Management of a watercourse (drainage ditch)

shinytop

Here are some pictures, not quite before and after but an area I've started and one I haven't.  It's been mostly ivy, nettles and brambles so far.  I'm not going to completely deforest it but there is a lot of dead wood.  There's even a bit of water after today's rain. 

greenbee

That makes me feel so much better about mine Which is currently completely overgrown with water parsnip. I've cleared a small stretch and put in some water crowfoot (it's a chalk stream, and currently still has water in it, so I weight it down with rocks). I'm carefully moving the watermint and what I think is probably woundwort as I find it while weeding. 

I'm clearing the next stretch, but I'll need to dredge to get the roots out. It is also too wide in places (it's essentially a drainage ditch that joins the waterway, and has very straight edges) so needs some work to create a bit more flow. I have lots of chalk and flint to use to build in some movement to the water, and can then plant up these bits. 

The banks also need work - on one side I have mostly meadowsweet, but have slowly got bistort, primroses, candelabra primulas, iris versicolor and iris sibirica growing as well as figwort and ragged robin. On the other side I've just been cutting back the long grass and as well as all the primroses I moved over there I have found pink pyramidal orchids, figwort and square-stemmed hypericum. I have water avens, bog arum and foxgloves to plant between the water and the hedge and hopefully some of them will take. It's hard work, but very rewarding when you realise the wildlife appreciates it. Even if the water voles do keep eating the roots of the purple loosestrife! (It seems to survive - it just moves around rather a lot!

Davesnave

This is our seasonal stream in March:Not too bad for primroses and hellebores, but we need more snowdrops at this time and geraniums to start flowering in late April. Now, the geraniums are finishing, as are the Iberian comfrey, and it's mainly ferns + some silene doicus.

greenbee

That looks lovely @Davesnave. I'm far too embarrassed about the state of mine to post pictures. Particularly as it's currently full of dead water parsnip waiting for me to transport it to the compost heap! Thankfully the meadowsweet obscures it from view (for everyone other than my particularly annoying neighbour who obviously cranes her neck out of her upstairs windows so she can comment!).

shinytop

greenbee said:

That looks lovely @Davesnave. I'm far too embarrassed about the state of mine to post pictures. Particularly as it's currently full of dead water parsnip waiting for me to transport it to the compost heap! Thankfully the meadowsweet obscures it from view (for everyone other than my particularly annoying neighbour who obviously cranes her neck out of her upstairs windows so she can comment!).

Yup, agreed, very nice.  Go on @greenbee, post a picture or two, it sounds like you're making good progress.
Aside from dredging out the years of cr&p from the channel, is it worth lining it with stones, either something bought in or just collected from nearby?

greenbee

It has a chalk/gravel/builders’ rubble base, but several years of no frosts mean it’s been overgrown with weed which in turn creates compost for the weed to grow in. I can’t line the edges due to the water voles... (neighbours have, as they don’t like them making holes...). I have some chalk, flint and other rubble so will build out for alternate sides of the bank to get water flowing - it’s already done in one bit and has made a difference. I just need to keep the planting under control!

Davesnave

greenbee said:

That looks lovely @Davesnave. I'm far too embarrassed about the state of mine to post pictures.

Most of it is just natural. All I do is trim the trees and keep weeds, like bramble, at bay. Sometimes I have to take ivy out too. At this time of year, most of the bed is obscured by varieties of fern and quite often dry, so interest shifts to the slope above which I'm slowly re-profiling (another word for burying tens of tons of stone & clay soil from the garden proper!) Then I'll plant lots of buddleia and other insect-friendly things that will like the sun up there.

greenbee

So here’s the bit that is currently under control and hopefully staying that way...

greenbee

And here’s some of what needs doing. I haven’t even thought about the shared bit, but the conservation group massacred it again today so it’s relatively clear for a bit!

Davesnave

That's lovely clean water you have there, greenbee. I can visualise your water parsnip problems much more clearly now! Watch out also for that wild hypericum, which gets around. Love the dieramas too.