The Self Watering garden: How to Create a Passive Rainwater System with Dr Cally Brennan

Did you know that water harvesting is a prevention method for both floods and drought?
Using the free power of gravity along with vegetation, Passive water harvesting is creating a living sponge to capture store and use rainwater to build a resilient, vibrant garden for both wet and dry weather.
Dr Cally Brennan, founder of Canberra Permaculture Design and Education, has practised permaculture and water harvesting for over 10 years.
In this short film, Cally will give you a toolbox of skills from preparation to storage and how to easily (and sustainably) water your garden.
00:00 Intro
1:05 Capture & Drainage
1:45 French Drains
2:40 Swale System
5:02 Tools
8:23 Trench System
8:58 Wicking Beds
9:42 Thank You
www.canberrapermaculturedesig...
www.canberraenvironment.org/
With assistance from the ACT Government under the ACT Community Zero Emissions Grants Program

[@cowboybuilder]

Urban Permaculture. Fantastic. Harvesting natural AND grey water in an urban setting to achieve permaculture objectives. I'd only envisioned roof water collection into barrels or integrating into the toilet system, but this is next level. Very good.

[@inocent007]

Homely?!? That drainage system is sheik! Modern! Gorgeous!

[@chrishoo2]

Try “chique” maybe?

[@y0nd3r]

@@chrishoo2 How about chic ?

[@MariA-nw5qx]

This really is the best permaculture town garden I've ever seen! Incorporating water harvesting aspect is still uncommon in British gardening, so her approach was an eye-opener for me who live in the UK.

[@objektivone3209]

The ancient Greeks and Egyptians developed the irrigation system. Here in a light micro version.

[@yousnasserous]

This is one of the better and very informative videos out there

[@c.t.murray3632]

Your garden is absolutely beautiful and your description is very professional thank you

[@aileenbell6750]

Thank you! I garden in Tucson, AZ and an always looking to preserve water.

[@TheJaff666]

Good work. As a land surveyor of decades. I’ve seen Concreter form up & pour a house pad with 10mm accuracy using that kind of water level

[@piergiacomotomasoni655]

what a great garden!! I will try to copy some ideas , thank u much!

[@jeannettewhite3682]

Loving the french drain

[@jenniferspring8741]

What a beautiful garden full of happy, healthy plants, chickens, people and more! Lots of loving work evident! Love your small water movement and soakage systems.

[@joshuabell5580]

That Water level is just what I need for a Pergola type trellis thing I'm building up a slope, the measurements have been driving me insane! Thank you so much!

[@vijayroy6358]

You are a genius and an inspiration to many. Keep up the great work. Your knowledge and willingness to share it with others is remarkable. Thank you for generously sharing your expertise with those around you.. 🙏

[@objektivone3209]

The ancient Greeks and Egyptians developed the irrigation system. Here in a light micro version.

[@Zamun]

Thanks for this.

[@PilbaraPrincess1980]

I'd love to see a DIY on the Water Leveller and the A-Frame leveller. Amazing simple and affordable tools, but very important Water capturing tools. Thanks for sharing ans amazing garden

[@faulderrr]

So simple yet so smart. I will try incorporate these ideas into our (flat) garden

[@aeseroo28]

Love watching those all green

[@mik2137]

I love your leveling tools! 🤩

[@andreacahill5906]

Thank you that was fab 🎉

[@rodhatte]

AWESOME! I've heard about swales and berms for years, but you are the first I've seen who actually explains how to find the levels of one's land! I'll be buying a new house in a couple of years, and it's a pretty hilly area, so this might come in handy! - I bookmarked the video, I liked, I subscribed and I've hit the notification bell!

[@juanit0tackit0tackito2]

the Kingdom of GOD is coming…“Silver is for the kettle, and gold for the furnace, but The LORD is the tester of hearts- Bible” your heart is like discovered silver, dirty and not pure, when silver is purified it is melted over and over, to the point that when it’s melted and glows red hot, it is pure enough to see your own reflection in the puddle, so also does the LORD purify your heart, till HE can see HIS own reflection in it, seek the LORD and be reborn, ask The LORD to renew and restore you, repent and ask The LORD for HIS Salvation for those who seek will find and those who knock the door will be open unto them, no man is good, all are in need of salvation, Jesus died so that our sins will be wiped away and so that we could be made new, seek The Kingdom of GOD for if you would be wise you would be wise for yourself, pick up your cross and deny your flesh and follow the path of GOD, for The Kingdom of GOD is at hand, in JESUS MIGHTY NAME Amen and Amen

[@objektivone3209]

The ancient Greeks and Egyptians developed the irrigation system. Here in a light micro version.

