jinman
Rest in Peace
- Joined
- Feb 23, 2001
- Messages
- 21,008
- Location
- Texas - Wise County - Sunset
- Tractor
- NHTC45D, NH LB75B, Ford Jubilee
What the heck am I thinking? Sheesh!
I've picked about the worst spot I could think of to put in a garden. It's only redeeming values are that it is close to my house and a water supply for irrigation. The rest of this is gonna be a battle that may take me two years to win . . . if I do win.
Right across the driveway from my house is a spot I've always considered for a small pond. It's a swale that is about 150' diameter and the bottom seems to be solid red gumbo clay. Mother nature and the lay of the land built it. If I diidn't have so many other ponds and plans for new ones in other places, I might have just dammed this up and have a nice backyard pond. Since we sold the property with our previous garden spot, this seemed like the perfect location for a garden even though changing the natural tendency to be a pond may be the ultimate challenge.
What I intend to do is flatten the bottom by dragging clay from the high side to the low side, but leave a gentle downhill slope. After getting the bottom like I want, I'll fill in with 18" to 24" of good fill dirt, topsoil, mulch, and compost. The quantity of dirt I'm talking about has certainly been on my mind. I will probably get soil hauled in by the truckload. It's not gonna be cheap.
After I finish, I hope to have what will essentially be a huge raised bed garden. I'm thinking that water will drain through the topsoil until it gets to the clay and then follow the bowl shape to the natural drainage point in the back of the garden. Am I nuts? I hate to do this and build a nice fence around it only to have it fail and have to move my location. Here are some pictures of progress so far on my garden "follies."
The 1st picture is from the low side of the garden looking uphill toward my container. You can see my house also on the right. The raised area where the tractor is will one day be a tool crib and hold a lot of my garden stuff like tomato cages, garden tools, drip hoses, and such. I've already collected rocks from a neighbor and rip-rapped that raised area to reduce erosion.
The 2nd picture is across the swale showing how I have already started cutting down the high side and moving clay to the lower side. I plan to put in a retainer wall where I made the vertical cut. The 3rd picture shows this a little better. Also in the 3rd picture's foreground, you can see the small terrace I built along my driveway to redirect water away from the swale during construction. I may just make this a permanent addition to keep water off the hillside from eroding the garden.
The 4th and 5th pictures are looking toward the rear of the swale to where the water exits. I will not dam across this area because I want the garden to drain. I'll make sure the fill dirt has lots of sand and allows sufficient seepage. In the 4th picture, you can see my brown dirt I've started filling with. I don't have a lot of this closeby, but I may be able to scoop up enough to put down the first foot of fill. That could save me several dumptruck loads of dirt. I guess I should consider it a positive that fuel prices have gone down, so hauling will be a little cheaper than they would have been last year.
This is surely going to be a big project. I will have a reduced-sized garden this year as a result of finishing this. I'll keep this thread updated as I make significant progress or experience setbacks. At worst, it should be good for a few laughs.
I've picked about the worst spot I could think of to put in a garden. It's only redeeming values are that it is close to my house and a water supply for irrigation. The rest of this is gonna be a battle that may take me two years to win . . . if I do win.Right across the driveway from my house is a spot I've always considered for a small pond. It's a swale that is about 150' diameter and the bottom seems to be solid red gumbo clay. Mother nature and the lay of the land built it. If I diidn't have so many other ponds and plans for new ones in other places, I might have just dammed this up and have a nice backyard pond. Since we sold the property with our previous garden spot, this seemed like the perfect location for a garden even though changing the natural tendency to be a pond may be the ultimate challenge.
What I intend to do is flatten the bottom by dragging clay from the high side to the low side, but leave a gentle downhill slope. After getting the bottom like I want, I'll fill in with 18" to 24" of good fill dirt, topsoil, mulch, and compost. The quantity of dirt I'm talking about has certainly been on my mind. I will probably get soil hauled in by the truckload. It's not gonna be cheap.
After I finish, I hope to have what will essentially be a huge raised bed garden. I'm thinking that water will drain through the topsoil until it gets to the clay and then follow the bowl shape to the natural drainage point in the back of the garden. Am I nuts? I hate to do this and build a nice fence around it only to have it fail and have to move my location. Here are some pictures of progress so far on my garden "follies."
The 1st picture is from the low side of the garden looking uphill toward my container. You can see my house also on the right. The raised area where the tractor is will one day be a tool crib and hold a lot of my garden stuff like tomato cages, garden tools, drip hoses, and such. I've already collected rocks from a neighbor and rip-rapped that raised area to reduce erosion.
The 2nd picture is across the swale showing how I have already started cutting down the high side and moving clay to the lower side. I plan to put in a retainer wall where I made the vertical cut. The 3rd picture shows this a little better. Also in the 3rd picture's foreground, you can see the small terrace I built along my driveway to redirect water away from the swale during construction. I may just make this a permanent addition to keep water off the hillside from eroding the garden.
The 4th and 5th pictures are looking toward the rear of the swale to where the water exits. I will not dam across this area because I want the garden to drain. I'll make sure the fill dirt has lots of sand and allows sufficient seepage. In the 4th picture, you can see my brown dirt I've started filling with. I don't have a lot of this closeby, but I may be able to scoop up enough to put down the first foot of fill. That could save me several dumptruck loads of dirt. I guess I should consider it a positive that fuel prices have gone down, so hauling will be a little cheaper than they would have been last year.
This is surely going to be a big project. I will have a reduced-sized garden this year as a result of finishing this. I'll keep this thread updated as I make significant progress or experience setbacks. At worst, it should be good for a few laughs.
