Bad idea to seed hugelkultur just before 1.25” rain?

Subject says it all - i could be wrapping up work on my hugel tomorrow, then planting and mulching it. But later in the day we will get 1.25” of rain over 16 hours. The most forecast in any one hour is .13”.

Will i see my seeds washed away? Would you wait?

Liam Hession wrote:Subject says it all - i could be wrapping up work on my hugel tomorrow, then planting and mulching it. But later in the day we will get 1.25” of rain over 16 hours. The most forecast in any one hour is .13”.

Will i see my seeds washed away? Would you wait?

If you press the seeds in a little and mulch, it would probably be a great time to plant.

It is best to plant or seed a hugel asap. A light mulching with straw or long pine needles would help deflect raindrops and minimize erosion. Leave it fluffy with a little light penetration to help seedlings work through the mulch.

What stage is your hugel at now? If it is bare logs, I might be inclined to wait. The rain will get the logs nice and wet, then you can cover with soil and plant after the rain. If it is nearly finished, then you wouldn't be gaining anything by waiting, so finishing it. and mulching so that the rain doesn't wash away the top soil, probably would be best I think.

Thanks for all that context everyone. The work today was slower going than i expected, so i actually will not be able to get it planted tomorrow before the rain. Right now it's got the topsoil piled up on part of it, in the corner that i've used for trialing each new stage before moving on to the rest. We'll see what the rain does to it, seems like worst-case i'll have more soil tumble off to the base and i'll need to toss it back up. More details about the project here: https://permies.com/t/212487/Wood-dirt-pile-Hugelkultur-ongoing