You Have All The Soil You Need! 

Asked my neighbour if I could rake up his leaves in the fall. He said:- sure! Asked my neighbour if I could rake up his fresh-cut grass. He said:- sure! Asked my neighbour if he would like some fresh vegetables. He said:- sure! My neighbour thinks I'm crazy...

I buried old 2 X 8 and small logs and juniper branches which works great to help "take up space". This is the only video I have watched that shows us how to use a variety of materials. 100% USE WHAT YOU HAVE! Great advice!

My new fave quote: "lots of things here going about their life cycle." Isn't that what we all want?

Seems like a common corporate trend: nurseries convince you that your soil is as toxic as a tar-pit; and that you should discard your soil and buy their premium garden blend. I bought my house a few years back, weeds galore, concrete dumping ground. Heard the rig-a-marole from multiple outfits when looking for omri-soil amendments. That's all you need: native soil, add yearly organic amendments, and rebuild the soil fertility.

I heard about this 5 years ago and had my grandsons dig a trench....then added horse manure, tree limbs,, small cardboard boxes filled with our crappy orange clay soil. And topped with compost. result: the talk of the town flower bed since 2016! The cardboard basically made it a worm farm! And flowers STILL love it....

I love your frugal and practical methods. Most modern gardening is just marketing.

I just moved to a new home last year, I am the only person I know who packed up all of my chicken house materials and put them at the base of my brand new raised beds with rotten logs and leaves I gathered from last fall! Basically the same method and cat wait for three years from now when this soil breaks down over time and every year add more material... time is what it truly takes! Thank you for your informative videos!!

Using this methodology can easily double the amount of soil you think you have a well as improve the quality of your garden. My semi-hugel/wicking beds are my best preforming beds BY FAR. Thanks to this channel. I seriously don't know how others do it. I could never afford to garden, and on the scale that I do, without using your practices. These beds stay moister, stay healthier and require less effort (after the initial labor to put in logs). I do still ammend my soil with compost, manure, and sometimes sand (if it is for root crops) but we have extremely heavy clay soil here. But even with all that amending, the semi-hugel beds are my best. At first it seemed daunting. Especially after needing to pull out the pick are to break up my rock hard earth. But, it's all about the long game. I pick a few beds each year to improve and any new ones, I try to install this way from the beginning. If I have any beds far from my house, I always make them this way to reduce their dependence on watering. Some of my beds also are used for trench composting. Butchering scraps (blood, innards, feathers, some pelts), garden & kitchen waste, old leaves, rotted logs & branches, manure, spent hay... everything goes in. They are a bit deeper but nothing goes to waste here. Changing my beds and plots to this method has totally changed how I garden. 🙂

I love the way you use what you have. Instead of buying more soil, you are saving money carting away your garden waste and old logs. It's like composting and growing a garden in the same space. With much less work.

Greg... I called the No-Till Pope and told him what you did. He got a little upset but all he said was, "Go forth and till no more."

your love of backbreaking shovel work is legend.

Since I learned about hugelkultur 6 or 7 years ago it had been my go to method for filling my raised beds for free and building my overall garden soil. We lost most of the trees on our small wooded farm during hurricane Laura and while it was a huge loss, it did leave me with loads and loads of organic matter to build soil with along with my chicken flocks. Another trick I also use is laying down a base of cardboard in my walkways and topping it with large chunky mulch, bigger twigs branches, small logs etc to stop the weeds in my pathways and build soil in those locations that is biologically rich to top my beds with at the beginning of spring. I just remove any of the larger unbroken down logs & branches, shovel it onto the beds, and then reline the path again. It's a great way to make what can seem like an "unproductive" portion of the garden highly productive for the next year's garden. It also creates soil that is fungal dominated and very similar to forest floor that is dark, rich, and amazing.

Love watching you work! I totally relate to your advice about enlisting grandkids to do the heavy work. I’m 71 and can still work hard, but only for a short time. I’m expert at getting a crew started and then slowly backing away to cheer from the sidelines.

