Building soil, increasing water retention and changing the possibilities of gardening in shallow earth.  Contents: A Brief Philosophy of Hugelkultur Considerations When Buidling a Hugelkultur Two Types Of Hugelkultur Hugel-in-a-day Passive Hugel-ing Hugelkultur Maintenance Some last thoughts Very early on in my ecological gardening journey I came across the concept of “hugelkultur”, and soon saw the concept repeated in many places, from books, to homesteads I volunteered

While ordering some seeds this winter I came across the term “hunger gap”. It was used in the description of a storage root crop variety (I can’t remember which vegetable!). I was struck by the term, and honestly think its remarkable I’ve only heard about it now in my late twenties. It refers to this period of time in mid-winter until early spring when no fresh produce is available, when winter stores are decreasing without any new food coming in. It 's such a visceral term,

Black currant cuttings taken in the Autumn for planting. While propagation by dormant hardwood cuttings may seem a bit intimidating if you’ve never done it before, it is one of the simplest ways to propagate certain plants, and is an affordable and easy way to increase your stock for many different species. This post is specifically about dormant hardwood cuttings, as propagation with greenwood/softwood cuttings is a whole different topic. I will be giving a bit of an underst

Why bare-root? Bare-root currant ready to be planted We choose to plant and supply bare-root trees because it is better for the long-term health of trees, and therefore better for the people growing them. When trees are grown in pots their roots quickly reach the edges of the pot and begin to grow in the shape of the pot. There tends to be a higher ratio of root growth to above ground growth, so even small potted trees can quickly become root-bound in a pot. The transplant sh

Why are we doing this? As in, what's the motivation behind propagating trees and shrubs that are valuable to humans?  I think it's worth teasing out a definition of what I mean by valuable here, because in reality, all trees are valuable to humans, let alone the greater than human world, which is far far bigger than our little human lives. For an example, let's examine a Common Juniper, or Eastern Red Cedar ( Juniperus virginiana ). It’s a common tree in our area, often seen