This is a terrace I’ve been working for a few years. Year by year I have tilled the soil here, working the grasses back into the soil, gradually improving the soil for the plants…. the rocks will break up and become reduced in number. The flats of this terrace have just now been tilled.
Notice how I always allowed the grasses on the down-slopeto live. This is so that the plant roots will twine themselves around the soil, holding it in place, keeping erosion away. Last year I planted Opuntia robusta on the down-slope….. their roots will eventually reach into the flat portions of both terraces pulling the nutrients and moisture they need from all areas within ten feet or so of the plant. The robusta plants grow a bit slow…. it will be four years before they appear to be filling the area in.
Now we see the terrace with its final grading performed and the Nopalea grande cactus planted…. and our watchdog Whitey who watched every aspect of this operation.
When you build a terrace, you should make sure the outer lip is higher than the inner portion of the terrace. This is designed so that any rain will be held in the inner portion, keeping the water from running downhill. In fact, with our terraces we get absolutely no run-off of storm water at all. All water that falls here is captured within the ‘well’ portion of the terrace. I have placed the cactus onto a ridge that runs along the outer lip of the terrace, this will give me plenty of room to navigate along the inner terrace while picking… the cactus has been placed onto the terrace in such a way that it is raised higher than the ‘sump or well’ portion of the terrace… their roots wil not be in constant water. The soil from the ‘sump or well’ area has been moved to the outer lip of the terrace… this in effect doubles the depth of the worked soil that the cactus has been planted into. All in all, this makes for some really good soil, really good growing conditions.
The conditions for uor cactus on this hill is so prime…. it is hard to picture better conditions for the plants. The hill is facing due south…. each terrace being raised above the terrace below ensures that each line of cactus will be in full sun from sunup to sundown. The rich well-draining soil has the texture and tilth that cactus likes. Our cactus plants grow very well here, and they are happy plants indeed.
This is a ground-level view of the new terrace. To the left is the hill continuing upward for hundreds more feet. To the right is the berm that I constructed to plant the cactus into. Over the next few years eroding sediments from uphill will be captured into the ‘well’, and one day I will till all the cactus into the ground, leaving it even richer than ever.
This design is similar to a terrace design the Maya used to use called cajetes. Perhaps it is fitting that I use terrace technology developed by the Maya, after all, the Nopalea grande cactus we are using is also from the Maya!
Sadly, hand built terraces are not very well accepted by modern agricultural standards. The necessity of hand work and the lowered profit potential makes for an ag system that is considered non-viable from an economic standpoint. Yet these hand-built terraces hold more water, lose less soil, and improve tilth and growing conditions for plants better than could be done by machine only.
I have put together a webpage with links to terracing studies… concentrating on ancient terraces. The page is many years old and many links are inoperative, but there is still much info to be gleaned from the remaining pages.
Some of our best soil is in the little arroyo where we grow many of our plants. The nutrient-rich clay particles tend to unravel from the rock strata, and work their way into the arroyo where the rich gravelly soil provides the perfect blend of nutrients and moisture conditions.
But life doesn’t always lay everything you want at your feet, sometimes you need to go up that hill and work.
So, I build terraces on the hillside. The native soil on the hill is still very good for cactus. I just need to make it a bit better, and get water to it. there is a danger however in working hilly land. Newly disturbed soil is very prone to washing or blowing away… and this risk is increased exponentially with the degree of slope involved. For this reason, it is good to make a series of flat areas on the hillside, these are referred to as terraces.
Each terrace will provide a level and firm area that I will be able to get equipment onto to maintain the ground, add amendments, run irrigation and harvest from comfortably and safely.
The terrace will also help reduce soil and moisture loss. Ideally, when it rains the terraces will hold the water allowing it to infiltrate into the soil, adding to the groundwater, and making up for some of what I pull from the ground with the well pump. Under the best conditions, this hillside should have no water run off.
