Productive -Attached to the House- Water Patches for the Tropics
The real struggle with any regenerative gardening/farming practice is to make it effective.
The problem lies not in the practices themselves, because we already have a sound body of knownledge and real world cases about them, that proves their effectiveness, but in shifting our mindset towards them. In this letter we will talk about a inovative wet food patch, and a dirty water food patch that are placed next to the house and offer effective permaculture solutions for waste and water management. In the tropics, waste management is imperative to prevent diseases, due to the heat and humidity, which helps fungi and bacteria to get out of control. Also, contrary to popular perception, water management is crucial, since we can experince dry seasons in the tropics and have a lack of water.
They are talked about together as a unit because both of them help you manage subproducts of the house, namely the grey and overflow water, and the swage waste, in a way that is truly a sustainable practice, challenging our urbanized way of thinking.
They are great permaculture practices that you can implement right now, and they not only deal with the waste and water management issue, but also grow food, and mulch, supporting yourself and your other gardens.
In this edition, in 5 minutes or less:
#1 Wet Food Patch
#2 Dirty Water Patch
Wet Food Patch
Benefits
- Conserve water by using grey water and catching water overflows
- Produces food as a "side effect"
What you need to know before you start
- Volume of water overflow from your house roof and water tank
- Volume of water comming from any runoff adjacent to the house
- Volume of graywater comming from the house
- The wet food patch area
- Sun/shade exposure of the patch
- The trellis
- Earth work to dig earth bank edge of the patch
- Earth work to dig flooded area and a deeper area of the patch
- Selection of plants, vine, and fish species that you want
The Wet Food Patch is a multifunctional wetland growing area that receives clean water from the roof, tank, and swales overflow, plus graywater.
Because of the earth shaping, which creates banks, and a paddy field (sunken field that can be then flooded), you can plant dryland species, aquatic, and semi-aquatic plants in the wet food patch. You can also create deeper areas to store water and raise fish or ducks there. The design is not complete without a trellis, because it creates shade, preventing evaporation and helping shade loving species, like taro. You should plant vines on the trellis, which also adds another yield.
Greywater refers to household wastewater generated from sources without fecal contamination, such as sinks, showers, bathtubs, washing machines, and dishwashers (excluding kitchen sinks in many definitions due to high organic content). It does not include water from toilets or urinals, which is classified as blackwater.
When you plan to use greywater for your crops, make sure to use biodegradable, low-sodium, and boron-free detergents.
So, the wet food patch is a attached to the house growing space that creates different niches for plants and animals, while preventing surpluss water from overflows and greywater from going to waste. It also beautiful addition to the house, like a japanese garden.
Construction Steps:
Step1: Find the spot that best suits the wet food patch, by finding:
- where the water overflows are better gathered
- where the soil and location is better for the earth shaping
- where it receives adequate sun, depending on which species you want to plant. Your option are full sun, partial sun, or full shade
Step 2: Shape the earth to creat banks, a paddy field (flooded field), and a deeper section within the paddy field:
- The banks are both the limits, and the retaining walls of the wet food patch
- The paddy field is an area where you can grow food and flood if you want (think about the flooded rice fields in asia)
- The deep section is just like a deeper area for adults in a swimming pool. In this case it is for fish or just a water reserve
Step 3: Place a spill way, and diversion pipes:
- The spill way is to avoid that water over flow over the banks, which retain the water in the wet food patch, which would cause a mess
- The diversion pipe is to be able to control the water flow in the wet food patch, so that you can fill it with water, flood it, or drain it, depending of what you want in the moment (read our previous newsletter to learn how to calculate and place them)
Step 4: Place a trellis and choose a useful and productive vine species:
- Use the vertical space to grow food
- Creates shade over flooded area for shade loving species, like taro, and to decrease evaporation. There are ever green vines and deciduous vines. Use deciduous vines to let sun in during winter, or ever green to create a permanent shaded area
Step 5: Let water in and plant according to what you want, following the good planting practices we have been talking about, that you can find under "section "Component 3" of the previous newsletter.
Wet crops
- Taro
- Rice
- Kangkong
- Watercress
- Chinese water chestnut
Dry crops (planted on the banks)
- Sweet potato
- Cassava (a perennial!)
- Yam
- Mint
Vines
Animals
Dirty Water Patch
Benefits
- Deals with sewage in a local, clean and decentralized way
- Conserves water by reusing all the water from the sewage
- Produces animal feed and mulch as a "side effect"
What you need to know before you start
- It is a sunken area surrounded by banks and lined with stones
- It receives sewage water from a septic tank
- It is planted only with plants that tolerate manure, and wet environments
- No root crops should be planted, and nothing should be eaten directly from the dirty water patch
- The plants can be regularly cut and given to animals as green feed or used as mulch for garden beds
- On the banks surrounding the sunken area, you can plant legumes trees, fruit trees, and any other useful species.
- Suggested size to start: 8m x 5m
Construction Steps:
Step 1: Find the spot that best suits the dirty water patch, by finding:
- where you can more easily direct sewage from the house
- where it receives enough sun
Step 2: Dig at least 1 m deep and use the dirty to build up the banks around the dirty water patch. While you do that, install the pipe that brings the sewage in, placing its outlet on the botton of the pit.
Step 3: Line the botton of the pit you created with stones until you reah 0.5m height. Then, line the top of the stones with thick paper (or leafs, like banana leaf), followed by 0.5 m or more of thick straw mulch.
Step 4: Plant the adequate plants on top of the mulch and on the banks (under section "Component 3" of the previous newsletter).
Plants for the Pit
- Comfrey
- Bana Grass
- Lemongrass
- Other legumes
Plants for the Banks
Before I studied Permaculture, I have never seem this kind of design before.
Even when I studied sanitation during the medical school, this kind of solution was not discussed. The subject of how to dispose wastes was summarized as "modern sewage is the best and the final solution for health issues". As we can see, that is not the case, because this permaculture solution is practical, clean, antifragile, sustainable, local and even produces important yields as "side effects".
I see no reason why this should ever be ignored by someone looking for a transformative sustainable solution.
