You can still do a Walipini with such a high water table you just have to build it above ground like a normal greenhouse, but use hard siding for the back wall and sides and about 4 feet on the lower half of the front. Then mound up dirt all the way around it so your Walipini is essentially inside a huge dirt mound. If you insulate the top of the mound surrounding the above ground walipini, it will stop the frost from going down into the mound ground and be even more effective.
I'm building a wallipini right now, 14x22ft. Dug down 5.5ft, didn't reach water thankfully. Built concrete block all around. Very excited to see how it performs. I'm in Ireland and we don't get very harsh winters so should be good 👍
Walipinis are original of the Andes mountain chain, Bolivia to be exact. The weather in the Andes includes lots of water and snow. Some people just know how to grow and other don't. I have a wilipini in Oregon. Keep up the good work.
I often wondered why you never seemed to bother with watering your garden. Now I know why! It just goes to show that everyone’s circumstances are different and the gardening solution for others may not apply to yourself.
It's the mulching Dave! It's been raining all week. The water table isn't two feet down in the middle of August. Without the mulch the beds need watering.
If you took a 45 gallon drum, buried it to ground level, add enough cement in the bottom to keep it from floating. You might be able to keep your cold storage.
The advice I saw for walipinis in wet substrates was you need a waterproof lining around the whole underground structure as well as any supports and foundations for it to function properly, with a good drain for the inside portion.
I actually did the digging into a hillside here last year, only to find out when fall came that the neighbors house was too close, his trees too tall, and the Southern winter Sun too low in the sky for it to work. But I got a nice workout… Yay!!! NOT!!!! As for a low cost (or free, if my scavenging skills and I had a say in things) greenhouse, have you ever considered an earth ship type structure..? And using soil packed tires as your thermal mass above ground? You could either berm it, or make the walls multiple layers of tires thick. Bonus!! If you staggered the tires when building the wall, you can plant herbs and strawberries into the wall itself too!
Same problem where we lived in GA, near Atlanta, except the red clay made digging almost impossible and then immediately filled with water and started full until the 3 summer months. Here in AL, we have sandy loam, but even though we live on a "mountain", every hole fills with water after every rain, which is usually at least once a week. There's just enough clay silt in the loam to seal the bottom & sides of the hole so it holds water until the next rain. The 3 months of summer drought are the only time you can dig a dry hole and plants cook in the heat so you can't grow anything without shade cloth and irrigation during those months. Interesting how climates can be so different but so alike at the same time.
stay above the water table with sawdust berms. A little trench around it and voila. Free sawdust from a local mill. Free insulation. Semidump load would cost ya very little.
Maybe instead of digging you can just build up. Mimic a dug out trench by using a mixture of clay, dirt, hay, into a 3ft wall..dig maybe a foot down..use a drainage pipe on a slant to have access water that may come in..possibly feed to the pond to save the hose water...create the same building structure? Just an idea.
I'm building one! High water table to but I'm i ain't digging down I'm banking up on all sides. Go up man! Lol your little hill besides your garden on less pure rock and even then would not be impossible lo make!
That would be a possibility - but the work would be incredible, and I'd still have the problem of not getting good light in the fall, winter and spring due to overcast conditions. Also - there's no real digging on that hill - it's more like mining. Also - I'd have to put trenches around the bed because on days when we get extreme rain (like today) it would flood with all the water running down the hill. Just not worth it here for what little it would produce. Growing a lot in the summer months is a better use of my energy. The design was conceived in Bolivia - 5000 meters above sea level and at the same latitude as Brazil . They get a little more sun there than I do :)
@@maritimegardening4887 lovely response, this was a more in-depth answer than your previous videos on the subject. Felt especially crafted toward those of us who really know your property after watching so much of your content. Thank you again for all the sharing that you do.
@@maritimegardening4887 Check out Drake Landing Community in Alberta, Canada. The summer heat from the sun is stored in earth bank/ battery/heat sink then fuels homes all winter with clean, free energy net zero carbon footprint! ;) French drains?
Seems to me that for such a small root cellar like that, it would take very little time and money to build a simple drainage system so that you can have a small root cellar. It might cost you maybe $30 at most, + time and labor.
Could you not use a weeping tile system to create power free drainage and air circulation to the walipini? Incorporate it into a cold sink to help air flow and water evacuation. Honest question as I don’t know enough myself.
