Harvesting Water on the Landscape

Harvesting Water on the Landscape

July 16, 2018

Morgan McLeod and Prairie Wolfe share insights into harvesting water on the landscape with berms and swales.

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Harvesting water on the landscape with berms and swales.

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We carved three berms and swales into the bowl in upper Partridge alley to slow, spread, and capture rainwater and spring snow melt.

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We filled the swales with wood chips to slow evaporation, and planted a mix of native shrubs, forbs, and grasses on the berms.

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We planted lots of seedlings close together to discourage establishment of weeds.

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We marked out control plots adjacent to our berms so that we could compare plant survivorship, growth, and soil moisture throughout the growing season.

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We installed berms after snow melt this year, but plenty of spring rain helped establish our plantings and soil under the woodchips in the swales was still moist on June 14th.

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Our seedlings benefitted from lots of spring rain with plenty of new growth and green leaves on June 26th.