Mulch as a Drylands Strategy

Mulch is absolutely crucial to getting a new system going. Deserts are particularly in need of it as the soil life and ecosystem have been severely damaged and disabled.
Herbaceous material is great, but woody material is extremely important for developing the fungal soils that are good for growing trees. The woody, “chop-and-drop” material really needs to be cut into small pieces so that it can break down, and it will break down even more quickly beneath groundcovers that are trapping humidity.
All the leaves and twigs and bits of wood feed the soil, and this begins the process of growing lots of plants and lots of diversity. The more diversity in what’s growing, the more organic and woody matter that is added to the soil to further feed and broaden the system.
And then, the broadened system will create a fuller nutrient and mineral profile to the landscape as it breaks down. And, on the system grows.
When you feed the soil, you can feed the world!
Key Takeaways
- Using lots of mulch is a key strategy in starting new growing systems, particularly in arid climates where moisture is lost and, thus, soil ecology is minimal.
- Woody mulch material-cut into small pieces-is extremely important because it, rather than herbaceous mulch, fosters fungal soils that are good for trees.
- As the leaves, twigs, and branches break down, they create a better-suited environment for more diverse plant life. That plant life then breaks down and broadens the system again. And the process repeats into rich botanical diversity growing in very fertile soils.
- “If you feed the soil, you can feed the world.”
To support us in making more videos:
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► And most importantly, enjoy your permaculture journey!
About Geoff:
Geoff is a world-renowned permaculture consultant, designer, and teacher that has established demonstration sites that function as education centers in all the world's major climates. Geoff has dedicated his life to spreading permaculture design across the globe and inspiring people to take care of the earth, each other, and to return the surplus.
About Permaculture:
Permaculture integrates land, resources, people, and the environment through mutually beneficial synergies - imitating the no waste, closed-loop systems seen in diverse natural systems. Permaculture applies holistic solutions that are applicable in rural and urban contexts and at any scale. It is a multidisciplinary toolbox including agriculture, water harvesting and hydrology, energy, natural building, forestry, waste management, animal systems, aquaculture, appropriate technology, economics, and community development.
#permaculture #greeningthedesert #mulch

[@bitlessmind]

I've asked the neighbours in our village for their cuttings to get a decent amount of mulch. They still provide it to me and I'm very thankful for it.

[@puskycarrera]

Hi everyone. I have been using these methods in Saudi Arabia for more that a year now and have had amazing results. The same exact spices have been used. More lucina and siganporian daise. I will post videos on it soon to the channel. Very exciting to see that Geoff is recommending these trees and herbs as mulch and I’ve been lucky enough to be using them by chance.

[@louisegogel7973]

Awesome!!! May your good example spread through to your family, friends, neighbors, and beyond!

[@QUINTUSMAXIMUS]

What's the name of the channel, how can we find it.

[@HladniSjeverniVjetar]

Amazing work. How much rainfall do you get yearly? How do you deal with water gathering?

[@Shin-gh1xy]

السلام عليكم شاكر، ممكن تشرح لي اكثر عن الطرق الي جربتها ونفعت معك ؟ انا في المدينة واحاول ازرع

[@am-et4nc]

Channel??

[@lupineallen5039]

For anyone living in AZ, I know that these methods are a lot about getting non-native plants to grow, but we actually have many native food plants! In fact, all 3 of our main native legumes: palo verde, ironwood and mesqute, are edible and delicious! So I highly recommend using them as shade, mulch and food while actively supporting native wildlife :) We have so many other edible native plants too like chia, cholla, prickly pear, saguaro, saltbushes etc! Im definitely not advocating against bringing in things like olives and whatnot, but adding in native plants whenever you can is a great way to support ourselves and our pollinators :D (Ps AZ has the highest diversities of native bee species in the US and possibly the world!)

[@TheJesusFreeke]

I love the low key statement that y'all broke records for olive oil quality...I have no doubt you all produce some of the most incredible, nutrient-dense foods ever. As a child, I thought botany was boring. Now I know our lives literally depend on it, so I guess it's not so boring anymore.... :)

[@hebronwatson9532]

Ok, I see you. Jesus and Permaculture, eh? The way the world is going, I think that combo is gonna get more and more popular. That's the team I rep, anyways. God and His ways above everything else.

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

@@hebronwatson9532 let's not be discussing cults in polite company, okay?

