I suppose I'll share my hugel experiences since folks are interested. I set up some large and medium diameter cottonwood (I think cottonwood and willow are my favorite wood for hugels, I suspect sycamore as well although I haven't tried it) that had already been rotting a year or two and covered it in leaves, grass/plant clippings, manure, and whatever else I could think of at the time. I made sure I had plenty of nitrogen sources with the wood. I then covered the hugel with manure/topsoil mixture then covered it in woodchips. I was worried I did not have enough soil to start with but it did really well the first and second seasons. I will post pictures if my iPad cooperates.
The more I read about hugels here on permies the more I think sunken or ground level beds are best for my climate. Although the summer here is hot and dry, it is not as arid as it is out west so I believe the above ground mound will do just fine. Unfortunately I only grew on it two years before I moved so I cannot speak to its long term productivity, but the first two years rocked. Tomatoes (roma), squash, beets, cukes, purslane all loved it. All the plants on the hugel were bigger than the same plants in other beds, especially squash and purslane. I think ground level beds would make it easier for taller plants, my tomatoes were falling over by the end of the season. It did require a little water (very little) during the dry summer but nothing compared to any other bed I've grown in. Woodchips helped a lot, however I ended up adding a lot of straw because the chips and soil started to run off the bed. I suspect perennial plants can also help stop this.
A gigantic snake eventually made its home inside my hugel bed and had some babies. I can say that a hugelbed provides good shotgun shelter. Today I'm much less likely to shoot at an animal but at the time I was working for vets and was ballistically active.
