Better Living Through Permaculture -- New Year 2012 Front Yard Swale Project

[IrateCitizen]

We’ve had some unseasonably warm weather here in southern NY this year – so warm that the ground hadn’t frozen by the New Year, allowing me to build earthworks into the beginning of winter. My latest project is to put a small water catchment swale and berm in my front yard.

The idea behind a swale and berm is actually pretty simple. You start by establishing a series of points of common elevation – a contour line. Then, dig a ditch of consistent depth that connects those points (the swale) and pile the soil on the downhill side to form a long mound of consistent height (the berm). When it rains, instead of water running off the land it flows into the swale. Since the swale is a constant elevation, the water sits there and slowly seeps into the bottom of the swale and the berm.

The benefits of this setup are mainly twofold. First, if you use the berm as a planting bed – with the surface adequately mulched – you don’t need to worry about watering. Second, runoff will slowly accumulate rich silt in the moist bottom of the swale, encouraging the growth of moisture-loving plants.

READ THE REST HERE.

[lumberjack_jeff]

1. Here we call that "building a pond". n/t

[IrateCitizen]

6. I think if you looked at the pictures on the article site, you'd quickly change your mind on that.

[lumberjack_jeff]

7. If you looked at my yard, you'd change your mind on that.

It rains here. A lot. Getting it away from the house is job #1.

[paulk]

2. good article

I'm going to help a friend put a swale in her yard come spring. Not on the same scale as this, but the pics are a great resource!

[Mojorabbit]

3. Sweet nt

[broiles]

4. Don't you worry about mosquitos breeding in the moisture?

[IrateCitizen]

5. No

An abundance of mosquitoes isn't a "mosquito problem" -- it's a "mosquito predator deficiency". By planting sufficient groundcover and setting up rockpiles and the like as habitat, I should be able to attract enough predators (toads, spiders, insects, birds) to keep the mosquito population in check.

[WorseBeforeBetter]

8. Thanks for this post.

I'm in NC, and can't be in my yard from late May through early November thanks to the mosquitoes. Last year's project was trees/shrubs for privacy, drought-resistance and year-round interest, but this year something *must* be done about the mosquito problem. It may be a lost cause, though -- one side of the yard is shady and there's pine straw EVERYWHERE. Short of cutting down at least a dozen pine trees, it's going to stay that way. Bah.