Feedback Frenzy

Stay on the designated walkway

 

As I've been mulling over what to share about the garden, on Friday night, we received a downpour. Perhaps the biggest rainfall we've seen since January 2011, when the infamous Queensland floods destroyed the Lockyer Valley. That's nine years of increasingly, smaller amounts of rainfall, and my garden had to cope all that time. Much to my surprise, there are successes when plants survive. However, the soil takes a beating when fast water is on the move again. Especially after drought conditions. This latest event has revealed problems I still need to address. 

Catching up

Stella's frangipani (a departed friend, whose cutting we cherish)

Hello new year! 2020. I didn't mean to be away this long, but life kind of happened. Like recovering from Christmas, then a stomach bug which took me and our youngest out, for a bit. In early January I pulled my trapezius muscle, from my neck all the way down to my shoulder blade. Typing was not an option. I'm much better now though, and both kids are at school for another year. So like our pink frangipani, life is just blooming along.

Creative destruction

Behind the chicken coop - can you see the swale?

If you remember this image, from the "Do nothing" post, I said we were in the midst of making some creative destruction, in this area too. Part of the reason it's overgrown at all, is due to poorly designed access. It was started many moons ago, when we first dug the swale, but never finished properly.

Aerial view

2007 - initial front terraces, as the house was under construction

We've been living on our 5 acres of bushland, for twelve years now. Easter, was the anniversary of moving in. Our leap into large-scale gardening, happened to coincide with the cultural celebration, for new life and new beginnings. Easter. Since this cultural celebration, just passed - it was fitting to share an areal view, of what all that Natural Sequence Farming, Permaculture and Natural Succession Gardening, has achieved during that time.

The hand you're dealt

You know how at Easter, after stuffing yourself silly on chocolate, you swear never again! Until the nausea is forgotten about, and you're back to eating the regular 4 squares of chocolate, a day? Yes, I really do that. The 4 squares, that is. I don't gorge on chocolate at Easter any more though - not like I used to. Yet there are other vices, which still manage to catch me out.

Like doing online research, and learning how to use computer graphics programs, in new and interesting ways! I had a binge session recently, followed by the swearing off technology, until my senses returned. Hence, the sudden silence on the blog front.

But I have stuff to share, you funky people...so let's get to it!

Pitter-patter

Remember this stuff? It's meant to fall from the sky during our summer rainy season. But decided to skip it entirely, and make a late appearance, in autumn instead. I wasn't going to mention the first storm. Or the second. The one with large hail. Ultimately though, I was expecting the storm activity to disappear. Thankfully, it decided to love on our property a while longer, with steady, all day rain.

So that now...

 It's accumulating

...puddles are begging to form in the swales again. This sight always makes me so happy. But after this year, I recognise a swale of itself, is only as useful as the rain falling from the sky. So I look upon it, a little more soberly. Extremely grateful however, we still got a reprieve from the dry.

So now life can slowly begin to emerge around the new water source again.

Sweet cycles

I caught a couple of dragonflies, dancing around the pooling water. Teasing it with their feet and tails, as they dipped in. I had to follow them, up and down the swale. Because their iridescent wings, didn't want to stay still long enough, for my camera to focus in.

This is part of the tantilising orchestra though, which always emerges after the rain settles in. I couldn't resit chasing the dragonflies, in the rain, as it felt like forever - since hearing the delicate whisper of their tiny wings.

 Hello there

The resident kangaroos were feasting on the new greenery, which they had waited for the rain to bring, also. October last year, was the last flush of decent greenery they got to enjoy. Now her gaunt facial features, from the summer drought, are just starting to fill out again. Which also makes me very happy to see.

But again, I reflect soberly. How quickly it can all change.

 Remember these, hugelkultur mounds?

This was mostly dust, not that long ago. The paths are slowest to respond to the moisture, with all that compaction. Yet how quickly the greenery emerges elsewhere, after the rain. I was beginning to wonder if we would see it, before winter came again.

