Indoor No Till Hugel Beds

Aright!
I’ve been really curious about how a Hugelkultur would work indoors, and with some prompting from @ElRanchoDeluxe I’m about to embark on the grand adventure of it all. It may be an epic fail, or I may just knock it out of the park... time will tell I suppose!
From my research, it appears that the classic Hugel is built outdoors from the ground up, creating a “hill” ( Hugel) , that works to retain rain water and gives a great environment to host the micro herd. The decaying wood products at the base provide lasting nutrients, feeding the soil and helping to retain water. It also was designed this way to keep aging and youngster gardeners from have to crawl around too much, which is something that is becoming more of a priority for me nowadays.
I’ll assume most of you grasp the overall concept of Hugelkultur but if not, here’s a summary...
Hügelkultur - Wikipedia

I’ll be altering the format a bit to mimic my three current 225 gallon NoTill beds that I have going in the same room. I built a new raised bed (230g) that measures 84” x 32” x 18” deep and lined it with landscape cloth on all sides. This will act as my “ hill”, and it will be layered similar to standard Hugel practices.
It’s been really mild here for weeks so I was able to source some great starting materials! First, I went and checked out my wood chip piles that have been sitting since last April. This is comprised of Cottonwood, Aspen and Willow trees and was delivered for free! I stuck a pitchfork in them and sure enough, they were still frozen ( mild in MT is still cold lol) , but after about 15” in there was a pocket of life. Worms were still active and the chips were composting away nicely! And the fungus.... it was ridiculous how much had grown in there. So I grabbed about 30 gallons and covered it back up.
Then it was down to the creek bottom where I found a fallen Cottonwood tree that someone had already taken the bigger stuff for firewood. What was left was perfect, I grabbed a 6” diameter piece and a bunch of smaller pieces along with shredded bark that was lying around. All the wood was long dead and in various stages of decay.
So, just yesterday I began to build the “ hill”. I’ll post pics below of the process but so far I’ve added about 5-6” of the logs and sticks and then added the wood chips on top of that, making sure to fill all of the voids. I wet that down well and then covered it with black plastic until the soil is built and ready to go in. This should give the fungi a perfect environment to explode, which should inoculate the wood base even further. I may water in some fish at some point as well.
That’s where I am currently. Next move is build a CSPM heavy Coots style soil to go over the wood base. I’ll get that in and plant a clover mix cover crop that will get chopped and dropped when the prairie grass hay mulch is applied prior to planting. I’ve been hand watering lately but I have all the parts for the Blumat drip tape set up that I’ve never really utilized properly. I’d like to get it going for this bed, maybe I can get some help from a blade or two.
This will all get Scrogged, and lit up by a mix of 600 w HPS and 315w CMH ( with just a sprinkle of QB 96 LED)
This is new country for me to be sure, so any input is greatly appreciated. I’m hoping that the OG organic junkies around here can tag along... you know who you are!

 

Here’s some progress pics for ya!

This is the core of my wood chip pile. Worms were a bit sleepy, but doing their thing!

 

Here’s the shiny new bed with the Cottonwood base material

 

Wood chips applied.

 

Let the fungal festivities begin!

 

Probably a good call on the Blumat I suppose... I flooded the beds early on trying to get it dialed and never really gave it a second chance

I do have some alfalfa and kelp so I’ll add some in there tonight. Thanks ElRanchoDeluxe and Taoist Farmer! I’m thinking the wood chips will keep it aerated pretty well for many years and I have no doubt that some of the lava will sink over time.
I’ll calculate my soil mix and throw that up as well.

 

Well, I applied 4-5 cups of alfalfa meal and 2-3 cups kelp meal to the top of the wood chip mulch/ log layer. I then wet it down nicely and covered it back up. I can hear the mycelium growing under there...

 

Meanwhile, on the other side of the aisle, the other beds are REALLY coming back around.
If you’ve been on the No Till Revisited thread you may have seen my battle with shitty water play out. Hi alkalinity and bicarbonate levels pretty much brought me to my knees last spring, and I’ve had some sub par yields because of it. I learned a few things along the way and have made adjustments and now.... daaaamn! Still have a few things to address but the beds look much better!
Week four:

 

Well I’m glad you all are enjoying it as much as I am! I have a hard time sitting dormant so a new challenge is always welcome.
We’ll see how it pans out!

 

Lifted up the plastic and took a look.
Impressive!