Revitalizing Arid Land: How We Transformed a Desert into the Oasis of the Garden of Nâm

Journal of August 2024

In this 2nd summer edition Edwin shares with you his experience of revitalising the barren wasteland that we found when we discovered this place and tells how it was turned into the oasis that is known as the Garden of Nâm. Its richness is a true and tangible blessing in the high-summer heat of the Andalusian semi-desert climate. We wish you an enjoyable journey through the first years of its existence.

The Gardeners

Four years ago we started tackling the garden. The previous residents had allowed the land to deteriorate. Most of the old olive, fruit and nut trees were in very poor condition, dead or dying. The rest of the fields in the garden were parched, paved more or less a desert landscape. First, the old ''Moorish'' water channel that runs through the garden was dug out again, cleared of vegetation and restored. This is because it can reach a number of terraces in the garden. Every three weeks we get more than 6 hours of hard flowing water direct from the mountains of the Sierra Almahilla. With this we first fill our water basins and the rest we use to water the different fields. For this we have dug many extra channels and especially around the trees so that they get an extra water gift once in a while. This is both good for the tree and good for the soil.

Before:

Transforming the land:

We had to make steps on each terrace because otherwise not all terraces would be accessible. We then installed an irrigation system throughout the garden. With this, all trees and plantings are regularly supplied with water from the basins (drip system). We planted over 200 trees ourselves. Piece by piece and most were put in the ground as small stems. Because the soil here is hard and compacted that means first cutting out a large pit with a pickaxe. Then fill the pit with a mix of good earth, compost, river sand and a particle of your own soil. Preferably in the form of a bowl so that (falling) water is concentrated around the tree at its roots. Then cover with ''mulch'' (straw, hay, shredded wood). Then plant some green manure to make sure that the area around the tree is covered with vegetation and this can also be pruned regularly which again is ''mulch'' for the tree. This is slowly broken down in the soil. A kind of ''slow food'' for the soil. The climate here is quite extreme, with periods of intense heat but also periods of very strong winds that whip through the valley where wind speeds of 90 or 100 km per hour are not unusual. For this, the small delicate trees had to be protected with support poles that were also set piece by piece in the rock-hard ground.

Now:

Most trees have made it through this first stage (infancy) and are now reaching the next stage (maturity). Now they need to expand their root system from the 1st bowl to the rest of area which is still hard, compacted soil. We learned from our gardening expert that we can accomplish this by working a larger circle around the tree with compost and planting special seeds from crops that produce long taproots as deep as 1 to 2 meters. This plant later dies and leaves a few corridors in which the tree can grow its roots. Genius right!!! This is an ongoing process that we will continue for a few more years. A number of trees have already grown very large in a few years and can already be stripped of their support poles.

Also many ''old'' abandoned trees have come back to life anyway or are coming back to life after being cut down which is a wonder to behold. Slowly all unused land between the trees is being tackled and transformed into food production fields or plantings for beauty. It is important here to protect the soil from drying out and erosion by sunlight. A beautiful ecological garden depends on a healthy soil culture. This is promoted by covering the soil with a layer of mulch or a bed of growing and flowering ground covers.

Throughout the garden a walking path has been laid out which is now being raised field by field using boulders bricked together and filled with hard sand. This creates a ''raised'' path which firstly is nice to walk on and secondly the falling water can now reach the trees and plants and the path remains water free.

It is a ''blessing'' to be allowed to work in the Garden of Nam and to further shape and flourish it. In 4 years we have transformed an arid desert landscape into a beautiful fertile oasis. The other day an acquaintance said to me, oh so you are doing "ecosystem restoration"… I answered, "that could very well be, in any case it is becoming more and more beautiful here".

A special experience recently was eating a ''Carob'' fruit from one of the trees here. This is a kind of pod-like large fruit that turns dark brown when ripe. You can then pick it right off the tree and eat it. Except for the seeds, which are rock hard. By the way, they make ''carob flour'' from them and in the past the seeds were used to weigh gold and diamonds ''carat''. The fruit is sweet and tastes like chocolate and the green inside a bit like pistachio. Delightful that there are chocolate bars growing on the tree here 😊

Another fun discovery was that an avocado tree suddenly grew on the edge of the banana pit. This is a large excavated hole that we keep filling with trimmings and green waste from the kitchen and have banana plants planted around it. There was an avocado seed among them that liked the place.

Making The Garden of Nam more complete, keeping it in a nice condition and flourishing can only be done with the efforts of many people. Fortunately, we have many hands here to help complete The Garden of Nam. We are well on our way but we are not there yet….fortunately because then I can still spend a lot of time in the garden…I hope to meet you there too…In Asha

Nâm Foundation

See Full Bio