Don't bury woodchips into hugelkultur, I found that to not work.
Better to use woodchips after digging swales/garden paths on contour as fill for the swale. After 3-4 years dig the garden paths again as the woodchips are ready to be applied to garden beds having mostly decomposed by then into a perfect growing material/medium.
Woodchips having so much more surface area _really_ shocks the soil and starves it of all nitrogen, a key element needed by bacteria and fungus in their decomposition process. Nitrogen deficit soils don't grow plants.
Better to use woodchips after digging swales/garden paths on contour as fill for the swale. After 3-4 years dig the garden paths again as the woodchips are ready to be applied to garden beds having mostly decomposed by then into a perfect growing material/medium.
Woodchips having so much more surface area _really_ shocks the soil and starves it of all nitrogen, a key element needed by bacteria and fungus in their decomposition process. Nitrogen deficit soils don't grow plants.