I went to bed really encouraged last night. The swales were spilling into each other and draining as intended.
Sometime after that, the rain must have gotten worse.
Busted corn swales and soil displacement
The swales must have burst while I slept. Water rushed through three of the corn swales in the big patch. My replacement clover seed still hasn't come in, so no cover crop got snowed on these swales, which is the root issue here. That extra plant and root material no doubt would have stopped this. Lesson learned: always always always cover crop, or else you'll lose soil.
Full swale, hours after the sun came out
Our soil here is saturated now. Very very slowly infiltrating. A good sign, but there's more torrential storms inbound tonight.
Close-up of swale erosion.
Some soil was displaced, which I'll be dealing with. This is a good failure and opportunity to learn a lot. Like most things, don't take too much time to mourn; but assess, evaluate, and act when appropriate. Hang in there, things are coming from this that will be really awesome.
Just a quick update. Lots going on. Love y'all, and I'm excited for the future!
All action for the good of all
Nate 💚
Ah, it's always a bummer when you have to do something twice, but problems always help you to do better.
I cover my hugelkultur mounds with leaves and brush to minimize erosion and it works great.
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Yeah, that's a great solution for hugel beds. I mulch the hell out of everything I do, but it's no help in this case. Just too much water pushing against freshly turned soil. If I'd dug the rows last fall and seeded with a cover crop, it wouldn't be a problem, but the soft soil just didn't have time to reintegrate. Lesson learned though, and I'm glad I learned it on this and not on a bigger, more permanent project.
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Yeah a rock boundary with straw cover might have helped, but if the rains were torrential(like they are here right now), nothing would have helped.
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That is a good lesson to learn about having cover crops to prevent erosion!
Luckily it wasn't to expensive of lesson. Is there something you can put on it to prepare for more storms coming in? Good to see the corn coming up, time to put in some protective measures to keep them gowing.
We wouldn't even think about putting in corn for another 3 1/2 months!
In fact I gave up on growing corn for it was so iffy if it would produce much.
I remeber one year when my new neighbors had just moved in next door and had a large open garden space they weren't going to be using. I asked if I could plant a few crops that were easier to take care of and they said yes.
I planted 3 varieties of corn, a small one that produced early, a medium sized corn and the peaches and cream. As it turned out it was a wonderful year for corn and got an abundance of harvest although it was only for that one year. My area that has the most light is also in a lower area that gets frost earlier so I gave up corn, potatoes (except in a grow bag which I could move around to let them mature) and the different longer season beans i had for drying.
Now my diet has changed and I don't eat those any ways!
Happy gardening season!
Love seeing the updates!
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Nah, nothing I can really do for it at the moment. I laid some twigs there to kinda support things and diffuse any water flow, but the water would just wash back out if I tried to block it. And if it washed around whatever I used, it could just get a lot worse. I'll give it time to settle. So far, about 24 hours later, it's no worse.
Look into this painted mountain corn. Its a fast grower, the fastest ever at 85 days. It's also frost hardy, drought tolerant, and good at altitude. A supercorn that might be worth your time. I planted so early, most would consider it stupid. I still shouldn't plant corn for another month according to most guides, and I planted it three or four weeks ago!
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Awesome article. I agree with the idea that it’s good to grow our own food.
A good question might be: What is food?
I wonder why we don't even know what is food after 12 years of education system.
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