Growing during El Niño

This past year was incredibly hot, then cool, then over 33C again. The dry summer was alarming, and the very hot days can create real constraints.

I keep hoping that El Niño will be gentle with us. I wonder how we can approach the weather in a way that helps us grow for the long-term, helps us stay calm and realistic, and gives us skills to adapt every season.

Match your growing to your water availability.

This can be difficult to predict given the dry winter and the extremely hot spring days. This means you need to have a wider margin for error than previously. Bigger plants, and perennials, can generally weather hot weather more easily because they have larger root systems.

Creating deep soil, shade and windbreaks reduces your water requirements.

In some ways these are a bit obvious, but every year we still create more shade and more windbreaks, and deeper soil. It’s not something that you do quickly and see the impact of immediately. It’s something that takes many years: what you do now you are doing for the next El Niño, or for the next drought.

After Day Zero, many people got rid of their rain tanks. Yet I think we have to move in a direction, slow and steady. Creating water storage, experimenting with water usage that works for you, saving for pumps if you need them, finding out what is practical and what is ridiculously unrealistic.

Now is the time for radical experimentation

In fact, it’s probably more true to say that ten years ago was the time for radical experimentation. But now is also good. What we learn during times of difficult weather patterns is an investment. For example, one of the most important ways that we save water is through our composting toilet. It’s been incredibly effective and easy, with the bonus of super high quality compost. Setting up greywater is about more than just keeping water on your property. Greywater has the potential to create oases of high-water environments, which facilitates the growth of bananas and moringa, which creates biomass and shade. Oases have a ripple effect far beyond the greywater system itself.

Your experimentation and setting infrastructure up now makes it easier for your neighbours, as it creates a critical reservoir of knowledge, skill and experience. Being able to share what you’ve done, how you’ve tweaked your systems, how you saved or found a balance between affordability and quality, how you thought about the problem of water long term, and how you’re growing through it all. These are the things that build resilience beyond your garden, and this collective resilience is a powerful thing!

Don’t stop growing because of difficult weather conditions.

A vegetable and fruit garden, and you as the gardener, are a work in progress. Your memories become part of a store of collective knowledge. When we see the hot, dry weather, we have the memory of thriving and growing through previous droughts, and that encourages us and encourages other people. You can grow more drought resistant crops and more perennials to reduce your water needs, but don’t stop growing completely. If you can grow swisschard, gem squash, tomatoes or leeks, or plant a few trees, you will maintain momentum and be a better grower.

Don’t plant or exert yourself too much during extremely hot days

It can be tempting to create a plan or routine for your growing and want to stick to it. But very hot days mean heat stress for you and your plants. We keep track of the weather obsessively, and then if we know it’s going to be super hot we make sure animals and plants have the water they need to get through, then we hunker down and lower our expectations. We work hard during early mornings and cooler days, to make sure everything is ok to weather the hot days.

Let us know how you’re becoming more resilient, whatever scale you’re working at

I’d love to hear how you’re thinking about El Niño, building resilience in your home and your community, and planning out your summer growing.

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