I have learned a few things by trial and error that may be helpful to other gardeners,  especially gardeners in Hawaii or rainy areas.

I have been gardening for more than 20 years in the same area.  It has taken many shapes and forms.  Square, round and now linear mounds.  The circle garden is still the  center of the garden energy and I love it.  Several months ago I was responding to the uncertainty of our planet by planning for more sustainable catching water and growing food.  The food part has really been a surprise.  Let me tell you about it.

I have doubled my gardening foot print by creating four 16 foot long mounds, about two feet high.  The soil and ground preparation consisted of bringing in some beautifl mulchy soil and mixing it with my compost.  The mounds were covered in weed barrier cloth, with one foot troughs between them.  I then cut X’s into the cloth and dropped in new plant starts.

It has been all planted out for a month or so and the results are shocking.  Plant growth that doubles the size of my ordinary plants of the same age.  The proof is in the pudding, and the pudding tastes good.  The benefits are not just the amount of produce.  It is the soil that I am saving.  Normally our soil here in rainy land gets leached out of all of its nutrients very quickly.  Heavy rain turns our ground into clay.  Now the heavy rains just roll off, not taking much of the soil nutrients with it.  That will pay for it self for years of growing.

Side benefits of this method are lack of weeds, contolled watering through the X’s, and a clean ground cover to protect the plants that get knocked over in the rain and wind.

I would recommend a 20′ x 20′ space with 4 rows of 32 plants per row with high fences around the outside for beans, peas and other vines making the perimeter.  That would produce enough food to feed a few families at least.  A good use of a samll plot of land in changing times.