In this video we are going to make a raised hügle bed and you can see here we have some old corrugated iron, you can get that from the dump. Hugle bed is German for small hill and what you do is add a lot of branches at first and then you cut different layers and we will talk about that later and why its good and also how the nitrogen doesn’t get robbed from the soil by using these twigs. I went to the beach and got seaweed, I have it in plastic bags because wet seaweed can usually rot your van if its in contact with metal. Notice here I have leaves mixed in it as well because in the bay where I collected it, there’s plenty of trees around the area and the when the tide comes in and out it breaks it all up and makes it into this lovely stuff here that I will use for the hugle bed. That’s the inside layer and you notice that I’ve dug over the inside of the bed first off and turned the sods upside down, next step is adding branches. Often you hear carbon rich materials can rob nitrogen from soil but its only true if its in direct contact within the soil, as in mixed in with the soil. If its on top or the underneath it really has little effect on it. These heaps are very good for heating up the bed and helping vegetables in that way.
Now I’ve added all the branches and I will add the seaweed next. There’s two more things we can add as well. You can put can add grass clippings or cow manure. I don’t have any today because its only March and it will help with the breakdown even faster. These branches, once they decompose they create fungal activity which is great because vegetables love a mixture to fungal to bacterial dominated soils and by adding topsoils and well broken down compost to the whole equation, it will create a lot of bacteria to the soil and your vegetables will love it. Now I just wanted to show you, we had to move the old hugle bed to a new location and start it fresh we can see the fungal bacteria and all the worms and holes here, it is a quite amazing bed. This soil is amazing.
Now I added the seaweed and next step is to add the actual soil. So that’s then how you set up your raised hugle bed. With all vegetable garden methods there are different types of beds. I’ve shown you already how to do a no dig bed, lazy bed, and a double dig bed. Each one has its advantages and disadvantages as well. It depends on what kind of materials you might have, your location, and what kind of soil you have. As always, I hope you enjoyed the video and if you did or found it useful please like it up or perhaps share it as well. So, I’ll see you next week. Check Out This New Project We Are Doing https://www.patreon.com/workwithnature
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Video Rating: / 5
That was awesome.
Hi David, I had some free time so I did another one of these for you. (by the way i received your nasturtium seeds today! Vielen dank 🙂 As for you not being able to reply to my last translation, I looked in my settings and didn't find any particular option to change who can reply to my comments. I don't even know if that was the problem or if it was just a one time thing.. Anyway, here you go. My pleasure – Jillian from NY.
Now in this video we are going to make a raised hügle bed and you can see here we have some old corrugated iron, you can get that from the dump. Hugle bed is German for small hill and what you do is add a lot of branches at first and then you cut different layers and we will talk about that later and why its good and also how the nitrogen doesn't get robbed from the soil by using these twigs. I went to the beach and got seaweed, I have it in plastic bags because wet seaweed can usually rot your van if its in contact with metal. Notice here I have leaves mixed in it as well because in the bay where I collected it, there's plenty of trees around the area and the when the tide comes in and out it breaks it all up and makes it into this lovely stuff here that I will use for the hugle bed. That's the inside layer and you notice that I've dug over the inside of the bed first off and turned the sods upside down, next step is adding branches. Often you hear carbon rich materials can rob nitrogen from soil but its only true if its in direct contact within the soil, as in mixed in with the soil. If its on top or the underneath it really has little effect on it. These heaps are very good for heating up the bed and helping vegetables in that way.
Now I've added all the branches and I will add the seaweed next. There's two more things we can add as well. You can put can add grass clippings or cow manure. I don't have any today because its only March and it will help with the breakdown even faster. These branches, once they decompose they create fungal activity which is great because vegetables love a mixture to fungal to bacterial dominated soils and by adding topsoils and well broken down compost to the whole equation, it will create a lot of bacteria to the soil and your vegetables will love it. Now I just wanted to show you, we had to move the old hugle bed to a new location and start it fresh we can see the fungal bacteria and all the worms and holes here, it is a quite amazing bed. This soil is amazing.
