Mr. Permaculture on Adventure #3 - Planting on Slopes
Planting on slopes is not trivial, especially in areas with occasionally heavy rain. I have a 3:1 slope (horizontal distance increases 3 times as much as height) in my backyard. If steeper than that, you'll need to build terraces or simply leave it alone for Mother Earth to grow her own.
The design is very simple - basically using wood logs and wood chips to slow, spread, and store run-off rainwater, mineral nutrients, and organic matter in the soil.
My goals are:
- Increase food production in my small suburban garden
- Get rid of organic debris from cutting down 4 ornamental trees
- Make productive use of the 150-ft long slope in my backyard
My solution: Hugelkultur and wood logs/chips!
Wood logs and chips are wastes in the cities. Tree service companies need to pay the city to get rid of them. You can contact those companies and ask them to deliver to you for free.
I lay down wood logs and branches from those trees I cut down on contour lines and put wood chips on top, make holes, put some compost in, and plant in it.
The photo below shows what it looks like after all edible greens and root crops have grown.
Photos below show a gentler slope. I use rows of wood logs instead of a Hugelkultur.
Wood chips between the logs, which would stop most rainwater run-off.
In summary, wood logs and chips are free from waste stream which you can use on slopes to produce abundant food.
Thank you for reading my post. If you enjoyed it, please Upvote, Comment, Resteem and follow me @cheneats.
Next post will be my adventure of
Past posts on my adventures:
All very fascinating to me. We have even more slope so this provides good ideas. Although different terrain, great ideas to be utilized.
Thank you and happy gardening!
Good post @cheneats, I've upvoted, hope it encourages you to keep posting.
Sweet potatoes and papayas are great to add into the garden.
Where are you located?
Thank you, @drsinmongwong! We are located in Florida. Sweet potatoes and papayas grow well here!
I will also upvote all your visitors and commenters to encourage them to visit you again.
Thank you so much for your kindness! My eyes are wet. I really appreciate what you do. Steemit is a loving community because of individuals like you!
I have been to Orlando, but I presume your climate is similar. I grow those two as well, unfortunately I am only left with 2 papaya trees here, we call them pawpaw here in Australia.
Yes, my climate is similar to Orlando. Pawpaw trees are very easy to grow. I simply broadcast seeds around. They find their sweet spots and nature takes cares of them.
Yes! Such a simple concept but work elegantly with relatively low effort. Thanks for sharing your pics and experience! Kate
You're very welcome! And thank you for your comment!
I was a bit involved with some agroecology and permaculture farmers in Brazil, they used similar techniques. Interesting to see what people are doing the same/different in other parts of the world.
Permaculture practices have been used by indigenous people for thousands of years. They didn't destroy the land like modern agriculture does. It would be very interesting to see more of their works and learn from them. Thank you for sharing!
Very clever! I wonder what incline does this work up until you have to build terraces?
Thank you! It works for incline up to 3:1 (18.4 degrees). Steeper than that, you will need to build terraces.
Excellent solution!! I love that this doesn't require disturbing the soil or heavy machinery or extensive labor to excavate swales, terraces, etc. And it works whether your slope is bare or already has trees planted/growing. Nice!
Thank you for your comment!! Very keen observation!
I have a sloped area with all day sun that I would love to plant. The problem we’ve run into with wood chips is we always end up with termites, and I don’t want to lure them so close to my house. Have you experienced that problem? Have any suggestions? Thanks for the read!
Fortunately, I haven't seen any terminates in the wood chips in my garden. Maybe there are just so many other creatures already in balance so terminates don't get a chance to establish their population.
What I have heard is to keep wood chips at least 3 feet away from the house foundation when terminates are a problem. Maybe use non-wood mulch such as leaves and grass clippings near the house. Thank you!
Leaves I can do! I hate just raking them out to the curb for the city pick up. Thanks for the tip.
You're welcome - it's my pleasure! No organic matters leave my property nowadays. They can all be eventually turned into nutrients for my food plants :)
All your posts are so great. I like reading them
Thank you! I am so glad you like them.