How to slow and capture rainfall... and stop soil run-off!

HOW TO ... SLOW AND CAPTURE RAINFALL

Create a Barrier
Whether it’s garden beds, paths, or retaining walls, building across contours slows and catches water.

Retaining Wall 1: The gabion walls at Tino’s are an easy DIY solution. Tino filled the 1.7x.6x.6m mesh boxes with rocks from his property. $100 might seem expensive for a box, but it’s cheap compared to employing a professional to build a retaining wall. They drain beautifully in a spot where a solid brick wall would eventually collapse.

Retaining Wall 2: Hay bales are a fast, cheap way of creating a short-lived retaining wall and if placed in two layers, also offer wind protection. Tino inserts stakes in-between the hay and the twine, rather than directly through the bale. Lay them like bricks and they’ll be stronger. Keeping bales out in the open breaks down weed seeds and when the bales eventually fall apart you can use them as mulch. Tino backfills up to the bales, creating a planting area.

Retaining Wall 3: Hessian 'sausages' are a medium-term solution to slowing and retaining rainfall. They’ll also work perfectly as a retaining wall running across the contour.



Physically Protect the Soil
Hessian and mulch act like shock absorbers stopping heavy rainfall from destroying soil structure. Attach hessian with timber or metal stakes. Straw and compost mulch is fine on flatter slopes, but use heavier bark mulch on steeper sites or it will wash away.

Fibrous-rooted, quick-growing plants like grasses serve double-duty; they protect the soil from rain and bind the soil, preventing it from eroding.



Other Options
When soil starts eroding, channels form and these become the path of least resistance and if left unchecked can become dangerously deep. Get on top of this problem early by placing a barrier of logs or groups of pot plants in the middle of the water’s path to slow and disperse it.

Swales might be a fancy term, but they’re a simple concept. They’re a natural or man-made low tract of land running across the contour of a hill where water naturally pools. Use a mattock and shovel to create mini-swales as temporary rainwater control while plants establish, or make them larger and plant a row of shrubs just below – the water that pools in the swale will be used by the shrubs.

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