Do you think it will work

[Iris_Germany]

Thanks J. J. I have a lot of dahlias and the likes to remove from the garden yet, so I will throw them in on top of the trees, I had intended shredding them and spreading it over the flower beds, but putting it on top of the logs will save me time.

I have one question concerning the seaweed you mention on other comments: Do they contain salt?

You seem to live near the sea, what I am envious of, I admit ... :-)))
There your climate conditions are surely a lot different than where I live: In the south-west of Germany, but near a low mountain range.

And your top soil was dry all the time? Here, it rained and rained and rained. You must be in a completely different climate region than I am.

[Iris_Germany]

I doubt it will be any worse than this year Snoop, I had to water regularly which is something I don't normally have to do, as I have been emptying one of the beds when I got 5 or 6 inches down the soil was as dry as dust and full of roots, as for the nitrogen depletion (I read that word on the back of a cornflakes box and wanted to use it) I am hoping that topping off with compost and seaweed will overcome this, how ever time will tell

Hi!

I have not understood right what it looks like exactly. I have to read the text again with a dictionairy on hand.
One thing which I can contribute to the dry and nitrogen-problem at the top of a raised bed/hügelkultur: My recipe is stinging nettles.

I put them on top of my beds. A lot of them. They provide the raised beds and hügelbeds with nitrogen.
They grow all over and cost nothing. I have to walk to my garden 1 km approx. Until I am there, I have a big sack of stinging nettles. I make manure tea of them too for fertilizing.

But on top of the raised beds they act as mulch and fertilizer as well.

[rary]

Still unable to sort the timber wall as wet weather has held me back, one good thing is that with all the rain and time delay the bed has settled down quite a bit, so as I still have some soil to move I can spread it over the top of the bed rather than over the flower beds

[fishpond]

Just a thought on the gravel.
Use it to make extra drainage for an asparagus bed.

[rary]

As there was very little rain today, a couple of short showers, I actually managed to get out to the garden today, sadly all the rain has created a problem, due to the wet weather I didn't get the opportunity to fit retaining bars along the wooden side so it is now leaning outwards, I have fitted a temporary support and will repair it once I get the space to drop the soil, I now need to move several barrow loads of gravel, lift out a couple of sleepers and remove a fence, was needing replaced anyway, the big problem is where to put the gravel, but will get that solved some way, without throwing them out

[rary]

I now have the bed topped up with soil, I will now leave it over the winter and see how it settles down, one thing I was happy about was the number of worms I came across while shifting the soil, I am still leaning towards the seaweed keeping the flatworms away, hopefully they will stay away

[ameno]

You wouldn’t have a compost heap of brown’s,chicken pellets,browns,chicken pellets,can you imagine the compost from that. The green waste helps with the decomposition.

Actually, that would make excellent compost, as long as you added supplementary water.
Woody material alone makes excellent textured compost. The problem is that it's lacking in nutrients in general and nitrogen in particular, meaning that on its own it is very slow to rot and the resulting compost is low in nutrient. Adding high-nitrogen animal manures rectifies that.
The "green" material one puts on the compost is, in actuality, mostly water, and although it does indeed have more nitrogen and other nutrients than do the brown materials, it is still not exactly an ideal source of them. Besides adding what nutrients it can, it's main purpose is to add water and to provide a soft material that will fill gaps between harder materials. Neither of those things are a problem when the decomposition is taking place underground, however, as the surrounding soil fills both of those roles. All that really matters is nutrient (or more specifically, nitrogen) levels.
Home compost is made the way it is not because it is the ideal method (it's far from it), but because it is an efficient way of processing the materials used. A garden or allotment generates a lot of waste, and so composting that gets rid of that waste and provides a free source of compost at the same time.
The ideal method of composting, it terms of both speed of composting and quality of the finished product (both texture and nutrient content) involves the hot composting of large quantities of woody materials, as finely shredded as possible, mixed with something high in nitrogen and water retentive, such as animal manure.

[Jungle Jane]

The green waste would help with the moisture content too,the texture & fertility. Good luck with it rary,it should save on watering. Have you got space for a log pile too,for beetles etc I throw all the Christmas tree trunks at the back of the shed & they always rot down over the years,it’s about one foot high pile or 30cm,nice to have wild areas for the toad & hedgehog to wander about in too

[rary]

Sounds like the organic matter is dahlias etc all the old plants nutrients will give the nutrients to the wood as it all decays. I’ve only ever heard of mounding up green matter on top of the wood,not chicken pellets,in a hugelkultur bed. The green waste will help keep a good carbon to nitrogen ratio & it would be absorbed by the wood & released when rotting down,chicken pellets would be a good fertiliser for when you plant the veggies

J J as I said in the first post, this is a sort hugelkultur bed, I know that generally hugelkultur beds are mounds built up from ground level, whereas I am basically burying the wood, after getting the tree cut down, I thought this would be an ideal way of using the wood rather than A/burning it, or B/leaving it to rot, as with hugelkultur I expect I will have to water the bed this year but see no reason why it shouldn't work in a similar way to the mounded garden, also if I don't try I will never know . Asking others for their opinion has highlighted points that I hadn't considered, so next year I will update how well or poorly the plot performs. Also until I get the bed filled I am still open to suggestions and thoughts

[Jungle Jane]

Sounds like the organic matter is dahlias etc all the old plants nutrients will give the nutrients to the wood as it all decays. I’ve only ever heard of mounding up green matter on top of the wood,not chicken pellets,in a hugelkultur bed. The green waste will help keep a good carbon to nitrogen ratio & it would be absorbed by the wood & released when rotting down,chicken pellets would be a good fertiliser for when you plant the veggies though or plant peas in there they can make their own nitrogen. You wouldn’t have a compost heap of brown’s,chicken pellets,browns,chicken pellets,can you imagine the compost from that. The green waste helps with the decomposition.

[ameno]

Include alot of green waste on top of the logs under the soil to help counteract the carbon,like in a compost heap,I don’t think chicken pellets would have the same impact as having the organic matter.

It depends what the organic matter is made up from, but I would usually expect the chicken manure to have a greater effect.
The problem is a fairly simple one. The logs have almost no nitrogen in them, yet the fungi and bacteria which rot them need nitrogen to grow. As such, they take it from surrounding matter instead. To prevent it being taken from the soil in significant quantities, another nitrogen source must be added. Chicken manure is far, far higher in nitrogen than the average collection of compostable plant matter is. Most things one puts in the compost are actually pretty low in nitrogen, and the resulting compost usually is, too.

[rary]

Thanks J. J. I have a lot of dahlias and the likes to remove from the garden yet, so I will throw them in on top of the trees, I had intended shredding them and spreading it over the flower beds, but putting it on top of the logs will save me time.

[Jungle Jane]

Include alot of green waste on top of the logs under the soil to help counteract the carbon,like in a compost heap,I don’t think chicken pellets would have the same impact as having the organic matter.

[rary]

Ameno, I am also hoping that the application of chicken manure over the first layer of soil will help reduce nitrogen loss due to the fresh wood, but as said time will tell

[ameno]

as for the nitrogen depletion (I read that word on the back of a cornflakes box and wanted to use it) I am hoping that topping off with compost and seaweed will overcome this, how ever time will tell

It won't. Both are quite low in nitrogen, seaweed especially.
If you want to counteract it you need a fertiliser higher in nitrogen, like animal manures or a general fertiliser. Poultry manure would be good.