Marco Bonfanti

Unfortunately I'm in working with our sandy soil, south coast of equatorial Kenya. No algae here. Still I understand your point of concentrating the water in few spots so it will stand through the evaporation in between rains.

Yes, moisture is necessary and evaporation without mulch would be sadly excessive.

Got to experiment with these condesners.. with scavenged materials as I'm in East Africa working with really marginalised communities. Thank for the input!

This is a great practical feedback based on your experience, thank you for that!
A user shared a delicate technique: place a stone close to the base of each plant to create a sort of a space to allow water to reach the soil.. and another recommend to mulch on top of the stone to avoid overheating.
Good luck with the art of gardening!

Very fascinating and caring application. Will try it out for sure!! I have read here in permies it is good to mulch the rock itself to avoid excessive heating from the sunlight.

Hey guys, here I'm sharing my understanding of drylands-sandy soil farming techniques and approaches. Conceived in the interiors of the Kenyan coast.

Water retention
Rainwater harvesting earthworks: swales, stone lines, dams, diversion drains, smile berms, roadside runoff harvesting, etc..
Organic matter in the soil
Mulching, cover corps
Crust disruption: initial deep digging, taprooted plants
→ Greywater recycle: simple banana circle/pit

Create the succession: start kidogo planting only drought-resistant, local, fast growing, pioneers, nitrogen fixing grasses and trees to create the conditions for future planting of more demanding crops (vegetables and other fruit trees):
Developing a canopy that provides shade and humidity for crops to grow protected. It could be substituted later on by nuts, timber or big fruit trees (shade, humidity and biodiversity);
Water retention and soil building through root systems, beneficial microorganism and biomass production;
Chop and drop (cutting the grass at the base and the branches of the trees) through the whole process after the first years growing in height (prune the lateral branches of the pioneer trees to make the tip grow high faster).
Evolution in a forest: stability, resilience and high diversity

When planting trees:
Dig deep holes, keeping aside the topsoil
Incorporate from the bottom lots of organic matter, manure, charcoal dust, kitchen waste, chopped aloe leaves, etc..
Put back topsoil
Plant the tree in a sunken bed
Seed a few beans next to the tree for nitrogen fixing
Mulching
Watering
Create a small berm downslope with the subsoil (smile berm)

FARMING TECHNIQUES:
Always plant on contour.
Build sunken beds, using the "zai pits" / "Deep Soil Farming" techniques with lots of organic matter, and keep raised paths.
Build kitchen-garden permanent multilayered beds (hugelkulture) to ensure moisture and fertility through the dry season. In order:
Dig deep, loosen the bottom
Dry organic matter
Fresh organic matter
Manure
Fresh organic matter
Dry organic matter
Topsoil/charcoal dust/compost
Plant and mulch
Build wicking beds: self-contained raised beds with built-in reservoirs that supply water from the bottom up https://www.resilience.org/stories/2011-05-31/bottom-diy-guide-wicking-beds/
Keep garden beds permanent!
Value the species that do well, but still maintain the diversity. Plant densely. Grow perennial plants.
Pre-soak seeds to make them germinate at home in a bucket, then plant them in controlled areas where you know they will grow. Seedlings work too in this situation.
Outside the vegetable garden beds (on the grass lines of the syntropic agroforestry system or under a fruit tree orchard) keep weeds as living mulch/cover crop, slash periodically and use them as mulch; otherwise, seed nitrogen fixing legume crops or local grasses and do the same.
Plant windbreaks around and within the shamba https://treeyopermacultureedu.com/chapter-6-trees/windbreaks/

FMNR (Farmer management natural regeneration)
Select species and stumps: for each stump, choose a number (2-5 depending if it is a shrub, low tree or tall tree) of the strongest, tallest and straightest stems to leave.
Prune and manage: remove unwanted stems and tree branches, protecting the remaining from livestock.
Smile berms: dig a flat surface around the base of the tree, placing the soil downslope creating a berm that retains water and fertility.
Cover the soil: use the prunings for mulching or sow local grasses in the basin with the tree at the centre.
Maintain and utilise: return to the trees and keep removing new stems and side branches; enjoy firewood, fodder and mulch productions.

