Swale tour

Swales

February

Apr

The swale berms have really greened up. In February we topped them off with some compost and seeded them. It was a mixture of mustard, clover, cilantro, nasturtium, lupine, calendula, dill, chamomile, and
bergamot.

You can get a good idea of the amount of slope they yard has by looking at the fence line in the background. I've only seen this swales full on a few occasions. Water used to race down to the corner of the lot and pond up there. It would stand for a day or two sometimes. It doesn't do that anymore.

Feb

The hugel beds have also begun to green up. After I applied the compost I seeded them, mostly with mustard seeds but also some other things as well. The mix contained white clover, two varieties of mustard, millet, parsnip, echinacea, chamomile, dill and cilantro.

Apr

The real important thing is to get the compost stabilized with roots so that the rain won't wash it away. The mustard seed has done a good job so far. The other things, not so much. They may sprout later on as it warms up. Squirrels took some of the seed, but I'm not sure how much. Without the straw on top birds would have gotten it all.

Berm seeding

On the left is how it looked earlier in the week. A little snow fell. I guess everyone stayed at home.

before

It was nice weather today, so I took the opportunity to seed my swale berms, even though I'm rolling the dice a little.

There is rain in the forecast and I need to get the berms mulched over to prevent the compost from washing away.
A big bag of white clover just arrived this week so I made a mixture for the berm from the seeds I have on hand.



The mix contained white clover, two varieties of mustard, millet, parsnip, echinacea, chamomile, dill and cilantro.

after

After I seeded the berm I covered it with wheat straw which holds moisture very well. It is suppose to rain tonight and warm up a lot next week, into the sixties. I'm taking a risk seeding the berm now and having everything germinate and then lose it later with another bout of cold weather. However I've noticed that when I've sowed seeds at the wrong time they've just sat there and eventually germinated when the conditions were right.

The berms are mostly clay. I've tried planting them before but nothing has gotten very much traction, especially when they dry out. Hopefully the top dressing of mulch will get the process going this year.

I also put in around 30 or so comfrey cuttings that I received this week from Coe's comfrey. So I've probably got around a dozen put into the berm.

Compost

The county composts some of the solid wastes and you can go get as much as you want for free. I went and got a truck load recently to add to the hugel beds and the swale berms. The pile in the picture is about twelve feet tall. It seems like it's decent compost. I've used it before. I just cannot afford to buy a ton of compost so it's a nice option.

It took me about half an hour to load the truck. I could have put more in but my arms wore out so I stopped. It took much longer to roll one wheelbarrow load at a time from the driveway into the backyard. That's the hard part.

Swale

On the right is the compost spread out onto the swale berms on the downhill side. These are ditches on contour that catch rainwater. The water then slowly soaks into the ground. Note the pitch of the terrain by the green fence in the background. It's fairly steep. I will plant in a wide selection seeds here as soon as it warms up.

Probable plants will include, mustard, parsnip, daikon, comfrey, calendula, dill, yarrow, bee balm, fennel, chamomile, parsley, chicory, echinacea, garlic.

Hugelkultur mound

I also spread some compost onto the top hugelbed. I will seed it with a similar mix as the swale berms.

This element is above ground as opposed to the swale. The septic tank drainfield is in this vicinity so we are containing the plantings above ground or only ground covers. I am avoiding putting trees into this area.