Our love for water - we want to keep as much water on site as possible - in the form of moist soils, organic matter, or underground cisterns.

The wet spring weather is an inevitable short-term setback, but much can be gained by understanding the way water moves on a particular site. In Hillside's case, there is a dense layer of blue marine clay in the subsoil layer of our site making it of high importance to foster water retention on the surface and topsoils. 

The traditional methodology of landscape water management has been to move it as quickly and effectively offsite as fast as possible. Not only has this negatively impacted our water quality but we are now realizing that clean consistent water supplies might just become a thing of the past.

Our motto for water is to slow it, spread it, and sink it. This means that we want to keep as much water on site as possible - in the form of moist soils, organic matter, or underground cisterns. 

Slowing down rainwater is achieved by building swales into places that have high levels of elevation change, making sure our soils are high in organic matter and able to retain large amounts of water, and planting gardens to intercept water.  All of the rainwater that hits impermeable surfaces such as roofs and the greenhouse will be captured in the underground cistern and reused onsite. 

Next week our crew will start to lay the stormwater lines within the site that will move the excess underground water to the offsite drainage. It is our hope that our careful design work and well cared for landscape will lend to a low reliance on stormwater lines in the future!