Terry Coombs wrote:
....re straw mulch...
Â* I've already tilled a couple of layers into the soil , it's made a
world of difference in moisture retention . Coupled with rows that cut
across the slope of the land it lets most of the rain soak in rather
than running off .

yes that's all going to help.

in some gardens, over many years, people will take
the soil that washes down and move it back to the
top as a regular part of their garden routine.

i terrace the areas i can, luckily i don't have that
much of a slope anywhere, but one location where the
front septic drainfield is at is raised up and that
then slopes towards the back (downwards through what i
call the North Garden). i don't have it formally
terraced because i keep playing around in there with
varous plantings.

the lowest area is half covered with cardboard and
chunks of bark and the other half is covered with
Creeping Jenny (aka Moneywort) to capture any water
and that seems to be working. before it was getting
too weedy because the water washes in all the weed
seeds, but after keeping at it for several years i've
been able to reduce the weeding time and get the whole
area filled in so that weeds don't have an easy time
getting started. the Moneywort is not easy to weed
but that's ok.

the immediate upslope will be covered with straw-
berries once i get finished reshaping - moved some
poor subsoil/clay last fall to that area and now it
will need to be covered. the Moneywort will grow up
and the strawberries are growing down to cover the
Moneywort. that's also ok. i'm interested to see
how they do mixed together, i like it when i can get
layers going to a garden. as a third layer i've
planted beans or peas at times so there is some
shade during the hot part of summer.

always plenty to do for sure.


songbird