Hügelkultur @ La Fieffe

Hügelkultur (Hoo-gul-culture) is a raised bed composting system, built on the top of decaying wood and other compostable biomass materials.  The term Hügelkultur, comes from the German for hill or mound culture and has been practiced in Eastern European culture for hundreds of years.

Hügelkultur attempts to mimic the process of decomposition of trees in a forest environment.  Over time the wood breaks down and becomes almost sponge-like soaking up and retaining water.  The area near the bed is nutrient rich has improved soil fertility, better water retention and significantly warmer soil, improving plant growth on or around it.  Furthermore it is raised so that those with lower mobility (the parents as they age, especially Mum with her knees!) can more easily access the food growing on it.

Being experimental gardinistas (revolutionary permaculturalists!), we are building a number of different Hügelkultur beds at La Fieffe, located in different areas, some dug into the ground some above ground to test their effectiveness.  This could take some time as the decomposition process continues for a number of years but we will post how they do in the Normandie environment.

So lets take you through the construction process.

 Firstly a sunken Hügelkultur bed.  Dig out all the nasty box hedge, stand back and admire your work.

 Fill the hole with wood of differing sizes.

 If you have compost (we do) fill the gaps with some of this lovely worm-created soil.

 Add more biomass, in this case off-cuts from the prior destruction of hedgerow.

 Cover with some soil that was excavated from the hole.

 Top dress with grass to act as a mulch, keep adding this over the winter period to build more biomass.

 Alternative to the above, you can create the bed on top of the surface.

 The same steps as above, wood, compost and other biomass.

 As it's above ground perhaps some stakes...

 ... and jauntily weaved hazel sticks.

 Again lasagna the layers.

 More weaving to hold all the stuff together.

Finalise with grass.

 Both beds should be good to receive some plants in the spring and for the foreseeable future.  Self-fertile, good aeration and good moisture retention.  Have a go, share your results, satisfy permaculture principal, Care of People!

Perennial Answers to a Late Spring Predicament

Spring 2013 in Northern Europe has been slow to arrive, meaning that our annual planting is way behind from the average "norm".  The beds have been prepared to receive their new arrivals.

 This above bed has been prepared, for some time now to receive a polytunnel, which is still not here! The leeks have been planted to the sides to provide a little protection from slugs and snails and interplanted with carrots (below) as they are good companion plants.

 The cherry tree was taken out of it's pot and planted and the small flower bed extended too, we even took out the summer furniture hoping to encourage the spring to hurry up.

 Some of the biennial and perennial plants are doing well.  These below are, wait to be corrected by the brother, blackcurrant.

 The rhubarb is flowering, hmm, and you can just see on the left here some more leeks.  Them be doing very nicely!

 These alliums, spring onion, or i believe in American money they are called salad onions are starting to flower which will enable us to do some seed collecting for next year.

 The brussel sprouts are starting to flower too.

 The raspberry bushes are located in four different spots and all seem to be doing pretty handsomely, you can see all the suckers coming off the one.

 This bed is our first attempt at asparagus, so you'll have to wait for a couple of years to see how these do... update sometime in late 2014, I guess!

 This huge bed which was our onion, potatoes, swede and bean bed will mostly be accommodating corn this year.  We need to be planting in excess of 200 plants in able to do a successful seed collection.

 These two lines hide some of our trees, italian alder and small leaf lime, fast growers, we hope!

 The brassica bed is doing nice, all nicely going to seed.

 The early purple sprouting broccoli is over-taking us a bit, anyone fancy some?

Along the fukuoka beds you can see a couple of Kale plants still doing marvelous, the parsnips looked unbelievably healthy (on the left) and again more leeks.

 The tree nursery is just a brilliant birthing area!  Above you can see a couple dozen transplanted willow of various varieties growing strongly and below the previous years willow is 4-5 feet and will be moved to make our tree bog (a living compost toilet, seriously!) or planted to help with forming more hedgerows.

 The two apple trees shown in previous blogs were chopped up and stacked to season.  These were pretty small trees so we're really excited by the potential wood we have in the downed trees in acre and a half woodland!

It's important to keep moving towards a mainly perennial setup, continually adding diversity to the plant mix so as not to leave us in a position whereby an invasive and damaging intruder could wipe out any variety.  The more perennials we grow, the less we need to do annual beds.  The less annual beds the fewer inputs we have to add back to the living soil.  Careful and clever planting can provide your soil with all the nutrients it needs simply by the selection of different plants that require different growing medium and ensuring that you companion plant those varieties that have beneficial relationships.  Your only input then is to add mulch and compost from your own household and garden wastes!  Nature produces no pollution.  She produces no waste.  We should strive to emulate that as closely as possible.

Design Conclusions, Objects & Functions

Here's the next in our Permaculture Design series. You are all sharing our unedited work, so you can be as judgemental and cruel as our tutor is. We're really starting to think about the impact we have and how we can mitigate this going forward. Pictures to be posted shortly from allotment planning :~)

Natural Systems and Design

1. Consider your current living arrangement. What interactions and processes are occurring that demonstrate the “Design Conclusions, Objects and Functions” discussed?

