Unexpected Results Revealed: Pulling Apart Hügelkultur Raised Beds
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- čas přidán 10. 05. 2024
- In the spring of 2022 we built some raised beds out of dead pine trees and filled them with all sorts of logs, sticks, twigs, leaves and vines - a method called hügelkultur.
We now want to make some design improvements to one of our beds in particular which meant pulling everything apart. This gave us the chance to see what happens to logs, sticks, and twigs that are buried in a raised bed after two years. The results were quite surprising!
Join us for a day in the garden as undo and redo this raised bed to add some vole proofing and sow a few spring veggies along the way.
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Thanks for making me 'giggle'... with your invite of 'if you do not like click thumbs down twice'... So sharp and clever... done with great humour! Lovely weekend you two! 👏😄✨
Don’t tell anyone but we stole that from another channel, it made us giggle the first time we heard it 😂
@@MAKEDOGROW 😉🙌👍👏😂 so happy you did... as you've made this South African's morning!!!
@@MAKEDOGROW It's a great line and made me laugh ...
However, I really don't think it's a good idea from what I've read. (I can hear you saying something along the lines of "Oh, do tells us why, Mr Boring!" as you yawn. Rowan Atkinson is very definitely NOT in my mind)
I believe the CZcams algorithm is as happy with a negative reaction as a positive reaction (thumbs up vs thumbs down). They are the same - user interest and interaction, people to advertise to. Don't diss the detractors ... on the otherhand do NOT become the shock jocks/Alex Jones' of the Portuguese rebuild and grow world.
CONGRATS on 100K subs!!!! Well deserved!
Years ago, on US public television, there was a gardening program The Square Foot Gardener. Mel Bartholomew implemented this idea of breaking your garden into 1 square foot planting areas. Within each square foot he used the recommended spacing and planted his crop. Carrot or parsnips every 3 inches in both direction, never paying attention to row width. His idea was, row width was to accommodate harvesting in long traditional garden rows and wasn't needed in raised beds.
His yields, per given area, were wonderful. I've used the system, in my raised beds, for nearly 30 years. When planting this system, tallest plants more to the north side of the bed and shortest plant more toward the southern orientation. Because I like the design challenge and your bed is small...I would have chosen a checker board pattern.
I checked and some of Mel's videos are on CZcams. Some of his books are still out there in circulation as well.
I have a comment below but you were very through. Many electronic garden design software programs will do all this for you, print out a sowing/harvesting schedule and help with succession planting.
I agree totally on the spacing of carrot in raised beds, parsnip spacing I use is 20 to 30 cm depending on the size of the roots wanted. I am eager to see the germination rate of the parsnip seed as old parsnip seed germinates badly. I buy fresh seed every year. I also chit my parsnip seed in a tray used for sprouting seeds and only sow the seeds that have just started to sprout with about 1mm of root showing. I put them into toilet rolls full of compost and then plant them out at the required distance once the first true leaves show.
@@melaniechesnel9094 this sounds like something we need to try! We have heard from many people that growing parsnips from old seeds is notoriously difficult, if not impossible, but we need to learn this for ourselves.
Can you elaborate on your chitting process … germination compost in a tray, scattered seed, thinning and how big above ground before transplanting? I’d also read (of course not necessarily true) that they are difficult to transplant
@@MAKEDOGROW I use the covered colander like trays I have for sprouting seeds for eating and rinse them 2 or 3 times a day to keep them moist as per sprouting seeds to eat. As each seed begins to show a root I put the seed into the top of a toilet roll full of whatever I am using as general purpose seed compost with plastic tweezers. One seed per tube, lightly covered with compost. Water mostly from below, with a light spray over the top just to keep things moist. The seeds are quite robust, the roots are delicate. The roots grow down the cardboard tube and the whole lot is planted out before the roots reach the bottom of the tube, cardboard and all. Hope this helps.
@@melaniechesnel9094 Forgive me for asking, but why not just sow three or four seeds into the tube and then thin out back to the strongest plant? Thanks.
You are my "happy" video to start the weekend, after which I try and copy your energy to get on with my chores 😊
Congratulations on 100,000 subscribers!
“It’s not about the length “, says the gardener to the countess….lol. Guy has certainly got spring fever
Here in India the gardeners build mound of soil lengthwise and sow the seeds on top of the mounds. The water would be dribbled in troughs (between the mounds) . This method allowed you to grow good crop of vegetables even when you didn't have too large a layer of top soil.
my breton father in law used the same technique here in France
Drinking morning coffee and watching your clip. 👍
Just remember sand and clay make bricks, so make sure you add a LOT of compost to prevent this. Yes the seeds can be scattered and they don’t need to be spaced as far apart. If they are too close some thinning can be done. You can also pull some earlier than others, eating small and young, while allowing others to continue to grow to a larger size.
