Hugelkultur is a centuries-old, traditional way of building a garden bed from rotten logs and plant debris. These mound shapes are created by marking out an area for a raised bed, clearing the land, and then heaping up woody material (that’s ideally already partially rotted) topped with compost and soil.

Hugelkultur, pronounced hoo-gul-culture, is a German word for “hill culture.” It is a method of gardening that has been used in Germany and Eastern Europe for centuries. Essentially, it is a pile of decomposing wood covered in soil that creates a mound you can plant in. It is a common permaculture practice that mimics the nutrient cycling that happens in nature.