I was planting in a raised bed recently when I dug up some beautiful broken-down woody soil. I'd forgotten that I had put branches at the bottom when I built it! We're going to have some great vegetables this year!

Yard waste, last year's straw mulch, and food scraps will go under my next bed. After that, I start the no dig and just add a little compost each year. I had previously smothered out lots of weed overgrowth on my property which I purchased 3 yrs ago, and now I am building raised beds over those areas. So, this will bring all those lovely worms back!

great video. we have dolomite ground in Centurion South Africa. A tree just fell over!! I will do this. I love your video actually showing the work that goes into it. most videos makes everything look so simple and clean!! It is hard work to start a garden!!!

This method really does work well. I've used it in raised beds, container gardens, and even when I pot up trees. Just stuff that extra organic matter in there and let it all become soil. Great demonstration.

I caught my neighbor about to take 3 whole bales of straw he used for Halloween decorations to the dump! Shared them with my gardening neighbor. So happy to get them and not have them be wasted.

I can’t even remember how I started my garden beds LOL. I just keep adding organic matter.

I have a tree in my backyard that fell during the storm last weekend. You have given me inspiration!

I so enjoy watching other people work. ; )

Great to see someone else doing this! I've just completed a third hugulkultur bed at my allotment here in the UK, filled lasagna-style with logs at the bottom, leaves, grass cuttings, straw & rabbit poop in between layers of soil, topped with a woodchip mulch. Potatoes gone in yesterday I've got neighbours giving me their grass cuttings from their lawns (they're not so enlightened as to get rid of their lawns and make food gardens....), the council provide some woodchip, a rabbit sanctuary provides bags of rabbit poop, the local trees provide free leaf fall. In addition I have 3 compost bins for food waste and other organic matter. I also use the surplus grass cuttings on my paths, great weed suppressant and feels like walking on carpet.

This is a great idea. I'm 65 and have learned that even though I may be more in tune with Pa Kettle's speed [slow], hard gardening is good for body and the mind.

I've been doing this on a slightly smaller scale for a couple of years now in my uk garden and I have managed to fill 6 raised beds while buying next to no compost. All sorts of things go in the bottom: spent crops,the hay from my Guinea pigs, cardboard and food scraps. Anything organic and my soil is now aerated and lovely texture.

I use this concept all the time especially went i can get all the wood chip or mulch free. I'm 63 and it keep me in shape so i get a 2 for 1 on it, keep up the great work!

We just added four hugelkultur beds this year...excited to see how it breaks down.

I throw everything in my garden even weeds. The weeds get hurried other stuff goes on top. Fertilizer is not needed, or rarely needed. My red clay soil has been transformed to deep black light fertile soil that I can plant seeds in. My old soil was not growable. To start I got truckload after truckload of tree trimmings, and truckload after truckload of grass clippings from local companies that usually need to drive quite a distance and pay to get rid of their WASTE. It benefits both of us. Anyways, I hardened in pots until my nature did it thing and 3 years later it was rotted down. I still add grass clippings, leaves, and a layer of chopped and munched up tree trimmings every year. The earthworms are like small snakes, it's unreal. I will tell you in the beginning I did water this a lot to get all of that wood rotting down, but every time this process has been a game-changer and allowed me to Garden which I was not able to do in my old soil it was too dense it held water it's smothered the roots of every plant and nothing's arrived and eventually anything I planted died. Now I basically put seeds in I walk away I rarely water and it is absolutely amazing the abundance I get from the soil

I've created a 36 foot long hugelkultur bed but started out first digging a trench and planting it in red potatoes, they will naturalize in. All the soil was sifted of rocks as I worked my way down the trench and used to cover the potatoes. Then I did all my winter fruit tree pruning and got some nice logs from a neighbors cut cherry tree. The larger logs were lined up on the outer trench to hold back soil then I filled in with all my winter fruit tree branches and smaller logs I salvaged from the beach, cut back asparagus fronds, then topped with 7 compost bins. Then I topped it with my garden soil and planted one year strawberries all over it. A couple years ago I had discovered that potatoes love to be covered and grow out between driftwood so this should be interesting to watch. Should be able to harvest strawberries and the pups they put on for next year before digging in to harvest fall potatoes. You can harvest as you eat and leave some behind for next year.

