- Due to the high content of clay and high altered granite of the soil, we had to put layer of sand over the soil and put a lot of compost too. We sowed some cereals like wheat and alfalfa to aerate the subsoil and to pump minerals on to the surface.
- We had to eradicate weeds like couch-grass. We didn't know how to solve applying a permaculture approach so we eradicated with hard mechanical efforts. After that we knew that applying more calcium to the soil or sowing comfrey would solve this problem.
- We made a basic irrigation infrastructure based on a drip irrigation system. Here, the main obstacle to solve was the lack of water pressure, so we had to design the topology of the irrigation system very carefully to avoid some plants receives much water and others none.
- The election of a patch with no trees forced us to build a structure to provide to the vegetables with a partial shadow to avoid the high evaporation in the summer. The next year we have planted some trees that provide partial shadow like almonds.
- We built two greenhouses to have a little nursery of trees and vegetables. The greenhouses also allow us to extend the growing season. Here, in the center of Spain, we have long summer and winter seasons. The first greenhouse was built with metal and old panes. The second was built with wooden poles and plastic.
The main conclusion doing these activities is that permaculture offers us methods and approaches of problems solving more natural, cheaper and makes the systems totally integrated with the environment.
You can read the complete roadmap and the others goals.
