How to Keep Water in the Soil with Passive Watering Systems

Exploring Smart Watering with Permaculture Expert Bill Wilson

Are you trying to figure out how to keep water in the soil and your fruit trees healthy? Using drip irrigation may be a good option, but the inspiration for this blog post came from visiting and being inspired by the lush Festival Beach Food Forest in Austin, Texas.

In a recent Orchard People podcast, I talked with Bill Wilson from Midwest Permaculture. We discussed self-watering, passive watering methods like berms, swales, and rain gardens, and I'll break down these ideas into easy steps that you can use in your own garden.

By the way, this is a quick summary of an Orchard People podcast. We’ve pulled out the highlights to give you a taste of the conversation—but there’s so much more in the full episode. Scroll down to watch or listen and hear the full story in context.

Simple and Smart Passive Watering Systems for Your Garden

Passive watering systems use natural landscape elements to help your garden soak up and hold onto water. Bill explains that these methods are important and can be applied dry areas like Texas, and places with heavy clay soils like Illinois. By using techniques like berms and swales, you can guide water where it's needed most, stop it from running off, and keep your soil nice and hydrated.

Tips for Keeping Water in Your Garden

• Berms and Swales: These are features in your garden that help stop (runoff), spread, and soak water into the soil. “Think of a swale as a long ditch that stays level so it fills with water evenly,” says Bill.
  • You can dig a small-scale "cup swale" for your fruit tree if you have a small space.
  • Combine this with a hugelkultur, and you can multiply the benefits.
• Rain Gardens: These are perfect at any scale. The idea is to catch water from your roof and keep it for plants around them. Bill says you can even build “plant communities” around rain gardens that work well together.
  • It is important to note that plants that go into the bottom of the rain gardens will need to be water/flood tolerant AND withstand very dry periods. Native prairie plants and even some flowering edible perennials nicely fit this criteria.
  • Check out how Midwest Permaculture designed and set up berms, swales, and rain gardens in their own front yard!
• Cover Crops: These are plants that grow between your fruit trees and help direct the water into the soil. They also keep the soil temperature cooler, reduce evaporation, mine different minerals from the soil, and offer organic matter. They make the soil better and help it hold more water. Bill shares, “Cover crops make the soil richer and more absorbent.”
  • You can strategically plant annuals with perennials too.

Pause and ponder: How much rain comes off of your roof?
With a 1,000 square feet (~93 square meters) home... 623 gallons (~2,358 liters) with every 1” (2.54 cm) of rain!

That is why it is very important to carefully consider how and where you spread and soak the water because you would want to keep the water directed away from water sensitive structures such as home foundations, basements, etc.

Check out how Bill brilliantly demonstrates the big picture and thought process of how to keep water in the soil by using a clay model:

Taking Care of Fruit Trees

While keeping water in the soil is important, you also need to think about what fruit trees need. Young fruit trees especially shouldn’t compete with other plants. Bill suggests:

• Planting on Berms: This allows the fruit tree roots to access water while avoiding wet feet.
• Spacing: Make sure trees have enough room to grow and get enough water.
• Irrigation: Sometimes you may need to actively water your fruit trees because they can't take in nutrients from the soil if it's not in liquid form. This is especially important when the fruit trees are young, can't handle competition very well, and/or during periods of drought. In that case, consider installing a watering system.

Grow 
Fruit Trees 
That Thrive

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Improving Soil with Additions

Bill talks about soil drenches and compost teas to make the soil healthier. These not only help the soil hold more water but also make plants grow stronger. By adding nutrients and stimulation, your soil can become more absorbent over time.

Conclusion: Make Your Garden Better with Smart Watering Systems and Relationships

Good watering is about more than just keeping your garden wet—it’s about helping every plant grow well, from fruit trees to cover crops.

And as I always say, fruit tree care is a relationship. Bill touches on the importance of honoring relationships extensively in how he defines permaculture and "Heart of Permaculture", as the foundation of not just having a beautifully thriving garden or orchard, but living a fulfilling life and caring enough to leave the planet in better condition than when we arrived on it.

If you want to learn more, listen to or watch the full podcast episode below. Bill has lots of great advice to help change the way you think and grow. Whether you’re new to gardening or have been doing it for a while, there’s always something new to learn.

Check out our podcast and other resources to help your garden and the environment. Let’s use these smart practices and mindset to make the planet better. Visit Orchard People Podcast or Midwest Permaculture for more tips and learning materials. Happy growing!

Susan Poizner

Award-winning author, podcaster, fruit tree care educator and creator of the fruit tree care education website OrchardPeople.com. Learn more about Susan on the about us page.