This is my annual video update of our forest garden. I’m calling it ‘Forest Gardens as a Hedge Against Drought’ for reasons I’m about to explain. Right across the road from our garden you can see the barren, dry rice fields that are normally under water and lush with rice this time of year. Now they’re brown with dying weeds. It’s so bad that many farmers aren’t even plowing and planting. This is the worst rainy season in 15 years and yet our garden is still very lush. It’s not growing as fast as when it rains because plentiful rain softens the subsoil so roots can grow more readily, but our forest garden is still a lush oasis as you can see in the video.
Landscaping
How to Create an Abundance of Earthworms in your Garden
“Earthworms are the workers of the soil and are sometimes called nature’s plow. Their job is very important for the quality of soil and also decomposition.”
How We Plan to Double the Production in our Forest Garden
Despite a bad drought, our forest garden is coming along nicely thanks to truck loads of compost, lots of hand irrigation and some decent rains. The garden has grown significantly since my last forest garden update.
The Farm of the Future
Prototyping the First 100% Off-The-Grid, Affordable, Low-Maintenance Greenhouse using Earthship Principles and Aquaponics.
Greek Villagers Secret Weapon: Grow Your Own Food
“Ilias Mathes has protection against bank closures, capital controls and the slashing of his pension: 10 goats, some hens and a vegetable patch.
Forest Gardens — Hedge Against Drought
We’re struggling through a fairly severe drought this year and yet our forest garden is a lush oasis in a sea of brown, abandoned rice fields. Even the weeds in the rice fields are dying after weeks of no measurable rainfall. Normally it would be raining every 1-3 days right now.