Unlock the Magic of Hügelkultur ✨

Discover the Power of Hügelbeds! Having trouble viewing this email? [View this email on the web.]( [Banner]( [The Real Secret to a Magical Garden]( [This secret will change the way you think about gardening.]( [Join The Old Farmer’s Almanac Gardening Club for all the dirt.]( [Hero]( Photo Credit: Paul Wheaton RichSoil.com Dear Almanac Reader, We all know gardens can be magical. But for this garden you need to know the magic word: hügelkultur. Hügelkultur (HEW-gul-kul-TOOr), which comes from eastern Europe and Germany, centers on a type of raised bed called a hügelbed. What makes them so special? So magical? These hügelbeds hold moisture, build fertility, maximize surface volume, and provide ample space for vegetables, herbs, and flowers. Hügelkultur is seriously environmentally friendly, too. The practice turns trees, branches, and rough lumber into super fertile garden beds. Think of it as the pro version of raised bed gardening. Hügelbeds can start life around 5 to 6 feet high, eventually sinking to around 2 feet as the wood, leaves, and other organic substances break down and decompose, releasing nutrients and enriching the soil as they go. These mounds provide better drainage, warmer soil for a longer growing season, and higher yields, and they make weeding and watering easier. [Image - Logs in the ground]( Photo Credit: Shutterstock And in case you need proof of how well these living sponges work in real life, hügelbeds are so rich in nutrients that one gardener we spoke to harvested 120 pounds of cucumbers and 42 “good-size” pumpkins from first-year beds. Best of all, they’re really fun to build. But you’ll have to read our 2017 Garden Guide to get the details. In fact, you can find heaps of gardening knowledge in the Garden Guide library. We add an exclusive new digital guide each year for [The Old Farmer’s Almanac Gardening Club]( members, and you get access to all of them. That’s over 1,100 pages of gardening tips, plant lore, recipes, design ideas and inspiration, tricks, shortcuts, and so much more! The 2025 Gardening Club is HERE! [OFIE Image]( Club Members Perks: - Receive premier gardening advice - Be the first to recieve the 2025 Garden Guide - Attend Members-Only Q&A Sessions hosted by Almanac editors - Members save over 30% and unlock digital benefits [Join Today]( No Room? No Problem [Image - Cucumber]( Photo Credit: Shutterstock What if you don’t have room for a hügelbed? For that matter, what can you do if you have limited gardening space? Instead of spreading out, you can grow up. (Don’t worry – we’re talking about plants here, not life choices.) Vining veggies produce more per square foot, they’re easy to watch for pests, and they’re easy to harvest. All you need is a trellis of some sort and you can enjoy snap peas, snow peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, spinach, and beans. It’s not just about taking advantage of space, though. Did you know that cucumbers will yield 50 percent more when they can climb a trellis or arch? And some varieties of peas, like the “Tall Telephone,” will turn a 6-foot trellis into a gorgeous and delicious wall of peas. Or there’s the “Jasper” red cherry tomato that will give you 15-foot vines of vigorously growing tomatoes. You can find out more about vining vegetables in the 2021 Garden Guide. However, if you want to get your hands dirty with root veggies, in addition to planting up, check out the 2019 Garden Guide. New This Year LIVE Q&A Sessions with Almanac Editors! Gardening Club members recieve exclusive invitations to live Q&A Sessions Almanac hosted by the editors of The Old Farmer's Almanac! Become a member of the Old Farmers Almanac Gardening Club today, and you’ll never run out of advice, tips or inspiration! [Join the Gardening Club Today]( Here's the scoop on what's inside the exclusive club member box: [BP-IMG-OFA]( The 2025 Old Farmer’s Almanac Classic Edition Always reliable and entertaining, this handy yellow book is a “true” Almanac—a calendar of the heavens, a time capsule of the year, and an essential reference that reads like a magazine. [BP-IMG-Garden Cal]( The 2025 Old Farmer’s Almanac Gardening Calendar Our perennial best-seller for over 46 years! Rich illustrations accompany useful gardening tips on everything from planting to preserving. [BP-IMG-GG]( 2024 Garden Guide The Garden Guide is our annual publication filled with ideas, tips, plans, and sage advice for the year ahead in growing! It’s as beautiful as a coffee table book, yet so jam-packed with useful and timely information it’s like a magazine! [Image - GG]( Shipping Spring 2025 2025 Gardening Guide As a gardening club member, you'll also receive the 2025 Garden Guide hot off the press! [Image - GG 3 up]( Complete access to our online library The library packed with Garden Guides, digital Almanacs going back to 2010, over 100 issues of EXTRA! Magazine, and more! Join today you’ll be prepared for any gardening project. Whether you garden for food, for flowers, or just for fun, a membership in Old Farmers Almanac Gardening Club will keep you entertained, informed, and inspired all year long! Sincerely, Carol Connare Editor The Old Farmer’s Almanac [Join the Gardening Club]( Enjoy more Almanac wit & wisdom! [Facebook]( [Instagram]( [YouTube]( [Pinterest]( You received this email because you're a Club Member. If you do not wish to receive our regular email newsletter in the future, please [manage your preferences](. Please do not reply to this e-mail. [Contact Us]( © 2024 Yankee Publishing Inc. An Employee-Owned Company 1121 Main Street | P.O. Box 520 | Dublin, NH 03444 [View web version](