Water Harvesting Experiment

On the East side of my house, I'm experimenting with a little project to harvest some rainwater. I don't have any gutters, so the water tends to pool after a storm. The 10 meter snake trench gradually slopes. Much more work to be done.

Adam, will that be like a sunken garden?

WOW!!! Holy Moly Batman! Now that's a trench!!! I've spent years digging holes and trenches in my yard just like that and hauling many, many tons of rock  and all of my neighbors think I'm out of my dang mind! It's a pleasure to hear from you. Can you tell us more? What are your plans? This is awesome. I will enjoy watching this thread.

Right now I'm digging a 30 foot trech from my house out to my garage to run a water line. Gotta get back to it. Totally inspiring!

This idea got started with a little sunken bed just east of this trench. I realized that I only needed to water it once a week in the summer, and about once a month during winter (about 4 inches of compost covered by 4 inches of mulch). Pretty nice to see the flowers surviving through winter. Nothing is written in stone but I plan to make some sort of sunken walkway running parallel with the trench & terraces. The digging is pretty easy out here being mostly sand. This trench took about 4 hours to dig. It's butter after about 1 foot. While I was digging my Horseshoe Hugelbed, I had a vision that I'd be constructing wolfati in the future.

I worked about 16 hours in the last 2 days on this project. I'll gather the pictures of my little mesquite guild and elm tree I finished planting, then I'll post the pictures when I get some free time.

Very grateful to be able to do this kind of work. It's a joy to show you the progress. Praying for rain. A week or so after the construction of my Horseshoe Hugelbed, I started working on this project again just before the rains. I had yet to pick up a mesquite I purchased awhile back. Most everything I've been starting with has been purchased from a nursery. I told myself after these experiments, I have to start everything from seed. This is my first little guild. It's definitely experimental as far as complimenting goes. Two pomegranates, verbena, and others. Seeds planted are, lavender and sage. On the opposite side is a start to an Elm guild.
Day 1:

Day 2

Adam Wrate wrote:

Most everything I've been starting with has been purchased from a nursery. I told myself after these experiments, I have to start everything from seed.

There are many good reasons to start from seed, particularly plants with a tap root. However, Mother Nature, at least in my ecosystem, plants 1000 seeds and only about 2 survive. So when I am planting my limited spots with enough sun for anything to grow that isn't 200 year old cedar or Doug fir, I have accepted the compromise of starting off with something larger than a seed. I have bought a few fruit trees, I've rescued several more, and I've learned to layer fairly well. I don't seem to have cracked the code for rooting tree branches in my setting yet. I have started a few trees from seed, but always in pots in locations I can water reliably.

So yes - if you're able to start with seeds, go for it. But if it doesn't work for you, don't feel that "perfect" needs to be the enemy of "good enough". You're doing great things with your garden, and I'm sure the ecosystem will be healthier and more productive for your efforts.

Also, to dig the trench in your picture on my land, would take a month and a pickax, and my large mattock, and preferably my backhoe! At least 50% of what came out would be rocks - sometimes rocks too big for Hubby to lift, let alone me - sometimes rocks so big we haul out the rock drill and the feathers and irons to turn them into smaller rocks. So a little jealous here of how easy your land is to dig!

First measurable rain this season. Performed well enough for me to know that I have to change some things! Learning is the key. Experimenting keeps me fulfilled and engaged with this family.

fascinating project

Adam,, how is progress?

Hi Adam,
I am deeply interested in knowing how your experiment fared in the last year. We are planning to plant quite a few trees seeing as we expect a few showers in the coming two months. What were your reasons for planting in trenches? Some photographs would be nice as well

Loving the trench approach, good to see the size of berm created on downslope and interested to see progress as water is infiltrated and trench walls stabilize and/or collapse in spots.