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Summary
Paul calls up a Floridian landowner by the name of Sarah to do a review of her
land. Cue “Flaahriduh” jokes by the dozen...
Paul doesn’t have much
experience with hot climates, what with him being almost as far away from Florida as he can be in the states, but he has been talking with people who do have such experiences such as Alexander Ojeda and the
Bernal Brothers.
Sara came up with cardboard mulching even with minimal exposure to permaculture, but apparently some people put cardboard or newspaper mulch down and it starts suffocating the soil below for years as it just doesn’t rot down even in places like Seattle. Paul’s old roommate claims the obvious
answer is to punch holes in the mulch when you put it down, to which Paul contests the obvious-ness of the solution as he’s never seen it done before. Furthermore, Paul doesn’t recommend using
cardboard mulch due to almost all cardboard being made with toxic gick nowadays. Chances are it’ll work, but he’d prefer you to chop unwanted plants down and lay them over a smaller area than what you cut to discourage further growth - Sarah has plenty of palm
trees and saw palmettos for this.
Her property is a mere 6ft above sea level, so brackish
water (fresh water that has been contaminated by salt water) can occur, which can be toxic to some plants. Paul thinks that a chinampa might be useful in allowing such water to be used in growing non-salt-resistant plants. Although, perhaps building swales would be a better bet, seeing as they collect fresh water and block encroaching salt water, solving both problems at the same time. They also help create microclimates that are always useful, particularly for growing avocados that have historically had trouble with excess sun on her land.
Relevant Threads
Earthworks forum
Images of Chinampas: share for teaching & education
How would you survive/make chinampa variations for any sort of environment extreme or not
An overview of chop-and-drop and why it’s awesome
Build abundance with chop-and-drop
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This podcast was made possible thanks to:
Dr. Hugh Gill Kultur
Eivind W. Bjørkavåg
Suleiman, Karrie, and Sasquatch
Kyle Neath
Bill Crim
anonymous
Kerry JustTooLazy
Jocelyn Campbell
Chris Sugg
Sasquatch
Bill Erickson
G Cooper
Dominic Crolius
havokeachday
Penny McLoughlin
Mehron Kugler
Julia Winter, world's slowest mosaic artist
Pasquale DeAngelis
Greg Martin
Mark
Sean Benedict
Rita Bliden
Dana Martin
Candace Dahlk
Keith Kuhnsman
Eric Tolbert
Matthew Stone
Nuno Marta
Polly Jayne Smyth
Opalyn Brenger
ellen fisher
Eliot Mason
Katie Young
Ivar Vasara
JMBlackwater226R
Nathan Hale
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