Transplanting FREE volunteer seedlings of multi-use native plants within rain gardens
Brad Lancaster hosts this video about how you can plant your water-harvesting basins for FREE by transplanting volunteer seedlings of desired plants that come up with the rains.
The idea is to maximize the multi-use vegetation and other beneficial life within water-harvesting earthworks that plant the rain. Once established, that vegetation will be able to live on just the passively harvested rain—no supplemental irrigation with costly imported waters—this is easiest to do when you plant vegetation native to your area and microclimate, as that native vegetation is typically the best adapted to your climate, soils, and wildlife. You typically need to irrigate the newly planted plants for 1 to 3 years to get their root system growing well and established, before you can let them go on passively harvested water alone. (The exception is appropriate native plant seed that you plant in the rain gardens with the first good rain at the beginning of the rainy season. The seed that germinates will often make it on rainfall alone (unless it is a severe drought – then a little supplemental irrigation that first year would help).
For more info on the community water harvesting and native food forestry work check out:
https://dunbarspringneighborhoodforesters.org/
For more on such seedling transplanting see linked essay below…
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