[@ninemoonplanet]

I showed your videos to my neighbours, two from Qatar, the rest from Palestine. They showed strong interest in how much change can be achieved in that hyper arid land. Are any students/instructors able to get into Palestine and teach those farmers permaculture? It's one thing they really could use.. When I first saw that land, dusty, rocky, barren, I said to myself, "Wow, that's one challenge I don't think I could take on." Years of progress is so wondrous, replacing dust to green. Thank you, for the people who live in Jordan, relatives of my neighbours, and training people to finally get some progressive actions to have foods without the costs of import.

[@fillfinish7302]

Works better in palestine than qatar

[@ninemoonplanet]

Israeli military blocks Palestinians from crossing into Jordan, so even if the Palestinians could afford it, they couldn't get to Jordan. I realize Geoff would need Israeli permission to enter Palestine, and would need to assemble farmers or others to get to him. Unfortunately Israel is operating an apartheid system, so Geoff or anyone from Jordan would have to abide by Israeli military rules and oversight. Palestinians need this type of help.

[@s.m.a8182]

Its israeli land and they already working on a permaculture method in the south east if the negev where no one lives. Nobody cares about fakestine , they should move to jordan.

[@LaJewel]

@@ninemoonplanet I've been thinking about desert permaculture for Palestine for a decade. Don't wait for Geoff to arrive - have your palestinian friends watch the videos on KZbin and start following the info. They can probably take the course online, maybe even for free.

[@sometimeallthetime]

@@ninemoonplanetAnyone from that region knows that the Jordanian military won’t allow anyone through who has been through the Israeli border. Stop bringing politics into places where it is not welcome, this is an educational video

[@BarbaraC02]

Thank you for all of your videos... especially the ones addressing dryland strategies. I live in Tucson, Arizona within the Sonoran Desert. It's definitely capable of growing more but the long drought we've been experiencing is a challenge. I've been following your advice for 6 years and I'm able to grow and keep alive more by mulching (rocks, wood chips, horse/cow manure/ chicken manure mixed with pine shavings). I grew 20ft Laucaena trees, so beautifully, but lost them during our winter and 3 hard freezes (zone 9b). They are slowly coming back in May. I plant vegetables in 15 gallon containers under mesquite trees so they receive some shade during heat. I like your perennial suggestion. I found Mexican Petunia's pretty and an easy to grow, self seeding (a pest at times) ground cover. It's been great for mulching. Love all of your videos, thank you and your team.

[@RegenerativeMojave]

That's awesome, and that pest of yours will be your best friend for mulch creation.

[@b_uppy]

2 questions regarding Mexican petunia 1) is the botanical name RUELLIA BRITTONIANA? 2) Does it take up more moisture than succulents would. Think I'd want a less water thirsty living mulch.

[@BarbaraC02]

@@b_uppy Yes, you have the correct botanical name. I can't answer your other question ... haven't compared the two plants. I know that Mexican petunias grow easily and are tolerant to dry spells. Where there is watering happening in support of other plants my Mexican Petunia's will grow up to 5 feet tall. They make great mulch in the late fall. If left in the garden they will bloom almost all year.

[@b_uppy]

@@BarbaraC02 They are quite nice looking. Hopefully they continue to work 9ut.

[@ourrockydreamontheelephant4188]

Have you tried Moringas ,we're north of you in the Mojave .

[@TheModernHermeticist]

Thanks Geoff, you're the king.

[@mandandi]

Very informative. I have seen the benefits of this over the past 3 years. The soil in my yard is getting better at supporting more plants and grasses. I simply let the grasses grow without chopping it thru the rainy season, at which point I cut it all and made compost with it. This past rainy season, I did the chop-and-drop using the grass and the vegetables I grew are thriving, as well as some trees. Now I am using goat manure in and on top of the soil and mulch with the grass on top of the manure. I don't need to water as much, the soil stays moist longer. So I use less water to water my plants. In fact, I use water from cleaning utensils I give chickens water in most of the time now. My water bill hasn't gone up by much despite growing more plants. Compost tea from goat dung has percolated deep into the soil too and helps with improving nutrient profile of the soil. Worms are more plentiful too. Over the next few months after southern hemisphere winter, I will be planting lots of fruit trees finally. I hope to have a food forest in a few years in my yard.

[@B30pt87]

Congratulations! Hint, bury biochar. It's even better if you soak the biochar in a nutritive solution. See the "Garden Like A Viking" You Tube channel for more on this.

[@mandandi]

@@B30pt87 Thanks. I will check it out.

[@louisputallaz7556]

Tnx Geoff, chop, drop and mulch, Ape take note, do this instead of burning, less carbon in the air a good thing.