[@sandasturner9529]

So much foliage. I'm turning green with envy

[@peterbathum2775]

Thanks from a clearing in the Manistee National Forest. Appreciate you sharing your time.

[@keith4154]

Nice garden and a clever use of water. Very familiar with your local climate. The last couple of years were wet but it was astonishing how fast the land dried out now summer is hot and dry again. I imagine your lovely garden would be really good right now with the warm sunny days and moist soil.

[@d1m4d]

So informative thank you

[@michaelhayes8515]

I thoroughly enjoyed and learned a lot, you gave me so many ideas. I moved to the low country of South Carolina and live on a marsh river with tidal changes. My property slopes down towards it at high moon tides we get a lagoon and want to do plantings to attract more creatures. Also do fruit trees and veggies and herbs. Will watch for future shows

[@SEzzz53]

Thank you so much for explaining the different leveling tools. We are going to regrade our yard and this helps me visualize how we can do it ourselves.

[@deanpd3402]

A Frame is the go. It's the easiest to use IMO.

[@TheRainHarvester]

Nice! I harvest water from my patio. I just put a bunch of rainharvester videos up too. I think it's the biggest barrel system on the internet!

[@MataH1]

Great ideas thanks!

[@davidjooste5788]

Great video. Its amazing how much the inevitable climate fluctuations have influenced human civilization for thousands of years. The constantly changing climate has inspired us to become brilliant innovators. You are great examples. Thanks.

[@lynneedwards7715]

Wow it's beautiful!

[@VitorMadeira]

How inspiring. Thank you for this precious little masterpice of video. Greetings from Portugal.

[@chrishoo2]

Também!

[@runefagereng6023]

Brilliant!

[@maureenking7128]

How green the garden is. Just beautiful!

[@Cookontherun7391]

Great video. Thanks so much.❤️🇨🇦

[@rhyciousbackyard]

One of my goal, thanks for showing us your backyard, wonderful!

[@katjones4840]

😮. Its the secret garden. I am in love

[@bwivlog]

the yard garden is very beautiful and very pleasant, friend 6:51

[@dr.rev.lindabingham]

What a blessing!

[@MRTOMBO]

Nice. Wish I was 25 again, and had a house with a decent yard. Thanks for the video.

[@valleturkka155]

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

[@roderickbowes2482]

Absolutely LOVE this -- it's the way all of us SHOULD live -- you can see the word HEALTHY everywhere here -- The bees must thank you BIG TIME ! ! ! Simple and educational

[@michaelbeard4883]

yeah definitely financially easy to set that up lol

[@hoaacres7084]

Do you feel qualified to decide how other people should live? Especially how ALL of us should live?

[@roderickbowes2482]

@@hoaacres7084 come up with a better solution NOT just a stupid question

[@roderickbowes2482]

@@hoaacres7084 Go eat what you want -- live how you want -- do what you want - not my problem

[@veralium29]

@@hoaacres7084 It is the way all of us should live, our body is based on Nature from head to toe. Makes no sense not to live in harmony with it. Now, you can make whatever decisions you want: I'm not qualified in any way to tell you what to do. However, from what I know and experience, this is the Way.

[@danielabodemer168]

Great video, thank you for all the tips. Do you have a video on how you built your wicking beds? There are so many out there, I would like to see how you built yours.

