Visit our NEW Desert Garden and Homestead! Our First Steps on This Homestead
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- Опубликовано: 4 июл 2024
- Welcome to our new desert garden and homestead! Join us as we embark on our journey into desert life (part time) on 12 acres in the beautiful Anza Borrego desert of San Diego County. Learn about the unique challenges of growing and living in the desert, and building a sustainable home in a harsh environment, we’ll show you everything we’re doing to make the most of this desert oasis. In future videos we'll explore irrigation techniques, discuss growing choices in the desert, share tips for dealing with extreme climates, and much more. Come along with us and see first-hand how rewarding and fulfilling it can be to live off-the-grid in the middle of nowhere.
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00:00 - Intro
00:45 - Why We Bought This Land
01:42 - Dealing with the Dry & Heat
02:50 - Future Orchard Site
04:38 - Reducing Wildfire Risk (Defensible Space)
06:52 - 10,000 Bonus Acres of Federal Land
07:45 - Conclusion
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*Thanks for watching! What should we plant at our Desert Homestead??* 🌞
"Nack's Permaculture" is a small channel but they have some great insights on using topography to protect young plants from wind and high sun.
Congratulations, you have a nice piece of land. I am looking forward to future episodes! Sending positive vibes your way. Peace!
Thanks! We're excited to see how this land develops! 😊
Congratulations brother, I also own a desert home and struggled for the first year to figure out what grows there and what doesn’t… I’m excited to follow you on this journey and learn from your experience. Grow rosemary and lavender around structures. They are drought resistant, and keep the bugs away. 👍🏼👍🏼
Yes to the rosemary and lavender..
Thanks! It's gonna be interesting to see what grows out here vs at our primary home in the suburbs. Definitely interested in Rosemary and Lavender close by the house! Figuring out the irrigation for any project is gonna be the main question.
I grew up in the high desert and we grew tons of plants from plums, to apples, apricots, and so much rosemary that it is no longer a favorite herb in my mind 😅. One thing I especially took note of as a kid was that the trees that were babied long enough for their roots to reach the water table below the surface survived for YEARS. Some of them are still growing on the property today with no maintenance at all but the ones that were neglected here and there always struggled. We also noticed pockets where we planted multiple of the same trees and some would make it to the water table and some wouldn’t (I’m assuming because it’s depth varies in places). And as I’m sure you already know, shade will be your friend. For your plants, pets and for your people! Oh and don’t forget that all that nature will want to enjoy your fruits long before you can so you’ll want to have a plan upfront. Desert birds (and pretty much all animals/insects out there) aren’t picky!
This is wonderful feedback! We're pretty much starting over with trees here so it'll be interesting to put this stuff into practice. 😃
@@TheBusyGardener Can’t wait to see how it turns out!
Well, right off the bat I would put in some pomegranates and jujube trees. They seem to do very well in the desert.
I've had good luck with: Rosemary, lavender, sage of all kinds, oregano (like zataar), olive, pomegranate, fig, elderberry (American, I believe), rose, grape, goji berry, various conifers that have edible and medicinal properties, mulberry, and feijoa.
Congrats to you! How exciting. So- I live in central AZ, between Phoenix and Tucson. My temperatures are usually about 10degrees cooler than Phoenix and my rain levels are pretty similar (except no asphalt and concrete, so the land soaks up the water better!). I am off grid and haul my water, so we are very water conscience. I have been on this property for about 2 years, so I am still learning... and am new to keeping most of these varieties of fruit tree- so still learning that too! Here's what I know so far: my jujubes are awesome. They are the last trees I water in case I run out and have to haul again and can't get to them right away. They never look sad or droopy, they do great! (I have a honey pot and sugar) My pomegranates would be 2nd place (i have a red silk and a wonderful)- they are awesome. Fig is #3 (I have a black mission, Chicago hardy and a celeste). I plan to get more of all these! I almost forgot my all in one almond! It would be right up there in #2 with the poms. Citrus. I have 9...2 lemon varities, lime, blood orange, mandarin clementine, tangelo, pomelo, Seville orange and Washington navel. Citrus is popular in AZ.. so... they do good, I plan to get more. My apples are doing great, (Anna, fuji, granny Smith, golden delicious). I would also recommend that you look into moringa. Get some seeds start them at your home so you get to know that tree before you plant it. It's basically a veggie tree- grows super fast, basically you cut it to knee high every winter. It seems to hate being over watered- wait until it starts to look wilty before watering it- even as a baby. I do have pears and stone fruits, but they just don't do as well. They do fine, but just need a little more care. Definitely go with planting multiples together- the backyard orchard culture- so they can share water and shade each other. Also, i would recommend planting them a little lower than level with the soil- only a couple inches- this will help it get the most out of each rain and in the desert, the water dries up so fast, they wont be sitting in puddles long. Most of my stock is Dave Wilson...
