Hello all,
I've heard, on the topic of starting your homestead with earthworks, that adding texture to the terrain is important for (among other things) "controlling frost pockets".
So, say you had a flat pasture. Easy to break up for rotational grazing, easy to convert to traditional monoculture garden beds/plots, fairly consistent across the whole area. Obviously, water doesn't move well over the area, you aren't creating much in the way of warmer microclimates, etc.
With your earthworks, you're adding texture to the landscape. This creates slope to catch more sun with, swales to move more water with, wet zones and dry zones and edge effect. But what I don't understand is frost pockets. With north facing slope in mostly shade (Northern hemisphere) and wind falling down the slope, you're creating areas that are more prone to frost. As I'm in zone 5, I've already got more frost than I know what to do with.
Does "controlling frost pockets" simply mean pushing them into these low, north facing zones to hold off on frost in the ideal areas longer? Is it just a deferral against a flat pasture which would all frost simultaneously? Or am I missing some key benefit to this, some oversight about how these frost pocket zones can be put to use?
Thanks!
--J.
