Has anyone here tried some form of hugelkultur and how did that work out for you?

I haven’t tried that but as long as you watch the nitrogen levels carefully it should work. The decaying wood would be a home for bacteria that use the nitrogen in the soil, tying it up so it’s not available for your plants. But just watch the color of your plants and you can tell if there is adequate nitrogen for them.

I built raised hugelkulture beds one year ago. It takes time to develop, but I feel confident the beds will perform well. My first two crops did well, and there has been no signs of nitrogen deficiency. It’s going to take time for the wood to decompose, and develop a strong network of mycorrhizae. I would apply extra mycorrhizae when you build your beds. I did not dig a hole for the wood to sit in. I think it would have been better if I had because rain can escape from the bottom of my beds. I used everything from 18” logs to twigs. Wood chips would probably get things going a little faster.

@KumoBob: thank you, that is exactly the kind of response I was hoping for. I have not set the beds yet, but digging an inch or two down before placing the wood sounds like an excellent idea. I’ll be using some 16” pieces of split logs, and various branches and twigs from pruning, I’ll seek out some chips as well.