Gardening on Terraces - Why I built onto (not into) the slope...

Given the thin soils it was easier for me to create terraces to work on by building up the terraces versus cutting them into the slope.
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[@garciasgardens3981]

That's a lot of work; what a transformation. I found in a Troy Bilt Horse tiller manual they mention leaving at least 12 inches of unbroken soil on the outside edge of the terrace to prevent erosion. I've never terraced, but I thought that may help. Thanks for sharing.

[@joshualehman4477]

Nice sign off bro - “be nice, be thankful, & do the work.” 🍻

[@elsagrace3893]

Yes, awesome. Been considering dig or fill terraces. Just what I needed to see.

[@howdychick30]

I don't know how you got into my subbed list, but you've turned out to be a jewel! I've learned something very valuable from you. My husband and I are buying our land at the end of his current project and my plans were just like yours: Permaculture the heck out of it! I have a list of what I want to accomplish and see what fits the land, but your advise has been so valuable... Don't do permaculture, do what you can and see how you can use permaculture. 1st rule is always observe, and that's exactly what you're doing. You observed that swales weren't exactly needed on your place, and that digging terraces as opposed to building them wasn't the way to go either. Good job. I feel I can relate to you better than most because you're thinking things through out loud much like the own conversations we would have with ourselves in our head when approached with similar situations and circumstances. Thank you!

[@xtwoxasxonex]

Thanks for sharing. You gave me some good ideas on how to do my backyard and level it out.

[@tlgardens7598]

Great explanation! Very useful for where I am at the moment. You are awesome!!

[@huggstaff13]

Great stuff, Diego. Thanks for the more in depth look at your terraces. Looking forward to hearing more about your chicken paddock shift system. Sidenote: really enjoying your newest video format. Cheers!

[@Bobchai]

I'm on a steep slope with my developing lot in Kona, Hawaii. I plan to do exactly the same for the vegetable area, and we have lots of free rock here for walls ;-) What's most important is to be getting a couple of feet of deep soil behind the wall, because I can't sink a spade anywhere on my property without hitting rock after 3-4 inches. I'm obsessed with that challenge, and I hope that trucking in a little topsoil and a LOT of green waste/mulch onto the whole property will deepen my soil over time.

[@shashakeeleh5468]

Nice terracing! You put some real work into that!

[@jaysmith4249]

your video caught my eye because I'm doing about the same approach, just different 'media'. I've got red clay deeper than I can dig, and it washes out easily. I'm on a more gradual slope, but I've started terracing with stone I have onsite I've also used the hugelculture with it in the 'build up' of the soil atop the terrace. I fully agree with what you say about using permaculture with what you have, rather than 'doing permaculture'. Your very good commentary makes this worth the watch. Keep it up!

[@quistunes]

One of the great things I've garnered from my permaculture design certification is that one can look at a system that works for your land, climate, & preferences & utilize it. I don't feel restricted by the design system. Quite the opposite actually. Hugelkultur doesn't work for every system or person, so a good permaculture based design would take that into consideration, & perhaps do exactly what you did with the stone wall. From a designer's perspective, I see wonderful design on contour, stacked functions, creativity (I love your chicken system), & biodiversity. I understand some people don't like to use the word permaculture because many people have an association that certain types of people that they don't like are the ones practicing it. Mark Shepard, for example, uses the terms restorative agriculture, alley cropping, silvopasture, & the like because he's trying to convince old school mono-crop farmers of the value of these biodiverse systems without people labeling him as a type of person that they wouldn't even give a chance to demonstrate the merits of these methods.

[@tumba3182]

pumping out content this quick is a sure bet for success Diego, good job👍

[@DiegoFooter]

Thx

[@kazzana9013]

I consider that wall permaculture, and I am sure Bill Mollison would also. It looks beautiful, you have used the materials available and also created a home for some lizards etc. The heat sink off and release of those rocks may also extend the type of plants you grow and the growing season of some. Congrats and all the best from New Zealand.

[@danielmcardle3476]

Keep up the great work Diego. Never mind the 'haters'. We love ya!

[@FraserValleyRoseFarm]

I may have missed it - but what direction does your slope face?

[@DiegoFooter]

Straight south.

[@ingeleonora-denouden6222]

Now there's a lot of work to do, but in the future that will pay! Are you planning to build a rock wall for that part with new compost too?

