olla

OLLA
i dont mean hello in spanish
but this old method of delivering water in drought or
water conserving areas
has been around a long time


this is a picture of one thats been around for a long time
you bury it in the ground and fill it with water
the water slowly diffuses itself into the surrounding soil
then you plant your plants close by
and they send their roots to the area around the pot
theres no loss of water to evaporation or runoff


then here are homemade versions of the same idea
clay pots glued together
the bottom hole is sealed off
the top upside down pot is filled with water
then you let time go by and the water will move
through the porous clay pot into the soil

i havent personally done this yet in my garden
but i can definitely see it in my future

since we now seem to be in a drought area
and especially when that hot dry summer hits and im
trying to get my tomatoes peppers peas egg plant squash
christmas beans cukes malabar spinach and okra through
the hot dry summer months

ive used a lot of water saving techniques so far that seems
to be helping
i have drip irrigation to all my garden beds that run from my
rainwater tanks by gravity
the tanks are at about a 3 foot elevation up hill from my garden
and i have a good pressure to my drippers

as the weather gets warmer and drier i add a 3-4 inch layer of
some type of mulch usually leaves or pine straw or newspapers
then between the beds i put a thick layer of leaves
to those of you have donated your leaves to my use
this is what i use them for
this 5 inch layer of leaves hold moisture in the soil around my beds
and also works as a water sink to hold a lot of water in the leaves
and mulch themselves
then over time they break down so i just dump them into my garden
beds for additional compost

below you will see pictures of my garden so far
the best ive ever had
below the surface of all those plants are the result of the anthill method
or hugelkulter method
layers of old logs cardboard newspapers leaves that will hold moisture
deep in the soil
over this is layers of rough compost leaves soil compost leaves newspapers etc

i also in my tomato garden buried black pots to ground level
filled them with leaves and compost and every two weeks i fill the pot
with compost water
this supplies not only moisture deep into the soil but also a lot of nutrition
from the liquid compost

in my two keyhole garden beds that i made from old watering tanks
that central composter also works like an olla providing moisture
deep into the soil as well as nutrition from the compost thats
in the center

hopefully all of these things added together will make for a nice
healthy well watered garden this summer
despite the prediction of a hot dry one

i do see ollas showing up though in my garden
probably peaking up between my okra plants

here are some pictures of my garden as it heads towards the
end of spring and is getting ready for that summer marathon
hoping my water conservation techniques and soil enrichment
methods will help this year

wild leeks

 garlic

 onions

tomatoes







hola olla

the organicgreen doctor