[@louisegogel7973]

This is awesome Geoff. Thank you for the more in depth tour and explanation of mulching. When I was living near the sea on Cape Cod, I mulched my raspberry patch with ten inches of washed up sea weed. The soil temp, moisture, and fertility were wonderful. I never had to pull out any unwanted plants around the raspberry plants. And there was always an super abundance of delicious raspberries, enough to tide us over winter! Mulching is something superb to do.

[@cherylreid5768]

Thank you Geoff, family and team. At a time of never ending bad news your permaculture videos are a wonderful, positive tonic for the spirit. I visited your own permaculture farm seven years ago and it remains one of the most uplifting experiences of my life. I am lucky to live in a similar environment not far from there and constantly refer to your teachings in an effort to become more self sufficient. 💕

[@jesssmart7545]

Geoff’s back, such inspirational work

[@TheParadiseParadox]

We're planning on how to use some of your techniques here on the ranch in Jalisco, Mexico. Fortunately we don't have so many problems with water, considering there's a rainy season that lasts for about 4 months, and also some natural springs on the property. Even so, many parts of the property get very dry during the dry season, so we hope to look at cultivating ground cover and mulching to keep the moisture in for the whole year. We're looking at the plants we can already find on the land to put to use. For example, we can get some equisetum from near the creeks and use it to make a reed bed for processing our grey water. There's also a herb which seems to be edible, which it seems the previous groundskeeper was using as ground cover near a banana tree. So we'll see if we can use that. Also some verdolaga/purslane which might be useful and tasty. Greetings from Mexico and thanks for your work. Showing your videos to my companions has planted some seeds in their minds, seeing what is possible.

[@estebancorral5151]

You should consider the proliferation of huizache and mesquite because they are nitrogen fixers and are ubiquitous in Mexico. You are under the misconception that you do not have a water problem. Yes, you do. There two terms in Jalisco, estiaje and sequía. You do not use your spring for estiaje but only for sequía. You must rely on mulch and rain harvesting techniques. Here is a gastronomic 2020:13 suggestion: Beef mole, a side of verdolagas, 20:13 20:13blanched cactus garnished with freshly chopped coriander. There are many Tequileras inJalisco that need removal of the bagazo and vinaza. This perfect good mulch for you.

[@TheParadiseParadox]

@@estebancorral5151 thank you kindly. You are right, we do have water problems. The verdolaga is growing well, though slowly. There are a lot of oak leaves on the ground that we use for mulch, so that's something. We're not too close to Tequila but maybe there are some tequileras around. It's cool to get something which is rubbish for someone else, and turn it into something useful. God bless

[@NTSVEN]

Very well put through and information. Keep it up.

[@DJG19870]

Great to see. It is amazing to see all that green. I totally believe overgrazing and free range livestock contributes majorly to desertification as natural regeneration is unable to occur when all the weeds and ground cover is eaten up.

[@norxgirl1]

Scrambling to deep mulch trees here in 6b7a drought......did it when first planted them several years ago, dug swales and berms since we are on a 10% grade. About halfway done.... Always in the lookout for local tree companies needing to dump chip....very blessed....noticed early on the volunteer trees that grew out of first chip pile looked better than any other trees.....over 200 planted trees here....staying busy.....then I go back and water until it runs off....

[@estebancorral5151]

Inoculate your wood chips with wine cap mushroom spawn to increase the trees nutrient uptake.

[@markedwards4762]

Thx Jake, a voice of balance and reason, respect 😊

[@mojavebohemian814]

Thank you Mr. Lawton. Keep 'em coming as we are all thirsty for the GTD project info and videos. (North east Arizona, USA)

[@JeremyThomas_Environmentarian]

Thank you so much Geoff for the tour. It's amazing to see the changes and progress and systems all working. Congratulations and I will continue to use your ideas, knowledge you provide free, and systems, in my own half acre in rural NSW, Australia.

[@victorjre]

For saline and saline-sodic soils I've discovered a wonder. Well, more like the wonder discovered me: Batis Maritima. It grows naturally in that kind of soils in the Caribbean. I used to fight it until I discovered regenerative agriculture and now is my best ally.

