Using Cedar Rails for Hugelkultur Mounds: Question for Toby

I've brought this up before in the hugelkultur thread but since Toby is here I thought I'd single this question out in its own thread. If I'm being inappropriate I apologize.

Toby: In Gaia's Garden you mention burying cedar logs (or was it rails?) and planting blueberries over them...

Do you know if there are any acid-loving vegetables can be planted in a similar manner? Ones that can grow well despite the inhibitor chemicals released by the cedar? My mother was telling me that cedar leaves are a good mulch for tomatoes so I'm thinking that the rails could also be used.

I have hundreds of extremely old and weathered cedar rails that are too far gone for most other uses. (eg. fencing)

I don't mention cedar; I just talk about logs, brush, and dead wood with no species name (I checked!). I would not normally recommend cedar logs as a good choice for hugelkultur, but if they are already pretty rotten, they may not have much of the fungi-inhibiting compounds left. Now, whether cedar will actually inhibit the growth of plants, as opposed to many soil organisms, I don't know. You could try something small scale first.

I'm intrigued that cedar leaves are a good mulch for tomatoes. I wonder if they inhibit verticilium wilt and other fungal problems that tomatoes are prone to. That's worth checking out!

Thanks for the insight. It's been awhile since I've had access to your book and I my memory is aparently not as great as I thought. Anyhow...

I'm going to trial the cedar rail hugel mound concept and post findings at the end of the season, so here's hoping...