A true Walipini, from the andes is only a little bit below ground level, it's more about thick walls, and an angle that keeps the really intense sun (what ever time of year that comes to you) mitigated,
You need a lot of sun to grow celery. I've found it to grow very poorly here. I grow lovage instead - grows well, tastes like celery, and is perennial - so no work
It's funny I was thinking about your garden and why you haven't made a sunken greenhouse on the hill where you made your squash beds. It faces south and you wouldn't have any water issues since it's above your garden grade and would drain naturally. I think that's an ideal spot for a sunken greenhouse but it will be lots of work moving the soil. Hire a strong young lad and you could have it done in. Weekend.
There's also the issue of not getting good sunlight in fall, winter and spring. I don't think it's worth the effort for this location. The sunken bed runs on sun.
@@maritimegardening4887 you definitely need sun for growing during winter but I also learned that if all my greens and lettuces are established by late summer they continue to grow if even a little thru the fall. My germs are slowing down now in the greenhouse but I still pick them every day. If they last until the end of December I'll be very happy. I also found a commercial greenhouse not far from my house that sells cucs to retail customers for 1 dollar each while the stores are selling them for 2.99 each, big ripoff. Anyway it's also nice opening up a greenhouse and seeing green plants when everything is gray outside. But I can understand its lots of work if there is no payoff.
Wow! Now I understand why my "potato clamp" had all my potatoes floating in 6" of water. It was also 2 1/2 feet deep. What about your videos about using your beer/cola cooler? Would that also take on water? Just wondering here in Atlanta area.
@@maritimegardening4887 good morning period thank you for your response. I remembered that about the drain plug now. Yesterday morning at 7:00 a.m. it was 32 here my garage was just under 50 so I think I'll store them in there in a box just like you mentioned. I still have growing carrots, chard various lettuce,beets, turnips, arugula just harvested all my cayenne peppers. Have a great day. Always look forward to your next video, have a peaceful day.
How do you propose that I "just" create a bermed passive solar greenhouse. This is a channel for backyard gardeners who use hand tools. Generally speaking, you don't "just" create a hill. It's a lot of work :)
@@maritimegardening4887 There's videos of people doing it on youtube with low tech. There definitely is work involved if you don't have advanced tools. That is the trade off.
How does this relate to the fact that you have said you hardly ever have to water your garden all summer long. I thought it was because of the mulch. But having that much water only 2 feet from the surface might have a lot to do with it. Your previous video showed how your garden has a natural slope and that you don’t have water pooling under the soil it just drains away. Is this a contradiction?
It is because of the mulch. It rains all the time in the fall so that's why the water table is so high. It's about 4 feet deep at the height of the summer. My plant roots arent that deep. The soil has moisture because it hangs on to water well and the mulch prevents evaporation. To you secind point - the water drains off in the garden, but it would pool if I dug a deep "basement" into the hardpan.
@@maritimegardening4887 thanks for the clarification. You are my favourite gardening youtube channel. I’m trying to follow all the great tips you give and just finished setting up some raised beds for the first time this fall and mulched them like how you do it. Hope it will be better than what I was doing before. I used to Roto till every year.
You can still do a Walipini with such a high water table you just have to build it above ground like a normal greenhouse, but use hard siding for the back wall and sides and about 4 feet on the lower half of the front. Then mound up dirt all the way around it so your Walipini is essentially inside a huge dirt mound. If you insulate the top of the mound surrounding the above ground walipini, it will stop the frost from going down into the mound ground and be even more effective.
I'm building a wallipini right now, 14x22ft. Dug down 5.5ft, didn't reach water thankfully. Built concrete block all around. Very excited to see how it performs. I'm in Ireland and we don't get very harsh winters so should be good 👍
Walipinis are original of the Andes mountain chain, Bolivia to be exact. The weather in the Andes includes lots of water and snow. Some people just know how to grow and other don't. I have a wilipini in Oregon. Keep up the good work.
I often wondered why you never seemed to bother with watering your garden. Now I know why! It just goes to show that everyone’s circumstances are different and the gardening solution for others may not apply to yourself.
It's the mulching Dave! It's been raining all week. The water table isn't two feet down in the middle of August. Without the mulch the beds need watering.