[@shovelspade480]

Great to see you Geoff, your looking well which is a beautiful reflection of the environments your help create. Take care

[@hermes3883]

Thank you Geoff!! Please do more dryland videos. Love to see them and learn

[@AmzBackyardOrchardandVineyard]

Greetings from Arizona zone 9B, thanks for all of your tips and tricks, we definitely use them in our portrait and Vineyard and it works wonderfully! Cheers 🥂😎

[@johnfitbyfaithnet]

Great information thank you for sharing this

[@insAneTunA]

The mulch is also very useful and important for organic growers in areas where there is plenty rain. Fungi will feed from the mulch, and provide plant available nutrients to the roots from the plants. Healthy plants will have a certain amount of sugar content that is high enough to protect them against insects. Insects are not capable of digesting those amounts of sugar content, that is why you will never see that healthy plants, living in a healthy soil with a high diversity of micro organisms, (fungi and bacteria) and enough bio mass from the right composition, getting attacked by insects. Fungi is for 70% the most important factor for a healthy plant growth. At least that is what I learned from watching this lecture, Why insects do not (and cannot) attack healthy plants | Dr. Thomas Dykstra | Regenerative Ag

[@topkek_]

Awesome to get an update, one of the most interesting projects on youtube :) How are the neighbours faring that took up some of the permaculture concepts?

[@felipevilches7128]

👏👏👏👏👏👏 Thank you Geoff!

[@antoniodossantos5960]

Thanks Geoff. Great Video. Wonderful information 🌎 The Planet deserves a lot more from us.

[@mathieup.1786]

Many many thanks from France

[@b_uppy]

For those that have yet to learn this, you keep mulch away from direct contact the the trunks of trees. This prevents gnawing animals from girdling and killing them.

[@ronniemcmaster8657]

It depends on where you are. Paul Gauchi has proven dropping more than 12 inches of wood chips over the ground and up against hist trees does no harm. Leaves and branches naturally pile against trees in the forest and the forest prevails.

[@b_uppy]

@@ronniemcmaster8657 That's different than proof.

[@ronniemcmaster8657]

@@b_uppy How? He started it more than 40 years ago and has seen no issues. The whole contact with tree trunks thing is a myth. The only time it may be a problem is when it is above a graft and the grafted part sprouts roots, then the tree is no longer a dwarf, which is a good thing for me.

[@b_uppy]

@@ronniemcmaster8657 Because it is anecdotal. There may be enough rodent control in his neighborhood that it isn't a problem. Some trees lack the ability to regrow...

[@ronniemcmaster8657]

@@b_uppy I think the problem you originally mention is an old wive's tale. I've yet to see trees having the problems you speak of. I would think it more wise to deal with the rodents, which are the problem. A few barn cats would resolve the issue.

[@byrdhemenway1213]

I wish i was a billionair I would fund all ur projects and green the world U are a real hero ur team are all heros thank u for all ur info and works

[@louisegogel7973]

You can, and may already be doing this, share and share and share these videos of Permaculture with everyone you know, on social media, as part of conversations …..

[@gratitude354]

Thank You Geoff, it's always a learning session whenever you drop such videos 🎉

[@robertling9872]

Thank you for sharing your method and videos.

[@crazyforlazystopmotion3735]

Awesome garden! Thanks!

[@11219tt]

Great series!

[@ren2ski]

The site is looking gorgeous, thank you for sharing.

[@bchukran]

Hi Geoff! The purple flower is ruellia, AKA Mexican petunia. We grow it here in our desert New Mexico garden. 🙂

[@gussampson5029]

Hi do you know the name of the first ground cover he said? It sounded like Carbirudus or something but I can't find anything like that on Google.

[@bchukran]

@@gussampson5029 LOL, I didn't get it, either. But it looks like something we have here called Ice Plant. It's a succulent, likes the hot weather with very little water. Closed captioning said "carborotus," which is not helpful, either. LOL.

[@SHANONisRegenerate]

Great work team

[@tangobayus]

Dig a hole in the desert and you may find moist soil. If you mulch you will make the most of that moisture. First Americans in the Southwest have corn that can be planted a foot deep. Decades ago I used bags of grass clippings in Albuquerque, NM, to dramatically improve soil in a couple of years.

[@benjaminklenner4310]

Great to see you talking about mulch! That Carpobrotus is great, I'm growing one in Perth called pigface, I think it's in South Africa too. Grows well in semi arid climates.

[@davefigthe3rd]

Beautiful.

[@aron8949]

In my region, zone 7, high desert, Russian olive. Tree of heaven. Black locust, honey locust, Siberian elm, tamarix. Black pine.

[@przybyla420]

Don’t let the local eco fascists find out you’re planting the first three

[@estebancorral5151]

Bee hives!!!!!

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

@@przybyla420 can you define ecofascist for me? I consider myself an environmentalist and I think the current thinking on high-invasive-potential species is scuffed and needs a rework (i.e. I think they do need to be recognized as high invasive potential, but at the same time I think there needs to be more nuance than just "it's bad, don't plant it" - e.g. black locust is mostly easily eradicated in the same way as any other thorny tree, but honey locust is horrifyingly sharp and esse delendam).