It's still not the kind of rain we're used to dealing with - the reason we built all those swales and ponds to begin with. But we could still feel the soil take a deep breath, it desperately needed.

 Like a sponge

With the dwindling heat of autumn, the moisture still has time to break down the plentiful supply of wood material. I've already seen several blooms of fungi emerge. While hopeful to see at all, it's still not as plentiful as normal years. But really, what is normal nowadays?

The weather patterns are changing, and maybe this is the new normal?

Human ingenuity

Unlike our dry-stone retaining wall, which is pretty permanent and predictable - nature has been fluctuating to more extremes. More heat. More time between drinks. Even more rain when it does fall, which causes more erosion.

Really the jostle is to find some kind of medium, on this ever fluctuating scale of normal. Is drought normal, for this particular 10 year cycle. Or is it, the wet? In the wet, is a great time to get plants established. In the dry, it culls a lot of potentials and breaks your heart.

Like night and day

When everything starts to green up again, the casualties, really begin to stand out. This hardy native, Westringa (right) is cactus now. Yet the Brazilian cherry on the left (also known as Surinam cherry) was able to pull through. Although, the cost was not seeing any fruit flushes, all growing season. There just wasn't the rain to spark that particular event.

Still, it lived. Which cannot be said for some of my other fruit trees.

Bupkis baby

I've lost all my bananas, an avocado, and surprisingly a mulberry tree. These are normally, the most bulletproof edible fruit trees I've come across. This one was planted in the lowest gully, which normally floods. It hasn't happened for well over a year now, but I thought surely this specimen had the best location for survival?

The dry slopes are much less forgiving. Yet the oldest mulberry we have, lives on those very slopes, and managed to pull through.

Original mulberry (centre)

It's extremely sparse on the leaf front, as it's normally covered in leaves. But it's also an older tree by several years, than the one which died recently. It was established in a flood too, so had the opportunity to send it's roots down deeper.

I also credit it's survival, from being planted on the berm of a swale, as well as stacking functions around it. While I think it looked like the flooding gully, was giving the other mulberry more water, it wasn't being held up as much, as the swale was doing, for the surviving mulberry. The directed water in the swale therefore, really encouraged the tree roots to go down deep, in the years we were receiving rain.  

The observation I take from this particular drought, is while water is indeed the crucial factor here, large amounts (passing by) are no indicators of success. It's "directed" water, held back, which really sets up the roots better for extended dry periods. So I need to identify how to concentrate water, when it does fall from the sky, and place my edible trees around it.

 Lush and green again

The clear winner though, has to be the grass. An annual which seeds itself quite readily, is the quickest to respond to water. It all but browns off at the surface, and we never scramble to save it. Yet it completely overtakes the garden, as soon as the rains return.

The heavy seed-heads are bent over, when they're laden with water too. So it carpets the ground, to hold-in more moisture. I know it looks unruly and unkempt, but we hardly scramble to control the grass either. For starters, there's just too much of it, but it also has a vital cycle to perform, setting seed for the next drought. So it can emerge quickly, after the rains return again.

 An early morning, walk in the bush

How do I feel about it all though? Grateful. Sober from the experience. And finally, hopeful in a new directed purpose. Not that swales are the be all, and end all. Especially when it comes to establishing plants (short term) in a drought. Seriously, they're useless when it comes to that! But you've got to cop it all on the chin, and be realistic. This is nature, we're dealing with here. It's not made to please us, or our ideas of what a garden is meant to be. It's there to make us better gardeners, whatever the season.

So set up your infrastructure, regardless, to take advantage of the wet cycles. For me, it's swales and ponds. But be prepared to find the best medium, in the drought cycle too. Whatever that happens to be. We're talking decade investments in a garden for resilience, not annual returns. Although they're always nice to have, and I will always "try" to glean some kind of annual edible harvest. Greenthumb nirvana cannot be based on that premise alone though, or its likely to bring disappointment.

