swales, beds and northern slope

Joined: Dec 30, 2009
Posts: 27
posted Today 12:31:18 PM 0
IM currently renting an acre and a half plot of very nice land in floyd county va.. its bordered on one side with a nice creek wetland area on the west and the north part has a vigorous stream flowing across by the highway (2 lane)... The whole peice slopes north not ideal but the land seems very rich the ground is spongy form having so much grass growing on it for years.. I can see lots of potential here but the warms season crops might suffer form the northern slope and its in a bit of a hole losing some late afternoon sun. i thought of making swales down the slope and angling the tops of the beds toward the sun capturing all the heat I can...the western part would be good for greens and mushroom spawn probably berries and such.. I guess what Im asking is it worth fighting the drawbacks of the northern slope and depveloping this piece or better to find the southern sloping land? any thoughts would be appreciated... Sam

seems north slopes are the topic of the day here..don't assume that a North slope isn't ideal, most fruit trees do very well on a northern slope, as the frost will drain away and fruit trees will hold of and bud later..so embrace it. the swales are a good idea to capture moisture, and maybe to put a more flat spot for a ladder to stand when you harvest.

If there's good plant growth on the site, not too steep, and enough hours of daylight there to grow what you want. there is nothing wrong with a north-facing slope. In warm summer, you will be more comfortable, too.

thank you Brenda and of course Toby for your reply I just moved in so I'm taking night hikes to observe the land.. there is quite a wetland on the creek behind the trailer...the western edge... overgrown I"d like to tame some of it and do some wetland restoration . I need a lot more study in that . ....
The other creek runs quickly across the bottom of the slope thru a deep grassland most of the land is soft and a little mushy not from too much moisture but from years of grass living and dying there... water is not at all scarce here...might be nice to put a pond up the slope a ways.. .. this is too much already but again thanks for your response. and I appreciate and learned from your response... Sam

shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..if this area is visible to local authorities they may make you get off the land, so don't talk to any authorities about the wetlands stuff !! If you do any changes, do it where it isn't visible to streets or neighbors or from your front door where people might see it..or you are taking chances on getting in trouble with EPA.

Here we have put in ponds in our wetland areas and have done some drainage management, but we didn't destroy any existing wetland flora or fauna..we actually added more environment to the wetland..so we felt we were helping things out..there was just an area that was wet in early spring runoff but dried out in June thru Sept..now there is a large pond there and we have been planting water plants and wildlife plants around it..