Love and like gardening. Allways see you working together is a laughing time 😂😂😂😂😂
Of course we like your home steading videos, we learn so much, and we love the camaraderie you show us.
❤Keep showing us your content ❤
More of these, we love your interaction with each other during your work tasks - just wonderful to hear you two chat about how you're going to do things! All the best from Noosa Hinterland Qld Australia 🙏✌️
Enjoying "hanging out" with you and my morning coffee. I especially like your Make. Do. Undo. Redo. projects. They are so much more realistic than "once and done" because how often does that really happen in "real life"--especially in the garden!
Thank you guys for such a nice educational time with you. There’s never anything wrong to learn something on the way with you guys.❤
Thumbs down twice hehe,when planting any root crop if you don't follow the planting instructions and sow them too close and leave them the result will be very small carrots if you want really large carrots put suttons autumn carrots in, another tip is not to give them any manure that's what makes them fork,another tip when lifting your carrot you will create a carrot smell that will attract the carrot fly they like to lay there eggs in your carrot bed so when removing some of your carrots be quick and pat down the soil and remove the carrots you picked away from the beds,ideally if you fill a bucket crammed with nettles fill the bucket with water and cover make sure you put holes in the lid leave for a month or two the result is you end up with a very strong smell take the bucket to the end of your carrot row when lifting your carrot the smell from the bucket will overpower the carrot smell that will keep the carrot fly at bay. Very long winded but there you go.
I think the smell from nettle 'brew' will deter anything and everything. Even I would hesistate to go close to it!🤣🤣 (great idea for the carrot fly!)
Not seen any evidence of carrot root fly in Portugal
Learned a lot from this post! Thanks.
Never heard of carrot flies. Ick!
@@sadjaxx Google it
You two crack me up!! I love that you guys put in the work to see if "what THEY say" actually works!
Hugs from 🇨🇦
And it turns out all too often that THEY say a load of rubbish 😂🤣😂
100k subscribers! Woo Hoo - Well done and congratulations, you so deserve it. You work so hard. 🥂🍾🥳🎉
Congratulations on making 100,000! 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉
Good morning. I think I can answer some of your queries. I garden in more of a French Intensive way. The rows are WAY closer. The packet assumes that you need to walk between each row, that's why 30 cm apart. My rows are about 6 cm apart in raised beds because I never walk on them. When they grow in it looks like I planted a block of each thing. And you want to plant in rows instead of sprinkling in a block for ease of weeding.
Awesome, this is excellent information. Thinking we can now go and add a couple of rows in between the rows we sowed 😀
I think in the Netherlands the spacing on the seedpacket is based on commercial growers and their machines. I always wondered how come you're supposed to plant seeds 10cm apart but need 30cm between rows. Pretty sure most plants don't grow 3 times wider in one direction😂
@@MAKEDOGROW the space between rows used to be wide enough to get the horse and plow between rows for weeding/cultivating.
Enjoyed your planting journey as you explained the rationale and it has helped my planting learning journey too
planting spring onions will in the bed will help keep carrot fly away if you've ever suffered from that issue. Your garden is looking lush, please keep us updated.
Oh, I love to experiment in the garden! I was surprised how quickly most of the wooden bits were so rotten. I would have chunked them back into half the bed to see if they made any difference in carrot length. Great that they were wet as sponges, if you have a dry growing season, it could save some watering.
We had already tried carrots in one of the other raised beds with hugelkulture … about a year ago when the logs would have been less decomposed. They didn’t do very well (probably a combination of logs and slightly more clay soil). Fingers crossed this amended bed does better
It’s good to seen you out in the garden again.
Welcome back, I was just starting to have serious withdrawal symptoms. More of everything please. especially information on house scheduling for the colder, wetter months. Ah, yes, Saterdays can go back to a civilised routine.
They post once a week. What’s your problem?
We only missed one Saturday video (mostly due to the fact we were busy holidaying). Perhaps YT simply isn’t showing you all the videos … to check that’s the case go to our channel page and click the ‘Videos’ tab, that will show all videos with the most recent first 😃
I love watching a couple of bright perfectionists (of slightly different degrees) work through a project (that hinges on the mysteries of nature!) I feel your (joint) pain and wanted you to know your sacrifice is appreciated🎉
I love the variety, I like watching it all.