Because annual plants are short lived, and designed to expire quickly anyway. Throw in an extreme event, and they're the first to fail. It's more disappointing for me, when my perennial trees fail. But I've got to cop that on the chin, also. If I choose, I can accept the feedback delivered, and work with it. That's what nature's going to be doing, without me anyway - so why not become a willing student in the process?

I hope your gardens are delivering treasures, whatever they're being subjected to, at the moment. I know we don't always get, how we desire it to be. We can still play the hand we're dealt though, to the best of our ability.

Making tracks

"There’s a track winding back
To an old-fashioned shack
Along the road to Gundagai –" 

Do you recognise this line, from the classic Australian folk song, Along the road to Gundagai? It was made popular during, World War II, when battered Australian soldiers, dreamed of returning home. The lyrics call, to make your way back home again - to family, friends the landscape, and ultimately, the things of your youth.

I guess that's the power of a road, and how to find yourself on one! Which is a rather long introduction, for my first land management post, for 2019. We're making tracks. Literally. Into the bush. For a significant purpose. I will return to that classic Australian folk song, at the end.

 One of these paths, is not like the other

Above, is a Roo Track, made by kangaroos. They're forged over the years, by a multitude of hopping marsupials. It's pretty impressive. However, those tracks are generally narrow, and follow a ridge-line. Consequently, they tend to be steep. Which is great, if you're as agile, as a healthy kangaroo!

Looking into the future though, if we want to use small machines to get about on our property (because of age, or we just need to get equipment up there) it makes sense, to develop better tracks. How do we do that? By working with the contour of the land....

 Going up slope

 

The contour, is essentially the shape of the slope. We wanted to cut a road, around the contour of the slope, rather than straight up it, like a ridge. This creates a gentler gradient for people, animals and machinery to traverse.

We started by raking away the mulch (compliments of nature - thank you!) and used a mattock, to cut into the slope. Then the fill from that cut, got dumped further away from the slope - making a wider track. Old logs and branches were placed at the base, to stop the fill, slowly migrating down hill.

Covered with the mulch again, it looks like it's always been there.

Top of the path

We're still working on the top of the slope, as indicated by the dirt. We'll mulch over it, once satisfied, enough fill has leveled the top. We're not going for plumb level, accurate. Slopes are the nature of the terrain, and we'd be working forever, trying to flatten everything. So the goal, is only to flatten the ruts and any dangerous tipping points, up the top.

Nature helps in this regard as well, by providing the trees we cut down, to stop the fill, migrating down hill. This is how we managed to flatten(ish) the top of the slope, a little more. A large tree trunk was used, to raise the level of the footpath. Not much higher, but enough to make a difference.

Fill, butts against the log

As you can see, we're still working around a lot of living trees too. And I mean, A LOT! Which is how we get so much, free mulch and landscaping logs, in the first place. It's nice, that we don't have to hitch-up the trailer and make a trip into town for these things. Nor, hand over our hard-earned money. We just wander into the bush, with some hand tools, and find what we need.

We're enjoying one of the many pay-offs, for not removing the indigenous plants, willy-nilly. Although it IS harder work, when you want to remove them. But it's far better to work from abundance, than scarcity. Especially in a drought.

   The drop-off

At the very top of our new path, it merges with another, preexisting, Roo track. It goes down into a steep dip, because it's near the end of one of our gullies. Or a natural path of erosion, where the water runs off, in a storm. That water, continues to cut between two slopes - creating a wider and deeper gully.

We're planning on harnessing those windfalls of water, and stopping the erosion. By improving the old Roo track, in the process. We're going to fill in that dip, with more dirt.

Dam wall, joins with new track

We're getting that dirt, by cutting a new pond, back into the gully - up slope. We create the dam wall, by dumping the dirt, lower down hill. I had some good clay in the beginning, but the further I cut into the gully, the more sandy sediment I'm finding. Which is not suitable, for building dam walls.

