I’ve been reading up on hügelkultur, which is the process of creating raised beds over decaying wood.  As the wood breaks down, it provides warmth, and increases the water holding capacity of the soil.  There’s no shortage of decaying wood around the property, so I’m planning to build a few hügelkultur beds this fall.

A while back, I found a big bag of horse food on the side of the road – judging by the condition of the bag, it had flown out of the back of a pickup truck some time ago.  I picked it up, thinking I might compost it, and then decided that instead I would dig a hole and bury the pellets, then plant a fruit (or perhaps a nut) tree over the top of it in the spring.  Not hügelkultur exactly, but more like trench or post hole composting.

In any case, on Saturday I dug a big hole at the north edge of the garden proper, poured the horse food in the hole, then mounded dirt on top of it.  Finally, I seeded the little mound with cover crop seeds, a general mix containing bell beans, field peas, vetch and oats.  It’s my hope that the cover crop will help to stabilize the mounded soil so that it doesn’t all wash away over the winter.

Hopefully the old horse food (the old horse food?) will all be broken down by bare root season, and will provide a nutritious bed for another fig or feijoa.