Urban Swales: Construction with Weeping Tile & Mulch ~ Hugelkultur (pt1)
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
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Rob Avis, of Verge Permaculture, talks about how to design, build & combine garden and food forest swales and pathways in an urban environment, using weeping tile and mulch - a modified hugelkultur of sorts. It is the first video is a three part series on urban swales.
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I have done a similar thing in my yard. I use French drains ( you are calling them weeping tiles) to take the roof water from a down spout to a rain garden which then over flows into a series of shallow French drains that are slightly off level (key lined) down through the yard. I add "soak aways" every 5 to 10 feet along the key line by digging down ~18 inches every 5 -10 feet and then elbowing the French drains into the holes. I use the fabric sleeves to keep the French drains open longer (some say this is wasted effort). I put the dirt back in the trenches with expanded shale as a soil amendment. I live in an HOA neighborhood (big mistake) so I have to keep some lawn. But I have been able to plant many fruit trees and mix vegetables in with the flowers. I love the idea of tire gardens and will have to find a way to add one to my system. Thanks for the video, you have given me more things to think about adding to my garden. Your garden looks fabulous!
Those are great ideas!
i love the urban swales i put in my sandy soil yard. They are hugel swales too, so they double as frog habitat. Great video nice tips, very professional.
Thanks for the comment!
Great information. I just made the same in my garden but i couldnt find any information about swales like this. I put garden debris and then mulch in my swales, but next time i will put in a weeping tile. It was talking hours to water my large veggie garden here in California and its over 90 degrees every day now.
Thanks for this video. Really thorough explanation of your design!
Do you have a video on how you did the over flow.
Nice, asides for the fact that there is a lot of assuming necessary. First I'm assuming that the weeping tile is NOT tile but that tube shown multiple times. I have not idea what kind of mulch that is asides that it look woody so it from some type of tree.
Please do more videos on this subject and how it's working . Did you pierce holes into that black pipe weeping tile or did it comes with holes in.?? How big are those holes to let the water out and how far apart is each hole.?? When covered with mulch do you walk directly on top of the weeping pipe ?? Will the pipe cracki and break if you walk on it or put too much weight on.?? If I can't buy the same materials here in the UK I will have to make my own. That's why I need to know these details. This is an amazing system. Thank you.👌 🍒 ✔ 🍉 👍
Hello Rob, thank you for this video. Do you wrap the weeping tile in fabric and is your tile perforated all around or have hole along the bottom? Thanks again.
Great video!
How far is the tire pond from the foundation of the house.
Hi Rob! Absolutely love all the information you have on permaculture. Thank you so much!
I am setting up some new raised garden beds (in a better location closer to downspouts and sun) and have a couple questions about these swales. Firstly, how do you determine their depth/length/volume? You mentioned in one of the videos that you should determine the infiltration rate of your soil and then determine the volume of the swale using the loading rate from that infiltration test. Unfortunately, I have had no luck finding how to do this. Could you point me in the right direction? Secondly, do you have an overflow somewhere? I couldn't tell from all your videos. I intend to have my swales as the path between my keyhole beds that are fed by the overflow from my rain tote. Any information you have would be helpful.
Thank you Rob!
Hello Rob, I have been inspired by your video to catch water from my roof and install a swales system to my tree guilds. My question is, did you place landscape fabric over the weeping tile to avoid mulch clogging the holes in the weeping tile. Thanks!
Would you need a root barrier around the weeping tile to keep shrub/tree roots growing into it/clogging it?
Hi. Looks like you've got an incredible forest growing in your yard. I'd like to move in the same direction, and am looking at the possibility of putting in similar swales to harvest the runoff rainwater from my roof. I was just wondering if having these underground pipes could be a problem when the snow is melting and temperatures hover between freezing and non-freezing? I guess weeping tile might be ok because of all the holes, but what if one uses unperforated pipe to direct the water to the swales? Would one be running the risk of having the pipes crack when water freezes inside them?
Did you find that the weeping tile clog? It appears you didn't cover the pipe with fabric? Thank you!
Great video, Rob!
I had great success with this system at my old place and am in the middle of installing the same thing at my new house. I especially like the idea of the tire-wetland in place of a first-flush diverter; simple, elegant, and an opportunity to add that much more diversity to the yard.
I noticed that you're using the standard weeping tile pipe. I've always purchased the stuff that's covered with a sock to prevent the build-up of debris; an unfounded concern which might actually be exacerbated by the sock. What you're using obviously works. Thoughts?
