Hugelkultur bed going well

I’m really pleased with the growth of the pumpkins and zucchini in the hugelkultur bed. The first zucchini are flowering:

I didn’t expect them to do well because the underlying base of sticks is nowhere near broken down, but all the leaves and compost I spread over the sticks must be doing something good. I’m watering every second day, and daily on very hot days, so maybe the roots have managed to get through into the underlying soil. It’s only about 30 cm high at the moment, so I’ll keep building it up over winter. It’s a great way to use up organic material and put carbon back into the soil where it belongs.

The pumpkins are looking good too:

First job of the morning is to take this highly technical piece of equipment down to the bed to do a bit of pollinating:

Seems to be working. Baby pumpkin coming:

I’m going to do more hugelkultur beds in a section right at the rear of the property:

It has a few spindly wattles which I planted for a woodlot, but I don’t really need them as there’s plenty of dead wood coming out of the bush. I’m going to remove them and because it’s on a slope, I’m going to put in swales and plant on the mounds. I’ve already done one beside the path and will work back up the slope swaling and mounding. This first one needs deepening but I’m waiting for rain to soften the soil which is rock-hard at the moment (it’s all being done by hand):

This area is furthest from the house and will only get natural rainfall, so I’ll need to do some homework to select plants that will survive there.

Finally, some eye candy. I’ve always grown alpine strawberries (which are small and full of flavour), but somewhere managed to acquire a regular strawberry plant and it’s in a tub with a tomato on the deck. Looking out the kitchen window, I noticed something large & red:

They were delicious on my morning mueslii. And there’s more coming!