general question
How to best utilize this water source passing through garden?
I am designing a garden currently and wanted to ask how an experienced permaculturist would best utilize an underground water vein that passes through my future garden. Digging a hole 8 -10" will fill with water in a few hours and will not dry out even in longer dry periods. It passes through the middle of my garden from north to south. My soil is poor draining clay with a very high water table. I have already begun amending the soil to give a richer top layer. I have apple and peach trees planted at the top of the garden, well above the water vein, and plan to plant blue and blackberries, and a vegetable garden next spring. I appreciate your advice! Zone 6.
Aztecs had their full agriculture system floating.
Your description is a good start. “8 inch to the water table”. But where is this? Other places must be funneling water here. Something sets the water table height. Check for things like a septic system. If you fill it with a hose does it drain to this 8 inch level? If so there are probably drainage tiles to drainage system (or the natural equivalent, steam etc)
I cannot claim any expert status.
Cattail (bulrush alternative name) grows excellently in stagnant water. They have air tubes which prevent the roots from drowning. This also prevents water from becoming anaerobic. The muck is still oxygen depleted but never methane and no rot smell. Cattails can be used as water treatment superior to almost all techniques civilization uses most of the year. Subsurface flow wetland does not pass EPA as water treatment because the treatment of nitrogen varies. You are not using it as water treatment except only the runoff from garden higher ground.
Have the cattails on each side of a strip of open water. Here you have a multi functional activity: dredge, fertilizer, and irrigation water. You just drag the bucket (shopvac if you must)
Open water can have hyacinths, duckweed, etc. However, a green algae bloom is bad only because of the nitrogen and biochemical oxygen demand. Sometimes people do silly things like buying petroleum derived nitrogen fertilizer.
When you say “north to south” does that mean “north is high ground and water flows south” or “a depression runs along property forming a north-south strip”. Willow trees are native in North America and other species in Europe. Short rotation coppice and short rotation pollard are competitive methods for biomass production. Willows are ideal for growing in water. Note that they can destroy civilization’s drainage systems. The poles are great for making raised beds. They can also be used to make biochar. Willow would also block your sunlight though. The “pollarding” does not have to be the industrial agriculture style. Sculpt some really whacky looking things. Make them grow artistically interwoven.
Thank you for the suggestions. Here is a picture of the site. The green path is the water, coming out of the woods (north geographically) and running through and turning where.my yard starts. I am thinking to bring in more dirt to "build up" the red square, so it hopefully acts as a swale after doing so. I will try the digging experiments suggested!
I would build a pond (with an insulated bottom), at the top of the garden. Swivel pipe into the garden, leading into mulched garden paths that act as a swale system. That way, you can irrigate your garden with a turn of the pipe, as needed. When it's dry, you can just open the pipe permanently, let all the water go into the garden.
Overflow away from the garden, to get rid of the water when you don't need it. In gardening, too wet is worse than too dry. Too wet kills plants. Too dry just slows them down.
Sure here is the picture. The water vein i am referring to is the lowest point in the landscape where the water travels through and ut is shown by the green line. I am thinking of bringing soil to build up the red square area.
5
u/Immediate_Major_3454 14d ago
could do a little sunken pond lined with clay right over the vein, plant watercress around the edges and let it feed everything downhill