permaculture

[venaurafarm <venaurafarm@bellsouth.net>]

On 10/8/2012 5:48 PM, Robyn Francis wrote:

> The "chinampa" wasn't built in a swamp, it was excavated on dry land

Chinampas are floating islands with gardens. They are used in Mexico, 
South America and in Asian countries. Just Google it and you will see.

> and only had water in the channels during the wet season, it soon
> became over-run with weeds and a maintenance liability. The lesson:
> chinampas are swamp-land systems, don't try to re-create them on dry
> land unless you've a constant supply of water coming through the
> system year-round.

Not true. The dry land "chinampas" (they are not chinampas) are very 
tall raised beds with deep water channels separating them. In cold 
weather the crops are kept alive from steam rising from the 
daytime-heated waters engulfing and protecting the crops at night. Look 
it up. I read an article on this. These cropping systems are used in 
villages high in the Andes and possibly elsewhere. The reason for the 
deep water channels is to store day time heat for delivery to plants at 
night to protect them from the cold and thus extend the season of crop 
productivity and harvest.