[@effieinglish]

I find this very exciting!

[@stonemountaincreations3459]

Thank you

[@dorksplorer]

Shade and mulch are crazy helpful in the southwest US also, especially at high elevation. The sun has just been painful lately. 🕊️

[@binnyneiser1112]

Wondering what trees to plant at high elevations in the southwest US that would grow fast, provide shade and survive with just a little help to get started on growing a food forest?

[@braintnt]

love this channel, I am going to use this method in dry California. Thank you

[@estebancorral5151]

Where in California?

[@pinkelephants1421]

As controversial as it would no doubt likely be, it would be absolutely fascinating to see the Nabatean water harvesting, storage and irrigation infrastructure features at Petra restored for the purposes of implementing a permaculture system to support further local Bedouin employment, [particularly women] and make tourism more sustainable in that part of Jordan. If nothing else, it would serve as a fascinating way to study how an ancient society functioned; archaeology in real time.

[@yLeprechaun]

My God, can you imagine the beauty if that would happen?! I would love to see Petra just as is, it's on my bucket list. But wow, I can only imagine what it would be like after 10 years of Geoff's strategy.

[@pinkelephants1421]

@@yLeprechaun Exactly. Be a great way to turn what's all too often, archeology, from a dry dusty subject into a living breathing one.

[@estebancorral5151]

Why not the Nabatean system in Avdat?

[@pinkelephants1421]

@@estebancorral5151 I'm not familiar with Advat.

[@estebancorral5151]

@@pinkelephants1421 Avdat is another Nabatean site. It was not as ornate as Petra, but the engineering was just as impressive. No two Nabatean sites were alike because they were designed to be site specific.

[@user-yk1cr6bh9o]

This is a very interesting topic. If possible, please make videos with auto subtitles, then others will be able to watch videos in other languages.

[@kikikut22]

thanks Geoff

[@MarkLaurenceDesign]

Very interesting Geoff. Pretty sure the groundcover you are calling Caprobrotus is in fact Sesuvium portulacastrum, used a lot in the ME as an ornamental groundcover, as is Wedelia. A flower would soon tell which plant it is! Purple plant is a form of Ruellia, probably R. ciiosa. Very inspiring, I hope to initiate something in the UAE at some point.

[@gardeningforfunandlongevit6076]

Love this!

[@Picci25021973]

A ton of precious informations in a single video. Thanks Geoff!

[@lp2155]

Thanks!

[@hhwippedcream]

Thank You!

[@hhwippedcream]

Relative humidity? - "the dew layer"?

[@sowingtreesinstorms]

The "little purple plant" looks like ruellia. I recognize it from where it grows in Kansas. I always thought it needed a lot of water though.

[@ellenorbjornsdottir1166]

I have started talking about a difference between a desert and a dryland. A dryland is a place where rainfall is near-desert, but the status of vegetation is better. It seems like you have created a system where a desert is being converted to a dryland, with minimal inputs (mulch, water, bit of rotational energy to move the water, and obviously the work to earthmove to catch rain).

[@drakthorzodin-son3643]

I really like that theoretical idea of silvapasture/shadeing for ground crop growth. Out in colorado i am thinking of starting a 4 acres garden (walnut, almond,pecan,apple, pears, cherrys, peaches, plums orchard with bushes of blueberries, blackberries/elderberries etc between the trees and grapes on the fencelines) then growing a vertically to tree limbs if i can... squash pumpkin beans as a test. Maybe even throw some rows of strawberries etc in raised bed containers and then run chickens free range through there in the warm months to eat the beetles etc off. then winter crop throwing buckwheat down on the pasture to green manure the rest of the 60 acres while the 4 acres (leaves and branches) provide feed for me and the goats. Still gotta figure some stuff out and probably will try to figure a hay for the bulk of the land... but if i can get something to be efficient enough on 4 acres i may just creep that to the horse barn area, main barns and house area and slowly work the bulk of the pasture like that until my seasonal creek basin is just 3 acres of prime hayland quality pasture/hay. Might be a pipe dream in the short term but if i can get somethings to go my way...

[@Cheriesgardenvegplot]

Loving your videos Geoff. You talk such common sense.

