashes