should I redig my mini-swales?

Hey, I dug 10 mini swales on contour along a 68-ft x 8 ft food forest row.  In the future I plan to divert overflow to them from a 200 gallon rain barrel. Water also drains into them from the gentle slope of our lawn. We are in an HOA so don't shoot me for having some lawn, eh!

The swale trenches were about a foot deep originally, in largely clay soil. Leaves and debris have lessened that depth to about 6 inches. Should I re-dig them before winter?

Thanks, Julie

Julie Horney wrote:Hey, I dug 10 mini swales on contour along a 68-ft x 8 ft food forest row. . . . Leaves and debris have lessened that depth to about 6 inches. Should I re-dig them before winter?

I would. I say that because we have a number of mini-swales like you describe and have experienced the same thing, i.e. filling in. All swales tend to fill in over time, with the bigger ones taking years. When you dig it out, you may find it contains nice organic matter that can be used as mulch or incorporated into a batch of compost.

Julie, renewing your swales might not be necessary every year, depending on your conditions.  If you’re in a region that experiences “atmospheric rivers” then you might really want to maintain a “large” capacity… also true because of your clay, which I am guessing slows the infiltration process.

During a drought, you might be glad of the mulch in your swales, because it will slow the evaporation out of the soil.

It’s an opportunity to make a few theories and test them… clear some swales, and not others, and notice what happens to them.

I have some smaller swales on my property and this thread got me thinking.

I went out with a grubbing hoe and started to poke around. In just a year, quite a bit of organic matter filled in the bottom and created a bit of layer of compacted material. I dug out all of that goodness and took the time to to expand the swales a little bit. I piled the material on the lower end berm to mellow over the winter season.

I don't think doing it would hurt one bit. I believe my swale will now hold more water than if I didn't do anything.

I'd say yes, if you enjoy digging, and no, if they are working fine as-is. Also depends on your goal. Are they already doing what your goal wanted?

Thanks everyone.  I'm not sure they "did what I intended" as we had drought conditions this past summer and early fall.  I had to hand water the food forest row as most of the plants were still on the young side.  The food forest row is in its second growing season.  I removed some of the looser leaves in the swales by hand and agree that there was some nice compost underneath.  In the fall we load this entire garden with leaves from our yard, corralled by rabbit fencing.  I know, I know that rabbits need to eat too!  Yeah, they can eat elsewhere in our neighborhood, perhaps along the former farmer's tree line nearby would be good.  Will re-check things in the spring.  :J

I'm used to a swale being fairly broad, not super deep, with mild slopes that don't fill in quickly.  The best sites are off of a water shedding area- road, roof, big rock, trampled zone in a paddock, etc. Show me a good picture or schematic drawings and I can blather more. My suburban half-acre on the Willamette flood plain prairie is way-short on topsoil, and lacks slopes, so I dig down, and add material that is absorptive. What does a "mini swale" look like? My runoff sources are: rooves, driveways and the street. the greatest relief in miles is caused by freeway overpasses and old gravel pits (sounds depressing? ) Well, those gravel pits host a critical habitat for the officially threatened Western Pond Turtle and some beaver families. To the west there's only a couple-three traffic lights between me and the extensive Fern Ridge reservoir, Veneta and the Oregon Country Fair land (Pileated Woodpeckers and archaeological sites) Not bad for Ag land, and an airport, and from there it's the Coast Range all the way to the Pacific.
SO: I take a hoe on a rainy day and rip a furrow from any water & sediment  accumulation and rip a drain to the nearest high value plant. City water is costly. If that is a mini swale, yeah, they fill quickly. If I observe a reasonable amount of wateris coming in from the curbless shared driveway, I'll figure out a design to have the water move into the ag-zone , rip down into the subsoil clay, and backfill with pruned wood topped with leaves and finished compost on top. That strip by the 'Street" is the closest I have to the original prairie, and a toasty microclimate, and shifts into asparagus, Yucca, Knipophia, Soap Root, Lavendar, Rosehip roses. Camas and culinary herbs.  It's only irrigated when a plant goes into shock (generally it's a new planting) In the backyard, there's no runoff anywhere, so I build compost raised beds/huegel cultures on top of trenches dug into the hardpan, and backfilled with prunings and the occasional char-burn during the rainy season. Not fast, but it shit-howdy works.