permaculture advocate in Zimbabwe - too little/too much rain

We finally talked with Kumbi and we discovered that he actually needs our help. At least he opened up, so we are teaming up with his mom to see if we can help him.

One of the pumpkins that I covered is growing successfully and it's exciting. I don't know though if I have to leave the pumpkin in the plastic until it matures. We have a lot of water we are trapping in the yard and eventually I think I have to start calculating how much water we are stopping from running off. It's been almost a day now without any rain and the shallow part of the water we are collecting gets to the ankle. This is water that could have been washed away. Now we are able to plant things and not water, because the area has its own water source for now. When I  went to the water harvesting pit, something black and relatively big swiftly moved on water towards some grass to hide, and I am so sure now that I love animals but I am definitely afraid of them. I am not proud of this but I need to be honest with myself. I would have loved to find out what it was but I chickened out, I stood quietly by the pit's side for a couple of minutes and my imagination started running wild, and it grew bigger than my curiosity, and I left.

I am now working on growing a hedge outside our yard which will help with privacy and also be a source of organic matter. The hedge grows so fast and wild, so all the trimmings will be going into our weed water. The organic matter we feed our beds with, dissappears as if no organic matter was ever put. We need to catch up with our soil's demands and it helps for us to have as much control as possible on most of the organic matter. During the dry season is when it is hardest to get organic matter. Mai Kumbi is now really invested in the field which means I need to be extremely organised in my planning. I gave Kumbi a break for him to clear his head and also so that he knows that working in the garden is not his only option. I went to him the first time when we started working together and he can easily think that the reason I helped him is because I cannot do without him, a position I do not want to be in. He will join me only if he wants to and he will be the one coming to me this time.

I've been following your recent developments and am glad to hear you're making some headway with Kumbi.
We right now are in the same weather situation-- lots of water, bordering on too much, the rain doesn't stop and we're getting a lot of soil washed away and diseases. Your raised beds are great!

I wonder if your garden visitor was a snake or a large lizard-- do I recall you had rats chewing on the pumpkins? Maybe this new "visiting employee" might be part of the solution. Warrants a little extra care dealing with areas where they might hide, but generally (as you saw) they are more eager to avoid you than to make trouble.

I am not sure about covering the pumpkins. I would think once it starts to dry out, condensation might get trapped inside the bag, and then attract insects/animals who might want water? I suppose you'll see as time goes on.

I hope things keep on going well!

Warrants a little extra care dealing with areas where they might hide, but generally (as you saw) they are more eager to avoid you than to make trouble.

This has been true here as well. We have several varieties of poisonous snake here, when I do see them they're slithering away as fast as they can. Basically, don't sneak up on your water pit and they'll hear you coming. Surprising wildlife can be unpleasantly exhilarating.

I was able to plant the hedge and once this grows, I can get suckers to finish off the whole front side. It's raining almost every hour, I was lucky I got to the plot and back without being rained on. The soil is so saturated with water I could see it as I was digging. That's a minus labor for watering the hedge.

What kind of plant for the hedge?

I don't know the name of this plant. It's a plant that I have grown up seeing in some of the oldest neighborhoods, and it's a succulent plant, well it looks like a succulent plant. I don't really know anything about the plant, except that I chose it because it seems to grow easily and it doesn't need watering at all once it develops roots.

If I may: have you thought of using the vegetation from the hedge to feed an animal, then using the manure for your field?

rabbits, giant cane rats, cuys (giant guinea pigs), sheep... would be adapted. That way you can produce food at the same time.

Or if you still have your muscovy ducks, they also would eat leaves for part of their diet

It will be a bonus if ducks can eat this plant and it's something I am willing to try out.

There is something I cannot get out of my mind from the day we hosted people. When the guys we hosted were leaving, they left a $5 note and I felt so offended because it seemed like we were being paid for our effort. One of the guys tried to explain that it's his way to show his appreciation and he learnt a habit of tipping and he wanted to show he was really happy through this method and he also felt he really didn't do much for him to be thanked in this manner. I might be over thinking things but at the back of my mind I cannot take away the possibility of him feeling pity for us, because of the phone I showed him. It was in a bad state of course but it was doing its job. Maybe I did not explain myself enough, that it would be better for me to be left behind materially, if it means crushing those around me or ignoring our impact on the environment. Eventually being able to buy a good phone, is something I thought would have proven that I am slowly catching up.

Rufaro Makamure wrote:It will be a bonus if ducks can eat this plant and it's something I am willing to try out.
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Word of caution: I was talking about hedge plants in general, as I do not know this species you are planting. Planting a multi-purpose species which you know can be fed to your livestock as a hedge was the idea.

Here is a list of tropical forage species, maybe you recognize something which might be suited for your place?
https://feedipedia.org/content/feeds?category=13591
under "other forage species" there are also other trees which might be suited.

Edit: you might find this selection tool to find the species best suited to your place helpful
https://tropicalforages.info/identify/key.html

Check keyhole irrigation for solution if there is topography