That's exactly how to do it. When we dig, we try to make a narrow, deep trench, and we spend a day filling it with everything we can find, since digging can be exhausting, and we want to do it only once in several years in the spot. We use the lawn as a source of good silt, digging enough for a five gallon bucket, then filling the hole by forking apart the sides until it spreads across, leaving a slightly lower spot that still has grass. Also part of the garden is heavy construction clay, so when we dig it out we swap out the clay for silt, and spread the clay over the lawn over such a large area that it practically disappears.

We live in an area with orchards that are removed and replaced with new trees or row crops. Often they pay for the chips to be removed or burned. It seems like a better use would be to till it back into the ground add manure and replant its not exactly hugelkulture but it is recycling. I applaud your work.

So glad I saw this! I was about to order compost to top up my beds, but you reminded me of this good trick. You just saved me 100 bucks 🙂

Your breathing is fine. I do this at 72, you ought to see me go. Still cutting my own fire wood to. Nice video.

You bring lasagna gardening to a whole new level 💖 Thanks for the video.

Because I live in the wettest part of Scotland, I've found shallow raised beds don't work at all for me but 2 foot high ones do. I also use No Dig (as shown by Charles Dowding), where you mulch with compost so the soil never dries out.

Great video. I did this with a few raised beds last year worked great. Just got a tall raised bed. Instead of buying a bunch of soil I filled it half way with rotten logs and leaves.

Great video! If I had land, I would do the same thing, but I have to "garden" in containers, so I am composting similar to that in a brute barrel. When it warms up, I will dump it out in my driveway, put what's left of the sticks, and chunks in the bottom, and pile some soil, and newer soft stuff on,then top it off with more soil. That will give me a little bit to add into my buckets, but still have some covering the "pile"!

I'm glad you emphasized the soil already having life in it. I just dug up a place where I buried a lot of small tree branches several years ago and they look pretty much the same now as they did then. They break easier than they used to so I guess they have broken down a little. Mainly they dried out. The native "soil" here is silt with pretty much no organic matter in it. It actually repels water. You have to dig a depression to get water to soak in at all. It's never been farmed so the mineral content is very good, but it needs stuff like cow manure where it's already broken down and lowered beds rather than raised. I also have learned not to cover the top of the bed with native dirt. It doesn't let the water percolate, it gets hardened in the sun. I do have some beds now that might decompose stuff, but it's taken many years to get there. Fun to watch what it's like in other regions though!! :)

A man after my own heart, use what you have and repurpose what you find, Subbed

This is probably the 4th hugelkultur walk-through video of yours i've watched and I could go for another haha. I made a garlic bed using this method before the winter and just recently saw all the worms and other life doing their thing. Love it

Also, decomp is like a 10 year process, logs will be there until you're 70! Its crazy. Was once told about relocation of deceased from an eroding cemetery: people who had been underground for 30 years still looking like they did when they were put under there.... Just with longer fingernails and hair. Guy was serious, never saw such a serious straight face in my life.

I'd be more than out of breath! haha! I walk through the woods quite regularly and since the first time I saw you doing this, whenever I see a rotten fallen tree I want to bring it home to my garden! I sometimes do.

"... its just a question of a soil working for you instead of working for the weeds." thats like on point of what gardening is all about. Keep the good work.

This is good advice. Mulch so long as it isn't dyed and straw bales are good cheap filler that'll compost down eventually. Just make sure to keep up on your trace minerals as well and you'll be set. One great thing about logs wood and mulch is it skirts the gra zon problem. Just make sure you watch for blossom rot which is tums and a dash of vinegar, neutralize it with baking soda and your set.

