Hey, Eli! Writing from the arid subtropic of Arizona, with about a three-month monsoon as well (at least in a good year -- not often lately!), where we can grow pomegranate and moringa and sweet potatoes, and I'm trying ginger (indoors so far) and lemongrass, but mostly the things that will grow well here are very different. Which is all to say, I'm no expert! But:
Eli Sinayoko wrote:I was considering the following :
1) Bananas : Sweet Potatoes, Ginger, Curcuma, Lemon Grass ?
2) Moringa : Beans ? Something drought tolerant ?
3) Guava / Pomegranate / Custard Apple : Artemisia Annua, Citronella, Sweet Potatoes, Cassava
Your banana guild sounds great to me! As for beans to go with moringa -- which sounds great, too -- how about cowpeas/black-eyed peas (
Vigna unguiculata)? Their center of diversity, and therefore most likely their origin, is West Africa, right? They grow pretty well here, which is great, because I love them. Some climb, so could be your vine element, and some don't, if you want something more compact. All are delicious and nutritious. Tepary beans (
Phaseolus acutifolius) from over here might do well there if you can find seed. We seed both cowpeas and teparies, as well as one
Phaseolus vulgaris pole bean (a locally-bred cross of black beans and pinto beans), with our first monsoon rains, along with squash and (if the monsoon starts on time) corn, and the beans produce well in that short timeframe, especially the cowpeas (which tend to produce first and then keep producing) and teparies (which we mostly harvest all at once).
Do millet or teff or sorghum have a place in one or more of your guilds?
Sweet Annie (that's
Artemisia annua, right?) will grow there?! Cool! How do you use it? I've grown it in the northeast part of the U.S. mainly just for its smell.
Do you have any locally-native mesquite or acacia or other nitrogen-fixing trees with edible and/or useful parts? Bois du Forgeron (or ironwood,
Prosopis africana) has wood good for instrument-making and other things, right? I'm reading that
Prosopis juliflora has become a real problem, so probably not that. How about
Senegalia senegal (or
Acacia senegal), the source of gum arabic? Aren't the seeds edible? Anyway, I'm not sure which of your guilds one of these might be best in, but it seems like nitrogen-fixing trees could be really useful.
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