deep ripping and swales

We are buying a garden in a coastal subtropical climate. It is sloping a bit. The median rain is 1072.2 mm per year. The soil is compacted clay. It is half an acre (2000m2)
What we want is two swales and deep ripping of the soil.
first I want to know whom to ask and what to look for? If I ask an excavator they have probably no clue. I don't want a huge machine either which would compact the soil even more.
What should be avoided when doing that work? What can go wrong?
On the photo: the land goes to the red car which is on the road.

If you're looking to consult a professional I would seek out a surveyor. They could prepare a contour map for you and could lay out the lines that you would want to build swales and rip along.

My understanding is that, quite broadly, you want to construct your earthworks just a few degrees off contour to guide water toward the ridge lines

It is important when considering compaction to keep in mind that the amount of surface area matters.


IE, my truck and my tractor weigh about the same amount. The tractor can drive through damp ground and leave slight dents; the truck would leave real ruts. This is because the tires on the tractor are far larger, spreading that weight out over maybe 4x the surface area.


A modestly sized bulldozer with ripper on the back would be my bet for the lowest impact way to do both things.. but this is a guess, I've never run one or seen one used for this.

The swales can be done be all sorts of machines. I would suggest digging just a few feet by hand, to have an example of exactly what you are aiming for. Stake out exactly where you want the swales to go.

The ripping is the fun part. Dozer or tractor with heavy subsoiler. In this small area, an excavator could do it, if it had the right sort of ripping shank.. but I would not expect to find an excavator available.


Two main gotchas, IMO:
1) Don't let someone do the work in your absence. Be there, have an airhorn to get their attention if they tear into it all wrong.

2) Don't let someone take their machine onto the place if it is wet, or you'll get a lot of pointless compaction.

Some good thoughts, thanks! We will measure peg it out ourselves. Yes we will be there. I like idea with doing a meter or so by hand. And I did not think of the weather! It is so wet this year!

Angelika Maier wrote:We are buying a garden in a coastal subtropical climate. It is sloping a bit. The median rain is 1072.2 mm per year. The soil is compacted clay. It is half an acre (2000m2)
What we want is two swales and deep ripping of the soil.
first I want to know whom to ask and what to look for? If I ask an excavator they have probably no clue. I don't want a huge machine either which would compact the soil even more.
What should be avoided when doing that work? What can go wrong?
On the photo: the land goes to the red car which is on the road$.

First you need to set those swale lines, which need to be no more than 1 degree fall end to end, this is actually easy tk do with a watef level. The ripping is large tractor work it takes 45 hp to rip down 18" in a single pass, deeper equals more hp in the tractor. By hand would mean people with picks ( many people). The rip line needs to be  at the upper line of the swale, the swale is more like a slight depression than a ditch it should be wider than depth, and follow that 1 degree fall line the removed soil is what makes the berm below tbe swale.

Redhawk