November 4, 2024

VIDEO: GGC – 73 – Preparing our Hugelkultur Garden for Winter: Chop and Drop


Though Hugelkultur is a very low maintenance method of permaculture gardening, there are a few things you have to do throughout the year. So right now, as autumn draws to an end, it’s about time we prepared our garden for the winter, using a simple technique called: Chop and Drop!

20 thoughts on “VIDEO: GGC – 73 – Preparing our Hugelkultur Garden for Winter: Chop and Drop

  1. Thanks for the video. Interesting method, and so much easier than getting rid of the old plants. In the spring do you add top soil to plant? Merry Christmas! and a great new year! Your tree is cute.

  2. If the goal is to emulate nature, even the chopping part detracts from that. I like the general idea that nature's done okay for billions of years, so stop trying to improve on it, stupid humans…but it's undeniable that while purely natural systems obviously work, they don't always produce the best results from a gardening perspective. Pruning, fertilizing, organic pest control, strategically locating plants for optimal sunlight, etc…all produce more fruit on tomato plants, lusher greens on kales, lettuces, cabbages, and so on. So I still like the idea of composting the garden remnants and using it next season. It just speeds up a process that nature would have taken care of eventually, but over decades vs. years or years vs. months…life is short.

  3. Interesting. We don't usually get snow here, but I tried adding a bunch of dead branches at the bottom of a raised bed beneath compost and soil. A few years on and it's still producing strongly. It's been a dry time too, and we hardly ever water the bed.

  4. I love you two. Letting the little guy stay in your garden is adorable and I really like the forethought and acting that goes into your videos. It's SO nerdy, and I mean that as the best compliment I know of. I just found you today, how is that even possible? I just bought a sprinter van and I'm looking even deeper on youtube to get every idea possible for my build out >_< AHHH wish me luck!!

  5. I love your graphics! So cool. I leave everything I can just like you did. I just pull it up or chop it or whatever. I walk over my asparagus ferns and they lay down a nice layer of protection for the winter. I pull up tomatoes and lay down. The only thing that is hard to pull up or break is my okra plants(trees!) But, I pull them over and put straw and leaves on them too, and they will break down eventually.

  6. As for my practice better way is to leave all that sticks and old plants until spring. Because all that stuff holds up snow and when warm comes snow will become water. More snow is held up = more water is accumulated by soil beds.

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