However, it's perfect for footpaths where quick drainage, is desired. So we hauled that sandy sediment, to the top of our footpath. Now we've improved the gradient up hill, I can migrate clay to the dam wall, from the front of the property, instead. My barrow will have a much easier time of it.

It's a lot of hard work, but also significant work too. I actually started this project, last year. The heat of summer, mostly put an end to it. However, there were a couple of reminders lately, to get cracking again.

Attempting to cool down

Remember this female Joey, that was enjoying the cool dirt, recently? She actually found that patch of dirt, from the footpath I tinkered with. Her presence reminded me, what we do in the landscape, has an impact.

It was the presence of the Roo tracks, which showed us, where to start improving them in the first place. Not on any part of the slope, but where the kangaroos had specifically chosen. We're essentially, following the tracks the kangaroos have laid out. Then, improving them.

But now for some sad news...

Some don't make it

Fret not. This isn't our female Joey, but a male kangaroo. Only about 3 years old, we estimated. In another year, he would have entered his prime - but unfortunately, we think he had a collision with a car. Somehow, he made his way back home. He would have been raised here, by his mother. Which is why we think he returned.

We first saw his injuries, late January, when he was drinking from the birdbath. He couldn't hop, because of an injury to his heel, but he could walk on one foot, with the help of his tail. I don't know how far he walked, but I know I saw him enter our property, from the back - where there are no roads. So he had a long way to travel.

Several days later, in early February - I found him laid out, in the lowest and widest gully on the property. Which normally floods. But not this year. Not for over a year. So we buried him, right next to where he laid. I couldn't help but wonder, afterwards - why here? Why did you walk all that way, to come home - when you could barely even walk?

Life continues

I guess the answer to that question, starts right here - with the next generation of male Joey. I wrote about this little fellow, suddenly appearing, while Growing at Gully Grove. He's about the same age as that female Joey, above. So he's bigger now. I saw them both in the yard, yesterday afternoon, grazing from the grass, watered by our septic.

These Joey's are brought here, by their mothers, because we landscape with them in mind. We keep the plants, improve the tracks and hold back the water. In the wet. As well as in the dry. Which is precisely why, that injured male came home to rest, I guess.

"Then no more will I roam,
When I’m heading right for home
Along the road to Gundagai."

All tracks, lead home

I know it's a little sad, but just like we followed the kangaroo trails, I couldn't help but thank this male, almost at his prime - for reminding me to continue improving those tracks again. For people and animals to use, who may not be in their prime any more.

There's a rhyme and reason, for everything we do here. Always more connections, than what's on the mere surface. Consider a dirt track. After all, it only comes into being, because everything was laid down before it. The water cuts the gully. The kangaroos, mark the trails. The people (at least these two) attempt to build a track, across it.

Are you planning for your not-so-prime years yet? Any great ideas to share? As you can see by this post, we're planning for better accessibility around the property. For us, and the wildlife, we share our story with.

Stacking functions

While permaculture may encompass many different things, what I love about it from a land management perspective, is the intelligent design. It saves effort and resources, if you can align just one element, to do more than one thing! Or to put it another way - stacking functions.

Nothing can demonstrate this better, than a simple Mulberry tree...

Beginning to ripen

This was my breakfast, yesterday morning. I love nothing more than to meander under the mulberry, and pick black fruit, during spring. Those fruit, the birds leave me behind that is! Thankfully, this is a particularly large tree - being the first one we ever planted.

Nonetheless, before the spring rains arrive, causing the leaves to grow and hide all that emerging fruit, the birds always threaten to strip the tree bare. Even before the fruit has a chance to turn black! But somehow this mammoth tree, always manages to offer us (and the birds) a delicious bounty, before all the fruit is gone again.

