One of the big projects that I’ve worked on over the past year at our house is the construction of a swale in our vegetable patch and a dry creek bed that connects into it from the east across our property. These are fancy words to describe a glorified ditch.
When we first moved into the house, I didn’t realize that I had built my vegetable garden where water courses through our property. I guess that goes to show the wisdom of waiting a year or so before making drastic changes to a property so that the whole gamut of how things will shift can be seen.
Oh, well. I couldn’t wait, and here I am now. Last week, I finished up widening the swale in the vegetable patch. It is now 3 feet wide and slightly elevated on either side to help hold a little extra water. But, I’ve realized that with very heavy rains like the 6 inches we got last May, the swale will likely break it’s banks, but I’m designing some overflow beds for that.
Either side of the swale is being planted with stock perennials and Vaccinium that will enjoy the wetter feet. I’ve also sowed white clover as a groundcover to hold the soil on the banks, and it is doing a spectacular job so far this winter. I may have to plant some other wet-tolerant species like Juncus to carpet the ground in the swale. It dries up to a crisp during the summer, so it may serve as a growing ground for other crops.
But, now in the winter, it is a stream for me to enjoy the trickle of water.