If your yard is big enough that you might have a felled tree from time to time due to lightning or winter storms, you may wonder how you can put the wood to good use. Most people who don't regularly heat with wood just post an ad on Craigslist for free wood if someone picks it up. Instead consider using the wood to form the backbone of a type of gardening bed known as Hugelkultur, that is, burying wood in your garden bed to gain many benefits including eliminating irrigation.


Permaculture site Rich Soil promotes the many benefits of Hugelkultur:


You can use freshly cut wood as well as rotten wood, but keep in mind that newer wood will consume nitrogen as it composts, which could bother some plants. As the wood decomposes it will leach the nitrogen back into the soil, so you will actually see a gain in nitrogen over time, but in the first few years you may have to add supplemental nitrogen if you use freshly cut wood in you Hugelkultur bed.


If you're interested in learning more about Hugelkultur the source link below has multiple videos, lots of photos, and a much more detailed section on how the beds work.

raised garden beds: hugelkultur instead of irrigation | Rich Soil