So my grapes and prickly pear also do fantastic.... but... (heres my biggest bit of advice for your land) the preditors are probably your biggest issue- not heat or water. By preditors, here I mean, the critters that eat your plants- prairie dogs, ground squirrels, rabbits, etc. In town, there are not as many and they have more 'places to shop', in the desert, food is scarce and land is more wide open... I currently have my prickly pear surrounded by wire mesh folded at the top because they have eaten down entire plants to the ground. My pear tree trunks have been nibbled, so I had to put chicken wire around them. 5 of my citrus trees are in bad shape- rabbits were nibbling the trunks and prairie dogs were climbing up then eating all the new leaves. A couple of my citrus might not make it as a result. I had to put protection around the trunk then wire mesh around my tree groups then deer fencing on the inside of the wire mesh. Deer fence is great because it's too flimsy for them to climb, but they chew through, wire mesh, they climb, so the deer fence sticks above the wire mesh.... seems to be working so far. Back to my grapes- I finally encircled them with wire mesh and put chicken wire over the top...and something is still getting in eating off all the leaves. Time for a trail cam... that reminds me, birds and ants are also nasty creatures in the desert. The birds will pick off and eat all your leaves- but they usually go after softer or smaller leaves. Ants will get your fruit before you can...but they also will get to many of the bugs on your tree... if you can attract owls, that will help. Prairie dogs are not out at night, so attracting hawks and eagles would be good too. Palm trees...? Also worth mentioning, these beasts will even eat your plants that are supposed to be poisonous. I have heard that the plant of the passion vine is poisionous- these creatures completely ate my entire passion plant (which is also supposed to do well here, but I don't know from experience since mine was eaten up!)
Oh, on a different note, maybe consider renting parts of your land to local livestock ranchers- it will bring in a little income, help reduce fire risk and provide free fertilizer! And less ground cover means less cover for the critters to move around unseen... oh, and these critters also encourage snake activity... learn your local snakes so you know which ones are venomous and which aren't but will help keep down the critter population.
All the doom and gloom aside, it really is still very educational, rewarding and still very worth it! No looking back for us, we love it! We look forward to learning along with you on your new adventure!
Sorry, I wrote a book and now am adding more. Forgot about my new mulberry. Planted it too late in the season this year, thers been record heat on top of that and it got a bit shocked when I put it in the ground. It looked totally dead for about 2 weeks, but it came back and is doing great! So mulberry is another good choice. I also hear olives do great. There are ordinances in different areas around AZ about if you can or can't have olives because olives and citrus trees were very popular several years ago. I have not had one before, but it's on my wish list!
Another PS- cholla fruit is edible. I haven't tried it, but I have read that it is.
These are great suggestions! I love the ability to learn from others' experiences. We're gonna be tackling a bunch of growing over the next several months, so grateful for the tips! 😀
Great Job folks! i also have land in Anza and the rattlesnakes are my number one concern. As for the Orchard, i was trying a lot of trees and decided to focus on the Jujubes, figs, pormagranites , nectarines, and apples
Thanks for the tips! We're considering snake gaiters to cover our feet and shins while we're out there. I know rattlers are shy and will leave you alone if given the chance. But our active fam could land on them with all the running around
How exciting! I would LOVE to own 12 acres down in Anza Borrego (I'm near Indio). ALL THAT wonderful BLM land next to you! I plant sunflowers and hollyhocks and right now I have all kinds of squash. Not sure what kind of irrigation you will have. How low does your well go? SHOULD be plenty of water with all the rain we had this winter, but who knows what the future holds.
I would work on planting some California Native trees and plants.
I Feel like Geoff Lawton would say you need some swales.. He has a handful of videos of oasis's in Jordan and Oman
I'm DEFINITELY interested in using swales (and berms) out at the property. Thankfully we're in a valley with decent water (well is 1000 gal/hr). But anything we can do to naturally keep otherwise moving water there is a win.
1st think to buy : A Kid friendly telescope!
We've got some binos, but I like that a lot better. Especially with how clear the skies are!
I second this!!! And the ability to turn off all lights. It’s amazing what you can see at night out there. It’s like the stars are literally blanketing the sky!
Have you try growing hardy kiwi? I’m in Orange County and bought some plants. 3 already lost all the leaves in the heatwave
Sir, plant looots of NOPALES, they give you young leaves that you can eat (very nutritious) and in summer you get fruit from them - prickly pears (there are three types: green, yellow abd purple, the green one is the sweetest). You can let nopales grow wild to create a natural fence, it works well with farm animals.
Also plant:
PASSION FRUIT
FIG TREES
POMEGRANATE TREES
BLACKBERRIES
RASPBERRIES
GRAPES
...they just laugh at the sun
These are terrific suggestions!
Wish I could have started from scratch knowing now what I want to plant and how it'll need shade when it's hot and alternatively sun when winter comes. Deciduous trees are so helpful since they do both. Look forward to seeing your progress!
Wow ❤ So excited for your ner adventure
Us too! It's part time and more of a vacation property, so it'll be interesting to see the differences out here vs at our primary home. What's gonna grow?!?
Should get some great chill hours.
This place is DEFINITELY gonna get better chill hours than at our house. The desert homestead is likely in zone 8
A pool with a water slide.
Congratulations i definitely look forward to see what you come up with i plan on leaving California and moving to Arizona someday. So ill definitely benefit from your adventures i would do drip irrigation on raised 2x12 boxes for the fruit trees and no till on my vegetables and berry gardens. Ima be watching 👀 😎.
Congrats man how exciting! I look forward to do something similar when I get closer to retirement
That's awesome! It's amazing how the space resets us
What part of So Cal is this in? Very cool and congrats!
Thanks! It's in the Anza Borrego desert near Julian, CA
@@TheBusyGardener We have been in that area in the past for camping. Very happy for you and jealous! One day we’ll leave the San Fernando Valley and settle in Tehachapi.
That reminds me of home in New Mexico
Definitely has NM vibes
Plant prickly pear cactus…lots of it!
My kids can play catch with the prickly pears 😂
@@TheBusyGardener Ha!
2nd item: A bad are CAT or DOG to help with the rodents that are going to steal and eat all your fruit you try to grow!
So true. Great advice
I like it! 2 things: 1) We're out there very part time, and 2) Your should see our tiny dog. Whiskers would be great to get into small spaces, but it seems like he's tiny enough to be eaten by most of the things living out there 😂