[@jody-annesullivan4547]

Thank you so much for this vid, such clear instructions, how to make the tools needed and the reasoning behind them. I am redoing our yard (Perth, WA, so very hot, very sandy, water hydrophobic soil). We are on a down slope from the street, with a down slope also across our yard, which is like 12 or 15 mtr across at the front but 32 mtrs at the back and 923 sqm in total, and our 1960s house smack dab across the middle of the whole space. Have been watching lots of permaculture vids, but none has really explained the proper how-to in this way. Your yard is GOALS, absolutely stunning and I am going to attempt to achieve something similar (in a completely different climate lol). I follow Mark of Self Sufficient Me (sub-tropical QLD, again, completely different climate to either of our locations) and you have a similar hands on, easy way about you. Subscribed to follow more teachings, xx

[@stefanomoretti3664]

Hi... do not miss also Geoff Lawton on swales and berms. Good luck

[@jamesmaina2]

Absolutely genius. I am impressed!

[@warriormamma8098]

You said homely and I was thinking AMAZING! I am very much about function. A utilitarian.

[@leemorry535]

That’s really ingenious!

[@TheHaubie]

You are amazing. Thank-you for sharing this information!

[@patwilliamson4701]

Beautiful garden!

[@Suburbangeek]

Made simple and clear. Thank you.

[@melinda5777]

Wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

[@jasongreen6447]

Thanks for such great information and for being quick about it 😊

[@bkmagister5679]

Amazing!

[@gloriagreen1123]

Without a rain collection barrel and/or no rain in the summer, can a hose be used to run water into the channel and then will it spread out passively as you describe here? It seems to me that this would be the most efficient way to use a hose...if it works!

[@maianimation7060]

This helps thanks!

[@PermacultureVisions]

excellent Cally, thanks for sharing

[@toriannconiffer]

Thanks you, I've been looking for a video that explains how to make a swale

[@monicacruz4407]

Such simple explanations and brilliant, practical techniques, subd. All the best with your garden and permaculture design business 🙏

[@lilolgreyhairdlady4093]

Fabulous garden! Love your tools. This may help me so much... I am in the mountains of western Maryland, US. Spring (and usually summer) are usually quite damp. Average seasonal snowfall over 100 inches. This past winter less than half that snow & spring got hot early and we were without rain for almost 3 weeks! I got very tired of lugging water to my gardens - need to plan as I build my gardens for water catchment and hopefully passive flow to where it's needed. Thanks for getting the ideas started (and the useful tools)!

[@rebeccarittenhouse2203]

Lovely garden.

[@cybercamp2900]

Great ideas!! And so simple Thank you so much for sharing 🙏🏻

[@simons6110]

fantastic place and people and amazing garden. i just have become a gardener with my own little plot of land in the last season and it has been so much fun harvesting my own crop. I aspire to have a fruitfull und bloomfull little backdoor paradise like this family does. :)

[@maheshpatel2005]

You are a genious..specially water level stick method is awsome

[@guckfoogle2779]

Wonderful video! Beautiful!

[@angelaheyne2586]

Please don’t call that wonderful space a ‘yard’- it’s a most beautiful productive garden of which you should be very proud. A very interesting explanation- many thanks.

[@helenamcginty4920]

Ah yes. I can never picture American gardens because they also call them yards. To me, an English person, a yard is a workplace eg a builder's yard. A bit of a back yard in England is just that. A tiny often concreted space behind a 2 up 2 down terraced house (now mostly demolished) maybe 10 to 12 feet wide and 15 long at most.

[@NatalieSanguis]

Yard is a pretty standard term for a garden here in Australia. We have a habit of using one word to mean a bunch of different things.

[@juanit0tackit0tackito2]

the Kingdom of GOD is coming…“Silver is for the kettle, and gold for the furnace, but The LORD is the tester of hearts- Bible” your heart is like discovered silver, dirty and not pure, when silver is purified it is melted over and over, to the point that when it’s melted and glows red hot, it is pure enough to see your own reflection in the puddle, so also does the LORD purify your heart, till HE can see HIS own reflection in it, seek the LORD and be reborn, ask The LORD to renew and restore you, repent and ask The LORD for HIS Salvation for those who seek will find and those who knock the door will be open unto them, no man is good, all are in need of salvation, Jesus died so that our sins will be wiped away and so that we could be made new, seek The Kingdom of GOD for if you would be wise you would be wise for yourself, pick up your cross and deny your flesh and follow the path of GOD, for The Kingdom of GOD is at hand, in JESUS MIGHTY NAME Amen and Amen

[@NatalieSanguis]

@@juanit0tackit0tackito2 Take your meds

[@Momma_Tomma]

Where I'm from (Michigan USA) a "yard" typically means a piece of property that surrounds your home. A garden is part of your yard. 🤷🏼‍♀️

[@rahneclark1902]

Thank you for sharing 😊. lovely garden. Appreciate your help and experience with this and explanation

[@grammasgardenofideas5081]

amazing.

