Diving right into it!!

I'm new to gardening and permaculture and have a very vague understanding. I have jumped right into it and have planted some trees and a raised bed garden.

Here's a picture

Ill try to describe it as best as possible. From the vantage point of where I took the picture the wall visible to the left I'd be looking eastward. From left to right I have

A Mexican lime, a grape vine I've just planted, and a Granny Smith apple tree.

The wall to the right has

A volunteer mesquite tree, and a newly planted wonderful pomegranate.

My raised bed garden gets full sun at the moment and I've tried to place things where they wouldn't interrupt each others sun too much. At least by a newbies judgement.

Howdy Ruben. Where are you located? First thing I see is that you need to start building that soil. Lots of good organics, compost etc. This will help hold water in and add food for the plants. Do you have neighbors who throw away leaves or grass clippings? ( especially if they do not use chemicals to keep weeds down , which is hard to find. If they spray their lawns those chemicals will end up in your garden and could kill your plants. )

Hi Miles,

I'm located in tucson, az zone 9.

I'm aware that I need to start building my soil. I've started to add all my green waste to a small pile, that has been building up to somewhat of a compost pile.

I've stopped pulling my "weeds" from the ground an have just even chopping them and dropping them.

I've also started watering from my 90 gallon, and 75 gallon cichlid aquariums when I do water changes.

I have another post that I'm waiting for a response on as to whether chop and drop from my african sumac would be detrimental due to whatever oil they may contain.

Thanks for your input!

Hm, really? Tucson?

I would have thought you were in Australia!

(*snickers*)

I'm not familiar with Australia and have missed your meaning

Your photo is showing up upside down for me.

I thought the only way a photo would be like that was if it were taken in "Down Under"

Oic, lol I didn't even realize that. Must be a thing with my phone

Hm, when I click the photo to view it fullsize, it shows up correctly oriented.

Ruben Jaime wrote: My raised bed garden gets full sun at the moment and I've tried to place things where they wouldn't interrupt each others sun too much. At least by a newbies judgement.

Congratulations on beginning the journey! I live in the high desert with hot summers and low rainfall. From my experience, the type of raised bed you built can be challenging in terms of water needs and plant vigor if you are doing hose/bucket watering. If you don't already have a set-up, consider drip-irrigation, soaked hose, junk pit/olla, or wicking bed. It's often simpler to dig down instead of build up for arid climate gardening as the plants get a bit more shade, some wind protection, and better soil moisture regulating. As for full-sun... in my area "full sun" plants often do best with a bit of shade (shade-cloth, loosely spaced tall plants like sunflower).

Congratulations, I too am working on greening the desert. I hope your experience goes well. In NM we are in a D4 drought and even the cactus is starting to brown!

I changed the contour of the backyard so it drains into the garden, putting in a rain harvesting system, and learning about edible drought tolerant plants. I'm sure you will do something similar.

FYI:

List of pioneer plants
https://permies.com/t/24361/desert/Geoff-Lawton-list-pioneer-plant

Arid plant list (might help you identify some of the plants that are growing without help)
http://ag.arizona.edu/pima/gardening/aridplants/aridplant_botindex.html

Keep us updated on your "diving right into it" project

In the desert you want to plant in depressions/holes not in raised bed because all your water will drain/evaporate away quickly.
I know that muscadine grapes like zone 9 not too sure about regular grapes, but if other get a good crop from what you have plated go for it.
Plant lots of herbs from the mint family they like the desert ( mint, thyme, lavender, oregano, rosemary, sage, savory, etc).
Almonds and apricots, palms (dates, jelly palms, etc), jujube, figs, olives, gooseberry, pomegranate, mulberry, pineapple guava.