Air space for roots

I have no idea if this forum so where this topic should go.  I'm building a hugel beet.  I covered the bottom with wood, covered the wood with native soil. As I was watering it, to get the soil in all the cracks, I was thinking about the contrasting information I have picked up.  I thought to myself I bet one of those smart people at permies can clear this up.  
I was watering to try to eliminate air pockets, because somewhere I got the idea that air pockets are bad, you don't want them when building a hugelkultur or beet.  
I also learned from a few sources that the worms keep the soil aerated.  A man on a youtube video talked about a bumper crop he got because he thought some of the stuff he planted with had decomposed and left an air pocket by the roots.  I have heard this concept of things braking down and leaving air pockets, and this is good.
I know I have only basic knowledge, but I have heard both concepts, from several different sources.  How can they both be true?  What am I missing?  Just one of those things you think about while watering the dirt.  Thanks

I've always thought that small air pockets scattered about are necessary to allow oxygen and water to flow about. I'd think a large hole compared to root size is what we should be concerned with. The roots need to touch something to transport nutrients, energy. If most of the root is hanging in the air it cannot do that.

Also, what is a hugel "beet"? I've seen that term before and thought it was a typo for bed...before I google, I'll ask here :)

"beet" is just the German word for "bed" as in garden bed.  A "Hügelbeet" is a a "hill bed".

My hugel beet ( one word, or two, I'm not sure I have seen both). Is kind of like a cross between a raised bed and a hugelkultur.  I dug down 2 feet. Basically I have a hole 2 feet deep, 3' 3" wide and about 8' Long.  I put the largest wood I have in the bottom.  This is where you would put logs if you had them. I don't so I used old fire wood, and some large chunks of a walnut branch that fell last year.  I covered that with native soil ( what I dug out of the hole). Then I did a layer of medium wood like branches and small wood.  Then a layer of stuff to be composted I will call it, stuff like leaves, food scraps, bark, twigs, tomato vines and dead flower stalks, shredded cardboard, stuff like that.  Topped with native soil, wood chips, native soil, wood chips, native soil (I normally only do one layer of wood chips, but I wanted to get it to a certain level so I wouldn't have to buy any soil.  Then I added all the soil from the raised bed I was replacing.  Then I had a 3 cubic foot bag of organic garden soil, 1 and a half bags of organic compost, 1/3 of a bag of organic chicken manure, and mushroom compost.  All of which I had on hand.  Once I got all this in I mixed it together.  The reason I use stuff I did buy at some point is because my soil has a lot of clay in it, so veggies do better with help.  I used concrete blocks around the hole two high giving me a 3' depth.
I live in California zone 9b.  I have only been using this type of raised bed for about a year, and I can't tell you how much difference it has made.  It is the best change I have ever made.  Things grow better, I water way less.  It's a ton of work to make, but very worth it.  My goal is to eventually convert all of my raised beds to hugel beets.  I detailed my HB because I'm not sure it follows the exact definition of a Hugel beet.  It's what I do and is working for me.  I actually had two tomato plants and 3 pepper plants that are still alive  that I planted last spring.  I don't know if they will produce, but I'm excited to find out.  I know the very mild winter we had has a lot to do with it, but we have had mild winters before, and I have never had a warm weather plant live through the winter.  Sorry for the long explanation.  

That is a fantastic explanation, though I already understood hugelkultur, hadn't heard the beet term before permies. I've got a few kinds of hugel-ing happening here, including with some Pine and rotted Ivy because it's what I had. My established mound is fruit tree trimmings, decomposed pine chips, grass clipping, compost, soil, maple leaves and is doing wonderfully. We are in similar zones, I'm 9b up in the northwest corner, right outside the fog zone.

Jen Fulkerson wrote:  I actually had two tomato plants and 3 pepper plants that are still alive  that I planted last spring.  I don't know if they will produce, but I'm excited to find out.  I know the very mild winter we had has a lot to do with it, but we have had mild winters before, and I have never had a warm weather plant live through the winter.  Sorry for the long explanation.  

We have a pepper still alive right now as well, excited to see if it makes it.