When it comes to gardening, it is not essential for you to get a perfect piece of land with straight lines. You can always wing it to make some really creative garden beds of your own. It is not a great idea to force beds into landscapes where they do not fit in. On the other hand, the peculiarity of the land can be exploited to create contour beds. Apart from making complete sense, contour gardening lets you work with the piece of land that you have, as opposed to against it. Contour gardening can be defined as a method to use the contours of the land to reduce erosion, irrigation and enhance nutrients for plentiful harvest yields. It is an immensely popular tool used in permaculture gardens.
Uses of Contour Gardening
The most prominent benefits of contour gardening include:
- Prevents loss of topsoil
- Avoids any form of runoff
- Protects the land from erosion
- Captures and directs rainwater
The above-mentioned benefits of contour gardening are vital for any kind of cropping situations, especially in areas where there is plenty of rain and light soil. A major section of the available cropland in the ecosystem has been drained of its nutrients from the topsoil. Heavy rains for a substantial amount of time can result in the topsoil becoming loose and in the formation of deep trenches. Keeping the domestic gardening scenario aside, even in the case of controlled irrigation, a great deal of water is lost due to runoff, leaving nothing to retain the moisture. In case you make use of herbicides in your gardens, there are high possibilities of these chemicals flowing down into the water systems, forming algae, and thereby leading to a toxic sphere for wildlife. Without the use of contour gardening, row, land, and crop losses can occur frequently. Planting on the natural lines of your land reduces runoff and rain gullies.
The Right Way to Contour A Garden at Home
The garden berms created along the contours in your garden are meant to hold perennial fruits, vegetables, and other kinds of crops. You can try to barrier them with a rock border or stone, which makes your space look great while retaining all the moisture. You might also consider creating swale trenches along the pathways for extra water retention, based on the slope degree. For all the areas meant for collecting water, an elevated planting berm on the contour provides a raised form of gardening solution for specific plants that do not grow in waterlogged soil.
For all passionate gardeners, contour gardening is an impressive way to decorate their planting space while preserving the ecosystem. They create microclimates of shade and sun, leading to a diverse range of growing areas while enhancing rainwater infiltration and soil ecology.