If you took a 45 gallon drum, buried it to ground level, add enough cement in the bottom to keep it from floating. You might be able to keep your cold storage.
I'v ebeen thinking along those line for 2021 - I think that's the easiest solution
The advice I saw for walipinis in wet substrates was you need a waterproof lining around the whole underground structure as well as any supports and foundations for it to function properly, with a good drain for the inside portion.
That would require an outrageous cash outlay. For most people, for a handful of veg in winter, it just does not make sense
@@maritimegardening4887 Though I suppose it could be justified with vanilla orchids as they are something of cash crop.
I actually did the digging into a hillside here last year, only to find out when fall came that the neighbors house was too close, his trees too tall, and the Southern winter Sun too low in the sky for it to work.
But I got a nice workout… Yay!!!
NOT!!!!
As for a low cost (or free, if my scavenging skills and I had a say in things) greenhouse, have you ever considered an earth ship type structure..? And using soil packed tires as your thermal mass above ground? You could either berm it, or make the walls multiple layers of tires thick. Bonus!! If you staggered the tires when building the wall, you can plant herbs and strawberries into the wall itself too!
Same problem where we lived in GA, near Atlanta, except the red clay made digging almost impossible and then immediately filled with water and started full until the 3 summer months. Here in AL, we have sandy loam, but even though we live on a "mountain", every hole fills with water after every rain, which is usually at least once a week. There's just enough clay silt in the loam to seal the bottom & sides of the hole so it holds water until the next rain. The 3 months of summer drought are the only time you can dig a dry hole and plants cook in the heat so you can't grow anything without shade cloth and irrigation during those months. Interesting how climates can be so different but so alike at the same time.
Same thing here. It would be dry at the the height of summer - when you don't need a walipini garden
I could never have a walipini garden either, it's too hard pan to dig down! All raised beds in Reno,Nevada! Keep well! Must respect!
Most of the time they use a machine to do the digging - which ups the price considerably
stay above the water table with sawdust berms. A little trench around it and voila. Free sawdust from a local mill. Free insulation. Semidump load would cost ya very little.
Maybe instead of digging you can just build up. Mimic a dug out trench by using a mixture of clay, dirt, hay, into a 3ft wall..dig maybe a foot down..use a drainage pipe on a slant to have access water that may come in..possibly feed to the pond to save the hose water...create the same building structure? Just an idea.
Not a bad idea! :)
Quick suggestion for your poor mans root cellar. How about using a pond liner, but to keep water out instead of in?
It would be a solution to the walipini then as well
I'm building one! High water table to but I'm i ain't digging down I'm banking up on all sides. Go up man! Lol your little hill besides your garden on less pure rock and even then would not be impossible lo make!
This was going to be my suggestion.
That would be a possibility - but the work would be incredible, and I'd still have the problem of not getting good light in the fall, winter and spring due to overcast conditions. Also - there's no real digging on that hill - it's more like mining. Also - I'd have to put trenches around the bed because on days when we get extreme rain (like today) it would flood with all the water running down the hill. Just not worth it here for what little it would produce. Growing a lot in the summer months is a better use of my energy. The design was conceived in Bolivia - 5000 meters above sea level and at the same latitude as Brazil . They get a little more sun there than I do :)
See my response
@@maritimegardening4887 lovely response, this was a more in-depth answer than your previous videos on the subject. Felt especially crafted toward those of us who really know your property after watching so much of your content. Thank you again for all the sharing that you do.
@@maritimegardening4887 Check out Drake Landing Community in Alberta, Canada. The summer heat from the sun is stored in earth bank/ battery/heat sink then fuels homes all winter with clean, free energy net zero carbon footprint! ;) French drains?
Seems to me that for such a small root cellar like that, it would take very little time and money to build a simple drainage system so that you can have a small root cellar. It might cost you maybe $30 at most, + time and labor.
Guess drain tiling for that small space is more work than I would care to do.
yep
Could you not use a weeping tile system to create power free drainage and air circulation to the walipini? Incorporate it into a cold sink to help air flow and water evacuation. Honest question as I don’t know enough myself.
I suppose yes if you want to put that kind of time and money into it
A true Walipini, from the andes is only a little bit below ground level, it's more about thick walls, and an angle that keeps the really intense sun (what ever time of year that comes to you) mitigated,
Makes sense
If you have a few sites where you have constant water.......you have celery growing heaven. Celery needs constantly damp soil.