 At least, 12 metres (40 ft) tall

This tree, is taller than Middle Ridge chicken coop - now my shade house for propagation. If you live in a suburban area, perhaps a tree like this would be better managed (as recommended) by heavy pruning. This encourages more fruiting and allows you to access more of them - rather than the birds.

But this is where stacking functions, and intelligent design enter, for larger acreage. Our problem is too much sun exposure. It dries out the land. So in this instance, I require the tree to reach it's absolute maximum potential. The more it grows, the more it shades. With less moisture lost to evaporation, during the hotter times of the year, I'm getting better water efficiency from what does fall from the sky.

March 2015

The mulberry tree was planted in 2010, and by 2015, I was implementing a new swale behind the mulberry. It's another one of those, stacking functions, concepts. For I needed to irrigate the mulberry, as well as prevent soil erosion. The water formerly ran straight down slope, taking soil with it.

The mulberry became a catalyst to observe, how we could alter the design of the slope for a better outcome. Primarily aimed at reducing soil erosion, and improving water efficiency - a swale became the perfect design element, in this instance. Remember, when dealing with a much larger scale, a tree is not JUST a tree, any more. It's never a lone ranger. Rather, it becomes a catalyst of interconnected functions.

My job is to find as many ways as I can, to assist those links to evolve. So the natural sequences can simply do the rest. Intelligent design, allows you to step back for the most part (eventually) with minor tweaks to assist the process along.

 2016 Addition

I'm always looking for ways to improve the design. Most recently I've incorporated vetiver grass on the side of the swale. Not only to help stabilise it, in large water events, but also to grow mulch I can throw into the swale. It will break down and disperse nutrients, while immediately protecting the soil from sun exposure.

Plant: vetiver grass (1) Functions: dynamic accumulator & soil protection (2). Whenever I prune the vetiver grass, it goes straight into the swale. Over time, this will improve the quality of the soil, feeding the mulberry. Over time, this will increase the quantity (and quality) of fruit which grows.

Changing seasons, for the mulberry

This will be a familiar sight to those in the Northern Hemisphere, at present. Fall. We call it Autumn, in Australia. Whenever the weather turns cooler though, leaves start dropping. Which is no different for the mulberry tree, given it's deciduous nature too. It drops a giant nutrient bomb, every year, on the ground - to help feed the soil.

So the mulberry is a dynamic accumulator, as well as a fruit bearing one. A single tree, with so many functions. I will be happy to list them all at the end.

 My hideaway

This is where I access the mulberry, through all those low hanging branches. I'm actually standing in the swale. I could prune those branches back, making it easier to access - but I prefer the benefit of shade, keeping the soil as moist (and as cool) as possible.

In the heat of the day, under the mulberry is the best place to be. Which is why I recently planted one, up near the permanent chicken coop! Once it gets some size to it (a) the shade will keep the chickens cool (b) keep them protected from wedge tail eagles, flying overhead, and (c) bring a network of bugs to the soil, for them to eat, as well as the bounty of fruit that falls.

Down-side of berm

Back at our most mature mulberry, I have plans to utilise the down slope berm, further. Always evolving this particular design. Because there are so many opportunities to stack functions. At the moment, the lantana downhill is benefiting from the mulberry and swale. Lantana is a weed, we're attempting to remove gradually - as we find something to replace it with.

The very edge of the mulberry's treeline, I hope will be perfect for growing goji berries. I germinated some from seed during winter, and proper placement in this evolving design, could see them bearing fruit successfully, as well.

A tree is not just a tree, on the larger scale. It's potential for expansion, and support for transitional periods - such as I've outlined, in the evolution of our mulberry. Intelligent design, can only continue to evolve. Stacking even more functions together, over time.

Yummy!

Remarkably (if that were not ALREADY enough) a tree can also be valuable medicine. Rich in antioxidants, these mulberries help the immune system fight against infection. My little Mister, is home sick today and wanted strawberries for breakfast. They're all but done for the season, but I had a perfectly productive mulberry tree, just outside. Best to beat the birds to it!

