HI Julianna,

I have found that raised beds do indeed dry out quickly. You'll want to incorporate vermiculite and maybe 1/4" rockwool cubes, and water storing crystals (see attached link). I would mulch if you can not water. Why can't you water in your new area?

Here is a link that might be useful: Water Storing Crystals

Neither of us have ever seen that available over in Jordan, so I doubt you can get the crystals, rockwool cubes, and I know there isn't vermiculite or peat-- at least not in our area. Maybe in Amman, but it would be astronomically priced. Cost of living is higher than in a lot of the US and anything imported is crazy.

That country exists on rainfall, and the NW corner is the wettest. So there isn't water to spare. You get water turned on once a week in your area for a few hours and that is to fill the 2 tanks or so (2.5cu m) on your roof. You collect rain in the winter for drinking in a cistern, and the other runs your toilets, showers, etc. They don't turn on the water every week either. So it's not like the US where you can just turn on a faucet and water appears :)

As I mentioned, they grow everything and have for hundreds of years (or thousands, depending on the crop :) ) without irrigation already. So I know it can be done the traditional way-- I was just curious about the SFG way.

Wow what an incredible journey :) In short, I would avoid SFQ and simply cultivate and improve the soil you intend to use. This way you have the surrounding soil to help retain moisture and for the roots to naturally seek out the nutrients and water they desire. Invest in some extra rain barrows, maybe buy a micron filter to be able to hand deliver stagnate water. Dig ditches along the edge of your property and line them with plastic to collect as much natural rain water as possible. The best tip is probably going to be talking with the locals and discover how they have made it through the years. Good luck!

Thanks! That is what I was suspecting. My husband is a local and has grown for years, so he knows what's up with the soils and such. The biggest challenge I think is that for years and years everyone has full-on plowed the soil 2-3 times/year just to "clear weeds." so of course a ton of topsoil has blown off. I was thinking along the lines of what you just suggested, and that maybe using some gray water to water a compost pile and begin to add some organic matter back may, in fact, be the best way to go about it. I think contrary to what we tend to think, their clay-based soil is actually what is retaining the water for their summer crops and that trying to create something more crowded and lighter may mess with that balance. The soils are all still very productive-- but less so than when my husband first began growing things 20 years ago. So obviously something has to be done.

Luckily, it's not desert! That would be an incredible problem. Figs, pomegranates, olives, citrus, etc are native to there and do fine without any help even in establishing them as long as you do it in the fall. So I think it will be a learning curve for me (I still have the hardest time believing they never water ANYTHING in the summer and yet grow all that stuff! We water at least once a week here) and if we combine my composting skills and his know-how with timing, water storage, and whatnot that we should be able to make it.

Thanks so much! And good luck with your gardens as well :)

Also for your composting you may try asking a few produce vendors if they will sell you the spoiled produce to use for compost. Also start with planting what the locals do. They grow what works for them in that climate.

One thing I have heard of being done in arid climates was to dig out the areas you were improving so you have *sunken* beds and use the removed material to funnel rainfall into the garden beds.

Thanks guys! They plant pretty much the same things we do in our own gardens. The sunken garden thing is something we're thinking to try. We're just not sure how it will work in the winter.. because you can have 2 gardens there-- a summer and a winter-- and in the winter they get 16-19" of rain. They do the sunken garden thing further south of his area, but we're wondering if it never caught on there because they get too much rain and it floods out the plants.