Swale Progress

When it rains heavily some water pools at the corner of the driveway where it meets the county road. My hope is to aleviate that pooling and direct the water into the soil.

This is just a small, beginning section of the swale and berm.
It isn't really a swale since it isn't on contour. The place is pretty flat.
It is a basin that will deal with some run-off issues from the road and a berm.
I took out some of the lawn, shaped the soil to direct water to an infiltration basin, planted shrubs (pineapple guava), perennials (malva moschata, lavandula), and a ginkgo tree to help distribute the water. I also planted seeds of fava beans, daikon radish, salvia superba, salvia verbenaceae, borage, and other random seeds I came across in the garden.

I mulched with pine needles I swept off the roof when I cleaned the gutters.

Gathering Ginkgo

The female Ginkgo trees around town are few. Now is the time to gather the seeds though. The mother of my two Ginkgo trees was cut down. Today I went to a tree (one of two in town of which I know) to look for seeds. I drove there and parking wasn't available so I circled the block and found one more female producing a large quantity of seed! Parking was easy at this new tree, so I grabbed my bag and picked up some seeds with their mildly stinky coating intact. Later I put on surgical gloves to clean them and now have a nice selection of Ginkgo seed. I'll plant them soon and hope for good germination.

International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) lists the Ginkgo as endangered. Probably since not many trees exist in the wild outside of China and it is often recommended to plant male grafts since they do not fruit. Growing from seed creates diversity within the species and only females produce seed.
Apparently it takes about 20 years to determine the gender of a Ginkgo so when street trees start to make seeds they get cut down and replaced.

I have approximately 70 seeds now.

First Rain! & Fermented Food

Today our first rain of the fall started. I checked the downspout where I have created a slope and basin in order to direct the downspout water to a nearby apple tree. The system was working as I intended. The water is directed away from the house, across the path and into a basin around an heirloom apple tree. The basin has various other plants that are part of the apple guild - yarrow, comfrey, daffodils, clover, etc. Also near the basin is a blueberry bush, heavily mulched with pine needles.
Now I'll have to get that swale in the front yard started.

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Today I decided to taste the fermented summer squash I made at the end of August. I had grated up some Trombetta squashes and packed them into mason jars, sprinkling with salt as I packed. Then I topped the jars with water and away they went! Now, just over a month later the squash tastes tangy and salty and sour! So delicious, and I've been craving pickles and salty stuff for a few months. Now I'll get the satisfaction of eating my own creation.