[@DiegoFooter]

+Inge Leonora-den Ouden Yes, eventually that is the plan.

[@happinin07]

Building up is the way terraces are built outside of Jerusalem (and in the ME). First using the large stones, building up, then smaller stones, and filling soil bottom to top. Ever hundred+ years the weight pushes out the stones, and it needs to be fixed. But it lasts. And it works. Also winding swales to take advantage of rainwater.

[@shadyman6346]

Each garden bed is unique.

[@saddlebrookranch1257]

Thanks for the videos, Diego, you are doing a great job!! You are so encouraging and I wish I could be just like you. You are doing what you want and we all get to watch your progress, it's great!! And really, getting up as early in the morning as you do, wow, you are driven and what an example you are setting!! How many hours of sleep do you get a night? Silly question, I know, but I have to ask anyway. What kind of rocks did you use for your terrace and did you move all of them? I'm looking forward to next week, sitting down and watching all your VLOGs in order. Thanks again!!

[@DiegoFooter]

I am probably in the 4 to 6 hour per night category. More in the winter, less in the summer. The rocks are all granite. Most were moved onto the property. Some were harvested farther away and brought back with my van, but more recently most have came from my neighbors next door (with permission) via handtruck and hands. The goal is to go back and cement them in this summer. Right now they are dry stacked.

[@justgivemethetruth]

Cool, I am in CA as well. I'd love to do permaculture/huegelculture/farming as well. I'm enjoying your videos. I just wonder where you got all the boulders, and how you moved them around and set them? Keep up the great videos. Are you in Northern or Southern CA?

[@DiegoFooter]

SoCal. Most of the boulder were mined from my neighbor's hill. Move them around by hand and wheelbarrow. If I can't lift it or roll it, it is too big, so it stays where it lays.

[@justgivemethetruth]

Great ... you got some muscles then, those are some big rocks. Looks very nice.

[@brodykin3505]

Why would the terrace only last 20 years? Or do you mean the fill materials?

[@krasivh]

What's the angle of your slope?

[@svetlanikolova7673]

i hope to build up(fill in) and level my terraced garden with hey bales and compost on top which will go East to west . That way , it builds soil and holds water.

[@brandonbullins]

I have a 10 ft slope on a 45° angle that separates 2 drive ways. Looking for a way to plant on it without erosion. Any suggestions?

[@DiegoFooter]

Terrace it?

[@brandonbullins]

@@DiegoFooter That's what I was thinking. Thanks.

[@Debra309]

NICE! You cannot believe how hard it is to find like-minded people on KZbin dealing with the same gardening issues that I face while trying to apply permaculture, food-forest techniques on slopes in the Sierras. Looks like you and I share the same California landscape challenges. I started out with swales and huge beds. I tried hugelkulture and about a billion gophers moved in loving the new underground housing and abundant snacks. I'm having to recreate my food forest to food on slopes and knocked down the gopher condos. Thinking about swales and raised beds on hugels. One question. Looks like you're growing directly in the ground. How are you dealing with gophers?

[@DiegoFooter]

I trap and kill when they show up.

[@ppss.6302]

You bought into bs, the only thing "perma" about permaculture is labor, everything else either old fashioned peasantry or outright bs to cover up simplicity and bs. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that "perma" types soon discover that all that hard labor produce very little results and even less money and impact, whatever little satisfaction and cash can be gained requires even more bs. Thus the people who know jack and produce nothing rush to share their experiences and reflection so to speak, sometimes no experience just bs. It took me a while to figured out that permaculture and bs are interchangeable.

[@Debra309]

@@ppss.6302 Yeah, sometimes I wonder if the upfront work is worth it. What are you doing to produce food? I sincerely would like to know. We bought property for the views and regret not think ahead as now it seems much more important to eat and grow food rather than enjoy views. I have found that screening garden boxes works best to combat gophers. Here in CA, dealing with manmade drought and lack of rain and water is a major consideration. Hugel beds in boxes are working miracles for us in storing moisture during hot summer months so I'm not growing anything directly in ground because of the freaking gophers. The deer are another competition for food and fruit tree production that seems an endless battle. We have fencing but they still manage to get in. I find that egg diluted in water and sprayed on trees works. I'm also planning to use motion sensor water spritzers that a neighbor swears by. Then there are the bobcats grabbing an easy meal. We're moving the chickens much closer to the house, building a total enclosure. Bears? Oh yah we have those, too but hot wire has kept them successfully at bay. Anyway, would love to hear how you are growing food because you are correct. I have put forth quite a bit of work and am still buying food from the grocery store. I'd like not to push a cart to the check-out stand and rather carry a full basket to my kitchen counter. Thanks!

