Growing some of our own food is a major component of our goal to become as self-sufficient as possible; however, since I’m not an accomplished gardener and my thumbs are kind of a brownish shade of green, I know that I am going to be doing a lot of learning and experimenting along the way!  My first attempt at a vegetable garden on our Earthship lot was made two years ago when I dug up a small plot of grass, removed the sod, turned the soil and planted a half-dozen or so types of vegetable seeds.  The native soil on the land is a rocky silty fine-sand mixture which is very well drained but not nutrient rich.  Plants grew in my garden that summer and a few were even vegetables!  Albeit of small size and mediocre quality.  That was before we had a building permit so at that point we were only on the property on weekends and occasionally for somewhat longer stretches during summer holidays.  Without regular watering, weed control and attention, my first attempt at a vegetable garden was a bit of a joke!

This year I’m trying again!  I’ve been doing some research on how to compensate for poor soil quality, limited watering ability and an overzealous local weed population and I decided to try my hand at building raised wicking beds.  These raised garden boxes are built upon the existing soil and filled with high quality garden soil and compost mixtures that are perfect for growing vegetables.  Beneath the soil in the boxes, a well is dug out, lined with plastic and filled with gravel.  This well, when filled with rain or hose water, acts as a reservoir beneath the garden.  The soil and the plants are able to wick water up into the growing zone where it becomes available to the plants.  Even during very dry periods, the wells can hold enough water to keep the vegetables in water for at least a week.  This, combined with the high organic content of the soil in the bed and a mulch application on the garden surface, should allow my gardens to thrive with minimal water addition, even when I’m not on-site and able to water on a daily basis.  Since we don’t plan to dig a well on the property and use only the water we can catch from the sky, having a highly water efficient food growing system in place is definitely in our interest.

I’m very curious how these gardens will do this year and will post updates throughout the summer on interesting developments!