You need a lot of sun to grow celery. I've found it to grow very poorly here. I grow lovage instead - grows well, tastes like celery, and is perennial - so no work
There a guy who did one with drain pipes perhaps that will help u
Oh a gold fish pond❤ does it freeze in the winter and do you have to bring them inside? Or do you cover it in the winter? Oooo show us!
OK I'll show the pond this weekend iff the weather is good
It's funny I was thinking about your garden and why you haven't made a sunken greenhouse on the hill where you made your squash beds. It faces south and you wouldn't have any water issues since it's above your garden grade and would drain naturally. I think that's an ideal spot for a sunken greenhouse but it will be lots of work moving the soil. Hire a strong young lad and you could have it done in. Weekend.
Exactly what I was thinking. It seems ideal for digging into and making a small cavity.
There's also the issue of not getting good sunlight in fall, winter and spring. I don't think it's worth the effort for this location. The sunken bed runs on sun.
@@maritimegardening4887 you definitely need sun for growing during winter but I also learned that if all my greens and lettuces are established by late summer they continue to grow if even a little thru the fall. My germs are slowing down now in the greenhouse but I still pick them every day. If they last until the end of December I'll be very happy. I also found a commercial greenhouse not far from my house that sells cucs to retail customers for 1 dollar each while the stores are selling them for 2.99 each, big ripoff. Anyway it's also nice opening up a greenhouse and seeing green plants when everything is gray outside. But I can understand its lots of work if there is no payoff.
Can you show us your goldfish pond? How do the birds not eat them?
Will do - coming soon :)
Can you Build your Walipini up.. then surround with sand, dirt, and rock like an Indian mound.
Is it really a walipini if its above ground? And besides, it tends to be so foggy and overcast here during winter, it just doesn't make sense
I don't see why a pump is an issue to get the water out then seal the thing.
This was so haphazardly built, its basically un-seal-able.
Ever heard of a bucket or trash can?
Would a raised bed garden be more appropriate in your location?
The garden beds are all either at grade or slightly raised - they all seem to do just fine.
Wow! Now I understand why my "potato clamp" had all my potatoes floating in 6" of water. It was also 2 1/2 feet deep.
What about your videos about using your beer/cola cooler? Would that also take on water? Just wondering here in Atlanta area.
The cooler had water in it too - I think I left the drainage hole in the bottom of the cooler open
@@maritimegardening4887 good morning period thank you for your response. I remembered that about the drain plug now. Yesterday morning at 7:00 a.m. it was 32 here my garage was just under 50 so I think I'll store them in there in a box just like you mentioned. I still have growing carrots, chard various lettuce,beets, turnips, arugula just harvested all my cayenne peppers. Have a great day. Always look forward to your next video, have a peaceful day.
@@DsHomeyGarden Thanks man
just create a bermed passive solar greenhouse.
How do you propose that I "just" create a bermed passive solar greenhouse. This is a channel for backyard gardeners who use hand tools. Generally speaking, you don't "just" create a hill. It's a lot of work :)
@@maritimegardening4887 There's videos of people doing it on youtube with low tech. There definitely is work involved if you don't have advanced tools. That is the trade off.
How does this relate to the fact that you have said you hardly ever have to water your garden all summer long.
I thought it was because of the mulch. But having that much water only 2 feet from the surface might have a lot to do with it.
Your previous video showed how your garden has a natural slope and that you don’t have water pooling under the soil it just drains away.
Is this a contradiction?
It is because of the mulch. It rains all the time in the fall so that's why the water table is so high. It's about 4 feet deep at the height of the summer. My plant roots arent that deep. The soil has moisture because it hangs on to water well and the mulch prevents evaporation. To you secind point - the water drains off in the garden, but it would pool if I dug a deep "basement" into the hardpan.
@@maritimegardening4887 thanks for the clarification.
You are my favourite gardening youtube channel.
I’m trying to follow all the great tips you give and just finished setting up some raised beds for the first time this fall and mulched them like how you do it. Hope it will be better than what I was doing before.
I used to Roto till every year.
And I guess that’s why you don’t have a bigger root cellar.
You got it
dig a little deeper and you got a well
yep
You could always grow rice haha