blank slate and irrigation canal

13 years ago

We have acquired the dream acreage, now I need 4H for grown-ups! 3.3 acres at 6,800' in Torrey, UT, a farming community and gateway to Capitol Reef NP. The land has been in pasture for at least 50 years (met the son of the man who farmed it once). But the last 20 years are so has seen little care and excess grazing.

We also acquired sufficient water rights to turn the place into a bog, if we were inclined (we are not). Visualize a rectangle roughly 3 units wide to 4 units high. The west side is lined with cottonwood trees along the main canal. Our water comes from a ditch entering at the northwest corner, flows down a ditch on the north boundary, and floods downhill to the south where a second canal leaves the property. Vehicle access is from a road that deadends on the southeast corner. That is the only reasonable place to put the house for utilities, access, views.

Even if we don't start building right away, I am excited about laying out my new garden and putting in a cover crop to start improving the soil. (Got tests last fall.) But first I think I am going to need to move the lower canal to protect the future house site.

The expertise is available to do the work when we are ready, but I'd like to understand how this flood irrigation system should work before I pay for help. I haven't found much on the interweb about how to best use this precious water resource, and whether we can even count on it for our garden (say 1/4 acre max) and some fruit trees and at the same time keep the rest of the land in pasture. BTW Our turn is every 2.5 days. We also have culinary water available.

Resources please so I can learn enough to talk to contractors, the watermaster and the lady who manages our section of the ditch, scheduling our turns and hires the crew who actually shifts the water in turn and maintains the ditch. I'm already not her favorite person since I told her not to pasture her horses on our land last year so we could start building and things went slower than planned.

I'm thinking of throwing myself at the mercy of the local county extension agent. But I'd like to educate myself a little first.

Will be back for more advice, but we can't do anything until we get this figured out.

Thanks!

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (2)

digit
13 years ago
Well Annie, you have waited a week for someone with more immediate knowledge than I have to comment on your irrigation situation.

I was thinking recently about 50 years ago when I was out there with a shovel in the field and my plywood dams in the concrete irrigation ditch. It was all flood irrigation and there was 23 acres of mostly flat ground to cover. 53 acres did not have irrigation but a grain or hay crop could be raised because that part of the world had over 40" of rain each year.

The ground sloped ever so slightly from the southwest where the canal came onto the property. It ran along the southern boundary, made a left turn (for us) and ran along the west side where it had to be banked fairly high. I remember having some trouble on the west side: the water could kind of get away from me and flood on down to the neighbor.

There were a couple of low spots that my little ditches had to skirt or the water would pond but it really wasn't much trouble. The cows trampled down my ditches pretty hard but a large part of the 23 acres was used only as a hay field thru the summer and they were kept out of there.

My job was mostly making sure that the water made it all the way across the ground in the time allowed and keeping the ditch man happy. I had more trouble with him by NOT damming the canal and pulling the water out at the required moment than anything. Getting chewed out for that once was enuf to keep me on schedule. It was a 12 hour gig but it wasn't as tho' I had to work my tail off every minute of the day.

Irrigation management, think of yourself and the ditch man as a team. You are paying the salary but he's working for a lot of people up and down the canal. Dad became a good friend with the ditch man in another irrigation district. His wife worked for the Farm Bureau and they became life-long family friends.

Steve
who turns to Wikipedia for most anything if it's just for non-expert discussion of the issues
david52 Zone 6
13 years ago
Another thought is the roots of cottonwood trees grow amazing distances, not uncommon to find them hundreds of feet away from the main plant. And they can be serious competitors for any nutrients in garden beds.

