I did a project on permaculture for my college thesis and I remember one of the things I read about while doing research was about these folks in Arizona who built an oasis in the middle of the desert by:
- Bringing in large rocks, logs, etc
- Planting trees in the shade of these rocks and things
- Letting these baby trees establish themselves in the shade until they had good root systems and were strong enough to have decent resistance to the hot climate
- Dug a man made creek to direct water for irrigation
- Planted stuff in the protective shade of the trees once they were big enough
- Planted more stuff in the shade of *those* plants
- Repeat until there are multiple layers of mini forest that could grow fruits and veggies
And I always thought that was super neat and I wondered if you could do the same in reverse.
Like. Pick a cold, unforgiving environment. Plant some evergreen trees and shrubs next to rocks that protect them from chilly wind and heavy snow, until they are big and strong enough to block those themselves. Plant stuff in the area now protected by these trees, which is now slightly warmer since the wind is blocked. Repeat for several layers. Would you eventually develop a zone that can grow fruits and veggies in the understory?
If I was rich that’d be my life project.
YES.
This is, essentially, the meta plot of the Dune series.
Nogling 