I've spent a large amount of time overhauling this article on hugelkultur. New pictures, artwork and information. I think that this one article may be the best gateway from "weed and feed" to permaculture. Please, please, please pass it on:
http://www.richsoil.com/hugelkultur/
I thought rotting wood uses a lot of the Nitrogen out of the soil? Does this need to be compensated for?
Quote from: Squirl on August 22, 2011, 11:55:29 AM
I thought rotting wood uses a lot of the Nitrogen out of the soil? Does this need to be compensated for?
Maybe I didn't say enough about that in the article?
For the first year, you will need to fertilize to compensate for that - unless you plant lots of legumes. In the third year, you don't need to worry about it anymore.
Jack Spirko dedicated today's podcast to this. He has a massive audience of something like 25,000:
http://www.thesurvivalpodcast.com/permaculture-solutions-for-water-needs