first hugelkultur - pics and question

I started my hugel bed based on an interview I heard with Sepp and subsequently I bought his Sepp Holzer Permaculture book for guidance. I did not know about this site before I started. Obviously I did not look hard enough as this would have been the best place to start!

This is in the front yard for all to see. After we did all the shoveling my neighbor informed me he has a trackhoe I could have used!

Composition:

-We dug one foot deep and piled about three and a half feet of pine logs and various other smaller stick material from birch and maple on top.
-Being only two and a half feet off the ground I search for additional material to get closer to Sepps 6 foot ideal according to the book
-I covered the bed at that point with about 6 inches of chipped hardwood *stick* mulch I shoveled for free each day on my way home from work
-We piled on the dirt and covered it with straw

Question:

After various research I came to an uncertain conclusion that because I used chipped wood from smaller branch material rather than the carbon concentrated larger sections of the tree will I be overfertalized/underfertalized? I read that the branch material under 2.5 inches has about the right C to N ratio. This is from chipped material up to 4 inches so my hypothesis is that I will be a little nitrogen shy and will do well to spread some fish emulsion to actually grow anything besides legumes. Am I way off base?

Thank you for your feedback!

Hi, Michael and welcome to permies!

I can see you have put a lot of work into your project...it is looking good! lot's of HK folks here can give you some input and help with your questions.

Howdy michael! Welcome to permies!

Many people add legumes to their polycultural planting of the hugel anyway, so do an experiment for us and give the fish a try.

Thanks both of you.

I just got my perennial seeds of about 12 different plants in the dirt.

I have about 35 annuals I am going to try in this bed to experiment and see what grows. I'll be sure to post results.

I have decided to purchase electric measuring tools to record NPK, moisture, and ph. Will share results. Only about $15 for a small device to do each one.

Has anyone tried this? Are these tools useful?