That's a really good idea. Last year when he built our beds we decided to lay cardboard down because I wanted to plant and grow quickly. It worked but it dries out fast and I can't have my young little seedlings cooking in hot dry soil. So I'm thinking now that we may just dig it out in the fall and throw a few logs in and cover it up! Thank you!

I did this in one of my beds this winter . The worms are happy 😊

My friend has a big patch of bamboo, I take a pick up full of fall trimmings to fill my raised bed

I actually do this as well. I was trying to recreate a forest environment for my berry bushes.

Thank you for helping us to have a great little garden !

When I get winded like that,, I take 5/6 deeeep breaths that expand my belly, breath in 7 seconds, hold 7 seconds, exhale 7 sec and hold 7 seconds.. by the 4th breath,, I can get back to work snd not get winded again... repeat when you go to sleep and when you wake up... then go do Karaoke a couple times a week!!!! Lol what a difference!!!

I gonna try old river wood... plenty....and freeeeee.. With green grass and fall leaves

Good point, I have 4 raised beds and only 2 of them have logs in the bottom. Of course, shoveling is hard work but I think I'll dig up the 2 and use that soil elsewhere and to top them all off.

Thanks for the reminder about burying branches and wood! I just made a raised bed with help from the hubby, in the almost only sunny place in my yard, for the tomatoes. Now to fill it with soil! Luckily I have lots of branches and due to Covid last year, I picked up about every leaf that fell off our maple trees and mowed them up small and now have two large piles of great compost to use. Haven’t ever thrown a leaf or grass clipping in the trash ever. I think folks are catching on more and more about the advantages of composting ! Finally! 👍❤️

Good Stuff. Garry and Betty here in Gander Newfoundland and Labrador Canada 🧑‍🌾🇨🇦🇨🇦👩‍🌾👊🏻🤝

I live on a small island on the BC coast, basically a rock with limited soil and many large Douglas Fir. I’ve followed this method for 20 years and now have a small orchard and many raised beds. It works.

This is the most helpful video I've seen this year. Thanks!

I’m so happy to see you doing the very same thing I did with my oak barrel planters when I had to figure out how to save on filling them with good soil, I filled them half way with rotten wood instead of super heavy rocks.

This is exactly what I wanted to see. Really wonderful.

Covid taught me the same thing. I am surrounded by nice woods. I use that material and anything else we find on the property. Having a large property has been a blessing during Covid. We barely skipped a beat. Nice demo!!

Exactly! Best advice

I followed your instructions on building beds like this last year and this year I’m planting into them. It looks amazing! Thanks for all the great ideas!!

I've watched you do this a number of times, but still enjoy watching you work! 😂🤣

No ice on my South Australian soil! I have 2 large L shaped areas that I use for composing & making soil to add to my garden. It's a wonderful area. Almost everything goes in there from kitchen scraps to cardboard, prunings from my fruit trees, leaves, straw etc. I turn them over every now & again as it breaks down & depending what I need to add next. The soil is wonderful!

Thanks for showing the whole process, watched it beginning to end and it helps in understanding the concept and the ease of how it can be done.

Nature returning to nature. Fabulous idea. Thanks

I love your practical and frugal ideas!!!!

Love your dry sense of humour

You're a legit gardener. God Bless Brother

You are so so so correct- on purchasibg soil!

Thoroughly Satisfying. Thank You

Just starting to landscape my home. Will try some of these tricks in my flower beds and garden. Thanks for the info.

Makes so much sense!

That’s a great idea . We have several raised beds that are 2’ high so we get a lot of settling. We started them with logs and such in the bottom but never thought of bringing the levels back up in this manner. Thanks! And I like you line “ I don’t care and I know it works”.

