Tony de Veyra

Hey guys,

I'm trying to build an ecological pond in my backyard and I wanted to use this gley technique. My soil type is very sandy. I was thinking of digging the pond then putting a layer of cardboard across the bottom, laying on the 9" of fresh manure, putting another three layers of cardboard on the top, tamping it down, then backfilling four to six inches of my native sand. Will this approach work?

consider the underground greenhouse. I am. Everything I've read about it is encouraging, except the humidity problems.

Growing lemons outdoors in MT? Holy crap, I have to see this! I've already contributed the $150 I can...pile in the donations, people!

it would be so awesome to have a pet anteater that I could take on walks through an orchard. I just imagine looking on blissfully as it mops up all the aphids and ants... hahahaha

Just an FYI for anyone in So Cal:

the South Coast Research Center, based out of UCI, hosts a persimmon tasting once a year, usually in november or december. A friend of mine went to the most recent one and brought back some delicious american persimmons that tasted like spiced rum. It was DELICIOUS!

I would highly recommend looking into your local Rare Fruit Grower association as a place to seek out budwood for delicious varieties.

@Jennifer: I'll definitely have to look into Brad Lancaster's books. I really want to do greywater, too, installing the bypasses into my plumbing seems like it will be difficult. I've already figured out what to do with my urine (fertilizer for duckweed pond) and feces (black solder fly maggots) so recycling the shower and sinks is the last thing.

@S Haze: great point about the sandy soil and water infiltration rates, I could probably make the infiltration trenches shallower. I will definitely let you know when I get started. As I said, I'm still in the planning phases, won't be able to get to any real significant work until after graduation in june.

@Michael: Yeah, I've thought about harvesting from the roads. We don't actually have any storm drains or gutters on the roads--rain water tends to just pool off to the side for a few days before infiltrating/evaporating over the course of a week or so after a decent rain. I will eventually have to dig in around the sides of the road and install a french drain or something that leads into my property before backfilling the road shoulders with river rocks or pea gravel.

Hey Jennifer,

I suppose I used the wrong term, didn't I? Can't have much of a swale if you don't have an elevation shift (which I really don't). I suppose infiltration ditch would be a better way to describe what I am trying to dig with the trencher.

Here's a keyboard picture of what I want to do:

===16" deep trench, 12" wide===
---drip irrigation-------------
--------trees------------------
--------5 ft wide berm---------
-----------drip irrigation-----
====Mulched over trench========

I'm in the high desert region of CA, Mojave Desert. 1000 chilling hours, average annual low 15F, Annual rainfall at 10" or so, all in the winter.

My long-term plan is to cover the whole place with trees. I want to try and stack an orchard on top of a pasture. I want to collect rare fruit and have a collection of all the best temperate and desert fruits from around the world.

Hey all,

I've got a fairly large area that I'd like to cover with swales and was wondering if anyone has used a small two-wheel, walk behind ditch witch or a ground hog trencher to dig them. I don't feel like paying a crew to help me dig and the rental rate on the trenchers from home depot are fairly reasonable. The only drawback I foresee is that these trenchers tend to dig fairly narrow trenches. I was thinking of just digging the trenches down to 24" or so then going back with a shovel to widen them by breaking one of the sides and bringing the depth back down to 14-18". Could this work? Anyone have experience doing this?

Anyways, my acre is pretty flat. I was going to make a series of two trenches approximately five feet from each other, with all the back fill going in between. After the swales are done, I will fill them with wood chips, put drip over the woodchips then plant trees in the shared berm.

Just had a quick question for any of the Llama keepers out here about how well (or not) trees and Llamas can co-exist. I'm thinking about getting a Llama as a guard animal and plans for my property includes a complete covering of fruit trees, legume trees (mesquites and acacias mostly) and pasture grasses in between. Anyone have experience with Llamas in an orchard setting?

^^woah that's pretty awesome! Too bad that hedgehogs are illegal in CA =(

anteaters though are legal. I know a few people are already keeping as pets, too. I just don't know to what extent they can be trained.