Love the care with which you do everything. Exhausting too, glad you took a break and took us with you on your trip overseas. Was awesome. Also wondering if lichen/moss on almond tree adversely affects health??
The lichen is a sign of good air .. it takes nothing from the tree, so we just leave it.
Some people think it’s not good, but all our trees, and our neighbours trees’, especially olive trees, are covered in it and they are very healthy
It’s 4:15 in the morning here in South Carolina USA and I’m always glad to see one of your videos pop up. Love this channel. ❤
Orchardist here! Looks like the only thing you can do with that tree is cut it down to where there growth is and hope you can grow them into new leaders. You want about 3 new leaders/main branches. Create a vase shape where the light can penetrate right into the centre of the tree. Where light doesn’t penetrate those buds will eventually die. All your growth will move up the tree where the light is, so the goal is to keep the light coming down. Almonds, Nectarines and peaches fruit on second year wood and a fruit bud is fuzzy on red coloured wood from the previous year. Good luck!
Thank you for your advice! This matches up with the research we’ve done to date.
I have a couple of questions if you don’t mind:
1. We’ll probably wait until the autumn/fall before we do anything which is also the beginning of the wet season here. Do we need to do anything to the cut to protect it from water (I read somewhere that a 45 degree cut us best?)
2. We have lots of other trees (peaches, apple, pear) that are overgrown or too tall … could we deploy a similar strategy to bring them down to a manageable height and sculpt them to a better height/shape? Some people say only removing 25-30% at any one time, is that correct?
From Vancouver, 🇨🇦… You guys are awesome and so we decided to subscribe… make, do and definitely GROW that channel with your veggies & fruits too! 🌱
- congratulations on reaching 100,000!
- my husband is the same do little as possible to repair and with the leaset amont of effort.
- we have filled our raised beds with free wood chips from our townsl recycling. Very nice soil underneath!
- thumbs down twice 😂
See you next time and have an amazing day!
Parsnip seeds are one of the unusual shapes. I saved seeds from last year and sewed them in a tall pot. The spacing in that bed needs to be that far because of the leaves of the parsnips.
People do grow them closer, but eat the leaves to keep air circulation through the plants.
I couldn't use boards, so a drainage saucer worked equally well for carrots.
You're the only ones I have seen that pulled the bed apart and showed how much material had decomposed. Thank you.
Oh cool, didn’t know that you could eat parsnip leaves. We’ll try that, assuming they actually germinate.
Check out ‘Self Sufficient Me’, he has an excellent video showing his hugelkulture after about 4 years - he uses metal sided beds which provide a much better visual demonstration
Sowed
Great video! Very informative, I’ve often wondered if the logs/sticks at the bottom of the bed do actually do anything. Now we know! ❤
Next redo: Remove all soil. Add protective mesh for mole. Either below or above Hugleculture, place cardboard/corrugate. Further take larger pieces of wood/stumps/vines and cut them down to smaller sizes. Add soil/sand. Plant and water.
Wood and corrugated matter stop weeds, hold moisture.
Yes 😊 more gardening
I like All of your VL's. Take care be happy
I like to see everything that you are doing. And you both are cute, informing and entertaining.
Interesting to see how that worked out!
Good to see you back in the garden! Gardening brings such wonderful relaxation and sure improves my mindset!!
I love the gardening vids. (Doubling down on my thumbs up here)
10:00 Cool experiment, dismantling that, thank you. I've always wondered, never tried it. Expect things would be far more advanced in a wetter environment.
Definitely will try, maybe as a precursor to a no-dig bed. Just move the whole siding arrangement along one space, start a new bed, add one more log to replace the bottom one.
Maybe then adding eg penetrating roots such as daikon to the original bed to help subsequent crops, worms etc, mix it all up some more.
13:00 Ah the mesh is going down, ignore previous comment, I see where this is going now...
haha I'm tempted to try planting some pre-chopped carrots, or grow pre-cut chips.
Perhaps it's bedtime.
Sew in straight lines shows what isn't what you sewed so making it easier to identify and remove weeds etc. A great laugh your delivery today, double click!! Watched after sewing a load of my own seeds here in Blackpool on a beautiful, warm, spring day. Thanks as ever, Cheers, Ian
More gardening please, food is the most fragile of all supply 'chains'
Non of this is a 2 thumbs down ive been following you 2 since the start,i have no incline to live in Portugal and we have no room for any raised beds but i do love gardening and all sorts of DIY ( ive took 2 chimney breasts out in our house) but i do find what you try to achieve and your processes really interesting,so its a thumb up from me,👍🤣🤣
Awesome tips for gardening!!! 🥰🎶❤️🎶🏡🇨🇦🇨🇦🇨🇦
Happy Mother's Day everyone, especially to the ladies.
