Floods in Organic Soil

One of the major advantages of a well-treated organic soil is its ability to hold water under a wide range of circumstances.  The photos below give testament to that fact.  It's been raining fairly hard since around 6 AM, and we've received 1.5 inches of rainfall so far.  The initial soil state was fairly dry and the rain was certainly welcome.

The first picture (click to embiggen) shows the water coming down the swale from the north and entering my property.  While fairly wide, about three or four feet, the water is only a few inches deep and not moving very quickly.  I wasn't going to step out into pouring rain to get the photo.



This photo is of the southern edge of the swale as it leaves my property (again, click to embiggen).  As you can see, no water.  All of the water entering the property is being absorbed by the soil.  Even now, some time after taking the photos, there's only a thin trickle exiting.



And a bonus shot.  This is the garden (click to embiggen, of course) in the rain.  I still have to clean up a bit, as you can see, but the plants are fairly happy with this weather.  Tomorrow will be sunny.