Towards the end of the season when we are cutting back all of the perennials and digging out the annuals we start creating a “Hugel” pile. This is basically a raised bed created out of garden scraps. Ideally woodier plant material is layered on the bottom of the pile and less woody material gets layered on the top. In the spring we continue to add material to our pile until it is about 4 feet high. We then put a layer of compost on the top and plant our pumpkins and squash into this – they love growing on these piles. Our record harvest from two 15 foot diameter piles was 750lbs of squash and pumpkins!
Happy Hugeling!