Permaculture in Saudi Arabia

Hello everyone.

I recently joined a sustainable agriculture initiative in Saudi Arabia... on full time employment... and I couldn't be happier!!!

Part of the area we are working on now will have a small permaculture plot so I am thinking of having Zones 1 to 3.

I would appreciate and be very grateful for  ideas and  tips from some of you who have worked in similar environment.

My initial plan is to create banana circles and compost swales.  It rains here a few times during the last and first quarter of the year when temperature also dips down to 0 at times.  Winter lasts for about 3 to 5 months and the rest of the year is hot and dray.   Creating pockets of micro-climate, in my opinion will help establish the planting better, as I have done this in container gardening while in a rooftop, also here in Riyadh a couple of years back and it worked well.

Thanks and hope to hear from permies everywhere.


Yusuf

What is your soil like? For me Saudi Arabia congers images of nothing but sand, it sounds like you are up in some mountains a little? What's precipitation look like during the 3 to 5 months of winter? keyline and on contour development seems to be the most successful tale tellers. It seems like your banana circles and compost swales are probably a uniquely valuable experiment for year one. We can't wait to hear more about your project and what you get up to

Have you heard of the Al Baydha Project in Saudi Arabia? It is a large scale water harvesting and reforestation project that has been going maybe 6 years.

Al Baydha Poject Channel on Youtube