Texas Gardening: Lessons learned while gardening in a drought..., 1 by podster

podster wrote:
Hugelkultur above ground bed

I had some berry plants that needed to go in the ground. It was so dry the ground was too hard to dig so I built a Hugelkultur bed above ground. I soaked the rotting wood in the rain barrel to make sure it was well saturated. The wet wood was the first layer.

Then I mixed and added leaf mold, compost and a cheap sandy potting soil which wasn't good for much else. I did build a landscape timber bed frame but only to keep it from washing away if it ever should rain hard.

There was room for more than the berry plants which were small so I planted Hibiscus roselle, new coneflower plants and an herb ~ Artemisia in the same bed.

This bed is amazing. The hibiscus ~ roselle should demand more moisture but it it has not required water. These plants have not wilted at all. Bright light location and afternoon sun.

Note to myself: build more of these beds!