[@madelainedaley2128]

Fantastic!

[@sundancer442]

Gotta love the old Hills Hoist. :)

[@rustyscrapper]

French drain design is excellent. I have french drains too. The grates are expensive to do but very nice.

[@joannewolfe5688]

Great video, thanks!

[@ijahdagang6121]

Absolutely..I love your garden so beautiful...wish you success and be healthy always

[@danrubin4506]

Your water level! Simple, cheap, effective. Wow.

[@obgardening]

it is very amazing that the rainwater drainage system is used to flow plants and as underground water so it does not cause flooding. ❤️❤️😍😍😍💪💐

[@CarolBell-kl9yt]

❤it looks buitiful❤

[@anthonybarnes]

Thank you

[@abraham3901]

wow this is great, Thank you for sharing,

[@switchofftogettagrip1400]

Thank you for taking the time to educate the masses, especially here in Australia with our draught and flooding situations. I can now work around a 6m square slab to conserve the water that ends up on the death trap (green slime collects on concrete idk its actual name). Have only recently started looking into irrigation, will investigate this french drain (working with clay has its benefits).

[@littlenugs9942]

Gorgeous 😍 property! I Love all ❤the ideas and knowledge that's been put to good use. 👍 Great job

[@kevinhunter8585]

brilliant stuff well done!

[@thepeopleplaceandnaturepod8344]

Really nice tips and tricks! 👏🍀

[@sinkintostillness]

Thank you. Lots of ideas i can try out in my garden. I put lots of woodchip down last year which has made an incredible difference to water retention in my garden. Can't wait to try some of these too. My garden is on a slope and will definitely benefit from more of this. I am pleased to say I instinctively created some garden beds in order to stabilise the slope and slow water, but there is definitely room for improvement!

[@gavinbrinck]

amazing, i love it.

[@dyllos7]

Hey Cally!! this video was in my feed and I recognised your name! haha... great to see your garden and wow it is looking so lush! and you present very well too - keep up the excellent work :)

[@vivercomDeus.]

Muito lindo organizado gostei bastante 😊❤❤❤ parabéns 😊

[@j.5222]

This is a phenomenal video, thank you so much for sharing your creations and ideas and tips. Really enjoyed watching it and have saved it for future reference as currently renting but very keen to try and give it a go in some way when we can! Will look up the wicking pots in the meantime and see if I can try to make some :)

[@juanit0tackit0tackito2]

the Kingdom of GOD is coming…“Silver is for the kettle, and gold for the furnace, but The LORD is the tester of hearts- Bible” your heart is like discovered silver, dirty and not pure, when silver is purified it is melted over and over, to the point that when it’s melted and glows red hot, it is pure enough to see your own reflection in the puddle, so also does the LORD purify your heart, till HE can see HIS own reflection in it, seek the LORD and be reborn, ask The LORD to renew and restore you, repent and ask The LORD for HIS Salvation for those who seek will find and those who knock the door will be open unto them, no man is good, all are in need of salvation, Jesus died so that our sins will be wiped away and so that we could be made new, seek The Kingdom of GOD for if you would be wise you would be wise for yourself, pick up your cross and deny your flesh and follow the path of GOD, for The Kingdom of GOD is at hand, in JESUS MIGHTY NAME Amen and Amen

[@objektivone3209]

The ancient Greeks and Egyptians developed the irrigation system. Here in a light micro version.

[@jensoh]

you had me at permaculture 😊

[@awesomeideas8950]

Great!

[@anann6748]

Thks so much fo this valuable infosi will definitely try this.