I scatter my carrots in a bed and it worked great! I got so many carrots! I also planted sunflowers in the same bed!
Agreed , you won’t be walking in bed so why plant in rows!
Ooh, sunflowers are a great idea, we have a load germinating in our potting shed
Hi guys! Glad to see you back in the garden. As for the almond tree, it might be better to grow a new one from a sapling. You can do both actually, and see how they both do. But the new sapling will probably better way to go. Also, check out 'Grow A Little Fruit Tree' book by Anne Ralph. Excellent book for growing small fruit trees. Best of luck!
Almonds take a lot of water. Best to prune live branches when they're dormant - you can cut the dead wood now, though.
Alternating the rows sounded good to me. Last week I sowed baby cabbage, brocolli and violet cauliflower in rows. I thought it would look nice. I cannot wait for it to start growing. ♥️🌹🐝
*Kylie & Guy, it is always good to experiment, to see what works or doesn't work 🙂nz*
Congratulations on your 100,000 subscribers! Love this kind of video, thank you for sharing. Good tip with placing the boards on top of the veg's to keep moist.
I like these kinda videos, but I would watch you both all day long do anything 😊
I love watching you two together. It makes me happy while drinking my morning coffee.
100K! Congratulations. Well deserved.💫👍
Great, you guys are tops!
Very informative. Watching you two is such fun.🎉
It sounds like you know quite a bit about the similar gardening methods (recognised a few of the channels you mentioned). We recently discovered @AnneofAllTrades and she bases what she does off of the Back to Eden method (can find on CZcams if you haven't watched). She also calls it lazy gardening. It's VERY similar to what you've done except she adds a few more steps but what we liked a lot was she explained it all VERY well and why some things should be done and she also showed how she adds mycelium at the beginning of a bed and why. She also has some other great videos on trees and such, not sure if she's tackled an almond tree but you can check. Yeah, I really think her channel would be useful for you as it's again, VERY similar to what you're doing and you don't have to water your garden. You may regret digging it all up if you do watch but I hope it can help you in your gardening journey. See you next week!
Explains why my veggie bed dropped but helped keep the beds "moist" during the heat. Adding more to top and plant beds today.
Yes more
Fun, I liked it so much I hit the like botten twice 🙃🤠
The sowing depth of seeds depends on the size of the seed. It is recommended to sow at a depth twice the size of the seed, therefore carrot and other seeds are sown at a depth of two to three millimeters and in order to reduce thinning, try to sow at a distance of 5-7 millimeters from each other, preferably not even in rows but in bulk. Irrigation is done in very gentle rain and then a board is placed on the ground to maintain constant moisture needed for germination. After about a week, check every day by lifting the board. As soon as there is germination, remove the board completely.
I love your videos !! Thank you for making them and for sharing your experiences
Regarding the almond tree, and I am no expert but it looks like it has a mould of some kind and the top part is dead, most likely because you get a lot of rain...? I recommend cutting the trunk above the healrhy green branches. In our area in spain these trees are the main cultivation and I have a stump that has many shoots from the sides and it still produces almonds. I also have a few others that are yet to be trimmed and they also produce. They are a hardy tree and need very little water to thrive. I hope this helps!
Good luck and congrats on 100.000 subs. Love starting my weekend with you both and always learn something relevant 😊
Ohh, this is great to know. I suspect it’s best to do this kind of trunk removal in the dormant season - is that right?
@@MAKEDOGROW ideally you would prune a tree after the harvest in the autumn but I hear chainsaws on and off all year round except the summer months but there are other trees around and most people burn wood in the winter. It's possible another storm may break the other main branch which would be worse than if you cut and seal it now. You could always plant another which would produce more and quicker and maybe a variety that is suited to a wetter soil if this one doesn't recover. I have not seen fungus on any of the trees here, probably because it rains less but in the UK it's very common ... clearly your tree has spent many years there producing and so that is a good sign you can have almonds.
Best of luck as almonds are a good addition to the pantry 😊
OMG sowing the bed without benefit of laser level , tape measure , astrology charts and the sacrifice of a virgin goat youll be drumed out of the sacred and most ancient order of homesteaders 😁😉
😂🤣😂 sometimes we’re just too rebellious 😃
😂❤
Great to see the hugel bed results. I made two of them this past fall and am glad to see the good results you got!
Your weather looks so pretty, gardens look so pretty - I know it’s a work in progress, but that’s gardening! Love your channel!
