Rain Garden, Hugelkulture & Terra Petra garden mashup

Unrelated photo. I just love I have Violets growing in my backyard
Unrelated photo. I just love I have Violets growing in my backyard

Today I dug up a bit of my front yard to build a rain garden of sorts. There looks to be a drainage gully leading from the front of the house to the street. I dug a dike 1 lawn mower width from the corner of my driveway and sidewalk. Gotta make the chores as easy as I can.

The city had dug up the water shut-off valve last summer here.
The city had dug up the water shut-off valve last summer here.

What I did is dug a deep trench and dropped a bunch of short logs into it. What will happen is these logs will start to rot in a few years and turn into giant water sponges. By placing these in the path of the drainage gully I am hoping that they will soak up and hold the rain water. I planted a bunch of irises and purple cone flower seeds.

Trenches dug and some logs dropped in
Trenches dug and some logs dropped in
All the logs dropped into this hugelkulture bed
All the logs dropped into this hugelkulture bed
Logs buried at grade depth
Logs buried at grade depth
Watering the bed in. See how it forms a dike making a rain garden?
Watering the bed in. See how it forms a dike making a rain garden?

I also planted my grapevine. This I dug a deep hole that I dropped a bunch of half burned fire wood down. I also mashed up some of the charcoal I made my dousing my campfires. The charcoal will hopefully form Terra Petra of sorts.

Deep hole and charred wood for Terra Petra
Deep hole and charred wood for Terra Petra
Charred wood for the Terra Petra
Charred wood for the Terra Petra
Down the hole with the wood and charcoal
Down the hole with the wood and charcoal
Charcoal made from dousing my campfire mixed into the dirt.
Charcoal made from dousing my campfire mixed into the dirt.

[Edited] Post was posted with the photos in a jumbled up order and no captions.

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