hugel beginner needs direction

Having the desire and time to start a hugel of my very own I read as much as I could find including the amazing selection here, but once started I realised that I am probably making numerous mistakes.
I have one bed of misc wood: stumps, trunks, branches, and some fallen leaves/debris 11 feet long, 5 feet wide and 5 feet tall. There is a good deal of rich local soil along with the wood and I am trying to place inversed sod all over the bed to allow more soil on top. Problem i find is KEEPING the sod and soil in place to get seedlings in soon. Suggestion anyone?
This is the first of 5 beds I would like to prep this year, I have lots of soil and sod to transfer and not far from here I can load my pickup with decomposed and freshly fallen/cut trees and bring them to my plot.
Another problem I have is that I am working alone and it is quite an undertaking, a 5 hour load/unload of wood is not unusual and so far i have made 5 rould trips to supply my greedy new beds, plus I am limited to the size of the stumps, trunks etc that I can physically handle.
Has anyone had a similar situation?
I spend so much time in the garden, such as it is, that my wife thinks I am crazy, perhaps I am
Thanks in advance.

Hi Wyll,

I am not a hugelkultur expert but since you hadn't gotten a reply yet I thought I would toss in my two cents. The thing some people do to hold mulch soil etc. on top is to make bracing nails out of sticks and stick them into the bed. This is Pauls' video at 2:45 the girl talking explains how this goes, the whole video may be helpful:



Good Luck sounds like you are off to a great start,

Daniel

Paul,

Thank you for the video, I had actually seen this but thought the "nailing" was only for "triangular" hugels, as all the photo and video evidence seems to imply. Doing this for a "typical" hugel with a rounded off top and steeper sides seems to have limited success - so far!

Wyll

When I first started our bed I had the same problem. I found that using some hay on top and lightly wetting it done held everything in place. You could probably just broadcast some seeds on top or put them in however their required depth is and lay the straw or hay on. I would assume any mulch would work well but hay and straw just seem to mat together a little more and create a better cover. It will also help with moisture control and keep all your seedlings a little safer.
You should put some pictures up to inspire all of us!

Wyll Greenewood wrote:Paul,

Thank you for the video, I had actually seen this but thought the "nailing" was only for "triangular" hugels, as all the photo and video evidence seems to imply. Doing this for a "typical" hugel with a rounded off top and steeper sides seems to have limited success - so far!

Wyll

Interesting how perceptions differ. I understood the versions in the video and the illustrations associated therewith to be the "typical" hugelkultur, and that when done according to Sepp's directions, the sides are quite steep.

I am having some trouble envisioning what you are doing if it does not look like those "triangular" mounds.

Much steeper and with a broader top and you are getting to a really high raised bed