Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

Basically it seems to be burying rotting wood until it becomes all spongy and planting over it.

Hum, I have some logs laying around that didn't get used as fire wood, I've got some areas that could use improvement. I'm gonna try it.

One spot we moved the daylillies that were not doing well cause of too much shade. I simply placed logs on top of the existing mulch and soil and we are dumping dirt/sand and compost over them. This is making a bit of a berm which will be good for getting the hedge higher anyway. Will see how it goes.

In another spot, I dug a trench and placed logs in the trench (much narrower planting area than the berm one) and covered back over with some of the soil I had dug out. Will probably plant wax myrtles there.

I have another section that I still need to improve. I haven't decided yet how I will treat that section. Perhaps with buried wood chips.

Termites.

A reason not to build hugelkultur planting beds up against the foundation of a log home.

Otherwise, rotting wood makes for really good moisture holding capacity within the soil. That is one of the things that our sandy soil here doesn't do well is hold onto moisture.

Whilst rotting wood does make for a good soil improver, it depends largely on climate. The holistic resource people have 'brittleness' measure/scale which indicates whether your location is prone to rotting (fungal/bacterial decay) or oxidization of plant material. Oz, except for some coastal regions, is basically a brittle continent. This is why Oz has the world's greatest diversity (and probably numbers) of termites. Termites do our wood decomposition in the absence of moisture to do the job.
Horses for courses.

I would definitely be in what permaculture would probably call a humid climate. Things definitely rot here.
We do also have termites but they tend to like moist wood too.