There are many ways to build terraces, and I have used several of them. We’ve built terraces using chicken wire and re-bar to hold the soil, we’ve also used galvanized metal as backing, and we’ve made terraces using tens of tons of waste concrete pieces from demo projects. But now as I work my way higher up the hill, carting tons of concrete uphill by hand is seeming like less a viable option. So now I am building the terraces with themselves. Yes, the ground alone will provide the backing for these structures.
Building in such a way is slower than using concrete or other backing material. You must allow the soil to heal after disturbance and placement… you should allow the local grasses to dig their roots into the terrace to help stabilize it. It is best done a bit at a time, over the course of a few years. This will give you the time to till the soil yearly, letting the grasses grow thick and strong locking the soil into place, then you come and till along the growing spots, leaving the structural areas of the terrace undisturbed. Year by year, this tiling can be done, allowing the soil to become more suitable to plant growth, until the time comes that you wish to plant. I think five years is a good time to consider proper from initial building, to the final planting of the crops. If necessary of course, a person could plant sooner, but that would be best done with many inputs to improve the soil. Since I am working so high up the hill, away from inputs, I prefer to work slow, with one tilling yearly as the soil slowly grows healthier, and one day, when I need the growing ground, we can easily plant and increase our harvest.
This is one terrace we cut into the hill some four years ago. We let the native grasses grow thick on this soil, and we till a strip down the center every spring. This will improve the soil where we will plant a row of cactus (someday). The grasses getting tilled in will slowly rot and release humic acid. The acids will etch the native shale rock, helping to break them down. I will then weed-whack the grasses on both sides in such a way that the grasses lay down over the exposed and vulnerable soil, acting as a protective mulch to prevent the wind from ripping along the hillside carrying away the soil I work so hard to build up. Year by year this soil becomes more amenable to planting…. I could plant cactus into this soil at any time I need the extra space.
terrace building
This is the same terrace with the weeds cut down to lay a protective blanket over the open soil. This soil will now sit through the summer, the weeds slowly rotting into the ground and some laying over the top. When the rains come again in the winter, the weeds will quickly grow in this improved soil, and we will repeat the process.
terrace building
This is the next terrace up the hill.
It is important that the native plants, and later introduced plants be allowed to fully colonize the soil with their roots. the plants are a large part of what keeps such a soil together.
Terraces much be maintained…. there are many places in the world where the young people have walked from their remote villages to make their fortunes in the cities, and now the world of terraces is full of old folks who cannot properly maintain the terraces that in some cases might be thousands of years old.
My thinking is that in this age of rising population, and scarcer resources, small hand-built terraces will again be seen as a viable agricultural alternative.
The California Native Garden Foundation is a non-profit that seeks to educate people about the abundance of California native plants, and how they can so easily fit in with an environmental approach to gardening.
Growing your landscape with natives only makes sense… you are planting specimens that are better adapted to the environment of California. There is less need for coddling, fewer pest issues, and reduced need for inputs, thereby reducing costs and time expenditure.
Alrie Middlebrook is the Gal-In-Charge (GIC) of CNGF, and she is turning 65 this week! They are putting on a birthday party for her on Sunday in Los Gatos. Their garden area is very nice, and it’s a good place for a party (yep, been there and done that! ). The people I’ve met there are really nice, and everyone learns something and has a good time.
Here’s the flyer that they passed on to us….
Celebrate Alrie Middlebrook’s 65th Birthday this Sunday!
Hi everyone,
Unbelievable as it is, Alrie will be turning (choke, sputter) 65 on Sunday. The good news is she still looks beautiful and has cut her work week down to 60 hours (not including special adventures). Please join us on Sunday March 15 to celebrate her special day. She’s requested, in lieu of lavish gifts (ha, ha) to make a contribution to the CNGF (California Native Garden Foundation). We’ll be having an open house from around two to five. Alrie’s hoping to share this day with good friends, good cheer, and good music.
Come and join us,
Barry
Sorry forgot the location: 140 Wissahickon Ave., Los Gatos, CA 95030
California Native Garden Foundation
76 Race St. San Jose, CA 95126, California 95126 | 408-292-9993
These are Monterey Pines in a draw near our home at Rivenrock Gardens.
