DEALING WITH THE DESERT

Daniel Fratus

What is your rain fall and seasons it falls in?  that is where I would start.  Since we are in the compost section that is a good place to start.  I would dig a hole one year filing it with all the kitchen scraps, shredded paper, and any other organics I could find.  Then cover and mark the location.  Then the next year dig into the location just before the rain started to plant the tree.   The material should be mostly broken down.  It is ok to check it occasionally. The organic material should act like a sponge if it is big enough.  Feel free to supplement with bagged material.  Then you will still need to water the tree for the first few years,  Even in Iowa where I get 38 to 40" of rain fall per year I still have to water trees until they are established.

Jimerson

Oh yeah. I live in West Texas with an average rainfall of negative 70 (it feels like..)

The only way I've had success with growing vegetables is to build a support structure for 50-60% shade cloth, and then water a little bit in the middle of the day and again at night. I have drip lines hooked up to a auto-water timer, so that helps. The shade cloth also covers about 50% of the sides as well, so it creates a little micro-climate that is significantly cooler.

Marjory Wildcraft

Hi Daniel,

You might think of planting some mesquite trees (Acaia) as a start.  It's like a living shade cloth and you know how trees really transform an area.  You'll definitely need to protect from the ravages of deer, havalina, etc with some fencing.  And here is an interesting almost self-irrigating that I am experimenting with.  It's called a "WaterBoxx" or "Groasis"  hmm, I think they have been changing their name.   But it is this very interesting device that collects dew and rainwater to help very young plants in desert regions.  You can grow vegetables with the boxes too.

This is a project I've been following and I think they are really onto something for growing in the desert.

Check it out - here is the website https://www.groasis.com/en

Here is a very interesting photo that shows a bit about it

 



 

 

Alison

Hi,

You might find Geoff Lawton's 'Greening The Desert' helpful. It might not cover all that you are enduring but will highlight some of the basic principles of growing edibles in the desert. I know that he recently did a follow up video also. You can watch it on youtube. He also has his own web page geofflawton.com . He seems to be having very good success with permaculture principles.

Marjory Wildcraft

Hi Allison, oh yes - I LOVE Geoff.  He has presented several times at the TGN SUmmits.  And if I recall he did do an entire presentation just on that, greening the desert.  THat link you posted should get peopel to thim also - thanks for posting.