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Solon Public Library to Host Hügelkultur Presentation

BY KATHY ERENBERGER

Johnson County Master Gardeners filling a trench with organic material as part of the initial hügelkultur bed construction at the Johnson County Fairgrounds Demonstration Garden in October 2022. Photo by Linda Schreiber.

Please join us for a talk about hügelkultur, the ultimate in raised-bed gardening, at the Solon Public Library on Tuesday, Aug. 27 at 6:30 p.m. Hügelkultur is the practice of burying wood and other organic materials to provide water and nutrients for your garden bed. Our guest speaker is John Weeg,  a Johnson County Master Gardener who has directed recent Master Gardener hügulkulter projects.  

Johnson County Master Gardeners created the first of these raised beds in the fall of 2022 at the Demonstration Garden at the Johnson County Fairgrounds; additional beds installed at Ecumenical Towers in Iowa City in 2023, including a galvanized-steel raised bed using the hügelkultur method. By 2023’s growing season, drought conditions provided the perfect test of this approach to gardening. This session will cover what worked for us, what we have modified for the next year, and how to make it easier.

A raised galvanized hügelkultur bed was installed by Master Gardeners under Weeg’s supervision at Iowa City’s Ecumenical Towers in fall of 2023. Photo by John Weeg.