The Making of a Hugelkultur Garden Bed | Food Production and Preservation | Forums

they're a great way to get rid of yard waste.  Ive built both styles, burying them in raised beds (kind of an American style) and the traditional mound style.  I've dug them all by hand which is a lot of work and takes forever.  I would make more if I had a mini excavator or something.

not yet, they're both still a little young.  The mound style was built last fall.  The raised beds were in about 2 yrs ago.  Hugels can be 15-30 year projects.  Depending on how much wood you use, these things can produce for a very long time.  I will say, though, that I have noticed the need to add nitrogen regularly.  I have a chestnut tree planted in the mound that wasnt growing until I gave it a dousing of compost tea.  After that it fired up and grew 3 feet since it came out of dormancy.  I notice that I have to add more nitrogen to the beds that have wood buried underneath than I do to the non-hugel beds.  As for moisture retention, it does seem to be slightly better in the hugelbeds than in the regular ones.  I dont expect to really notice a difference for another year or two.  I can push down with a shovel and still feel the wood is hard underneath, not starting to rot really good yet.  That takes a little time.