I have several contour ditches cut on the side of the hill. Each ditch is horizontal, catches rainwater sliding down the hill and irrigates plantings horizontally aligned with it – such as tomatoes, fruit orchard, blueberries and blackberries. Since almost all of my irrigation is with rainwater I try to make every drop count. I lose water which streams beyond the reach of the ditches, especially down an access road I cut up the hill.
Previously I dug finger drainage ditches which intercepted the streaming water and directed it to the ditches. But with foot and vehicle traffic, the sides of the ditches shallowed and also filled with vegetation and thus lost their efficiency.
So I engaged again with my mattock and trenching shovel. In summer (and generally) you want to minimize effort in Georgia humidity and the trenching shovel with its long 5″ wide blade excavates deeply to the desired width, so it is more efficient than a regular shovel.
Next a visit to one of the big DIY stores to buy a 100 ft of slitted 4″ corrugated pipe. I was surprised at the $60 price, I am sure it was around $45 a year ago.
I widened the three feeder ditches to the contour ditches, measured their length, cut the pipe and checked it fitted so the top was below ground surface. Then I “socked” it to reduce infiltration by soil and roots.
Finally a visit to my stone mound to pick out smaller stones to surround the pipe.
In the past I may have visited the local gravel yard and purchased a load of gravel, but why do so when I have so many stones laying around.
More stones are needed and I shall make the habit of picking up right sized stones and depositing them in the drainage ditches for the benefit of my contour ditches, when I visit my plantings each day.