To summarise,a mulberry tree has many stacked functions:

• Dynamic accumulator
• Soil stabiliser
• Earthworks enhancer
• Overhead shade
• Air cooler
• Protection for shrubs
• Livestock guardian & fodder producer
• Fruit bearer
• Medicine

This barely scratches the surface. I haven't even mentioned how trees are natures', original climbing trellis for vines, and also acts as a windbreak for my shade house.

Do you think I should attempt to grow a vine on my mulberry? I was contemplating a passionfruit, but knowing how vigorous those are, they'd cover the goji berries in no time. I don't want to make extra work for myself, keeping the passionfruit in check. Plus I like the fact, the leaves drop in winter, and let the light in. So maybe a deciduous vine?

What are your recommendations/experiences, for a suitable vine under a deciduous tree?

All downhill

In a landscape, meandering with gullies, it's easy to believe the forces of water can be somewhat destructive. And they can be! True to the natural sequences, Peter Andrews, outlines in his book, "Back from the Brink", however, I see other forces of nature at work too.

Within this eroding gully, forged by water, plants are playing their integral part. Over the years, tree roots from the formidable eucalyptus trees, have been uncovered by soil erosion. They cling to the soil in a last-ditch effort, to turn the tide in their favour again.

Right now, you can see the detritus (leaves) which have fallen to the ground. In winter we don't normally get a lot of rain, so the trees shed their leaves. For many months, they accumulate on the gully floor, waiting for the next storm season to arrive, in summer.

When the rain arrives in earnest, to collect water in the gully again, all that tree detritus will get caught in the tree roots as the water escapes. It slows the water, and filters nutrients, every time it rains.

The floods in 2011 (no doubt) brought down those rocks, wedged against the tree root. Which also acts as a natural barrier to catch tree detritus - but allows water to permeate through, with less soil erosion.

All those natural sequences, led to one essential repairing mechanism in the landscape. Silt accumulation. Those exposed tree roots, are now halting erosion - creating a series of steps on the upper landscape instead. Which is one way to reverse deep gullies, getting deeper, the faster water travels downhill.

I actually took note of this relationship between the tree roots and water flow, when I went scouting for rocks, recently. We're building our drystone retaining wall, and need more backfill.

Seeing how valuable these rocks have been, in repairing the gully, however, I wasn't about to remove them! It goes to show, even in a degraded landscape, such as ours', nature is diligently forging a repair schedule. Ergo, trees are absolutely essential on a sloped landscape!

What natural sequences, have you discovered happening in your backyard?

Shady places

Continuing the theme of accumulative work, there's a relatively new project we've been working on lately. It does involve a retaining wall, but not building one! Thankfully. It's the retaining wall, below our hugelkultur beds.

During the warmer months, those blocks, heat up something terrible. Hardly anything grows in the beds. While the avocado tree sprouted near the wall, is helping reduce SOME radiant heat from reaching the blocks - it's certainly not enough to cover the span of wall, during the day.

Avocado (left) shade sail (above)

So we installed some treated timber posts, and a single, 3.4 x 3.4 metre, shade sail. During sumer, when the sun is high, it will shade approximately 3 metres of wall. But it will always creep in, on the east and west side, as the sun rises and sets.

To mitigate this, we're building screens on half the sides. You can see the lattice, installed recently. It was a gift originally, and I was tired of storing, instead of using. While it's not entirely big enough, I intend to add some mesh above it, with a pot underneath, to grow climbers over. That should provide better shade cover. I will do something similar on the west-facing side.

While it looks kinda junky right now, everything in the image above, has a purpose. The styrafoam boxes under the lattice, are shading a couple of pots I have potatoes and jerusalem artichokes, growing in. The plastic pot, on the styrafoam box, has a rock in it, to stop the box from blowing away. The white buckets in the middle, catches the rain which drops from the shade cloth. I then ferry that water, to the hugelkultur beds.

