all,

I want change 1 hectre of flat farmland to a spiral raised garden.  I have thought for years that if I raised the soil 1.5 meters in the center and create a raised furrow spiral the descended towards the outer edge it would support fruit trees in the ditch part and vegetables in the raised part and would stall the harsh wind in all directions. 

any thoughts?

i guess my question would be where are you going to get and what material, to raise the land in the center....and does this include any buildings in this piece of land that will be raised to the spiral?

i suppose if you are putting on a building you could use the excavation from the building site to raise the property..or even a raised drainfield.

we had flat land here with a  high water table..we put in a crawl space and a 4' raised drainfield approx 60' long behind the house..thus, there is a slope away from the house and from the drainfield that was backfilled with good soil

we planted the fruit trees up around the top edges of the slopes and have the smaller plants running down the slope with a lawn area on top of the drainfield..it works out very well for us..we have other beds on other parts of our property..but this is the area around our drainfield and home

it isn't in a spiral form, as our paths curve lightly down in several areas around the property including steps down in the far north rear, and a path down on the west and 2 paths down on the east and 2 sets of steps down on the south..with large beds all the way around.

we also have some flat and some raised beds in other areas..

we also have dug a pond , part of our  backfill was the topsoil out of the pond area..the pond is on the lowest area of the property and it all drains toward the pond.

brenda

great descriptions...

dirt-

I have a drive i need to put in that will require soil removal for stone and I am considering a retention pond on theproperty as well.  I have 5 acres but only want to plant and care for about 1-2 acres with fruit trees etc.  many nieghbors are digging ponds now.  dirt come easy for a while around here. 

well if you have dirt you have all you need..

dirt is hard to come by ..esp good dirt..

or SOIL

when we used our topsoil from the field pond dig for our fill, it was nearly virgin soil..it was so rich..and it grew things really well.

we tried not to overwork the soil..it was moved in large loads and we only ran a tiller through it enough to get the fencposts and wire and huge roots out of it..and had to keep pulling out some tree seedlings and growing roots..but once it was planted that was the last time it was worked up at all..and we maintain no till here.

My acres were farmed for about 150 years.  I purchased the land 5 years ago and have let the land grow up wild since.  Wildflowers and weeds, butterflies and praying mantis have taken over.  The challenge is to change it to permaculture and not be fighting native thistles and chives forever