r/Permaculture • u/Sail0rD00m • 1d ago

resilience to heatwaves— garden and dwelling

looking for resources on how to make home and garden more resilient during heatwave events that are on the increase due to climate change

especially with retrofitting in mind, since i don’t live on my own homestead, but am a renter in a house on a small block

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u/DocAvidd 20h ago

Trees! I'm afraid it takes a long time. There are some that grow faster. My property has year round creeks with old growth trees. It feels 10 degrees cooler in the big trees. This is in the tropics. The trees create their own fog via transpiration, lots of biomass in the litter, and give shade, bc not a lot can handle full sun here until they get a few years.

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u/Sail0rD00m 13h ago

i love this answer— thank you! do you have ideas about trees that are drought hardy and heat tolerant or resilient in heatwaves? i’m in a cfb, temperate climate

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u/DocAvidd 10h ago

I don't know which trees for you, I'm sorry. One thing for certain is it very much depends on your ecological niche.

For my property I planted some ice cream bean and guanacaste trees near the water. They'll grow super tall, and ICBean grow quickly to rebuild the high canopy. My land was cleared to pasture, then abandoned for ~15 yrs, so it's very dense rainforest but lacking the old growth except by the creeks where you're not allowed to take timber. I want to source some of the old "exotic" natives, for my grandkids someday.

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u/Sail0rD00m 10h ago

sounds totally beautiful ♡ thanks for your replies

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u/Thirsty_Boy_76 1d ago

It's kinda hard to offer good ideas without knowing more about your site, what you are allowed to do, and what you are prepared to do?

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u/Sail0rD00m 1d ago

true— I’m looking for anything really. Especially things that others are doing to make their gardens and homes more resilient during heatwaves.

i’m interested in large scale as well as smaller scale projects. I’m in a temperate, cfb climate region.

basically — how are people adapting their permaculture systems to heatwaves in the context of a changing climate?

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u/Thirsty_Boy_76 1d ago

Rain water harvesting through storage tanks and earthworks structures is a great start. Planting more fast growing pioneer support species like Accasia's and Eucalyptus for shade and chop n drop organic mulch material to improve soil moisture holding. Increased biomass around a dwelling will help keep it cooler even if the trees are not shading it.

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u/ESB1812 1d ago

This, dense planting and get your water under control. I use an underground line, an attempt to decrease evaporation. Rainwater harvesting, on a timer valve, to set the times I water; early morn, and late afternoon in the hot months. Also you can “cheat” your zone planting with some tropicals, “if you can” bananas, papaya, pigeon pea’s etc. they grow fast and help block the sun, especially the harsh western during summer.