Best pepinos I've ever grown, over the retaining wall ~

now receives morning shade from the sail

The goal here is to create more micro-climate, for growing plants. Mostly edible ones. Also, to use the man-made infrastructure, as a means of capturing energy where I need it (ie: water harvesting) or deflect energy where I don't - radiant heat.

It's another work in progress, as funds and time become available. I intend to use more recycled materials to complete this shady area. In the meantime, we make do with boxes, buckets and other bits and pieces we can find. It's kind of ugly, but progressing us towards meeting our goal of more food production. Which is kind of great!

Growing season

What are the cues for your growing season? It was technically Spring here, a month ago. But the garden was still in stasis, due to a lack of moisture. In fact, plants were dying out there.

Storm activity arrived in October, allowing the ground to soak in some much needed rain. But the mere presence of rain, is NOT the cue for our growing season to begin, in earnest. Especially if it's been dry.

What our best cue is, however, is the lower gully, flooding...

Footbridge to cross main flood way ~
click to enlarge

It took several days of rain, for the ground to be soaked and allow water, to run on the surface again. A good week of rain, saw water rising, but it was a gentle flow. Good for avoiding erosion.

Even though we saw water in the gully - moisture in the ground wasn't going to last long, once the sun came out again. Which it did, and the ground slowly began to dry out. But then the second storm, told a different story...

Same footbridge ~

taken from the safety of our verandah

It was a small event, compared to some regions in Queensland, but our whole gully was flooding, because of that storm. Which is the best cue I could receive for the growing season.

Because we have 3 channels of water that disperse in our gully, when it floods. When they all join together, I know the ground is more likely, going to stay moist for the rest of the growing season. So it's not just the gully flooding, which is my cue, but how many channels are flooding at the same time.

Entering

It all starts when the water enters our property, from several of our neighbours upstream. The water entering our property, is always red, because no-one attempts to hold the water back, further up. So we end up with soil from the properties upstream.

As it's a narrow channel, the water enters fast. But when it comes onto our property, it immediately disperses as far as it can spread. How much water, determines whether all 3 channels, will flood.

Dispersing

In this particular storm event, all three did! The upper channel (highest ground) is furtherest away. The middle channel is, of course, in the middle - with the lowest channel, being on the bottom of the picture. The lowest, is the least likely to flood, but when it does, I know there's a good amount of water in our gully now.

Here's what all three channels joining together, look like, in the middle of our property...

Mulberry, centre

It flows like a river. When the mulberry is surrounded by water, I know it's set to survive the heat of summer. So our mulberry in the middle of our gully, is another potential cue I look forward to. Although the heat of summer is still yet to come, the ground has been flooded with water. Which is a good sign.

Because when you live in the bush like we do, it's a good to have the ground saturated, before summer arrives in earnest. I must confess to being a little nervous about the prospect of bushfire season, before this rain arrived.

Near the end

Further downstream from the mulberry, the water is dispersing more and therefore, slowing further. Our lucky neighbours downstream, have little to worry about the water entering their property. It's slower, less aggressive, and therefore less dirty water. Especially once it passes through our wide thicket on the boundary.

 Flooding

30 minutes after the rain had stopped, the water receded again. 

Receding

So the gully is completely dry again, and will await the next storm to overflow it. I like having this gully in the middle of our property - even if it cuts us off from the other half, when it floods. Because it's the perfect visual to tell me about the growing season.

Summer will still give my systems a hard time, because the heat is always so intense here. But knowing the gully has flooded completely, cues the growing season for us, in earnest.

What cues exist in your landscape, to tell you about the growing season ahead?

Greening the Desert?

We finally got some of that rain, predicted for our area. And as always, only received the outer edges of the rain system. It was still welcomed though, and both our tanks, are roughly 85% full now. So we definitely got something out of the exchange.

I also learned something new...

