I flipped the sod on top of the wood and then dumped the soil on top, and I'm still see grass growing in the hugel. I've got clover growing in these beds mixed with some straw mulch where the clover is lacking. Should I worry?

Also, how do you plant hugels that have living mulches? Just chop/drop or some mild surface soil disturbance before planting?

Also, I have plenty of cherry and cedar logs. I was thinking of using this wood to make a hugel for the location i planned on planting only shrubs (like goumi and honeyberry) and perennials like Sea Kale and Multiplier Onions. I have the impression that perennials are more resilient so I imagine may better withstand any allelopaths in the soil. I've just read someone suggesting that this wood should not be an issue if not chipped. What do you think of this idea?

I don't see that cherry would be a problem as it rots well, but the cedar will resist rotting and won't provide much in the way of food in the bed..you might prefer to use those cedars for fence posts or other things that need to be built that will last a while.

as for the grass..i was concerned when I built my last hugel bed as I had quackgrass problems in other ones..so I removed all the sod and used it where we needed sod ..not adding it back into the beds...that avoids that problem..quackgrass is a huge concern in our area.

Thank you for the input Brenda. I might remove the sod as you did or mulch the hugels extra thick since the type of grass seems to die pretty easy even under just straw.

I'll think about that with the cedar. We might try and make a raised bed / extra big pot on the porch for kiwi/grape out of the cedar instead.

Mulch, mulch and more mulch is the way to go when working with quack grass. My beds often have a foot of whatever mulch material. One trick, I have been using an unrolled round bail that is dry and a year or two old, the flakes are huge and mat like. I tack with twigs to the sides top down so water runs in rather than off like shingles. I plant through holes in mulch. good luck

Other have other opinions on the same site, about using cedar in HK. If you have alot of cedar stumps and branches (as I do) you have to consider adding them to the hugel - Check out this thread.
http://www.permies.com/t/18261/hugelkultur/cedar-good-hugelkultur