I went by the garden center today and got a bunch of seedlings. Planting was really easy, I basically just pushed aside a bunch of wood chips and dirt with my hand, put the seedling in, and pushed the chips back to cover it.. There's actually nothing planted on the back side right now. I ran out of plants. I'll have to figure out what else to get for back there.
So far there are strawberries, several varieties of chili pepper, red bell pepper, cherry tomatoes, and snap beans. I also planted a sun-loving ground cover plant on the top (I forget the name). I'm hoping it will spread out and help keep the mount from eroding. Finally, it's ringed with petunias and begonias, just for aesthetics.
I gave it a good dousing with the hose afterward, and I'll probably need to keep that up for a while, but allegedly one of the main benefits of the Hügelkultur method is that the wood in the core wicks up and holds moisture, so once the roots penetrate down a bit, you only need to water it in extreme dry spells (which don't really happen here).
#hügelkultur #hugelkultur #permaculture #gardening #food #diy