House in background

The new pond we dug over winter, holds water. There was sufficient clay in the soil, to hold it for 3 days. Although it did diminish quicker, than the pond above the house. Still, it was wonderful to know, we're able to capture water in the landscape, and store it for longer than before.

This was a naturally occurring gully, cut into a slope, after many years of erosion. We simply dammed it up, by putting soil at the bottom of two hills. The small dam wall, between them, is now a walkway for people and kangaroos.

Eventually, I'll dedicate a post to how that pond, came into being. As for now, it's still under construction. We're presently building, a long swale, to take any overflow from the pond, away safely. But I digress...

 22 corn seedlings, went into the ground, today

What I actually wanted to make this post about, was working with climatic conditions in our area. More specifically, in relation to food production. I was inspired by the "Greening the Desert" project, compliments of Geoff Lawton. He basically grew food in the desert.

Surely, his permaculture design strategies, could work here too?

Well, sort of...yes, and no. In theory (well, Geoff has proven it) they work. But here's what the Greening the Desert project had, that we didn't. Earth moving equipment, access to large amounts of resources on a "continual" basis, fencing all around their sites.

I've built swales, but the rain never fills them for long. I bought another tank to water the edibles, but a protracted dry spell, saw us conserving water for house use, only.  I chose drought tolerant plants, but without water, I couldn't establish them. Or to put it another way, get their roots deeper, into the ground. Overexposure to sunlight, was another problem...it killed non-established plants, in an hour of intense sun. The continual access to water, is what keeps plants alive. Something we just didn't have.

New leafs emerge, on stripped pigeon pea trees

Any plants we did get into the ground, to grow canopy protection, quickly became new food for the local kangaroo population. So they were stripped of their leaves, when nothing else was growing. Rewind. Back to overexposure, again

I'm happy to share with the local wildlife, but when you grow food in a desert, expect the hoards of wildlife to clean you out. They're desperate too. I still appreciate the permaculture principles, and still use them, but reality is different when applied in the desert.

I noted in the various Greening the Desert, projects (there's now Greening the Desert II) all sites were fenced in. I thought, maybe to stop people trespassing? Now I can appreciate, how it's needed to prevent the hoards of animals from devouring all that hard work.

Immediate relief

We've now erected a shade sail, to create man made shade. It will help deal with overexposure, more permanently. We're building some growing areas, around it, to have vegetables. All this to say, as climate changes, how we grow food becomes more important.

I've noticed, the drier it gets in our area, the more man-made interventions we require, to get a return. Those interventions, come with a price tag too. I'd love to just stick seeds in the ground and watch them grow, but we're dealing with a region that sees periods of dry, hot conditions. It's lovely when the rains arrive, but you can lose plants when they don't. Even, supposedly, drought tolerant ones.

Old-man saltbush, sacrificed limbs to survive the drought

After growing in these conditions, for nigh on a decade now, I've come to some conclusions, for food production success, in dry, hot conditions.

• Water is CRITICAL, there needs to be a continuous supply
• Maximise water efficiency, by limiting the growing area
• Shade it permanently
• Only grow drought tolerant plants
• Fence it off

Further to the above, only grow what you'll eat the MOST. If you're going to mollycoddle, make sure the crop will be used on a regular basis. Long storage crops too, like sweet potatoes, pumpkins and chokos, don't have to be eaten immediately. So you can spread it out, instead of having to eat, as soon as it's harvested.

I'm trying some new varieties of vegetables too, reputed to do well in hot climates. I'll let you know how that goes. I didn't write any of this, to diminish the insights and attributes permaculture design has. But there are some misconceptions, as to what it can achieve. It CAN green the desert, but only with a lot of interventions, a lot of resources and a lot of barriers to admittance.

This is just the reality, of growing food, in the desert (or desert-like) conditions. This is what we have to deal with, so these are the realities I share. I expect drier conditions will be revisiting us, more often than not. So we still have to plan to eat.