The site is about 1oo feet above sea level at around 45 degrees north latitude. Our climate is maritime temperate with 50 inches of rainfall in the winter, with the potential for 5 months of summer drought. Local soils are an inclusion of silty loam in a landscape dominated by compacted glacial tills. The landscape is undulating. We have somewhat of a low spot-frost pocket shared between our site and the neighbor to the south.
This first image shows existing structures and hydrology. Blue marks indicate flows. Blue areas indicate sinks where there is seasonal inundation or saturation. Blue stars are potential water sources from roof runoff. Soil saturation persists in the light blue areas for a couple days after rain or a week after heavy rains. Dark blue areas are low spots that appear to have ground water influenced hydrology that persists for longer after heavy rains.
This second image shows the current conceptual plan for the layout of different vegetation communities. In permaculture lingo, the whole site could be considered zone 1-2, with some areas like the hedgerows, wood lot , herbal ley, and wet meadow-shrubland complexes approaching the characteristics of zone 3 in that they are intended to become largely self regulating systems with minor maintenance while still providing yield. Red stars show primary activity nodes: driveway parking, and entrances and exits to buildings. Red lines are community trail easements.
Winter is just beginning to loose its grip on the land. Buds are looking plump, but no action yet. This years focus is on renovating existing fruit trees, developing the nursery, improving soils and weed control in the vegetable area while getting some crops out, installing a first wave of fruit trees, and installing the beginnings of the W and SW hedgerows, and mulching the kitchen garden. We really want chickens, but I am leaning toward waiting until the first wave of earthwork and planting is under control.
This second image shows the current conceptual plan for the layout of different vegetation communities. In permaculture lingo, the whole site could be considered zone 1-2, with some areas like the hedgerows, wood lot , herbal ley, and wet meadow-shrubland complexes approaching the characteristics of zone 3 in that they are intended to become largely self regulating systems with minor maintenance while still providing yield. Red stars show primary activity nodes: driveway parking, and entrances and exits to buildings. Red lines are community trail easements.
Winter is just beginning to loose its grip on the land. Buds are looking plump, but no action yet. This years focus is on renovating existing fruit trees, developing the nursery, improving soils and weed control in the vegetable area while getting some crops out, installing a first wave of fruit trees, and installing the beginnings of the W and SW hedgerows, and mulching the kitchen garden. We really want chickens, but I am leaning toward waiting until the first wave of earthwork and planting is under control.
My current project is designing the hedgerows and in particular around wet meadow-shrubland 2. Next post will be a discussion of how that guild is shaping up and how I have been evaluating site hydrology, and how I am thinking about managing successional planting.
3 comments:
Hey Paul it's great what you are doing. Can you tell me what you use to shade and colour your image with. It is simlpe and practical loking.
Nathan
I am looking forward to hear more about the progress of your project!
It's good to see what you're doing, keep posting !!
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