Terracing and Bamboo Fences

I happened to pass through Munnar recently while work on a new road coming up between two mountains was going on. It must be over by now. A majestic road, matching up to international standards. As is done everywhere else, huge bulldozers were used to cut through the mountains. It was almost like slicing through a slab of halwa. In fact, this is the first thing we do when we build a house on high ground. Three sides of the plot are cut and levelled, sparing only the front portion that leads to the gate.

What happens in such cases is that the sloping structure of the mountain is abruptly broken, and the cut is nearly vertical. As a result, when rain falls there is every possibility for this part to collapse. In order to prevent such a catastrophe we build concrete walls, like we build dams. And often we use as much concrete as can be used to make ten houses. This is a matter of personal choice but it also involves the issue of social capital. We also use huge granite stones and put up retaining walls. But if we make no arrangement for water to flow out, the entire structure will surely crumble.

Despite all this talk, some time back, I myself asked workers to prepare a parking space at the lower end of this land. When I returned two days later I noticed a sloping portion of my plot sliced out with vertical cuts. There is a big tree on the upper surface, and I feared the whole edifice would topple over anytime. So the only remedy lay in planting trees in the area.  I had seen many videos of trees and forests planted by Prof. Miyawaki in Japan. On sloping ground, he did terracing, and then put up bamboo fences at the edge of each level.
I adopted the same technique on my plot. Imagine that we put up forests on the sides of roads. The roads may be 30 or 45 metres wide. The rocks have to be cut at a distance of three metres from each edge of the road. In order to make a sloping surface for the purpose of creating a beautiful Miyawaki forest, we will need three to five metres of space on each side. If the rocky mountain surface is higher, we will require more space for terracing.  Only that option can prevent the upper land from collapsing.

The next step is to put up bamboo fences of different heights at various levels, at one metre intervals. In my childhood, my village school ground did not have a gallery. But whenever a sports competition was conducted, bamboo galleries were erected by experts, very swiftly and artistically. In a similar fashion, the first fence should be erected one metre from the rocky wall, and should be so tall as to stand one metre or half a metre below its top surface. The next bamboo fence that is a metre away will be half a metre shorter than the first one. In this manner, we put up three bamboo fences as the last terrace slopes down to the road. If the cut at the mountain slope is taller, we may require up to five bamboo fences, each shorter than the one above it. You’ll understand it when you see these visuals.

The one-metre planting surface between two bamboo fences is filled with the potting mixture, and saplings planted at the rate of four per sq. m. segment. The trees that you see right now were planted two months back. You’ll see visuals of the planting process and the present appearance of the forest. From the top shot you will see how much green cover we have gained. Sunlight from the top is not very abundant but they get plenty of it from the western side. And because the trees stand at different levels, all of them get it. If they had been planted on a flat surface, only the trees at the periphery would have received sunlight. Those in the interior would not.

If you observe closely, you will notice that all the trees here have put out new, healthy shoots within such a short span of time. If the growth rate continues as expected, the trees at the lowermost level will reach the height of the rocky wall in six months. The roots will go correspondingly deep into the soil. In a year, after the rains, the forest will be so thick that I will be confident that the top level will not come crashing down.

There is a reason for showing you this. If you are planning to construct a house on a slope, remember to ensure that as you cut into high ground, you provide enough space on three sides so that the surface slopes down to the house site. These slopes can be terraced properly and micro-forests planted there. If you can accomplish it, your house will not look as if it is trapped inside a laterite fort. Rather, it will nestle inside a tree alcove. Those of you who are interested in this idea, may try it out. If you have any doubts on the subject, feel free to raise them. We shall tell you what we know.