Now I added the seaweed and next step is to add the actual soil. So that's then how you set up your raised hugle bed. With all vegetable garden methods there are different types of beds. I've shown you already how to do a no dig bed, lazy bed, and a double dig bed. Each one has its advantages and disadvantages as well. It depends on what kind of materials you might have, your location, and what kind of soil you have. As always, I hope you enjoyed the video and if you did or found it useful please like it up or perhaps share it as well. So, I'll see you next week.
Neither do I! I strongly agree with these brilliant ideas. Everyone could build a raised bed garden in a very inexpensive way. I think this video could really help us. Thank you for posting it!
interesting–good info
I think I would have to agree. Thanks for your time and the insight 🙂
Hey Corbin,
Of course. It is not dangerous to the plants or you.
But it is not ideal. But then, since when do we live in an ideal world. My feeling is if we as humans have created products that are bad. We should try and incorporate them in order to reduce making more waste. So you could buy new stuff, but here you are using old boards that are 20-40 years old and with very little damage to you or plants. Plus nature will clean it all up with fungi and so on. If it was fresh it would be bad.
Hey David,
I recently collected some railroad ties. After some research I read that they contained creosote, which is a natural element, but some articles disagreed with there use. The ties are fairly weathered and aged. Could I, and is it safe, to use these?
this is the best video ever – going to keep coming back to you for tips!!! im working with an orphanage in india to try and make it a completely self sustainign site – going to use this bed making tips!! will this work without the seaweed? we dont have that available here – is there something else we can use?? we have cow manure! is it okay if its wet??
Thanks so much for these videos!!
All the terrorists in the world should be sent to you for a rigorous training and make them humans, Cheers m8, You are The Earth Lover.:)
Alright m8 I have just got an allotment 30 x 90 I don't have a green house yet but I'm trying to get one I have never done this before but really want it to work do you have any advise for me please I have been watching quite a few of your videos and must say they look great but as I said im new to all this so don't know a thing about growing your own, I don't have much money to buy much things so its a case of hard graft and salvage but im more than willing to get stuck look forward to ur reply
It does only in a small way if your soil are deficient in Iron.
Does using galvanize corigated metal panels have any affect on food you grow?
Thank you David
The mix I use is 1/3 compost blend, 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 to 1/5 vermiculite. You can make it or buy it at home depot under the name square foot garden or mels mix. ,There are other great garden soils as well like Kellogg and there is a commercial soil to. The compost blend should be plant compost and manures compost mixed together at least 5 different Ingredients. Vermiculite is at home depot as well. Check out my garden tour videos at azlivingwithterri. Hope this helps
Why make it so deep? With that same material it seems you could have doubled your amount of beds. No vegetable that I know of has roots deeper than a few inches because in nature, all the good soil is on top and within 3-12 inches it is clay. Just wondering, nice video!
What type of bed would be good to build here in the Arizona desert? I am too late for the spring prepping and growing as my heirloom seed were delayed in the mail. so I am focusing on getting 3 or 4 beds ready for fall. How do I make rich soil out of desert dirt cheaply? I am really starting everything from scratch. I have a grow chart for vegetables and herbs for my county produced by Arizona State University so I basically know what times are good for what but it is kind of overwhelming.
I know, heard that one too 🙂 But somehow I don't think it is true. You would need a huge amount and it would cost way to much, as in those days salt was worth a lot. That's what I would think 😉
That is always the case, shows there is plenty of life in your soil that is gobbling it all up. No we brought it in and added a lot of materials. At the outset it is always a lot of work to get things going well. But keep adding stuff and you will see more and more improvement.
No idea on that one sorry. Salt can prevent plants from taking up water if the level is to great. So in a way plants die of mineral and nutrient uptake. It also sucks the life out of microbes if too high. But don't know if it can benefit plants.
I have raised beds and I'm hoping to get to the stage where there's no need for digging. I've added loads of organic material over 2 years but it seems to disappear into nothing. When you filled this bed with soil initially, did you get it from around your plot or did you buy it in? I bought a load of top soil and added that to my 12 3ftx7ft raised beds and again it looked like I'd added nothing at all. I guess I'll have to be very patient and keep adding stuff or spend a fortune? Ace Video!
That it can, but the amount is not enough to damage your plants.
D