Earthworks for a Healthier Garden 🪨

We don’t have to remind you, that we’re all about low-maintenance… And a single day’s worth of earth movement can reduce maintenance AND harness energy from the earth!

We recently installed a series of on-contour infiltration berms around some fruit trees. A berm is a raised, level mound of soil. Strategically placed berms can help slow, spread, and sink rainwater exactly where we want it—around tree roots. By capturing the runoff and allowing it to percolate into the soil instead of washing away, we’re building deep moisture reserves (sometimes called plumes) that the trees can tap into for months to come. Less watering, healthier trees, better soil structure, and a thriving food forest.

This image visualizes a plume. The rainfall stagnates and percolates at the berm, extending deep into the ground. Each year the plume will enlarge and be able to saturate further and deeper.

This deep reserve of moisture is especially helpful when summer heat bears down. It can be quite overbearing to make sure your fruit trees are getting all the water they want in the midst of a drought and full sun. And just because they can survive that drought without any irrigation intervention—doesn’t mean we can’t offer them extra relief! And with that relief comes a healthier and potentially higher-yielding harvest. Without enough water, trees can’t photosynthesize as efficiently. That means less energy to put into growing and ripening fruit.

We brought our own soil but you can also dig a gentle swale where you want to infiltrate and use the excavated soil to mound your berm.

When it comes to building these berms, there are a few key points to keep in mind:

1. Follow the contour of the land. Berms that hug the natural contour lines capture water evenly instead of funneling it somewhere. Berms are fantastic for directing water too, but for the purpose of infiltration and watering your orchard—on-contour is the way to go.
2. Mulch generously to hold in moisture, moderate temperature swings, and suppress weeds. And over time, the mulch will break down and enrich the soil further.
3. Plant/place strategically. Our berms straddle the trees closely, so that plumes of saturated soil naturally move toward the root zones. A series of berms will effectively slow rainwater that can erode away topsoil. Many folks will also plant directly into the berms.

Berms also reduce erosion by slowing water down before it can carry topsoil away. Your soil stays put and continues to build fertility. And that’s, that! A very simple structure that will give you years and years of value. Anyone can do it; it’s easy! But if you want some assistance, be sure to give us a shout.