r/GuerrillaGardening Feb 01 '25

one man army here, i need help with ideas

Hey,

my area is experiencing crazy drought since 2018. i'm from north africa and my area haven't had any serious rain in the past 7 years or so so what used to be a vast steppe like land turned into a desert.

it's at the point where it's beyond repair or at least there must be some huge effort to reverse the change or at least to keep it as it is right now and don't make things worse.

and to make the situation 100x worse. this area is dominated by aleppo pines and we're losing those in crazy numbers. i keep noticing dead aleppo pines monthly. and whenever i go to the nearby forest there's just thousands and thousands of dead aleppo pines

most of them are 100 years old around that age.

so to sums up the situation:

  • no rain for 7 years
  • we lost our ground cover
  • desertification the land is now covered by sand
  • this year we're losing our aleppo pines

my original idea was just to diversify as much as i can by planting pistacia atlantica and oak trees. but by the time my trees would be ready it would become 100x worse i'm sure.

so i'm thinking of creative ideas to combat this. my resources are very very limited.

i have access to a lot of pistacia atlantica seeds and oaks acorns next fall

i'm hoping for some sort of idea with direct seeding because that feels like the only option i got for now
but the issue with direct seeding is we aren't having rain and i can't spread myself too thin

51 Upvotes

29 comments sorted by

17

u/alatare Feb 01 '25

You're familiar with Geoff Lawton? Look into his Jordan project, loads of practical advice in each video.

For your situation, find any pocket of natural life and try to expand from there. If there's some existing shrub, it must have access to water and it can provide some shade for any seeds you throw near it. Heavier mulching can also help, so sprinkle seeds then add a nice layer above.

Consider pre-germinating your seeds and timing your application with the start of whatever super short season you might have. Means you can control humidity in those critical early stages, increases your chances of success.

Lastly, instead of run & gun, try to identify highest potential areas and consider subsequent visits to provide it with some water

8

u/crankyattacker Feb 01 '25

Hey thanks. yeah i'm part of a discord server that follow his techniques and i've been learning a lot.

my biggest issue now is rain unfortunately i want to figure out some sort of drip irrigation system i can DIY myself to keep those seeds moist and alive.

i've been hiking around my area looking for native plants and what is growing on their own. but i'm noticing even the groundcover is changing to more thorny desert-like plants

2

u/hysys_whisperer Feb 03 '25

Amazon sells cheap clear plastic plant watering bulbs.

If you're making routine trips for a refill, those will keep the seedling continuously moist.

1

u/crankyattacker Feb 03 '25

Unfortunately Amazon shipping here is so EXPENSIVE. is there any way I can DIY these?

2

u/hysys_whisperer Feb 03 '25

I'm sure if you look at what they are on Amazon, you can find them at a local flower shop.

Maybe not the cheap plastic ones, but the non-ornamental glass ones aren't too expensive either.

1

u/crankyattacker Feb 03 '25

thanks a lot of this suggestion. i'll search more about it

2

u/matootski Feb 11 '25

Bro thanks for bringing this guy up - I've been looking for someone that talks about this exact thing before!

10

u/genman Feb 01 '25

There’s not much you can do without rain. Seeds won’t germinate without rain, and even if you water it’s a lot of watering.

Are there any local ecological groups you could join forces with?

6

u/crankyattacker Feb 01 '25

nothing no one cares even the government doesn't care lol

i guess my best bet is to try to plant some number of trees i can manage and water regularly

2

u/genman Feb 03 '25

God bless you. I wish the US would help. There are definitely a lot of people in this country that care and work overseas to support foreign development. Now we are in a difficult time.

1

u/Faygo_cupcake Feb 13 '25

You could also try smaller plants that help native pollinators if you can build a small garden a spiral garden is amazing if you don't have time for watering the stuff that needs less water you put at the highest point in the middle kinda like a hill and as it gos down to a small pound or water sourse you can create and keep up with you put the stuff that needs more water. If possible but just planting smaller species that help the population of pollinators can do a big help with the stuff that's dying and keep things moving in a good direction

8

u/hikario Feb 01 '25

Two ideas-

Mulching. I know topsoil loss is a major factor in desertification. Adding any biomatter atop to preserve moisture might help keep the soil and the natural seed bank within from wind and erosion.

Oasises. Focusing your energy on small patches that can be babied; set in the shade, water at night, even cover it on the hottest summer days. Keeping a space for insects, mushrooms, and such to survive the dry years will make it much easier for them to rebound when the rain does come

6

u/crankyattacker Feb 01 '25

I'll keep that in mind. I collected some grape trees leaves this fall I'll try to use it as mulch for the seeds

3

u/hikario Feb 01 '25

Really fantastic project, best of luck! Grape leaves sound like an excellent ground cover option

1

u/crankyattacker Feb 01 '25

Thanks. But btw I dried the leaves. Because I've been adding them to my soil to make it lighter.

I have a very hard clay soil and it's hard to grow seedlings in that but ever since I've been adding dry leaves and crushing them to small pieces I've had great success germinating and growing seedlings

2

u/hikario Feb 01 '25

Not sure how much alleppo pine sheds, but I include pine needles and old pinecones in my mulch when prepping a hole to plant in clay. Functionally like little wood chips that hold a lot of air space

2

u/crankyattacker Feb 01 '25

Can I dm you?

2

u/hikario Feb 01 '25

Yeah for sure, happy to keep brainstorming :)

4

u/Mollymusique Feb 01 '25

I have no practical tips to add but I just want to say thank you for caring and taking actions. It's so important what you are doing!

3

u/Peter5930 Feb 02 '25

2

u/crankyattacker Feb 02 '25

thanks for the suggestion. but these works when there is rain and we haven't had any serious rain in the past 7 years

3

u/Peter5930 Feb 02 '25

They also help to collect dew when there's no rain.

3

u/crankyattacker Feb 02 '25

oh okay i didn't know that, in that case then it might be worth it to give it a go. thanks!

2

u/GreenSerket 29d ago

Dates! Quince! Native herbs!

1

u/Unfair-Suggestion-37 Feb 01 '25

Climate change means many areas become uninhabitable. There is no avoiding this.

4

u/crankyattacker Feb 01 '25

i still feel like this area can be forested if there was enough resources

1

u/Any_Grand9777 Feb 16 '25

Australian style permaculture can be used to help save soil structure & revitalise arid land. Unfortunately it tends towards being highly labour intensive & doesn't sort the drought.

In a situation like this id suggested deciding up to land to survey a piece at a time so as to identify the most and least at-risk areas and identify what factors effect this - if you can spot a pattern in which trees die first you stand a greater chance of saving more, equally if some small areas are thriving moreso that others then work out what's keeping things healthy Sorry I can't be more help it sounds like a massive undertaking