[@YourFrienjamin]

Another tip for revegetating land: To supplement bark-mulch or, replace it entirely with, grass clippings (from mowing) -- seed-heavy grass, that is. It will promote grass coverage 😁

[@arvinkim3037]

I'd like to see an illustration of a tree planted in the cardboard box with mulch as Geoff explains at 2:53

[@allon33]

So good.😳

[@b_uppy]

Be neat if you were or Mark Shepard were go to a conventional California orchard that someone is wanting to rehab according to permaculture practices. Always hear Californians whining about water rights. I'm 💯% certain there is zero or poor ground covers being used in most instances. Also see zero rainwater harvesting employed. It would likely be initially impractical to remove large portions of the trees out of production, to plant different trees and shrubs to improve diversity that way. It would be interesting to see how much impact a permaculture approach can have in these chemical- and irrigation-dependent valleys.

[@ronniemcmaster8657]

Yup. I haven't driven past many orchards on the west coast where there's any ground cover, aside from some of them having grass that is manicured. I watched a church up the street from me do a replanting of Christmas trees. They only put down a thin layer of cow manure when they planted. Otherwise it is bare earth. Their trees appear to grow slowly and not be as "full" as they could be.

[@b_uppy]

@@ronniemcmaster8657 I am wondering how it could be best improved seen many where it's bare ground in Cali. Sounds like terrible practices under the circumstances. Would love to know maintenance stats before and after.

[@heritagefamilydental]

I’m sure there are many reasons why commercial ag would not use mulch one of them may be it interferes with the harvesting equipment especially tree crops like almonds or, but the system is messed up for sure

[@b_uppy]

@@heritagefamilydental Depends on the mulch, and the plant. Wonder what kind they would choose to rehab. Almonds and avocados are certainly a challenge.

[@orangemoonglows2692]

rainwater harvesting? lol. where i am in southern california, there's no rain to harvest. we get around 8 in. of precipitation a year.

[@Michael_McMillan]

I always look forward to your videos!

[@Reyajh]

Simply amazing... Beautifully elegant!!

[@andiet8629]

i have a native carpobrotus (pigface, succulent) in SE Tassie that's doing a lot of work like this. And a native spinach Good to have you confirm :)

[@bobbobson4607]

Ruellia is the name of the plant with purple flowers. That stuff grows fast and can withstand heat and drought fairly well (I'm in Texas). Also, after they get a drink all the purple flowers open up and the bee's and humming birds love them. It can take over a space if not cultivated yearly, and its difficult to remove completely as it keeps coming back from the rhizomes that are left in the ground. I had to look up the name, we just call it "the bamboo looking stuff with the purple flowers."

[@atruefreethinker1944]

the purple flower plants... you don't know it... you apologized that you didn't know it. that maybe the only time I know of that you didn't know a plant variety. such a beautiful location. you did well Geoff.

[@mechanics4all405]

as global warming is a hot topic atm,cant you get Australian government,to pay for you to regreen Northern Territories,making world changing difference to Australia,love your work and sharing and educating,real people who actualylisten

[@nadietta9812]

The purple flower is called flor de san pedro in Spanish I think. They smell really nice at night right? They dye off in winter and come back in spring and summer in the mediterranean.

[@MarcosGO2002]

Hi George, in Argentina we have thornless prosopis trees...

[@nekomancer9157]

if you have a pummice like volcanic rock/ashstone you can use that as mulch because it will shade the soil keeping it cool and reducing evaporation, it will keep the wind from causing evaporation and the key factor of pummcie is that it doesnt transmit heat ie it insulates so also keeping the soil cool. this will allow you to plant pioneer species without any organic mulch available. if you cant get pummice get wide flat stones and lay them on the soil. they will also shade the soil but heat will eventually transmit through the stones as they heat up.

[@RegenerativeMojave]

Yaaasss, this means more greening the desert videos!!!

[@tiffanywilkerson5569]

Did anyone catch the name of the succulent ground covers? Cabarutus? Thanks Geoff, great video.. even after taking your class, these are still so helpful and exciting

[@yeahnahsorry3433]

Perhaps Carpobrotus, aka pig face.

[@creektopfarms5217]

Ya I’m trying to figure this out also.

[@Hohoz88]

I believe he said Carpobrotus. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpobrotus

[@tiffanywilkerson5569]

@@Hohoz88 thank you!

[@matthiasbrunger1179]

As you've touched on it several times - can you talk some more on plant succession, how you move through or plan succession cycles and how you plan the plant strata?

[@anibrito4553]

I believe the purple flowers are Ruellia.

[@LaJewel]

What about layers of rocks over the first mulches to keep them from blowing away? All of it in the pit surrounding the first trees. Or in the adjoining swales.

[@desertmas]

I would love to learn more about the stone wall swales. I am along the Gila River in Duncan, Arizona and I am in a flood zone that will flood every 10-15 years. I wonder if the stone walls would help hold the integrity of my swales during those dramatic events? Which side would you use stone walls for the swale?

