Trying to garden on the surface of the moon- Help!

Posted by chris trammell on August 24, 2011 at 10:06am

I have terrible soil! It is almost purely clay. It is saturated with rocks throughout every square inch of it. After two feet of these conditions, there is a solid layer of caliche that exists for at least 6 feet, as far as I know. My goal is to plant a completely edible landscape. We have one acre. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to reclaim this soil organically? I know it will take time.

 

Currently, I am collecting every type of manure known to man and having woodchips delivered by APS on a regular basis. We live in the New River area, so no one has lawns out here. I collect weeds before they go to seed, and whatever else I can get. Furthermore, our land is surrounded by a chain link fence, allowing the wind to whip through on a regular basis. We have no shade.

 

Please help! 

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Replies

  • Catherine, The Herb Lady September 4, 2011 at 7:49am

    Hi Chris,

     

    Did you see the post for the lecture on native foods.  Go to the main page here. If you have the opportunity to attend the lecture you can get more native food plant ideas.

    • chris trammell > Catherine, The Herb Lady October 6, 2011 at 1:06pm

           Thank you I did and it was great bought a black berry bush while there. Im using some techniques in the link you sent me I am going to have to see what happens though I have built a couple nice raised beds and filled them with sand, wood chips, little manure and homade compost. I then mulched with some grass clippings.  

    • Catherine, The Herb Lady > chris trammell October 6, 2011 at 2:28pm
      Nice, Chris.  Good luck.  Grass is a good mulch/compost as long as it does not have seed heads.  If I did not mention before, pick up a moisture meter (instant read about $7-$12 at most nurseries).  They are a good helper when first starting a bed or adding to an existing bed.  "Generally" most of the plants can be watered when on the 2 level, particularly with native you really want them dry somewhat between waterings.
  • bryanwhitebeyondthekitchengarden September 1, 2011 at 1:05pm
    Let's talk!
    Sounds like you are headed in the right direction, I would be happy to share what I think I know about native site / edible development.
    Bryan White
    Www.thegreenhousefarm.com
    the green house farm
    the green house farm is a company that will help you grow your garden green.
    • chris trammell > bryanwhitebeyondthekitchengarden September 3, 2011 at 12:15pm
       Well im taking Catherines advice makes sense with the practices im already using but im interested in which trees i can plant. What i mean by that is which one are heat and drought tolerant, have good compostable leafs, provide habitat for native species, provide any benefit to pollination and insects. Im quite picky obviously but trees take years to mature and i just wanna make the right choice the first time. Im also parring with Catherines practices things ive seen on regreening the desert. 
    • bryanwhitebeyondthekitchengarden > chris trammell September 4, 2011 at 3:41pm
      don't feel like you need to find the 'one' perfect variety of tree ... there is a host of different varieties of native tree bushes (mesquite / palo verde / iron wood / acacia / etc) ... you might plant a variety of them all (that is what nature does, to one degree or another) ... keep the ones you like, down the road remove + compost the ones that you do not like ... experiment + observe + experiment again  ... 5 gallon desert trees grow quickly when compared to non-natives and at that size they are cheap + not a huge investment ...
  • Catherine, The Herb Lady August 24, 2011 at 10:47am

    Hi Chris,

     

    See my post from last year:

     

    http://www.phoenixpermaculture.org/group/soilbuilders/forum/topics/...

     

    An easy way initially is to dig holes now as you have the time and energy and fill 'mostly' full of manure.  You can use a garden hose and a piece of PVC pipe to dig the hole in short order.  If you need a bit more info about that let me know.

    • chris trammell > Catherine, The Herb Lady September 3, 2011 at 12:18pm
      Thak you very much didn't really expect such good advise. Ive been scouring for info on my situation,  so glad i finally decided to post on this site.
    • Catherine, The Herb Lady > chris trammell September 3, 2011 at 4:45pm

      You are welcome, Chris.  Mesquite is a good tree for what it sounds like you are wanting to do.  If you orient the trees east to west (if you do more than one) then you can eventually extend the basic vegetable gardens to the east.  With the mesquite though you will want to explore taking advantage of the pods.  I've have been told that many native people will eat them raw, but the most common use is grinding the dried pods into flour.  Check out desert harvesters:  http://www.desertharvesters.org/   They bring their big hammermill up for special grinding events, which the VPG supports. They have more info on desert plants including edibles.  If you want to get further into native species you can check out native seed search where they have seeds for plants like squash, corn and beans (known as "The Three Sisters" among others - http://www.nativeseeds.org/ 

       

      Here is the VPG page on the milling event.  You might want to go so you can find out more first hand on using the pods from the mesquite.

       

      Good luck.  Keep us posted on how you do. Everyone's 'trowel & error' is helpful :-)

      Desert Harvesters: Appreciating the Native Foods of the Southwest
      Appreciating the Native Foods of the Southwest
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