Spec's Garden - I am thinking of a complete change

^^^^^ Thanks for the comments girls, Veggie if there is a high content of  soft material in the mix would that not keep the slugs happy and Roitelet do you add any feeding below or over your mulch?

Before I plant in the soil I arerate it and add a bit of organic general purpose fertilizer.

Now beginning to make some headway, I have placed several barrow loads onto a veg bed, lifted a dozen 18in. square slabs and loosened the soil below them, removed a couple of lengths of wood from the wall of one of the raised beds and used it as edging for the bed where I have removed the slabs, and topped that up, also moved some of the downed tree ready for getting it into the bottom of the new bed, just hope I get some dry days to allow me to finish

We need piccys Spec

Rain most of this morning but did manage to get out late afternoon and shifted a few more barrow loads of soil, also cut up some of the tree branches to make them easier to handle when moving them into the raised bed, I am thinking of making a soil bed about 6 inches deep for laying the tree cuttings on (concrete base) and also once the logs are down I will cover them with seaweed and soil, the reason for that is that the bed that I am moving just now is covered in fungi, and I had covered this bed with seaweed, so possibly encourage fungi to help adjust the tree as required for supplying moisture to the bed soil, again once this is installed I will cover everything with soil then cover that with cardboard followed by all the garden green waste which will also be covered by cardboard, then the bed will be topped up and finished off with garden compost. If anyone thinks that I am making a mistake please let me know, as I am just going with a gut feeling rather than anything that I have done in the past, or read up on, so comments welcome

I'm not clear about what you're doing - are you laying tree branches on a concrete base and then covering them with compost and odds and ends?
As I understand it, hugelkultur beds are created by digging a trench, filling it with branches and mounding it up with soil.
The wood absorbs moisture and fungi from the surrounding soil but if you build yours on top of a solid base, they won't be in contact with any soil apart from whatever you pile on top.

I am putting a 6in soil base on the bottom then the wood, I know it is diffrent but the soil of the bed I am removing just now was bone dry when I started and now after over a week or more of heavy rain 8 to 10 inches down is still powder dry, so placing the bed on concrete will stop any tree roots getting in and drying out the soil, the pile of logs I hope should eventually act as a resourvar for water, I will also be drilling holes in the slabs for drainage, hopefully this will prevent any flooding within the bed.

How big are these pieces of wood?
I had an ash tree cut down 5 or 6 years ago and used the slices of trunk as stepping stones, tables etc. The wood in contact with the soil is starting to rot but its also full of woodlice - just saying!

The parts of the trunk are about 2ft.across and cut into 2.5 ft. lengths and the branches about 8ft. Various thickness of 3 to 6in. along with a lot of thinner branches, and if they are covered by at least 18 inches of soil I don't think woodlice would be any problem, though I don't think they do any damage to fresh vegetation anyway, I believe that with hugelkulture it's the second year onwards that the necessity for watering stops

I really can't imagine how you're going to bury trunks of wood 2' across x 2'6 long and still have room for plant roots.
If I'm understanding your plan (doubtful). a 2' wide trunk of wood, resting on 6" of soil, resting on concrete slabs, give you a bed that 2'6" high before you add soil to plant in.
Sounds like you have a load of wood and are trying to dispose of it at nil cost.

Photos of how I used my tree at https://gardenandgossip.org/showthread.php?tid=973

You are right at that thickness it could be a problem that I hadn't considered, so evedently I will need to split the larger ones, which won't be a problem, but I don't know why you would think I was considering cost actually burying wood helps the environment, it contributes to carbon capture saves on water, and also provides nutrients for the plants which helps my environment as it saves money