Oh, the composting! Because of Peter's comment about hail's only advantage being that of making compost-able materials, I checked the drainage area / cum 'open space' behind our yard. Where flood waters have piled debris against trees and bushes, I found yards and yards of shredded tree leaves and twigs mixed with eroded dirt and the good tan stuff from clippings left behind when the area was mowed. WOW, already warm and cooking, with lovely large worms.
This wonderous stuff will be a great jump start for next year's compost needs in addition to supplying much needed fill material. This leads me to the berm story. For fifteen years I have slowly built up an area behind the yard, meant to keep flood waters away from the lower garden. It is composed—or should I say decomposed—of clippings, prunings, greens, browns, and grass from our yard and those of other gardeners. I call it my sanitary land fill.
A nice dry-stacked wall contains it, thanks to the recycling of two neighbors' driveways. The old stuff has long since become soil, and the new hail-made stuff is enough to top it off. With a little soil on top, the berm will be planted with native grasses like those they are using to replant along the path the city just installed through the new open space.