Build Air Wells (condenser):
a structure or device that collects water by promoting the condensation of moisture from air.


Crops doing well in dry climate, sandy soil:
Annuals and biennials:
Groundnut
Cassava
Okra
Cowpea, green gram, lentils, lablab beans
Sorghum, Millet, Quinoa
Sweet potatoes
Fruit trees:
Mango
Cashew nut
Coconut
Moringa
Pomegranate
Guava
Paw paw
Custard apple
Pidgeon pea
Castor

Agree,stones could be just used in emergency in very slopy areas cause the heat retention also.
Will check that plant for living mulch, though during drought there is no planting happening.
But yes, prepare for the rain!!

Thanks for share your adventure, I get some inspiration.
Though, my concern was specifically about mulching in drylands with no irrigation and low scarce precipitation.
I'm in East Africa, very very small inputs available.

Thanks for explaining your techniques when you have water access.
Waiting for further interventions, I just share my understanding of drylands farming:
Water retention
Rainwater harvesting earthworks: swales, stone lines, dams, diversion drains, smile berms, roadside runoff harvesting, etc..
Organic matter in the soil
Mulching, cover corps
Crust disruption: initial deep digging, taprooted plants

Create the succession: start small by planting only drought-resistant, local, fast growing, pioneers, nitrogen fixing grasses and trees to create the conditions for future planting of more demanding crops (vegetables and other fruit trees):
Developing a canopy that provides shade and humidity for crops to grow protected. It could be substituted later on by nuts, timber or big fruit trees (shade, humidity and biodiversity);
Water retention and soil building through root systems, beneficial microorganism and biomass production;
Chop and drop (cutting the grass at the base and the branches of the trees) through the whole process after the first years growing in height (prune the lateral branches of the pioneer trees to make the tip grow high faster).
Evolution in a forest: stability, resilience and high diversity

When planting trees:
Dig deep holes, keeping aside the topsoil
Incorporate from the bottom lots of organic matter, manure, charcoal dust, kitchen waste, chopped aloe leaves, etc..
Put back topsoil
Plant the tree in a sunken bed
Mulching
Watering

FARMING TECHNIQUES:
Build sunken beds, using the "zai pits" / "Deep Soil Farming" techniques with lots of organic matter, and keep raised paths.
Value the species that do well, but still maintain the diversity. Plant densely.
Keep the beds permanent!
Outside the vegetable garden beds (on the grass lines of the syntropic agroforestry system or under a fruit tree orchard) keep weeds as living mulch/cover crop, slash periodically and use them as mulch; otherwise, seed nitrogen fixing legume crops or local grasses and do the same.
Plant windbreaks around and within the shamba https://treeyopermacultureedu.com/chapter-6-trees/windbreaks/

FMNR (Farmer management natural regeneration)
Select species and stumps: for each stump, choose a number (2-5 depending if it is a shrub, low tree or tall tree) of the strongest, tallest and straightest stems to leave.
Prune and manage: remove unwanted stems and tree branches, protecting the remaining from livestock.
Smile berms: dig a flat surface around the base of the tree, placing the soil downslope creating a berm that retains water and fertility.
Cover the soil: use the prunings for mulching or sow local grasses in the basin with the tree at the centre.
Maintain and utilise: return to the trees and keep removing new stems and side branches; enjoy firewood, fodder and mulch productions.

Wondering about the effectiveness of mulching in arid and semiarid drylands, poor and sandy soil with lots of sun and wind. When rains have been missing for a while, call it drought, then they might come back with few and occasional showers. I've observed the rain can't actually reach the soil as it falls on the mulch surface  and stays there. Then evaporation comes and plants do not receive any water from the roots. I know of the enormous beneficial effects in terms of soil temperature mitigation, weed control, on site fertility and soil biology enhancing.
Just asking what is your experience, maybe you have experimented techniques to welcome the first light rains in a better way.