[@ppss.6302]

@@Debra309 I actually was the last generation in touch with the old peasant ways in the Eastern Europe. I grew up growing things, it got in my blood to the point I sacrifice money & career to be able to do some of the things I grew up with. So naturally when I've heard the word "permaculture" I assumed that all those young city boys&girls I saw on internet figured the things my ancestors were too stupid to figure out so they've met their old age so beaten by physical labors most could not walk straight. So I was looking and looking into this, getting amazed at the ability of perma folks to wrap simplicity in multiple layers of verbosity and bs and... finding no silver bullet my ancestor missed. At this point I think that separation between man and nature is so wide and big, it allows con artists and well meaning yet incapable misfits to dupe fairly large masses of seeming intelligent people dissatisfied with modernity. Here is my take on this perma promises. 1. There is no way around work, hard work, the more self sufficiency the more work. One has to enjoy this work regardless of its presuming impacts on the destiny of Universe because impact will be small to none, you will feel like an outsider if not an outcast. Most people will not sacrifice their TV, free time, etc. to do this work. So if you feel you are on the mission to feed the people unwilling to sacrifice mindless stuff to help you - check your head. Most of permaculture ideas so to speak will save no time or labor, but most importantly return on that labor will be ridiculously low. Yet some youtube and podcast perma enthusiasts are so invested in bs they lie to themselves, so perma shapes up to be a genuine cult. The more money you plan to generate in perma business the more impractical a few tangible permaculture ideas (fished from a pond of bs) become. At this point the only way to make money in perma is to bs. A minority wraps their products in layers of bs to add value for opulent clientele, yet most perma folks peddle straight bs not the products, including the founding Australian crooks running comfortable perma courses gigs. Feeding yourself and family is not a problem for somebody willing to make sacrifices, and invest time and labor. Perma has no answers as far as minimizing time and labor just unscientific bs but there is plenty common sense gardening info out there. But if you want to feed the people and earn money by means of permaculture, finding some eager dupes and working them as serves is pretty much the only viable (possibly) way at this point, that and perma courses pyramid if not a scam.

[@Debra309]

@@ppss.6302 I'm beginning to feel the same. Seems you are where I'm going. I really appreciate your time in detailing your views. I am one generation from knowing our to be self sufficient. It pisses me off to no end that I pay attention... Believed the giant grocery stores, government and big Pharma was there to take care of me. What a crock. Many are searching for a means to get out of poor health, dependence and slavery. I do appreciate your share. Thanks!

[@eylon1967]

terraces done right can last for thousands of years

[@melissasonnodeldrago3570]

Wow. Someone must have given this guy hardcore shit about his gardening style not being perfect for *everyone on the planet*. I'm surprised how mouthy and snobby gardeners can be. Don't listen to them, some people just love to complain. Don't let anyone make you feel like you need to feel defensive or preface everything you say with "This is what works for ME". You do good work, make good videos, and anyone who doesn't like it can eff off. IMO. :)

[@DiegoFooter]

Ha. Thanks! :)

[@klee88029]

You know you are great but you don't have to appear in Every single second of your videos... Some zooming in on what you are talking about would be appreciated. No offense intended and Thank you for considering this suggestion.

[@ppss.6302]

Over use of word "system" for old fashioned peasantry just cracks me up. Normally I just tune out when I hear too many, a red flag of padding up of tiny bit (zero) substance with lots of bs, another definition of permaculture.

[@paulpetersen6539]

Your wall is shameful. What if it rains?.. The soil expands in the garden bed.. ..pushing the rocks to tumble over.. On a child, trying to walk on them after a rainfall. Lol, Singing under a rainbow then trip, grab, tumble, and ouch. But thanks for the video. Useful nonetheless. Bet that rock wall is how you got those mad arm muscles tho. (& had to sgave ur head cos the extreme long-term strain turned ur head hairs grey)