So, sometimes resources dictate what I will do next. Cardboard has piled up. Sticks and logs are everywhere. There are almost always leaves. There are often branches that can be pruned and weeds ripe for pulling.

“What needs what?” I ask myself.

For a couple of years now, one place things have been being stacked is at the edge of the pomegranate tree.

This yard slopes downhill from the far side to the nearer-to-the-house side. That means rainwater has an opportunity to be managed some and needs to be.

I have only had one year where there was a fairly decent harvest from the pomegranate tree. I have had some rather good success with propagating branches though. There must be five or so of them around here and there now, planted in the ground.

Each year, things have been a little different, one from the other. This year, they didn’t get very big and, as far as I can tell, every one of them has split. That is said to be from irregular watering.

Ya think!?

Yes. it is VERY tricky to keep it watered right. That is why things were getting piled around it — to try to berm around it so that any water that did fall from the sky, could stay there and not run farther down the slope.

As the resources were assessed today, it seemed appropriate to build a bigger berm all around the downhill side there like a giant crescent.

I thought about taking some of the things out of this gully but there was so much all around, it was decided to leave this be and build it up too. I didn’t get to it today. The pomegranate took all my strength and energy and it didn’t quite get finished either — there is compost intended to be the last topping to cover all the other layers.

The crescent that was built up all around the chaste tree in the front yard seems to be a big, big benefit to it. It has never looked as good as it has this year — berms/hugelkultur mounds works several things to that end. For one, they help keep moisture from evaporating from the ground around wherever it is — they gradually break down and feed the things nearby — they are habitat to many, many things — lizards love them and lizards love bugs — they use up resources that many people feel compelled to take to the dump. Seems like a win no matter how you look at them.

I love building them. I love the way they look too.

Some of those logs that were taken away from the edge of the #1HugelkulturBed in the front yard and put under the #ScragglyTree until they could find a better use, came over here today.

Logs, sticks, leaves, weeds, kitchen scraps, anything that was usable was used to build this one up today.

It’s like any kind of organic build up that is hoped to break down in compost mode, a good mix of nitrogen and carbon work best.

And, of course, dirt. Dirt, dirt, dirt. Dirt holds it all in place.

It was watered several times as layers were added.

Tomorrow I shall go out and add the well-rotted compost. Maybe I’ll throw some clover seeds all over it. Clover is popping up everywhere suddenly with the monsoon rains. I sprinkled them all over in spring. It just hasn’t been cool or wet enough to please them until now.

Two different shovels, two different rakes, lops and that fantastic aluminum dust pan were the tools of the day. Some of the pomegranate branches were dragging on the ground so were lopped off and used as one of the greener things — nitrogen in the leaves.

The poor little plum tree in the back there seems to be on it’s last leg. Two branches sawed off the other day went on the new heap too.

I’m planning to put one of the chaste trees, currently in tires, in between the pomegranate and the plum tree. Maybe that will get done tomorrow too. They are all asking me for new homes — they seem to have outgrown the tires.

A little bit of dirt had to be dug out to fit a complicated log there at the end of the crescent on this side. I’ll put that dirt back over the end there tomorrow too.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow.

There is always something to do tomorrow.

Starting to look pretty good — at least to me.

There was only a handful of kitchen scraps to put in, but they went in anyway.

This was the first load of compost. Tomorrow the rest shall be put over the top.

This was a little before today’s finish line, but I thought it was a pretty image to end with. I can imagine lizards are already finding their ways to dig in to the nooks and crannies hunting for bugs and a nice cool place to stay.

It was a good and fruitful day of getting more things done.