Multiple objects for a function:
At the allotment we have to consider water collection, as typical Sussex ground is extremely chalky and our particular plot is on quite a reasonable slope (10% gradient). Because of these factors water collection/conservation is very important. We have decided not to depend upon only one method of water conservation. Firstly there is a fixed structure which captures rainfall, which is then directed into double water butts. Any excess is directed into a line of swales. These have been designed to follow the contours of the land so that the water doesn’t simply runoff; we are not looking to irrigate water, we are looking to collect it and force it down to raise the water table, giving the soil a chance to absorb some and help with the prevention of erosion. Fruit trees planted below the swales are able to chase down roots to catch some of the water, with the added function of “knitting” the soil thus assisting in the prevention of erosion. Finally we have designed into this system a small pond to also aid in collection of water, if the swales are bursting then the pond collects the excess.

These water collection methods perform other functions too.

Multiple functions for an object:
Swales perform multiple functions on our allotment. Primarily as a rainwater harvesting device it helps with the process of groundwater recharge. It takes the rainwater that would otherwise simply runoff and encourage it to sink down lower to the water table. Swales can assist in erosion prevention by providing surface runoff barriers and improve the moisture content of the soil, which incidentally allows us to plant moisture needy plants to the downside of the swales, benefitting from the collection of water in the swales.

The pond has dual roles too. Not only does it provide another water collection function, it also encourages wildlife to it, like frogs and birds. Both birds and amphibians assist in keeping our overall allotment eco-system in good running order. The frogs/toads assist with removal of unwanted pests like slugs, birds additionally offer assistance in this area, but also eat and spread seed around the allotment so in effect offering a seeding service. The chalky, down land aspect and the strong prevailing winds can increase the loss of water through surface runoff, rapid, free drainage and wind assisted evaporation. The pond also functions as a humidifier to the surrounding area, allowing plants a greater water capture. More plants in greater variety can function to mitigate the effects of the wind by breaking its flow, preventing damage, rapid evaporation from the ground, and evapotranspiration from more sensitive plants. The humidifying and consequent greater plant density and variety can also assist in mitigating the loss of water due to the topography of our allotment, by holding the soil together through the root systems, slowing soak away and surface run-off and added biomass to the relatively thin soil.

Using cardboard on our allotment has a number of beneficial functions. By covering the ground it retards the growth of weeds, which in turn die and become compost directly into the soil. The cardboard will provide insulation to the soil over colder periods meaning it can be planted through and thus protect plants. Finally it has air pockets in it which assist in the insulation of the soil by trapping air to be warmed from the thermal mass of the ground and from solar gain. When it rots down it will help to aerate the soil.

We utilise all manner of domestic containers to offer us additional usage. Our glass bottles, jars etc we use to pickle the small amount of produce that we can cultivate in our house including but not limited to, peppers, tomatoes and onions. We also use these containers for seed saving too. They can be used to remove the moisture from seeds once baked rice is put inside them and the lid firmly sealed. This ensures our seeds are made dormant for proper storage. The middle of toilet rolls we have become big fans of using for bringing on seedlings. Perfect size and eventually they will rot down and add to the soil.

We use left over coffee grounds in a weak solution to spray on our plants, especially those in our lean-to that seem to get problems from melee bug and green fly infestation. We can also use it on the soil to increase the acidity as our tomatoes do love acidy soil as well as for Jess’s hydrangea.

Natural functions to produce desired results:
Companion planting offers a number of benefits, including for pest control, adding nutrient, bringing in pollinators or structural support. Planting basil within 18 inches of your tomato plant, for example, improves the flavor of its fruit and repels many insect pests. Carrots increase fruit production, because the tomato plant draws nutrients from the carrots (which may grow smaller as a result). Basil also makes a wonderful addition to tomato-based dishes

Planting of corn and pole beans together where the cornstalk serves as a support for the beans and the beans put the needed nitrogen in the ground for the corn. Nasturtium are well-known to attract black flies and caterpillars, therefore, planting them around vegetables such as lettuce or cabbage protects them from damage, as egg-laying insects will tend to prefer the nasturtium. This practice is called trap cropping and it’s something that we are just learning about.

Marigolds assist crops suffering from aphids through their smell being deterrent to aphids and attractant to hoverflies (a predator of aphids). Marigolds not only look and smell nice, but will keep a whole range of bugs off our plants. Planting several marigolds in our lean-to will help deter whitefly from our tomatoes and chilli peppers. Alliums such as onions, garlic, leeks or chives serve as a deterrent for slugs and aphids so can be companion planted with fruit trees, tomatoes, brassicas peppers and carrots.

Placement of objects:
Our domestic composter is placed near to the garden outside of our house. We have a small caddy that we fill and transport out to the larger composter, which in turn we can process and as required add to the garden. It was originally placed to the front of the house, but we had to transport compost around, so it was repositioned to where it would be more naturally used.

