Have you read about "keyhole gardens"? In essence that's what you are doing. It's a shame not using spare space for Hugel beds if you have the nessary material.

Yes, I've read about them and we have 6 happening along a Hugel row in the first acre.

I'm not interested in them in my front yard. I am building a raised bed (period.) that will be for ornamentals. I leave edibles to other people.

I definitely have the material, which is why I asked about anyone's experience. I have also read about them being raised online, but was interested in experience.

Thank you, though. We seem to be on a similar page, though. I'm looking to see how productive those keyhole gardens are for my edible gardening friend.

After the bed settles onto the ground and the grass under the mound is smothered capilarity should be established. The mound will then be structurally anchored to the earth. How well rotted is the wood you are using?

I'm not certain, but the wood isn't fresh. I've got some that's light, because it's been out in the weather and bugs, then I've got more that's dense. I definitely have wood that's been down for 3 years, due to a tornado that ripped through my and my neighbor's yard.

I am putting about 2''s worth of wood into my bed. I plan leaves, lots of coffee grounds brush, probably some shredded cardboard, along with the layers of nice, sandy loam I've dug out.

In essence, I guess I'm combining lasagna gardening with HugelKultur. The difference is that I'm not putting layers of cardboard between the wood and the upper layers. I thought that would slow down the water that would seep down from the top.

Since I initially wrote, I've built my bed frame and dug some of the ground out, anyway. It's on such a grade, that I was concerned water would settle on one end of the bed. The grass is gone there. I've also made a skreeder to get rid of the Bermuda grass in the soil I'm returning to the bed.

Tomorrow I'm off, and pretty excited about collecting my wood and laying it in.

CEF how tall are you building your bed? What type of soil do you have? I have my first hugel bed less than a year old now so not a long track record yet but seems to work well. I built up from ground level no digging because we have heavy clay soil and did not want rotting wood sitting in water. I put a row of large diameter pieces of wood about two feet tall in a standing position down the center of the mound because I figured it would wick the moisture upward into the mound. That is because we have a slight grade and I built the mound shaped slightly curved to catch the runoff water. (I think technically not a swale because it is not lower than ground level on the uphill side?) I should also mention that there was no sod on the ground because it was the site of a burn pile. The initial pile of brush and larger pieces was almost six feet tall and has settled to about four feet. I am excited to see how things progress. By the way I inserted pie shaped wedge like pavestone "step ups" at around two feet high and about every five feet on the mound so I could plant and harvest the top without compacting and disturbing soil underneath. That works really well to access the top.

Greenleaf, it sounds like your bed is going to be quite the story! The pavers were a great idea.

My bed is on a slant, intersecting where the rainwater runs across my yard in waves, like the beach. It's on a slight slope, so one end is about 12" high, where the other end is 36". Along the bottom, I left 3" gaps between the ends of boards so water could get in.

I have loamy, sandy soil, which was just plain simple to dig. I dug out about 12" below the bottom piece. As the slope increased, I added more wood to keep it about level with the 12" end. So at one end, there's more.

I used the red oak tree a tornado took down several years ago. I mentioned that earlier. Lots of brush and stuff I picked up off the side of my country road. I also lasagnaed it. My layers are:

Wood.
Wood chips.
Cardboard
A thick layer of leaves.
Skreeded dirt to hold those down.
A thick layer of coffee grounds.
Pearlite (because I had it)
What green(ish) yard stuff I had left in November!
A bale of straw
Skreeded dirt
Thick coffee grounds with their filters laid out.
3-6" of wood chips.

I'm letting it marinate over the winter. If I'd used compost instead of the wood chips, I'd have planted into it immediately. As it is, from experience I know by spring, you won't be able to find these layers, because they'll turn to wonderful, thick dirt. I don't do veggies, so I have a lot of seasonal leeway.

Here are a few pics:

My wood load.

Digging out.

Laying down my wood.

Up to the Hay Layer. If you look closely, you can see coffee filters laid out, too.

Finished, 24' x 4' bed, ready for winter marinating.

DO NOT bury wood in the ground. You will attract rodents and bugs.

CEF I must say yours looks much more aesthetically pleasing than mine. Nice job there!

Hugelkultur calls for the wood to buried into the ground, KGR. Our hugel has survived 3 years with no problems from rodents or bugs. That's all part of the process.