[@MatthiasHautmann]

The purple plant at 17:50 min looks like Ruellia simplex.

[@ponderinglife7528]

hi, super fun thank you! i cant wait to get started! i cant find the “car bor utes” plant online. i dont know how to spell it. can you help me? this vid helped me so much, my container trees are burning up here in texas.

[@MrSomethingdark]

"The little purple flower is in among the carburettors, lovely flower." - excuse me what xD

[@faouzimokhtar1059]

Hi, thank you very mocht for this knowledge shared! I do have a question. Can we also add chicken or cattle manure to speed up the process of soilcreation? And if so, do we mix it with leaves and wood chips or do we cover the manure with them? Thanks again.

[@louisegogel7973]

I believe you have to go carefully with fresh chicken manure because it’s so strong, but if mixed with enough mulch, it tones it down. Best to age it a bit before adding is what I’ve always heard. I believe cow manure is immediately useable. Anyone who has more experience than I do, please amend or add to what I have said here.

[@bobbif100]

Chickens and ducks on your own land are great to add to the mix. Cows can work too if you have enough land. If you buy manure you have to be very careful. There are persistent herbicides, like grazon, that are used on some pastures that can kill your plants when you use manures from animals that ate the hay from those fields.

[@forgetful3360]

Hi. Compost both manures. Mix first with lots of dry herbaceous material. Keep moist. Never apply uncomposted manure because even if it is low in npk like cow manure, it carries risks that composting will eliminate. Straight chicken manure will burn whatever you are growing.

[@louisegogel7973]

@@forgetful3360 Thank you for the clarification! I hadn’t been thinking of other possible issues that composting can eliminate.

[@susanquinlan7426]

How does the perennial ground cover help with the fertility of the tree? Exchanging nutrient? And the olives were better because of herbaceous ground cover? Not understanding.

[@guciochris5297]

Great as always, Quick question- what are the permaculture solution to Potato Beetle problem ?? Is there anything reliable to repel or intoxicate the hungry monster?

[@maskinmaskin1659]

I read that pheasants eat these beetles.

[@estebancorral5151]

Guinea Fowl.

[@ewanfuller5742]

What are good perennial ground covers for arid areas ? I'm trying to apply the principles in Spain and finding suitable perenial ground covers that can put up with 5 months of no rain and torrential rain is difficult

[@louiseswart1315]

Would it help establishing an initial hardy herbatious layer using a few goats, which grazes on these plants, to come "prune" the young trees and leave their droppings on the barren soil?

[@manuelrojas4483]

Increíble Se puede trabajar con cualquier clima y producir alimentos 👏🏻👏🏻🤙🏻🐝🥕🌿🫑🥦🥬

[@estebancorral5151]

Eso es el punto de Permacultura. De cual país eres?

[@unechaine1]

Here i have mainly some resine trees like Thuyas.

[@livefromplanetearth]

thanks! 🙏🏾

[@mtnmanrab]

Problem is, what do you do when you mulch and the voles and moles move in?

[@archibaldbean7491]

Mr. Geoff, how would you manage to repel mosquitos in a tropical permaculture setting?

[@pedrothewise2584]

im just about to plant out my first40 leucaena in an attempt to liven up 20yr organic olive grove in malaga mountains.

[@wayneevans3342]

A realy great tutorial. Thank you. I have one question. I am in the very early stages of introducing a permaculture system to my small 2000m2 olive grove(31 mature trees)in Paxos, Greece. We are within zone 9b. Everyone in Greece is concerned with fire risk, with last year seeing 10's off thousands of hectares going up in flames taking livelihoods and homes with it. Is this deep mulching method going to put my home and twitchy neighbours at risk? I realise that without seeing it in the flesh I may be asking the impossible, but any advice is welcome.

[@louisegogel7973]

I would like to hear from others with experience on this. My thought initially is that mulching cools the soil and helps retain moisture which over time can refresh the water table so the plants have something to drink all year. Fire breaks might be of value to build into the layout of the land, but really, when the land is moist from the water getting planted in the rains and not evaporating or running off immediately, you would have a far smaller fire hazard.

[@snlplus6]

I would add that in previous videos Geoff has demonstrated the way they use & reuse water in this system. Maybe you could find tips to use from these?

