New Hugelkultur beds- draft plans!

Thank you to those who chimed in a few weeks ago when I first started thinking through my new hugelkultur beds! I've made some progress on my plans and wanted to run them by this group. I could specifically use some advice regarding where on the hill to place each of the things I want to plant.

As a reminder, we're building these beds on a retired shale quarry, so we're literally starting with no soil- the base is bedrock. We also live 2+ hours away from the site so need to do low-touch techniques this year especially when it comes to watering. The beds run generally east-west, maybe slightly angled to favor southeast. The quarry gets very warm- it's where we hang out in spring but avoid it in summer.

The plan from the bottom up:
LOGS: The base will be mostly pine with some hardwoods mixed in. I know pine isn't optimal but it's readily available after taking out a bunch of white pine for the house site.

BRANCHES/WOODCHIPS: Cover the logs with a layer of woodchips and branches (also mostly pine). This weekend I'm going to spread out the chip pile so it dries out to reduce the acidity. May throw in some dried pine needles and leaf mulch too, if it's handy

MUSHROOMS: I've ordered some oyster mushroom spawn in sawdust which I'll mix into the woodchips. The mushroom people said oysters are our best bet for pine.

SOIL: We have a fill dirt pile on-site (annoyingly far from the quarry but it's free), and plan to truck in some top soil. We'll add some compost too

PLANTINGS:  Start soon with a layer of field peas- the idea being to fix nitrogen and have a cover to reduce soil runoff and the need for watering
                      Tomatoes and ground cherries (started this week on my sunny apartment windowsills) for root depth; we'll clear some areas of field peas when those go in
                      Direct sow honeynut squash and siberian watermelon when it gets warmer- the idea being that the vines and leaves will shade the soil during the hottest part of the summer. And my kid loves watermelon.
                      Add a variety of culinary herbs to attempt to discourage deer
                      Maybe some sunflowers too, for birds and for fun
                      On the north side of the hill I'd like to spread a variety of native shade-loving wildflower seeds. I also have a bunch of seeds for flowers that feed birds- planning to spread those around sunny spots on the property but
                      will put some in the hugel beds if there's space.
                     
Any red flags in this plan? Anything we should add?

OUTSTANDING QUESTION: Where should these plants go on the hugels? I've never planted semi-vertical gardens before and am thinking myself in circles. My instinct is to put the tomatoes & ground cherries towards the top, the squash and watermelon towards the bottom and spread the culinary herbs throughout but favor the edges because deer.

Re deer- we'll also put up some kind of fencing, but given we have a bedrock floor this won't be as simple as driving some posts...

Thanks in advance for your excellent counsel- it's so great to have this community as a resource!!

I am third-year hugelkultur gardener =)  My 2 cents is probably worth about that much, but I will address one question: what to plant where?  Well, that depends on how you orient your beds!  Mine run north/south, being in Washington State that means I put tall plants on the north end (rosemary and Lovage), squash plants on the south side (they run downhill), lettuces on the east/morning sun side and beans/peas on the west/sunset side to help shelter the other plants from the scorching afternoon sun.  Other than that, it's not really vertical gardening - it's sloped gardening.  Radishes go on the top.  I still grow carrots and potatoes in the ground.

I found that something like thyme creeps its way down,

Thank you for this perspective- I had it in my head that I should put squash at the base but then of course where would it go, and the answer of course is through the fence! And I’d be constantly  leaning over and through those spiky leaves to harvest tomatoes and ground cherries. Better to lean over the tomatoes a few times to get at the relatively few squash and melons.

I'm also a novice. I have had a huge for almost 3 years now, but have spent a good deal of that time fighting chicken destruction.  The only chance is you want soil between your wood layers.  This helps fill in the gaps.
As far as where to plant what I would go with what you think will work.  Like logic says put tomatoes on top, because they love sun. But I'm 5'2" tall if I put my tomato on top I'm not going to be able to reach a lot of the fruit.  So I'm going to put mine in the lower South West corner. I think it will get plenty of sun.  
Good luck to you, it's a lot of work, and even though I've had to deal with chickens who love to remove all the soil from my hugel, I'm still glad I built it.

I would avoid using wood chips inside the hugel. Wood consumes a lot of nitrogen as it breaks down. For that reason it's generally recommended to stick with larger chucks of wood inside the hugel. I think the wood chips provide too much surface area for the process. Maybe use them around the perimeter to reduce weeds???