Gardening for lawn, borders, trees and shrubs in semi arid climates is largely perceived as challenging and effortful. Add gardening for fruit and vegetables or lush forests, people will likely usher the words “impossible”.
If we look at some of the greatest teachers and role models out there, we don’t really have to look that far, neither do we have to digest a 1000 books, get glued to science and experts or pay through our teeth for extensive systemised watering and bringing in costly materials that we think are needed for such venture.
Those teachers I am referring to are all around us and perhaps we have just forgotten how to “read” and trust them. The teachers are the soils including the fungi, bacteria, worms, it’s the climates, it’s the landscapes, the waters, the rock formations and location, it’s the plants themselves, it’s the animals that feed off and nourish the plants, disperse seeds and keep the life cycle going in a naturally flowing kind of state.
Let’s look a bit closer at the soil and I’d invite you to do so figuratively. In your outside area look for a bare spot in the ground that gets no attention, no water and has no plant around. Then go find a spot that equally gets no attention or water but has a shrub and perhaps a ground cover (could be a grass, a weed, a vygie) on it, have a little dig in both these spots, observe and feel the differences.
Chances are you’ll think you’d hit a rock when on clay soil or you think soil resembles a sand pit when on sandy soil. The covered soil will most likely offer you a far easier penetration of the ground, the colour will be darker, I’ll be coarser and you’ll detect some moisture a little deeper even if you’d test this in the height of summer.
That moisture exists not because you threw water at it, it exists because it is part of a naturally fine tuned and all inclusive life cycle that’s made up by it’s inhabitants and the elements.
This micro climate is ever adapting and self sustainable in the true sense of sustainability, not a fancy term thrown around by us humans. The same humans who thought and still think it’s a good idea to eliminate diversity and trade it for the gain of one single crop.
In this cycle every part holds a significant role and is in cooperation with all it’s other peers. When we fine tune into that cycle, observe and learn from it there will be abundant opportunities that can open up for us for successful gardening in our dry area.
We can facilitate soil building and water retention just as a forest does in dry climates. Things to look at are improving dull dry soils with organic lively matter and those materials are around us. Grass cuttings, garden “waste”, kitchen scraps and leaf mulch. The disliked water hyacinth could come in very handy here. It makes a great mulch and decomposes quickly, leaving high nutrients behind in a short time. Similar can be said about the high river schilf grass – Phragmatis Australis – along our river banks. The dry pieces are fabulous to be implemented for kick-starting poor soils with bio mass.
Don’t forget about ashes and charcoal. The braai besotted folk that we are has a fabulous water retainer and soil additive right here at hand, contributing phosphorus and potassium to the soil and adding previous tree energy back into the life cycle. Try to scrap common petroleum based fire lighters and choose natural fire lighters. Some creative DIY options possible with common kitchen waste.
Inhabit these soils with appropriate indigenous candidates adapted to the area or let natural seed dispersal by wind or animals take it’s course. Try to mimick the multi layered structure of a forest and allow members of all layers to co exist, rooting layer/tubers/rhizomes, grasses/flowers, shrubs, small trees, canopy trees and vining layers. Garden “debris and waste” may be getting new assignments from you because there is nothing wasteful about them and if we look at an intact forest we’ll notice mulch, mulch and more mulch. Healthy lively soil is like a sponge and even in our climate where the green creatures have to live off 300mm rainfall annually, it’ll do just fine with a monthly short shower of a little rain. Great kick-starters amongst plants are water retainers such as the large forgotten world of the vygies and succulents. These fellows are literally little water reservoirs and they don’t mind sharing! The legumes – Fabaceae – family is another great pioneer. Many versatile members that have low water requirements and to the same time fix atmospheric nitrogen. They make fabulous companions all round.
When we let nature’s principles guide us then our possibilities of creating a little piece of lush heaven are more limitless than they are daunting…
Written by Judith Augoustides