[@BaawBee]

Everything is so healthy

[@mariannetfinches]

Gorgeous garden. I hadn't thought or really heard of most of these systems. My garden's on a steep hill, so I'm going to have to do some thinking. But there's definitely stuff here I can & should use. Here in West Wales we had our first ever drought last year. When it rains, there's a lot of runoff. Thanks for all the inspiration!

[@onionring1531]

I'm sure there is some kind of terrace and swale system perfect for your situation, though I imagine it'd be a lot of work.

[@aleenaprasannan2146]

Before you do anything to increase infiltration, make sure to get an idea how deep your soil column is and whether or not it sit on top of impervious hard rock. If there is an impervious basement rock, too much water in your soil can saturate it too much and liquefy it. A farmer in highland area in our state made a rainwater collection pond in his plantation without getting proper advice and it caused a mudslide

[@scrumptiousjdp]

Right, also here in the US, you can be fined for making swales without a permit

[@mariannetfinches]

@@aleenaprasannan2146 that's helpful advice. Yes we are only a couple of meters before basalt here. Was only planning quite shallow systems. Will definitely spend a good amount of time researching then. Thanks 🙂

[@mariannetfinches]

@@onionring1531 everything is around here 😅

[@amitdeshmukh5403]

❤ from 🇮🇳.

[@Creative_soil]

Water is always level? Are you sure that is what you really believe? Great video. I'm not a troll. It's just that you spoke some universal truth in this video, and no one seems to notice.

[@xinnoondaily]

I Love this! We did something similar where we live out. This video actually gave us inspiration and hope that we can still become successful, thanks so much for this video.

[@objektivone3209]

The ancient Greeks and Egyptians developed the irrigation system. Here in a light micro version.

[@xinnoondaily]

@@objektivone3209 Very effective indeed.

[@co-creator4338]

Very educative🎉❤

[@al3xf103]

I had never understood swales properly until this video. Great explanation about following the contours along with the tools required. However, there are a few things I fail to see the point of. For example in my situation, my garden has an incline of maybe 5 to 10 degrees. In the autumn, the heavy rains will almost certainly fill up the swales and they'll burst over, rendering them effectively useless in terms of preventing erosion etc. The rest of the year, I think I would rather have the rainwater stay as much as possible in a flat bed rather than run off into a channel. Would the channel not fill up with dirt from the erosion of the beds 'upstream', even if the water flows more slowly? I have very stony, loose soil that is very erosion prone and the best way to combat soil erosion in my case I think is to have flat beds that prevent the soil from going anywhere when it rains a lot. It may be more work than just digging swales, but I don't see how swales are better. Bottom line is an incline will erode loose soil and until I can improve the soil itself, I need a way of preventing its erosion. Perhaps swales make more sense with soil that have a higher water retention capacity to begin with.

[@carolinekloppert5177]

Very interesting

[@nancyeden1693]

Waooo amazing amazing work there...i love it!!!❤❤

[@damianaranguren6736]

Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

[@dr.handychandra6485]

Hydrology knowledge be implemented in farming. Cool video

[@cantsay]

I'm on board except for the shower greywater reuse. I'm certified and licensed in wastewater disposal and there is a significant amount of fecal matter from greywater. But there are a lot of other factors such as environment. In dry climates the fecal is quickly killed. Be safe 🙏

[@mundomagico7787]

Interesting- why would there be a significant amount of fecal matter in water from a bath or shower? What counts as significant? I shower most days.. I wipe my bum very well too 😂

[@mariatorres9789]

​@mundomagico7787 He's considering grey water from toilets, too. That isn't from showers. The soap you use on your bum, kills those germs before it's rinsed down. He's treating waste grey from trailer parks. That's a completely different thing than just an outdoor shower, plus, this looks like a flower garden, but even then, there are plenty of people that compost their feces & use it in their home gardens without issues of disease. Eye roll. Once it filters through all that soil, it's fine. You get issues in 3rd world countries, where ppl crap straight into their yard, & then you'll get a problem with ecoli in lettuce, etc.

[@ximono]

What if you use a bidet?

[@Jase013]

Great video, thanks for sharing. Are you able to provide some more details on your greenhouse?

[@canberraenvironmentcentre189]

Cally's greenhouse is from Sproutwell Grennhouses :)