Si si si !! Votre vidéo est très intéressante !! Merci pour le temps que vous prenez pour partager vos projets !!🌻🌻
I really enjoyed this video as we were able to see how quickly some things disintegrated. It was seeing the results of an experiment. Very interesting indeed! I like the way you analyzed everything! You guys work great together! It was a nice break from the work in the house. Gardens can’t wait! Guy, you look much better than you did in the last of the Vietnam video! Have a great week guys! ❤️🙏🏼👋🏻🇨🇦😎🫶🏼
Loved that..learnt a few things so thank you both. We are about to plant up our two gorg raised beds. It's bn cold in Ireland, so planting now will be fine. Grt tip bout tapping seed packet ..we woukd be picking tiny seeds from palm of hand..difficult.
I definitely love this kind of video!
Im not a gardener but i do enjoy listening and watching what you do in your garden. Youre both always so neat and tidy n whatever jobs you do. Have clicked like. Youre funny Guy xxxx
Gratulation! "100.000" Subscribers. 💥
Great video !
I look forward to seeing you two every week, love what you are doing and how well you work together my only problem is that you are making me more and more homesick
Yes please, I enjoy the gardening one too
What kind of finishing rock is that. I love it. I also love the bed construction.
Thanks for your video just love watching 😊😊
I liked it so much.I hit the like button twice. See ya next time 😊
😂
Love these videos. Love anything you do.
Love watching everything that you both do. Hello from Australia
It is good for variety,
I don't like gardening videos so much as the ones on the works of the house, but I was always wondering whether this hügelkultur method really works. And voila, it does! So, it's a like.
I have always loved your longer videos as I feel I am almost there with you then I daydream of my own house and land garden. 😊
❤ Always wonderful to watch your videos ❤
Thank you for such informative and lovely video!🫶🥰 I love your veggie beds, and also listening to bird songs. 🦜✨️ Great job! 👍
I'm learning from your planting... it's very useful. Have a great w.e.
Onions disattract the carrot fly, carrots disattract the onion fly. So they are perfect neibours.
Parsnips belong to the same family as carrots, so it's not so wise putting them directly together. But maybe there is some space left for putting a row of onions in between.
I love all your stuff: gardening, renovating your house, solar etc.
I love the mix of videos, bit of plastering, veggie growing and anything alcohol related fits the bill for me!! Loved your Vietnam adventures too. Glad the sun is shining for you, here too in sunny Malvern, UK....a balmy 21 degs......but rain is back tomoro so making the most of it today. X
Reminds me of an archeological dig I helped on many years ago. The first 3 layers were removed pretty much as you did. That may be why I love digging in the dirt--not so keen on garden maintenance, being rather lazy--getting my hands in the earth.
We're just getting into the planting season in New England, so watching you do your raised beds has given me some suggestions for mine - like the netting to keep out voles and such. I've learned a lot from your videos, and though I will never install underfloor heating or plaster a wall, the gardening tips are very useful to me! (The rest is just fun to know.)
It could have been a nectarine tree at some point. I believe nectarines and peaches are grafted into almond. So, it might not be the best kind of almond, if you want to keep it for eating. 😊 But it definitely worth looking into!
We checked for graft points but couldn’t see any. I guess time will tell 😃
I enjoyed the gardening video. I was taught to plant seeds I a straight line so that it will be easier to see the plants come up, and easier to identify weeds and pull them, if you so chose.
Congratulations on 100000! ❤
my guess i¡you sow in rows that it is easier to spot unwanted weeds that will grow between the rows.
I liked it so much I hit the like button twice 😁
We liked the video and like to have more of these videos.
It would be great to see your olive trees and this area and if you have any olives on your tree.
How are you coping with all maintenence of the grass, wild growth etc.
And we haven't seen the area of tge bows. Do you still have vines?
Loads of interesting things to show.
We love following you from NZ and we're going to travel Portugal in your area at the beginning of November 😊😊.
Congratulations on getting 100k subscribers, woo hoo. Interesting vlog today and at least you now know what's happening 'behind the scenes" as your plants are growing. It's all very clever eh. Looking forward to seeing if your carrots and parsnips are successful, fingers crossed xxxx
CONGRATS on 100K subs👏👏
Hey! Good to see y'all again. Had to make a run to Mexico so I have been gone a good spell.
Well done in reaching the first 100,000. I'm a little worried about the age of your parsnip seeds, they really need to be fresh to have a good germination rate.
Have you considered the square foot garden method
It’s on our long list of things to try 😀