Raise your gardening game

Welcome, everyone. I’ve embarked on a mission of discovery for crashed and scattered Medina County meteorite fragments. So today’s gathering is compliments of my friends, a down-to-earth family, the Zoils – father Clay, mother Sandie, teen daughter Terra, son Rocky and toddler Little Lomie.

“Hi, everyone. I’m Clay Zoil and this is my wife, Sandie. Because of the recent high winds and damaging storms, there are so many uprooted trees, branches, limbs and leaves around our yard that we’ve decided to use an ancient horticulture technique called hugelkultur.”

This centuries-old German and Eastern European gardening method involves mound culture, or raised beds, using on-site composting of rotting wood. In a sunny location, lay out an area about 8 feet long by 4 feet wide and dig a trench 12 to 18 inches deep, saving the soil. Place large woody material – logs, fallen trees and branches – at the bottom, then fill gaps with soil, compost, manure and yard waste, packing it tightly. Water well, then top with 2 to 3 inches of topsoil and mulch. Beds are typically 2 to 3 feet tall. They can be planted right away or left to settle until next spring.

Hugelkultur beds are well-suited for sprawling and climbing plants such as cucumbers, beans, melons, potatoes and squash. Avoid using treated wood, locust, cedar, redwood or black walnut. The mounds typically last five to six years and offer benefits such as improved soil fertility, extended growing seasons, drought resistance and increased biodiversity.

“Save some stumps and roots for me,” adds Rocky.

Sandie explains Rocky’s interest in “stumpery,” a garden style using parts of old or dead trees as structural features. Inverted stumps, logs or roots are arranged in natural, sometimes quirky ways, then planted with ferns, mosses, lichens or hostas. The design dates back to Victorian-era gardens, first documented in 1856 at Biddulph Grange in England, and creates a woodland-like atmosphere.

Meanwhile, Terra helps Little Lomie create a “kokedama,” or moss ball, a Japanese plant display. A mixture of peat moss and potting soil is shaped around a plant’s roots, then covered with moss and wrapped with twine to hold its shape. These can be displayed hanging or on a surface and require bright, indirect light and regular misting.

As the demonstration wraps up, Clay offers a joke: “What did the grass seed say to the topsoil? We be lawn together.”

Thanks, everyone.