C Gale

Hugels dont need to be 7ft high, the thing Ive found is to remember that you are trying to recreate a rain forest floor and its many layers of compost.  I have had great success in a semi arid environ with shovel dug trenches on contour filled with timber and covered in soil then a quick compost layer of lucerne and poo on top.
As to the drying out of the pile, Ive found that as the mound is being made a lot of effort must be put into eliminating air gaps in and around the timber and the soil must cover all wood to prevent moisture losses.
The other great thing is the north and south sides of the Hugel are two different climate zones, one side grows sweet potato and the other side daisys.

In the tropics up north Queensland a few years back you could buy peanuts boiled in brine and they were very tasty, they were kept in the fridge

the salt to water ratio to cure olives that i use, shared with me by an old maltese gentleman requires salt to be added to the water till a raw egg floats up to the middle of the container.

It works well
I had a plot down the back that was heavy clay and 4 to 6 inches of water would sit, for sometimes weeks.
A neighbour had cut down some small trees (2-3 inch) which I stacked lengthwise in a keyhole shape about 1 foot high in the wet patch.
After topping it off with few bales of lucerne hay and cow poo making an organic compost lasagne for the worms and other biologicals that love the stuff.
2 years later i have a garden that needs little water as it has its own reserve topped up every time it rains.
The biggest problem i have had is grass invasion because of the moisture reserve.

Love the work done here already.
When building the same I found it really kick's off quickly when the top layers of the hugel are made from a lasagna of poo and green matter with a little lime tossed in.
Just dig a little hole, line with some potting mix and plant ya herbs.
🙂

Nice tips

I usually dig a shallow a trench 2 shovel widths wide on contiur and place the dirt on the down slope.
Then put about a foot of waste timber or chopndrop in.
I then do a layer of acacia longiflora all the while sprinkling a little lime on to help decomposition.
Next comes several alternative layers of Lucerne and cow poo.
Done.
Planting by digging a small hole in the top layers and dropping in a few handfuls of good compost and then your favorite seedings.

Happy hugel

Awesome observations
Sounds a lot like hugelstyle 101 to me.
If we recreate the rainforest floor I believe there is no limit to our soils potential to provide.
Happy Hugel

My chickens love the gaint zucchinis, once you chop and end off they will go until its hollowed out.  And the best training aid I have found are peanuts I can get one hen to fly up onto my hand by clicking my fingers and rewarding her with a piece of peanut aye

15 turns on the handle with organic coffe beans loaded in the top and its on the stove in no time