aaron worked at installing hugelkultur beds for ramps and ribes alongside our road. hugelkultur is a permaculture practice that relies on the moisture and warmth of buried, decomposing wood to create luxurious living environments for perennial plants and fruit trees.
first he dug a trench:
then he lined it with punky fire wood, which he salvaged from the back yard of one of his landscaping clients.
people do make hugelkultur beds from freshly cut wood, as a way to make use of the trees that they need to cut down to create garden space. however, this wood was already very soft and moist, kind of perfect, really:
he was easily able to squeeze a trickle of water out of it.
he shoveled the soil over the punky wood, and gave the whole thing a generous layer of leaf litter.
the first residents of this bed are these gorgeous little ramps, which aaron got through a plant swap.
they look so happy already!
of course the best thing about this project is that it doesn't involve any purchasing. it uses yard waste, and the only investment is elbow grease.
So could i basically plant the wild ramps (roots intact) i bought at the farmers market this morning? That would be fantastic! Does it have to be a shady spot? I'm getting all excited now!
ReplyDeleteyep! Can and should. They do need shade and should be under deciduous trees. They are a spring ephemeral, meaning they come up and do their thing before the trees leaf out.
ReplyDelete"spring ephemeral"... aint it lovely, though?
ReplyDeleteIt is! Now im just sad I wont get to eat them... but hopefully they'll survive to east next year....
ReplyDelete