That is a good idea Dustin. I have always wondered how much stuff would actually get in there. I have not worried about it too much. Its probably worth the extra expense to use the sock. Thanks for the comment.
Really awesome stuff. Keep posting =)
Great video.
I am new to your channel but am so glad I've found it.
I especially like that you have chosen to combine strategies to best suit your needs. In particular filling your swales with mulch. I have small children and animals and have major concerns about having huge water filled ditches all over our property.
Do you have any recommended reading for a layperson on swales on a small to semi-small scale? Most information I am finding refers to swales on huge acreage. While I do have about 3 acres to work with, I am first concentrating on seasonal gardens to feed my family (within 1/2 acre), which are located close to our home.
If you also have recommended reading for installing swales in conjunction with laying out livestock (goats, pigs, and chickens) paddocks (permanent and rotating). I haven't found anything on this. I want to be conscientious not to unnecessarily distribute waste runoff or other issues I've not even considered.
Even more obscure would be reading to cover if I can use swales near a well or septic system? We have both.
You would think with such an amazing system, there would be tons of easily accessible information. Or maybe I just don't know where to look. Lol
Thank you again for sharing this knowledge!
Thanks for your kind words!
The mulch would encourage fire ants in Toronto, Canada. I have noticed that they thrive wherever there is mulch or fragmities, which creates it own mulch over a few years. Something to think about.
Interested in the answer to this also... I've used mulch with a similar increase in any activity. 😥
Thanks for allowing me to watch this video for free.
You're welcome Joan! we have lots of free, informative videos. Here is a link to a number of videos about swales! ua-cam.com/video/74j-TwQ9DBo/v-deo.html
Love the video! Just curious on your source of mulch. I'm just starting out with permaculture and gardening as a whole and have been researching permaculture for about 2 years now. So what kind of mulch, where do you get it and if there is a cost how much?
I get it for free from a local arborist. Usually pine, poplar and spruce mulch.
awesome thanks for the info!
RESEARCH ON YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD, THOSE TREE TRIMMING COMPANY, WILL BE HAPPY TO GIVE AWAY FREE MULCH TO YOUR YARD, WHERE EVER YOU WANT THEM TO PLACE IT. normally, THEY HAVE TO DRIVE FAR AND PAY TO DROP THE MULCH FROM TREE TRIMMING BUSINESS IN A CERTAIN AREA. THEY WERE HAPPY TO FIND ME ASKING BECAUSE ITS CLOSER DRIVE AND NO PAYMENT AT ALL .
🙏🏼👍🏻❤️
dose anyone know if chems from the tar in shingles seep into rain water.
Many years ago, when I was researching rain catchment, I ran across an article, long since lost, where they analyzed rain water caught of different types of metal roofs. Water caught off tin roofs contained elevated levels of tin. Water caught off copper roofs had elevated levels of copper. Water caught of aluminum roofs had elevated levels of aluminum. And so on.
Based on that study, I'd say, yes, absolutely. Chemicals in asphalt shingles would most certainly contaminate the catchment water, even more so than what happened in the metal roof study.
what is weeoing tile ? thanks in advance .
Very ingenious, this may very well work in states where water harvesting is illegal, tell them its just run off protection. I harvest my rain water(legal here so far) by catching the run off from my high tunnel into a natural swimming pond on the highest part of my property, it fills my 52ft x32ftx11ft deep pond with no problem. Shallow sides with water plants keep it so clear I can see 11ft deep easily. Check out my channel and see what you think. God bless.
I love how none of the permaculture guys seem to really care about where the "mulch" comes from or how much CO2 goes into it.
Seems like a pretty unfair criticism... Most/all folks I know who use wood chips extensively take them from the waste stream and put them into the best use they can. I don't see many permaculture people renting a chipper and making chips, but rather looking to do the best they can with an already existing waste stream.
EdibleAcres Fair enough. At least it's being put to productive use while it rots.
You can spend fuel on making wood chips. It's one of the best uses you can make of it. The humus you create will last for millenia...
Same with the fuel you use to power the excavator and chainsaw.
Why not just grow grass and flatten it when it reaches maturity? Run some chickens over it. No gas needed. What I'm talking about here is the fact that the wood chips came from a big box store and the trees were chopped down hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away. Local grass clippings would even be better than buying wood chips from a big box store.
nateypecks But it is so inferior as far as humus building is concerned... I don't have data for grass, but if you compare compsot to wood chips, it takes a century of compost spreading to get the results you get in 10 years from wood chips.
Who ships wood chips from hundreds of miles away? They are always produced locally. Who would ship them, they are not expensive enough to make a profit otherwise.