[@erfan4244]

I think if you plant support leguminous species densely, you not only put less flammable mulch but after a year or two not only you will have a lot of shade which will also reduce fire hazard via increasing moisture in soil and organic matter and in soil but you also bring your food forest system a step forward and produce all your high quality nitrogen on site. in my experience there are some good ground cover plants which you don't even need to sow their seed and some are actually edible like lambs quarter. I think they also contribute to the fungi in soil as they are mostly "woody plants". of course you can use other plants that you want some plants as Geoff mentioned have "gels" that reduce evaporation and are fire resistant. not only that but you can use fire resistant trees as well there is video in Geoff's channel about how to fire proof your land, other than that using swales,dams, ponds high in the property obviously increase moisture in soil and help mitigate any fire risk. I only have one eighth of an acre so i can't put many pond here in north west Iran near lake urmia and we have a temperate climate with hot Mediterranean summers -10 in winter +40 in summer with 12 to 22 inch's of rain I know it vary alot it's pretty wild after shrinkage of lake we get less buffer against climate change which is sad, we used to have much more snow and rain and much more acceptable temperature's back then it's mostly caused by ignorant human interventions and people drilling lots of wells to irrigate wheat,beet flood irrigate orchards...sigh I talked too much And went off topic sorry

[@erfan4244]

also the chop n drop mulch you do will be be under shade and they're not gonna catch fire easily since they are green and if you put them in swales they'll be damp ,wet and decomposing so they'll be almost non flammable

[@przybyla420]

By implementing Geoff’s strategies you are helping to reduce overall fire risk by several different means. That said, there IS a greater chance of fire breaking out in a mulched permaculture site than on bare, scorched earth ground devoid of plants or any organic matter. It’s important to try to educate authorities and neighbors, as much as an uphill battle this can be. And to diligently design with the inevitable risk of fire in mind. The best way to prevent fire is to obsess over possible ignition sources and worst case scenarios, since the vast majority of wild fires are ignited by humans.

[@ashikalanser9033]

I ❤️ mulch. Man I'm stoked for autumn in Germany. Gonna cut everything back and re use it in the yard instead of throwing it out like our neighbors

[@catherinebrookebarnes4113]

Hi. I'm in Germany too. Very sandy here. Have you got any proposals for pioneer plants here that I can use for chop and drop/mulch?

[@estebancorral5151]

@@catherinebrookebarnes4113 A very smart German scientist in the late eighteen hundreds started his work by colonizing lupins in sand. He did this to get away from the over opinionated University professors of his day. Unfortunately, until this day this the plague has not been quashed.

[@georgecarlin2656]

12:00 And what would be a "living mulch/ground cover" weed in temperate climates?

[@rubygray7749]

Annual clovers, vetch, fenugreek, comfrey, and fast growing acacias (wattles) to replace the leucaena. I'm in Tasmania (home of Bill Mollison), and I would live to see Geoff Lawton do more teaching on cold/temperate permaculture.

[@SuperVlerik]

That "purple flower": Ruellia. Not sure which species however. R.simplex? R. brittoniana? AKA (in English anyway) "Mexican Petunia". Here in Spain it seems a good candidate for chop and drop systems.

[@estebancorral5151]

Where in Spain are you?

[@SuperVlerik]

@@estebancorral5151 Near Valencia

[@Kamaldhillon81]

In sub tropic if we plant bamboo layer all over the periphery does that help with shade and fit in larger scheme of things?

[@estebancorral5151]

Yes!!!!!

[@serenasztein5065]

The blue flower ... ruellia

[@UlyssesLopez]

I live in central Florida, my grass is terrible I just moved in my house. Can I spread mulch over my yard to help the grass grow? Thank you!

[@gussampson5029]

Mulch will kill whatever is growing beneath it. So you can mulch everything and then make holes in the mulch to plant what you want to plant. It also helps to cover the entire ground with cardboard if you want to kill everything. Cardboard with a mulch cover. Then make holes in the mulch/cardboard layer to plant whatever you want.

[@mcmac1814]

Hello, what do you think about planting eucalyptus in a food forest located in Mediterranean semi arid lands, and use it as mulch producer? Thank you

[@Angelbach1995]

I'm in zone 10, San Diego California. Considered Mediterranean... ish. Eucalyptus trees are very abundant here. Even inland where temperatures get to over 100 F, on a fairly regular basis, they do well once established. They were already on my property when I move here 45 years ago. There has been an bug infection on them for about 20 years, and they are getting stronger. The leaf drop is really great and the bark sheds nicely to make an excellent mulch. I just wait for the limbs fall off, for the most part.

[@undergroundandoffgridinari540]

What is your thought on using oleander mulch in the garden? Does it stay poisonous?

[@estebancorral5151]

It is poisonous if you eat it. All wood is fungal food. Fungi can digest same very nasty compounds and make them not just harmless but rather beneficial.