What to Do With a Flat Lot With an Abundance of Water?

Question

I know the course will get to this later, but there is so much talk in permaculture about slope and swales, what do you do if you have a flat lot with an abundance of water?

Key Takeaways

Nothing is perfectly flat, but anything can have swales or canals moved around through it. The great thing about flattish land is that it much more usable. Deeper swales could turn into the little canals to become more like chinampas. The extra material from digging the swale will create a higher mound, which will drain better. The real disadvantage to flat land is there is no head pressure, but really, it’s just a matter of creating a solution from the problem.

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About Geoff:

Geoff is a world-renowned permaculture consultant, designer, and teacher that has established demonstration sites that function as education centers in all the world's major climates. Geoff has dedicated his life to spreading permaculture design across the globe and inspiring people to take care of the earth, each other, and to return the surplus.

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Permaculture is conscious, intentional design in which diverse, stable and resilient ecosystems are assimilated to help people provide their food, energy, shelter, and other needs in a sustainable way, abusing neither the planet nor the humans relying on it. Permaculture focuses on a variety of topics, including agriculture, forestry, water harvesting, renewable energy, eco-building, waste management, animal systems, economics, technology, & community development.

#permaculture #permaculturedesign #swale

[ingeleonora-denouden]

I thought this was a subject for me: I live in the flat country, the Netherlands (not Holland, but the Eastern part). I have only an allotment garden, so large earthworks a.a. are impossible. But I think I did well starting to dig a pit (a pond, but small and deep) to reach ground-water level. After a rainstorm there's water in it, but after some dry summer days there isn't. Still the water is close under the ground and the water-mint (Mentha aquatica) I planted at the bottom is doing well!
The soil coming out of that pit now forms a small hill at the side, so now my garden is not really flat anymore.

[tuscanr]

The problem is the solution, everytime. Love it!

[BryceGarling]

Our land is generally flat with some swales already there. We created contour berms and pits and then covered it with mulch and ground over plants. Now things grow like magic.

[ruvimcherabye]

Great solution for Florida wetlands 👍🏻

[dodopson]

"Nothing's perfectly flat unless you're in holland of course"
-laughs in dutch 😂😂

[islandgardener]

Dig holes, ponds and reservoirs lots of them

[jordycorvers]

I love the work that Geoff Lawton is doing and there are very few times we disagree. compost tea being on of them... but my advice would be to take a look at the netherlands. granted the soil structure is somewhat unique but the land is not only flat it is perfectly level.. becuse of the high water level (or low land level, it is below sea level after all) most trees do not grow on some farmlands there because it would block oxygen to the roots. some examted species like willow you will see a lot but mostly it is grass. grass and grass with water chanels in between only 20cm below the soil level. combine that with 850 mm of rainfall a year you have a lot of potential issues. however, when taken care of properly diverse grassfields can produce enormous amounts of biomass that can be used to feed livestock.even though the natherlands is extremely productive it's not a sustainable system and could benefit immensely from permaculture.

[SuperBjanka]

Thank you. Now I know what to do on my small plot.

[asambi]

Always wondered how you could use swales on 'Flatter' land. This seems like an awesome idea to have a river/pond in your swale.

[bakkerarjen]

Living in Holland I was really interested in this topic. I only have a small plot of land and was not very sure how to approach this.
Thanks for the info

[rileymcdonald]

I actually have a property and I'm just observing the flow if energy through the land and it's perfect I'm going to build in a canyon with full sun and a view and there's a good acre or even 2 of flat land in the canyon

[xyzsame]

I saw a video of Greg Judy who undid swales and seemed to have a grudge. He has a reputation for cattle (rotational grazing, grass fed beef). Allegedly it cost him 10k, he warned his followers to install them, he can afford costly mistakes, but he says he knows of people that start out, and allegedly invest a lot into earth work and equipment like fancy stables and machines etc.- when the only things they need are fences, water and animals.

These people do not want to install food forests they want to produce grass fed cattle (or maybe milk). They often do not own the land and are beginners.

He might have a point with the warning for those cases.

I also read that Bill Mollison rule was than only a mature well planted swale system with firmly secured edges) are fit to be grazed by large animals like cows. I gues that also applies to using them as paths. I haveseen Geoff using them with a whell barrow. Maybe one could use a mule, donkey or small horse pulling a cart with large tires and not too much weigh. But certainly not in year one or two.

He works a lot with leased land.
The swales were trampled down by cows (he said they put in a few days of work with fences), and the owner of the land complained that he could not drive over the swales to access all of the land ;) He was not willing to put in some more work with building bridges. And worse the swale he showed are was naked earth and compacted. There were also points of overflow that formed mud puddles (so no sealed pond), and on the other hand the water did not infiltrate fast either.

So the "expert" that adivised them or the enthusiastic young man that tried the newest fad (eiither a relative of an intern) did not get a lot of things right and were not good in fixing things.

They planted trees but they all died (which is remarkable because there are mature trees on the plot, and rain may be scarce during some summers, but generally speaking they have enough, the grass looked good. And he wanted ONLY to raise cattle (goats and sheep) but no interest in growing and selling plant food (food trees could of course support the feed of the cows, but on the other hand that he has at most a 10 year lease . It takes a few years until even smaller apple trees etc become productive.

and he had no intention to diversify his operations (selling fruit, pressing apple juice, making cider, selling at a farmers market) etc.


A swale is a tree growing, water inflitration feature that creates zones of inequal distribution of water and nutrients, and can secure the underground and prevent erosiion. Unequal to a degree, likely the more slope the more the water will sit towards the trees. That means there are micro zones and borders.

He on the other hand wants his cows to graze the whole area, and rather removes than plants trees from what I have been seen form other videos. .

It is often a solution for land that has more slope, could do with more water, so it needs some harvesting, or there are problems with erosion.

And it is a way of transfering a meadow into a forest or parkland.
Whereas he wants meadow (with some trees for shadow, but not more).

[aron]

I have 40 acres, extremely flat, 2 ft of fall from the NW corner to the SE corner with 1 ft of fall from the NW corner to the SW corner, NW and NE corners are level.

[NashvilleMonkey]

River valleys are about as flat as a natural area as there is, and they grow plants amazingly. Definitely, build in height differences in a usable way to guide the water.

[well-see-what-happens-cent]

So if there’s flat land, clay soil & not a lot of rain the placement of the swales doesn’t really matter?

[justpatty]

Excellent video response, helped me tremendously. Thank you! 🌻

[nickgarrity]

The OG permafarmer himself! You are the GoAt my dude!

[yukonjack]

When life gives you lemons, build a swale (or canal).

[MARINE]

Thank you!!! I want to learn more and see videos on flat land in sandy soil.

[Raj-yyxx]

I have flat land with a high water table. Is the there guidance on building chinampa canals? At a minimum, how deep and wide should they be in a warm Temperate or sub tropics, to avoid drying out and being able to support an aqua culture water system. Given the canals are a substitute to swales.