They are a tree native to California, and although they grow well here, they are not really native to the canyon.
I still like them…. the sound of the wind through these trees is like a locomotive at times.
You can follow the gust of wind as it shakes the trees in turn… a few hundred feet of trees soughing in a long ‘wave’.
The needles trap some of the rain… hours after a rain, the wind can shake loose enough drops that it sounds as if it is raining agan. In this way trees dampen the effect of squalls and downpours. They add a layer of dry leaves each year.. while the top layer is flammable and dangerous… the layers below have trapped moisture, molding into the soil… being converted into humus… a thick layer of damp peat-like material… the worms coming to the surface, and carrying this forest duff deep into the subsoil… opening the locked lower layers. Decade after decade trees can improve the soil. There are not a lot of soils that can compare to the fertility of some forested lands.
In ‘Slash and Burn’ subsistence agriculture by traditional ‘near Stone-Age’ agrarian societies, this soil is utilized… the trees are burned, the ashes further enrich the soil… if the fire was not too intense the soil should retain much nitrogen. Such a soil can be used for a few years and then abandoned when the fertility is waning. The jungle would quickly take over the open land, and growth would be a tangle of new bushes and trees competing to race for the sun first. It might be another fifty years before the people come back to that spot and cleared it again. By that time the fertility of the soil would have been replenished, and the people could once more use it.
Modern agriculture has to rely on using the same soil forever. We can’t even afford to think of the fertility and carrying capacity of the soil in terms of centuries… the need for the soil will always exist… anything that will encourage the slow degradation of the soils cannot be tolerated… keep your soil always in good shape through proper conservation methods.
In the past year or two, you took the time to fill out a lose the lawn questionnaire and send it to us at Middlebrook Gardens. We appreciate your interest in water conservation, labor and chemical reduction and providing a healthy habitat for humans and all the living creatures on Mother Earth. Yes, those are some of the benefits of going native. And of course, we believe native gardens are the most beautiful!!
You may have heard that Middlebrook Gardens is hosting an event this coming week-end. It’s called “Hope for A Green Future: Restoring your Local Ecology One Garden at a Time.” It’s a fund raiser for The California Native Garden Foundation. Your ticket gets you seven free lectures on native gardening, birding, growing your own food, discounts at the only native plant nursery in San Jose, garden tours and free food and music. There’s even a scavenger hunt and and a cooking contest.
This is a celebration to help you learn more about the natural world you live in. You’ll learn the specifics of making sustainable changes in your own home garden.
I hope you’ll join us. To register please go to this link, www.cngf.org. Doors open at 9 am this Saturday and Sunday.
Will you ba a part of our Hope for a Green Future?
Rain or shine, I hope you’ll join us this week-end.
Thanks,
Alrie
P.S. In an effort to conserve resources please bring your own plate, glass and utensils, if possible.
California Native Garden Foundation
76 Race St. San Jose, CA 95126, California 95126 | 408-292-9993
It’s amazing and fun when different people in different areas will come up with widely varying techniques for preparing the same base materials.
It might surprise some to know that edible cactus use is widely spread throughout the Mediterranean region. In fact, the cactus, although brought to that area only in the last few hundred years, has become so widespread and endemic to the area that many people there are surprised to learn that it is not a native plant. It is always fun to me to watch a movie depicting ancient life in the Holy Land, and some scenes will show some of the different succulent plants that came from the New World.
A fellow in Israel has written a good number of creative recipes using cactus. You can read these at his site at Strat’s Place.
). The people I’ve met there are really nice, and everyone learns something and has a good time.
In the past year or two, you took the time to fill out a lose the lawn questionnaire and send it to us at Middlebrook Gardens. We appreciate your interest in water conservation, labor and chemical reduction and providing a healthy habitat for humans and all the living creatures on Mother Earth. Yes, those are some of the benefits of going native. And of course, we believe native gardens are the most beautiful!!
