When we first started our large vegetable garden in 2018 we were on a very tight budget. We had just purchased our first home and moved 6 hours away from friends and family. Not only that but I had just given birth to our second child. We had a big, beautiful blank canvas but boy did it need some work! The existing gardens were full of weeds, literal rubbish and the ground was rock hard clay. With our tight budget we couldn’t afford to purchase or make raised garden beds so we looked at what we had on our property to come up with a solution.
We removed weeds and unwanted plants where we wanted our garden beds to be. As we began the tidying process we realised we had an abundance of leaves, branches, lawn clippings and tree trunks. We decided to keep the gardens where they were on the outer edges of the yard and set to researching how we could install some garden beds for free/cheap using as much of our natural waste products as possible.
During our research we stumbled across the term ‘Hugelkultur’ and it was the perfect solution for our problem! Hugelkulturs use a layering system to develop a garden bed. Over time the internals of the mound break down, creating nutrients for the plants growing in them and increasing the water retention of the soil. We used the larger tree trunks and branches at ground level and built up the mounds with layers of sticks, leaves and grass clippings before adding a final layer of mushroom compost. We built each mound up slowly with the resources we had on hand and ended up fitting three of them along the fence line.
As we completed each Hugelkultur mound we planted it out with whatever seeds we had on hand. These were mostly peas and snow peas from seed packets that we had picked up a Bunnings before the move. We were given some garlic bulbs off a local lady who heard we were getting our own vegetable garden going and added them into the first Hugelkultur. Using some old PVC pipe that was left by the old owners we built a worm tower to try and encourage some life back to the extremely hard, clay soil.
After much discussion we decided to use the space under the Bottle Tree as a herb garden. This area was cleared during the development of the Hugelkulturs and just needed a layer of compost to kick start it.
As the garden slowly progressed we began to cut the grass away and build pathways around the Hugelkultur mounds. We then decided to push the garden space out to the same width as the herb garden to extend our growing space even more. By this point the mushroom compost fund had depleted and we needed to look for another option to add back to the soil. At the local horse agistment I was able to access beautifully broken down manure by the trailer full. We used this to develop our other garden bed spaces around the Hugelkulturs.
The next issue was garden edging. We didn’t want the lawn growing back into the garden and we also didn’t want the manure being spread out into the lawn area (which 100% would have happened with the kids). Again we began researching for the best possible solution. We were hoping to be able to source some more bricks to create a bricked edging however purchasing the bricks, even though we were looking second hand, was not going to be possible. The solution we came up with was a plastic edging, not exactly what we were after but it would do the job. It was a pain to get in the ground straight and secure but we got there in the end and it has slowed the grass down significantly over the years. Once the edging was installed we topped off the garden beds with straw mulch.
Within 10 months we had gone from a mess pit to a large and beautifully productive vegetable garden. We planted and harvested corn, potatoes, zucchini, beans, snow peas, garlic, kale, amaranth, lettuce, onion, pumpkin, cucumbers and a variety of herbs.
Over the last 4 years we have extended this garden out further and added to our fruit, vegetable and herb selections. We have also added extra vegetable garden space on the opposite side of the backyard, in the front yard and cleared out the front garden hedging. Instead we now have a beautiful tall Lilli Pilli hedging which provides us privacy year round and delicious berries to eat and preserve during the warmer months. The hedges do however get a little frost effected in winter but they seem to bounce back fine come spring.
The Hugelkutlur method has worked really well for us so far. Over time the mounds have sunk and we have added more organic matter to them to increase the size. This garden building style can be used in raised beds as well, adding branches and sticks to the bottom of your raised garden bed, then a layer of leaves before adding your soil to the top.
I hope this inspires you to think outside the box a little and turn your waste into something resourceful when it comes time to develop your own garden spaces.