Our property is a series of downward sloping ridges. Our zones 1 and 2 are at the top of the property, and the ridges start below our pasture in our woods. The ridges are subject to erosion, so for several years I've been trying to address this. My first experiment came from Sepp Holzer's Permaculture.
My adaptation of Sepp's humus beds.
I used large branches to create a make-shift retaining wall at the bottom of the ridge, and have filled it in with with smaller branches, sticks, weeds, and various cuttings. This has worked somewhat, but I still have an erosion problem at the top of the ridge, above the bed of sticks and branches.
The path above the ridge is on the left, my bed of branches and sticks are on the right.
So that narrow erosion ditch is problem #1. Problem #2 is clump grass.
Native perennial clump grasses in my garden
These aren't a problem per se; we let clump grass grow in the pastures and the goats will eat it. It only becomes a problem in areas where we are trying to grow grain or hay, because the clumps make dense bumpy mounds that make it difficult to scythe or mow. Where we want to grow something else, they've got to go!
Dug up clumps that used to block the wheelbarrow
I've tried transplanting clumps to the pasture, but they rarely survives because the goats eat them down before it has a chance to re-establish its root system (Oh look! Something new to eat!). But what if I could transplant the problem clumps to that line of erosion above that ridge?
Clumps filling in the erosion ditch.
After transplanting, we mulched the row above and below the clumps.
I really like the way they look and am hopeful that they will establish themselves here and thrive. Our summers are hot and often dry (and therefore not friendly to transplants), but we're in our spring rains, so I think there's a good chance they'll make it. For now, it's wait and see.
Leigh Tate wrote:Our property is a series of downward sloping ridges. Our zones 1 and 2 are at the top of the property, and the ridges start below our pasture in our woods. The ridges are subject to erosion, so for several years I've been trying to address this. My first experiment came from Sepp Holzer's Permaculture.
After transplanting, we mulched the row above and below the clumps.
I really like the way they look and am hopeful that they will establish themselves here and thrive. Our summers are hot and often dry (and therefore not friendly to transplants), but we're in our spring rains, so I think there's a good chance they'll make it. For now, it's wait and see.
I think your idea is an excellent one. I hope the clumps take root and hold that soil back for you. I love that you make use of things on your property.
It seems to me that you have all the right moves, Leigh: making a long line of snow and rain catching material that will break down and can be planted eventually. I have a long line of branches of dead oaks that I'm grooming to catch snow and rain so that I can plant a better windbreak. In my sandy and fairly acid soil, American wintergreen [gaultheria procumbens]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaultheria_procumbens grows fairly well, but I'm not sure the roots go deep enough. I may get a few berries though, so win win, until I can add better, taller plants. [I don't have goats but I have deer, and they won't eat wintergreen!
How long are the roots of the clumpy grass? Would they be effective at retaining soil if the goats could be fenced away? [Not knowing the lay of your land beyond your description limits me to find good plants.]
The Spruce,[always a good source] gives you a list of these 10 plants to combat erosion in zones 2-3.
https://www.thespruce.com/best-plants-for-erosion-control-4175349 You would have to see what they prefer for soil composition and shade, but these plants might help.
$10.00 is a donation. $1,000 is an investment, $1,000,000 is a purchase.
Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:In my sandy and fairly acid soil, American wintergreen [gaultheria procumbens]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaultheria_procumbens grows fairly well, but I'm not sure the roots go deep enough. I may get a few berries though, so win win, until I can add better, taller plants. [I don't have goats but I have deer, and they won't eat wintergreen!
I love this idea. I don't know if goats eat wintergreen, but I'd love to have some. Assuming they don't mind our hot summers!
Cécile Stelzer Johnson wrote:How long are the roots of the clumpy grass? Would they be effective at retaining soil if the goats could be fenced away?
Like I said, it grows in our pastures and the goats graze it without killing it. The roots are at least a shovel depth down, and I'm taking large clumps without knocking the existing soil off. I think once established, the goats will be able to trim it down just fine.
Jim Fry wrote:From the look of your pictures, it looks like there are few leaves in the woods. Why?
Because our trees are all still dormant. They'll start leafing out next month.
Hi Leigh, your place looks great! Nice strategy too!
Depending on your climate vetiver maybe get be of interest to you. It will not survive freezing soil, but south facing slope with some rocks, it’s happy. If you are not familiar, the roots of vetiver are sweet scented, and is one of the earliest of plants to be used by humanity for fragrance
Thekla, yes, I'm familiar with vetiver, but our soil does freeze in cold winters, so I didn't want to risk it. Plus, I would have had to buy the vetiver, whereas this way, I'm using something we've already got but need to move. Win-win!
I'd first look at the local woodlands, as this location looks wooded. See what enjoys different zones: in the UK, bluebells the slopes, ramsons (=wild garlic) the damp bottoms, ivy the drier areas, raspberry flattish...
The thing about plant selection is that my goats are rotated through this wooded area. My original idea was to create a silvopasture there. I've tried planting shade tolerant forage, but so far, i'm finding that dense autumn leaves pretty much smother the forage out.
Timothy Norton wrote:I just stumbled upon this thread, I was wondering how this has worked out for you now that it has been some time.
Any learnings?
It didn't thrive like I hoped it would, and I think for two reasons. I think my biggest problem (and hence the biggest lesson learned) was from not actually digging holes for the roots of the clumps I transplanted. I relied on tucking them into the the slope of the ground on the uphill side and covering the downhill side with leaves, like mulch. So, once our dry summer hit, I lost quite a bit of it.
The other problem was that the goats still had access and grazed them down quite a bit.
Edit to add one more thing. I didn't have a way to irrigate them, which I think would have helped tremendously.
Some of the clumps survived, but most didn't make it. Still, I'm glad I gave it a try because I learned some things. I'd like to try it again this winter, hopefully with a better survival rate.
Timothy Norton wrote:I just stumbled upon this thread, I was wondering how this has worked out for you now that it has been some time.
Any learnings?
It didn't thrive like I hoped it would, and I think for two reasons. I think my biggest problem (and hence the biggest lesson learned) was from not actually digging holes for the roots of the clumps I transplanted. I relied on tucking them into the the slope of the ground on the uphill side and covering the downhill side with leaves, like mulch. So, once our dry summer hit, I lost quite a bit of it.
The other problem was that the goats still had access and grazed them down quite a bit.
Edit to add one more thing. I didn't have a way to irrigate them, which I think would have helped tremendously.
Some of the clumps survived, but most didn't make it. Still, I'm glad I gave it a try because I learned some things. I'd like to try it again this winter, hopefully with a better survival rate.
There are loads of species of grass. Could it be that you were planting a meadow species where you wanted one for sloping woodland? Yes, they're tricky to identify even when in flower. You'll need a good ID book from a US (if you're US) botanical society, or equivalent
Anthony, that is a possibility. The clumps were moved from mostly sunny to partly sunny places. The ridge is along the edge of the woods there and so gets a little sun. I always considered it an experiment. The clumps of grass needed to be removed anyway, and this at least gave them a chance to grow.
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