Back about a month ago, I did something similar in that I laid yard waste on the soil surface. Covered it with an inch of well rotted manure, and laid potato seed right on the surface. This I covered with partially composted shredded leaves and then some old 10-10-10 that I had in my garage for years. Old spoiled hay over the top. Watered and waited. Right now the plants are about 8" high and growing great. It will get mulched in the fall. More or less copied your real lazy potato garden with great results. Didn't buy soil! I watched you instead.

I have so many rotting logs I can't wait to get in ny gardens. Thank you!

Thanks ,the lesson was helpful ,keep strong......cheers.

This is awesome! We just put up a video tour of our 32x16ft vegetable garden where we grow our annuals. We may try this technique with our smaller perrenial beds. Thanks for this!!

I did that with my beds this year, Greg. It is a lot of work...and I'm 69 😁...just did it a lot slower than you 😂

Good on You, great information, I have used this method. Saves a lot of money!!!$

Thanks for the ideal..

Thank you so much for this video. I was about to throw out a bunch of good matter and just fill my box with store soil but Now I know better. Thank you again.

We live right on the edge of a big forest and then down the hill a tad, there is a good size river. We have rotten logs that cave in and fall all the time. I have an unlimited supply of excellent soil and I am always bringing all of that into our garden plots, along with composting and other materials gathered over past 2 years out here. Thanks for sharing your great ideas with us!!!

I agree, I think above the ground needs more water and that adds work. Yes garden debeir and dirt makes good soil Thanks

I soo delighted I invited his vid to join me for coffee this morning! Coffee with my gardernist ,love hiscoolness easy does it, nothing to it just do it get her done! Total practicalness. Loved reach to people. Enriching your soil with your created soil, is It!

Thanks for the great video. You saved me a lot of time and backbreaking work to bundle up tree branches and dragging them to the curbside for garbage pickup. It is a lot easier to bury them in the garden. Thanks.

its a great way to garden ive tried it and it works , good method

Great tip on making soil Greg ! i have 3 compost piles but holy it takes a lot of material to make a little bit of compost , like to try this out , thanks

I've seen this method before but it was a blast watching you and hearing your perspective 😎

Thank you. I was starting to feel sad about buying soil in bags. Your technique is truly what was inside my heart. Thank you for awakening my desires.::) Now I will not surcome to my 15 year old thinking I am doing something wrong in getting my neighbor's scraps☺

Thank you for sharing 🙏this wonderful garden tips 😀

Good idea. This is less work than getting a load of dirt and wheelbarrowing it into your garden plus bagging the yard waste for pickup. It’s also something that can be done at an easy pace. I like this.

That’s a beautifully prepped bed.

Great stuff, building two of these beds with year !! Thanks looking forward to your updates. Subscribed

Ice? It’s 10 am in Louisiana and it’s already close to 80 degrees. Thanks for the advice. I was going to break my back building a 3’ raised bed out of concrete blocks. Now all I’ll do is line up one row and fill er up with logs, branches and leaves and come back later and plant. So much easier!

Thank you for the ideas.

Excellent video, I learned a lot from it, looking forward to more of your tips on how to do stuff.

That is great! Have heard of this but never gave it much thought because we are in the Desert in SW Arizona, but re-thinking it because we have a lot of veggie compost. We will include some of the chunks of wood we had when we got wood ships - break up those chunks (wood splitting) and incorporate those along with the compost. Should last a long time. Thank you for this video reminding us of what we SHOULD do. Judi

Always fun to watch you when digging like that. I have an abundance of fresh Spruce twigs and also loads of dried Bracken that I would like to utilize better. Have you ever tried to use any of them or a combination of them instead of hay or straw to apply the Rout Stout method? I hope it could work fine for at least growing potatoes under them!

Great video, thanks for addressing the nitrogen issue or non-issue.

Great video I am almost your age and the less work I have to do now a days the better lol , I use 30” raised beds now and fill them half with logs and sticks then compact it with top soil , I fill the rest with a soil , compost , worm casting and slow release fertilizer to finish them off . Every year I over fill them with more compost and slow release fertilizer and mulch to great results.

Brilliant!