You also might want to install some serious drainage around your future buildings - French drains and such, just in case.
Related Discussions
blank slate/ grass alternatives
Q
Comments (2)
Wow, Trish - long time, no see. Welcome back! Any new pics? I have no idea what kind of exposure you're talking about or what kind of irrigation you're using or what kind of foot traffic your plants would have to deal with, but for ground covers.... Raspberry fuzzies: http://www.mswn.com/Plant%20Info%20Sheets/Acalypha%20monostachya.pdf I started growing this about a year ago and have it in a fairly shady spot that's pretty dry and it still does well. I also like the ornamental grasses ....http://www.mswn.com/MSWNmassesofgrasses.htm Sorry I'm sending you to the same site, but they have the better information sheets! Hope this helps, good luck - looks like you have quite an adventure ahead of you!
...See More
Huge Phx Backyard on Canal, Nearly Blank Slate
Q
Comments (5)
You're wise to forget the wood fence, especially along the canal. My first bit of advice is to run, don't walk, to nurseries and buy Lady Banks roses for that stretch of chainlink fence. At least two of us - me and Mary McP - are big fans of LBR's for privacy. The big plus is that they will also create an impenetrable barrier between you and mischief-makers. They do need some pruning now and then, mostly to remove suckers, but once they are established, the most they need is water - and not a lot of that. As for the section between you and your neighbor (I'm assuming this is a side fence and you actually have a neighbor there.), I'd choose other shrubs or vines. There is a huge selection of vines that will happily cover the chainlink and provide some greenery and privacy. Your challenge will be to choose one that won't invade your and your neighbor's yard. Here is a link that might be useful: All about vines
...See More
Garden - blank slate inspiration needed
Q
Comments (13)
Oh dear, I don't know why my post went through 3 times, and repeated my iphone autocorrect error on olychick's screen name just to make sure no one missed it, LOL! I spent most of the afternoon at Home Depot and the local nursery, and bought a lot of plants I love, with the pictures above saved on my iphone for inspiration. I got 2 large green urns for by the front door - they actually match the stucco so they don't bring any color but the plants will bring in lots of color. They look very mediterranean they are resin but look like stone, very pretty. I definitely agree a contrasting (dark green) door would look better, too - some contrast is needed there and although we have to stick to the HOA color scheme for the exterior I think they will allow green that matches the trim. Ripping out the concrete and replacing with pavers is not an option - that concrete is 4" thick - I know because I had to fix a corner that cracked off in the back, and the small piece weighed about 100lbs. It would take a jackhammer and a backhoe and a lot of effort and money to remove all that. I hope that once the plants are in, the pavement won't be as noticeable. I think I'll actually put a fountain on our back patio where we sit, so instead perhaps a little bistro set out front here, for decoration. the patio I want to surround with lots of plants and use a few pots to make it feel lush and like a real garden. I got 2 Nitida fig trees, about 5-6' tall I am trying to decide whether to put them in bog pots like the inspiration pics or plant in the ground. In the ground they will grow better and be easier to maintain, plus pots that large are very expensive and heavy - but I do love that look. I saw a beautiful 8' tall fruitless olive I really wanted but it's $100 and would require delivery - it would have taken up half my budget on its own. I also would probably have to pay for installation - not sure if I can dig a big enough hole to plant that one. The clay soil is like cement after years of neglect and baking in the sun. I think that in the end my garden probably won't really look like any of those pics (especially given that my budget is small), but they really gave me some good ideas so thank you for posting them.
...See More
New build. Blank slate HELP!
Q
Comments (25)
Keep in mind that, even though you've shown us some pictures, we can't know what happens on your property outside of those pictures. There's nothing wrong with questions that prod exploration of alternative solutions. I cannot tell you how many times people have come here saying more or less to the effect of: "Here's the problem and here's how we intend to solve it .... but that creates a problem. What do we do?" Many times this involves telling said person that they are headed in the wrong direction to begin with. So please understand why people might make suggestions of alternative solutions, or question where you're headed. I'll remind you again, Brodyt, that you not only need the new pictures, but you'll need to be working the walkway problem out in plan view. The sooner you draw the base plan (existing house and porch footprint and drive) to scale, the sooner you can work toward a solution. The way I would approach this is by first roughing out some proposed beds, in order to know that the walk will allow for them. Then you can route the walk around them. One question that you'll need to answer, Brodyt, is at what point you'll want to tie the walk to the drive. I've pointed out that it can be somewhat awkward for the walk to dump directly into a car if one is parked just outside the garage. Most walks terminate very close to the garage door. But this has the negative effect of destroying the planting bed. Nevertheless, it's a decision the homeowner needs to make. Personally, I prefer to take the walk toward the end, or last third, of the car so that if one is heading in that direction, they are not forced to walk in the skinny space between the side of the parked car and the lawn. If there are objects (plants) to walk around, it doesn't feel unreasonable to walk to that location.
...See More

blank slate and irrigation canal

Comments (2)

digit

david52 Zone 6

Related Discussions

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US