Four years(2022) ago we dug a pit (approximately 10’ wide x 20’ long x 6’ deep) at the front of our property with the intention of installing a natural swimming pond. We ultimately decided the location was not very good. There was a lot of canopy cover which meant lots of leaves in the swimming pond which meant lots of maintenance. Plus, I had moved on to other projects and with the drought Central Texas has been in for the last few years I didn’t feel like it was the right time to try to establish a pond.
The impetus to fill in the pit came this past summer(2025). One of the large (~50 feet tall) hackberry trees at the front our property died. So, the solution became obvious. Fill in the pit with hackberry tree wood and cover it over with soil to create a sunken hugel bed.
Hugelkultur is raised bed gardening technique where you pile up rotten wood, cover it with soil and plant on it. The rotten wood soaks up water like a sponge and slowly releases it providing drought resistance. The wood also provides nutrients as it breaks down and encourages other microbial soil life.
We decided to rent a skid steer as building the hugel would require moving ~20 cubic of yards of soil. So, while we had the machine on site we decided to take care of a couple of other projects like building a terraced garden and finishing the living roof on the cottage.
Check out the video for more details about the project.
Improved my knowledge of Hugel Beds no end.
Impressive garden. Let’s hope for some gentle rain for several days.
Looking forward to trying out the cottage roof garden.