One of our most exciting implementation projects is this rock garden complete with cobble and sand mulch to retain moisture. This garden was watered once with a sprinkler to aid in seed germination and then left to Nature. As you can see, we are having some success with our corn, beans, and amaranth. The squash is growing nicely but not producing any fruit. We also have black garbanzos that are producing. We mostly have the wild foods of quelites (wild spinach) and verdolagas (purslane) which is great.
Even though a neighboring field was irrigated 5 or 6 times, this rock garden with only one irrigation is doing better. Our rain guage has recorded just over 1.5 inches of rain since this was planted. The success in the rock garden vs. the neighboring irrigated field must be a function of soil quality, however, and we have to get more involved in soil science and management, we found this year it is not enough to just make and apply compost…
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