Ideal time for implementing

I'm looking for advise on a convenient time to set my hugelkultur beds. I'm in zone 6b (Shenandoah Valley of Virginia) and trying to decide whether to start now (late summer) or wait to early spring. I think there are advantages to getting the system going now, perhaps using cover crops for nitrogen fixation, but I can also see advantages to polyculturing at once if I wait. What's the common consent on this?

I think the common thinking in this one is: sooner rather than latter. You will gain a lot of moisture for next season if you build it in the fall and let it mellow over the winter. Be sure to plant it with your cover crops, and main crops for next spring. I've done both side by side in my garden and there is much more growth in the hugel I built last fall vs. The one I built in spring. If you have the time I would build it now, plant it right away, and mulch the heck out if it. You won't be sorry!

There's no time like the present.

Hugelkultur is not an install and then just watch way of gardening. There will always be maintenance: weeds to be pulled, crops to harvest, mulch to add. There will always be some chore that you will want to do to improve your garden mounds.