Shade, Drought, Flood & EROSION!

To PERMIES

Hi, Y'all.  Bought a remote property in SE Texas mid 2023.  Have faced a MAJOR learning curve, in MANY areas, regarding landscaping/ gardening:

EXTREMES:  Some charts list is as zone 9a, some 8.  That means an exciting increase in types of plants & trees that grow here!   BUT - the list of typical zone-tolerant plants dwindles when considering that a single year brings EXTREME temps, lengthy droughts, sudden flooding, and deep freezes, constance foragers, and excessive humidity!  Things I didn't know to consider people to my decision to purchase.  (Yeah, oops!🙄)

SUMMER:
Moved here in June just in time for an unexpected, record-breaking "baptism by fire" with a solid 3 month, triple- digit drought (and a heat index reaching up to 121 degrees!) .

FALL:
Temps remained sticky & over 80 through mid-November … with a combined total of 1/4" rain for the ENTIRE fall.

WINTER:
January dropped to temps as low as the upper teens (F) during a deep freeze, staying below 26F (-3C) for 3 days.

Immediately followed by 12 INCHES of rain over the course of 36 hours!

Yeah ...  DIVERSITY is a GOOD thing in gardening, right? But a challenge when diversity comes in temperatures!

Our green-covered property was beautiful in April, when we viewed it & decided to purchase.  It is surrounded by forest, with a small finger of a state-wide river that used to extend to 100 ft from my property (But has been blocked off by a nearby, thoughtless neighbor, and has dried up.)

By June when we arrived from Utah, some greenery remained and the trees were beautiful!  By September, the beautiful greenery was gone. All grass was DEAD, and tall oaks struggling.  (No water + heavy shading from large beautiful oaks prevented new growth before winter.  😪)  Winds, & even the minimal .04" of rain washed dead grass away, along with nearly ALL top soil ... exposing tree roots! After the freeze and 12" DOWNPOUR ... ALL trees have some seriously exposed roots, some to the point of tunneling under them.

(The community's streets were not well-planned, and have no curbing, causing runoff from a long natural ditch to CROSS the road at the top highest end of our land, flushing a large portion of heavy rains onto and through our entire property! This does not help our major soil erosion issue!)

February finds me with the upper, somewhat-flat, shaded areas which are left with only sand over hard clay, and slopes are washed out & barren.

I have spent countless hours in deep thought, dreaming up ways to grow here.  Of course, for the first few months, my thoughts revolved around drought & deer/wildlife resistance.  But this winter has added the issue of flooding & erosion. So, I began to contemplate and dream up ideas to somehow utilize the influx of water in the winter to sustain the land through the summer droughts…(which would allow growth to REMAIN enact, preventing soil erosion during flooding season.)

Searching & studying everything I could find, the term "Regenerative Permaculture" finally popped up … and, with a happy, hopeful heart … here I am! This looks like a very helpful, kind community - and I am so grateful to find you!

I need to create permeable pathway for the ATV, as my disabilities prevent me from carrying more than 15 lbs (so I can't care for my land by foot.)

I know I need renewed soil covered with GROWTH to hold it all entact, as well. (Without a doubt, preventing further erosion in order to keep the earth & trees that remain is my #1 priority!)

In comes another “roadblock”...

BEDROCK
While picking up littered garbage along the road that bend into ours, I noticed lots of bedrock, layered deep in the ditches. (I was excited to find a large amount of petrified wood in the soilI of its walls!)  But … it got me thinking about what lies beneath.  

I’ve been picking the brains of the local elderly people who have watched the transition of the land, studying our land history, and yesterday, an 80 year old man mentioned my plots sitting over a dozen+feet of solid bedrock!  (PLENTY of pine trees grow all around us … but on OUR specific property … only the more shallow-rooted oaks. Hmm….I don't know if that confirms his theory, or previous owners had all but oaks removed, perhaps?)

Permaculture planning requires knowing what you're working with, right? Do we sit on any aquifers? How deep is the bedrock? Can bedrock be utilized toward my goal in any way? That has been added to my studies this week.

Are there any resources or geological mappings that could tell me exactly what lies beneath my specific property? Please…let me know anything you can think of.

So, with the: summer drought+heat-index over 115 & no irrigation; only slightly-dappled sunlight, but mostly shade; heavy, sudden flooding in winter + gushing community ditch emptying onto the high corner of our property, sloping to the opposite end; at least one winter deep freeze lasting up to a week; year-round foraging wildlife; the bedrock situation, and; the limited resources of low income and physical limitations …

I could use MUCH ADVICE in  trying to come up with a VERY low-budget, gradual-but-long-term-SUSTAINABLE plan to create a beautiful oasis of peaceful retreat on the land that I need to feed & serve me for my remaining 35-50 years on this planet.💚

In exchange, I can give all of my love, and 5 of my 6 physically-capable hours to my land.  (But, just so you can consider my productivity level, I am only a bit more than half as productive as a healthy 50 year without physical limitations.  (Please know I'm not compatibility complaining!  I know that many have struggles much more extreme. So I'm truly thankful for all I CAN do! 😊)

However, my circumstances predict than 15 years from now, I will not likely have more than the equivalent of 30 minutes of activity in me each day.  So PLANMING is KEY!  My dream? Well, simply put -  I would love to be spiritually & mentally regenerated, by being able to spend those minutes surrounded by thriving nature and LIFE! 🙏💕

Thoughts appreciated, advice welcome, & knowledge coveted! TIA!

Welcome to the forum!

I can see a lot of water is washing across your property.

Our previous property (where our daughter now lives) had the same problem.

I solved the problem with ditches and French drains.

What are your plans for the property?  Orchards or gardens? Or just a beautiful retreat?

Nature ... flower gardens, a trellis, maybe a rain garden somewhere in there. Definitely a fire pit and some sort of permeable pathway spanning the property, for the atv.

Log dams and brush dams are quick and easy and cheap. I pack old hay in front of mine so it “clogs” up faster to start catching sediment asap. Erosion control is a major priority for me. But my dams are slowly but surely working. I’ll take some pics in a bit when I’m back in the field for some examples of how they are working.

Texas is crazy. Seriously you are prob 9 for heat and 7b for cold every couple years lol.

Hopefully these pics look ok. It’s very obvious in person that they are working.