Re: garden planning

Margaret,

I am staggered by the daunting task you have set yourself.
I have no experience with extreme conditions, so these are just random thoughts.
I remember reading years ago about planting in the Sahara. They didn't mulch in the usual way, but used something quite unusual to hold moisture in the soil around the roots - was it asphalt?
When some trees are grown in situ, they develop a taproot, rather than just the fibrous roots that nursery-grown and transplanted trees have. I think this might be an advantage for a dry windy site - to sow the seeds where you want your windbreaks to be. If you sow lots of seeds, some should survive - you mentioned that a move of a few metres makes a big difference in adaptability.
Some famous gardens in Scotland could only be planted after windbreaks were established, and the windbreaks themselves were utilitarian, not decorative.
Windbreaks that seem advantageous can later be considered detrimental. Pines were used a lot in South Africa and are now being removed. 



Diane Whitehead
Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
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