At the allotment we are planning the positioning of both composting and water collection, but have to consider carefully the gradient of the land. We’ve decided to place composters to the west side of the allotment which is the highest point of the slope so it can be transported easily down once well composted. The same with water collection as gravity takes the water eastwards down slope, utilising this slope for ease of transport is essential.

As discussed above, planting fruit trees down slope of the swales will utilise the run off collection and provide much needed water retention for the shrubs in what is a very high drain area.

Efficiency of energy transfer:
Clearly the two most obvious energy transfer vehicles available to us are the composters and the water collection systems. These have been discussed in detail above, but we can add that we must ensure that all of the energy potential from the allotment be properly utilised. Let’s face it this can include any detritus that is placed into the composters, all energy from dead or dying green waste, any weeds removed from the ground, any kitchen waste that we want to add to the composter, all of these will add to the nutrient rich composter, which can be reused over the entire site... eventually.

The water collection being placed at the highest point on the ground will also require little energy to transfer the stored potential kinetic energy of our water butts to the lower reaches of the garden. We have yet to decide whether we will utilise some kind of rudimentary irrigation system, but having the set up in place to utilise gravity will mean that the retrofit of such a system should be easy.

Natural succession/Time:
Due to the “hardy” nature of our allotment soil, we need to develop some techniques to speed up the process of natural succession. We have a number of tools available to us. We could choose to seed bomb a number of areas, introducing clumps of natural wild flowers and plants to help break up the chalky soil. If we ensure that these include self-seeding plants, this will continue to do this for us naturally throughout time. Areas can then be selected for covering with our cardboard boxes, which will encourage the plants to die back, providing nutrients for the soil but also allowing us to plant other varieties of plants that will yield crops that we can eat or store.

2. Identify current sources of pollution in your home environment. Discuss how these yields might be used as resources in the future. Will your solutions reduce your workload?
In general, we can state that anything that needs to be removed from the house post-use can be considered a pollutant. Currently in our home we can clearly identify the biggest pollutant being whatever is found in the garbage bin. We recycle some plastics, glass, paper and card directly i.e. in council supplied recycling bins or we reuse them in our house or allotment. Some of our food waste can be recycled by adding it to our composter, but we must ensure that some foodstuffs are not added to it like meat products as this would encourage unwanted creatures due to the slow nature of protein break down. So whatever remains in the bin are our main pollutants and even a cursory glance on any given day shows that this is made up of non-composting foodstuff and excessive packaging.

All the water that we use in the house too can be construed as being pollutants as they are combined with detergents of different varieties and removed from the house, without much thought for an alternative use, whether it be washing machine drainage, dirty dish water or used bath or shower water.

Finally any by-product of cooking could be considered a pollutant. We often use oils to cook with but any amount that is not absorbed is disposed of post-cooking. This goes the same for any water used to cook rice, pasta fruit or vegetables; for the most part wastefully disposed of without any thought!

Before looking at which of these pollutants could become resources i believe it would be more pertinent to look at which of these could be eliminated. Short of changing our diet, the protein waste will remain for the foreseeable future or at least until we can find a way of completely utilising it. Excessive packaging is really a choice of convenience. We have to ask ourselves whether we have alternative choices for resources that we bring into our household. Can we visit a farmers market, or more traditional green grocer to lessen the packaging burden? Could we conceivably (as suggested by a friend) simply unpack everything that is bought at the point of sale passing on this pollutant to them? This would probably provide food for thought to the supplier if the consumer truly is king and our demand for minimal to no packaging is carefully considered by them. Simply reducing this pointless packaging though surely reduces our workload we would hope. It would certainly produce less trash to take to the side of the road each week.

All the “grey” water that comes from our house should be put to better use then it currently is, that’s for certain. This exercise has definitely highlighted a pollutant that could easily be changed to a resource. Particularly dishwater, that could be used immediately on the garden due to the nutrients present in it especially if we are considerate of the type of detergent used, Ecover (http://www.ecover.com/gb/en/), for example. Our clothes washing could be carried out using Ecoball (http://www.eco-ball.com/) washing kits which are detergent free, meaning this grey water could also be applied directly to our garden and indoor plants. We could conceivably simply divert all grey water straight into the garden using hoses from the outlet, but we would prefer to be able to introduce at least some rudimentary natural filtering in this process.

Finally, food pollutants can be used similarly to the grey water discussed above, simply use the cooking water shortly after cooking, the garden is going to benefit immensely from the high nutrient content. Oils have plenty of uses post-cooking. We could filter and reuse the oil; we could allow it to harden, mix it with seeds and use it as a bird feeder; it could be conceivably used as a coating for recycled wood at the allotment; alternatively it can be used in the production of soap; fortunately we do have a recycling centre close to us that takes used oil to convert into usable fuel.

The question remains whether these solutions would reduce our workload. Simply stated, yes, minimising garbage removal from our house; reusing more of the packaging that comes into our house as containers (of sorts); channelling grey water directly to the garden, instead of traipsing around with a watering can; maximising the utility of oils also negates the need to shop for product (only as far as the limited examples above highlight though!)