Howdy, almost-neighbour...
Kirk Hockin wrote:
We have areas of our property that get very waterlogged over the winter. As we've lived here the last 3 winters, it seems to be getting worse, and this past winter of El Nino downpours didn't help. As I mentioned, we have a slight slope, dropping 5 feet over 300 feet... very slight, but it is a slope. This past winter, though, areas of standing water, puddles, soggy ground have increased. I'm not needing to dry it all out (impossible!) but I would like to divert and redirect so as to keep zones 0 and 1 a bit drier. I do plan to add a pond or two higher up the slope out in zone 3/4.
Definitely getting worse here too...
As far as dealing with it, well... Water where you don't want it, needs to be encouraged to flow away to where you do want it, or at least to where you don't mind it...
Swales can be used with the expectation that they will fill in heavy rain; designing them to hold only a reasonably infiltratable amount and having really good spillways to take the excess elsewhere is wise... Swales may also help by slowing the water and getting it to soak in upslope from the current puddle-places. But with the amount of slope you have, hard to say. I'm used to way too much slope...
Drain tile/field tile/weeping tile/french drains are all pretty much the same thing; a ditch filled in with something that water can flow through, ie gravel, generally with a perforated pipe of some sort near the bottom of that to better flow the water. Preferably you'd slow the inflow of muck that will clog your drainage by using landscape fabric or similar over the gravel. Not real permaculturey, but you could do it the old fashioned way with old gravel if you don't mind redoing it sooner...
Depending on your soil it can be pretty heavy work, especially on a larger scale. A trenching shovel was absolutely essential to doing this by hand in heavy clay; a heavy mattock is very useful too... Mechanized assistance or a shitload of woofers may be in order. Maybe mix this technique with some
hugel building and swale creation and host a workparty...
As a much lower effort option(but less lasting and generally less beneficial due to the erosion possibilities), I've put in a few shallow open ditches to get the water out of my way for the moment...
Ponds can help, if in the right spot; in the wrong spot they could make matters worse...
Aside from direct intervention of this sort, you might be able to improve infiltration by improving soil health and relieving compaction; certainly most of the puddling areas that we've got are places that get walked/driven upon. The few that aren't are either above old fill, or in natural pockets of clay... but in general we have quite a lot more slope than you. Putting down woodchips is the best thing I've found for paths...
What is the soil like on your
land?
[quote=
Mike Feddersen]I imagine it will all depend a bit on how fast the ground thaws.I would expect that the ground will rarely be frozen for any extended period in Merville; any given winter is likely to have some snow and weeks of freeze, but a lot more rain than snow right through the winter. This is a mixed blessing.. no massive spring thaw flooding to manage, but lots and lots of water all winter!
