guildfordcycads

Hey guys, under-informed layman here curious about land restoration principles. Like many others who have asked previously, I’m intrigued about applying permaculture to a large scale project. I’ve accepted it’s unlikely to profitably run a commercial farm due to the labor involved, so I want to make it clear that I’m not looking to profit from yields. I’m coming at this from a government funded water project angle and looking for input on the feasibility.

I’ve heard several speculations about how the Southwest plans to solve their water problems with Arizona in particular suggesting desalination in Southern California or Mexico and piping it to AZ or even piping water from the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River. Instead of that, couldn’t a handful of heavy equipment operators go to all the barren lands and dig some holes and create some swales on contour? Maybe build some well placed gabions in dry creek beds? My understanding of permaculture is that we wouldn’t even need to seed anything or do anything else after the earthmoving is done. Would that restore some creeks and rivers and help with the water crisis?

If the government came to you and said hey replenish our water sources, what is your plan of attack? I understand in an ideal world everyone would have a nice acre they could manage themselves but I’m looking for actionable ideas that can be done with the minimum amount of people. I also understand it would be better if commercial farmers would adopt more sustainable methods. But humor me here and assume it’ll just be a small team assigned to tackle the project.

I’ve been wanting to try gardening, and like the idea of permaculture (it would be a lot of work so probably gonna wanna start small and well, start with the soil) but I don’t know much about how to check the soil for various contaminatinants. How do you guys usually test this sort of thing or research the history of your housing areas to see what the soil might have? I know some things like pots or raised gardens are a good choice since it negates that issue mostly allowing you to have control over the soil source, but i was curious because well, it seems like a waste to not do something with the dirt in my backyard, especially since i was hoping to grow stuff for actual use rather than just ornamentation, and work with a mix of flax species including some drought tolerant flax plants as well as eventually some native plant species that ideally would enjoy the nutrient poor desert soil here in Arizona and wouldn’t need tons of water.

If i wanna do anything related to growing stuff for use and eating especially, it is probably best to begin with getting an idea of the current soil situation in my backyard and what steps would need to be taken to prepare it. However, due to my only experience being helping mom pull weeds back when we lived in california, and growing herbs in an aeropod/hydroponics setup which is really just gardening on easy mode, i am very much lacking in knowledge and am hoping to find help and resources to look into.

I don’t know much about what sorts of tests would be best to do, or what spots to sample or how, so i really could use a nudge in the right direction.

I am in Arizona, from the gilbert area, if that helps give context for what to look out for in my soil. I also know i probably need to be mindful of the patches my dad has sprayed with weedkiller multiple times. Not that it ever worked, those weeds are still popping right back up. Maybe he accidentally created mutant weeds resistant to weed killer? Who knows? I probably want to also pay attention to the soil patches that border the outer walls of the house itself since those are usually treated with bug spray to keep scorpians and the like away.

Any help is appreciated, thanks.

Flame seedless grape, strawberry guava, Ruby supreme guava, sweet lime, prickly pear cacti