Picture posting is enabled for all :)
I am struggling with the basic definition even. Does it mean that people are incorporating a bit of brushwood into trenches (a bit like putting corn stalks into bean trenches to increase waterholding). Or are people here talking about beds which have literally a couple of large tree trunks and several big branches and very undulating levels of topsoil above the wood. I must admit that I don't understand how in a high Huegel (hill) above treetrunks, the topsoil will stick and not get washes down into the valleys between the hills. The second issue I don't understand is why loss of nitrogen is not an issue. They say these hills will last for decades because this is how long the tree trunks need to rot down - does that not mean decades of depleted nitrogen? We are told to be very careful about incorporating woodchips or mulching with woodchips because of the risk of robbing nitrogen from the plants we want to grow. Why is this not mentioned as a major issue with hugelkultur?As I understand so little about why the concept works (and I don't doubt those who say it works very well) , I am looking forward to learning more.