Hi Gardening Group! Anyone ever measure the "contour" of your land?

There is a community gardening project on which I'd like to help. We're taking a swarth of land that is on a gentle slope, and a few of us would like to take the advice of someone and mark the contours of the land so that we would end up with a few rows where we would plant. The water content of that soil might be better maintained because of how we mark out this contour.

I have a pamphlet that makes it look easy, and I'm gonna construct a triangle (2 meters on 2 sides, 1 meter on the 3rd leg of the triangle). I will dangle a string and weight (perhaps a bottle filled with stones that is tied to the end of this string. This will be a cheap instrument to mark the ground with little sticks so that we can plant there and make rows in between. The row between may be dug into a swale and filled in with wood chips. I'm not sure.

Anyway, if you've done any of this, please comment. Meanwhile, I'm going to get some of the soil tested, and hopefully follow the advise of some people who are into a thing called permaculture and may be good for further advice.

This garden project may grow into something the community can really care about, but I'm experimenting with the rows I told you about above to see if we can yield some good plant life first.

Many thanks!

MMM

exactly what you're planning, but be careful you don't destabilize the slope due to erosion.

eom

here...

http://reap-eastafrica.org/blogs.info/reap/pdf/AFrame.pdf

I have noticed that people in community gardens like to frame their raised beds with wooden frames. I hope that you can align your community parcels so that the long axis of the raised beds align with the contours of the land.

Soil testing is a good idea. I anticipate that you need some plan to bring in organic material in the short term, like finished compost. On the "off seasons" it would be nice to bring in manure.

There is a great big topic about how to fertilize the soil at the beginning of the season and to feed the plants throughout the season. I don't think I can write "all that" right now, and it is beyond the scope of your "contours" question.

So, thanks for noticing that. We didn't want to do raised beds with wooden frames. What if it didn't work out and then we'd have all that heavy stuff to move? So, marking the contour lines with my home made level is going to be interesting and it should enable what you say, plus, I'm taking pictures of the process. I'll share them with the community at a future council meeting (I'm a member of council).

This first year, I have to "prove" a few things: 1) that we can grow something 2) that we can contribute some of what we successfully grow to local food banks

This will be more of a test of whether I can coordinate a group of people (sustainable movement here in this municipality) to guide the permaculture techniques, plus the other resources such as our public works, which has compost from the community leaf pick up. We're avoiding having to use weed barrier by using newspapers found in a nearby municipal recycling bin.

Maybe I should share future picture here for advice and any critiques? :-)

We just have raised beds without any frames at home.

If you have a photo hosting site, I would like to see the pictures. I hope your site slopes toward the sun, that is always better. Love your cat pic, btw!

and there is a much easier method of determining "level" on a curve,
the "U-Tube" Method, but it generally requires two people.

1) Get a 20' (or more) section of clear plastic tubing.

2) Hold the ends straight up, and fill it with water up to about 4"- 6" from the ends.

3) Have a helper hold one end of the tube with the water level even with a mark on the first stake.

4) Walk the other end around the contour until the clear tubing is almost extended, and put a stake with a mark even with the water level at that end of the tube. (It is a good idea for the helper to hold his thuimb over the end until the walker gets to his destination.)

5) The tubing will probably have to be occasionally refilled from a small bottle to compensate for spillage,
but if the water levels in the tube match, then the elevation at those points is absolutely level.

We garden on a moderate slope, but there is not much "contour". It is fairly linear.


We started in 2007 with raised 4' X 8' boxes, oriented perpendicular to the slope
to keep our soil from washing down the hill.

This worked OK, but we lost some nutrients through leakage,
and water would channel between the boxes during heavy rains.


We joined the boxes together to eliminate the channels,
dug in and leveled the lower sides, and sealed them with clay.


We have since evolved to terraces.




Our project this year is Oak Log Terraces.
The untreated pine boards in the original garden have a useful life of 3 seasons.
We are hoping the oak logs last longer. These performed well during the recent 18" of rain.
Our plan is to expand these next year.

The old weathered structure in the right middle ground is the remains of a goat shed
that has been the source of much of the soil we have used in our garden.
In the background are the chicken coops and a few of our birds.

fairly small yard and it's fun to see other folk's properties. Love the chickens! it's kinda cool, my parents live in a small town, and their new (tatooed-my parents made a point of telling me this! ;) neighbors have a small chicken house.)