replacing irrigation with permaculture - July 25

Water For Your Dried Up Farm and Small Gardens: Whether you have some water to play with or your land is bone dry, we're going to talk about how any dried patch of dirt can be converted into a lush jungle of crops and forage without any type of irrigation. The presentation will cover a range of techniques for making the use of the water that falls from the sky, but also give you an understanding for how simple micro-climates can be taken advantage of and created to preserve and create the added water you need by maximizing edge effect, planting trees (right kind and right technique), digging swales, using rocks, and several other techniques for raising local humidity. All yard waste, stumps, sticks, and organics can go back into the construction of hugelkultur beds that can retain and deliver enough water to your beloved plants to produce a food forest in our Montana climate.

This is my most popular presentation. Based on the information in my thread about replacing irrigation with permaculture - which includes a podcast recording of me giving the presentation in November 2011.

In the big meeting room at the missoula public library. 6:30 on Wednesday July 25th.

Free. You don't even have to RSVP.

Oh I SO want to go to this, but will be in an online herbal class instead! Will this be videotaped or recorded for a future playback??

This is so important and timely. Thanks to Regular Joe for publishing an article about hugelkultur, and to Paul for doing the interview.

Great talk last week by Paul... if you missed it, check out the podcast.

Paul indicates that a well established Hugel bed over-planted with seed, can perform flawlessly for decades without irrigation due to the tap root development from seed germination rather than a plant from simple transplant. I was wondering the term (years, decades, etc) in which a hugel bed would perform without irrigation in correlation with its depth. Does one build it 3' high, or go 6' plus? Also, considering over-seeding compared to transplants for establishing growth, perhaps a shallow bed is possible while relying on Paul's tap-root theory. Ultimately, available material for building the bed can be problematic. Thoughts?

Also, rotting wood is ideal, but what other material have people used (grass, hay, straw, cardboard, packing paper, etc)?

Thanks,