Afforestation in deserts and arid lands has immense potential for global carbon balance and climate change. The key to desert afforestation is efficient use of scarce water resources and requires innovative, and cost effective, as well as maintenance free technologies for desalination. In this paper, one such methodology is presented. A state of the art solar distillation system is constructed using waste material, which works as an "evaporation accelerator," to remove salt from the root zone. The process is optimized with reference to a host of species, conventionally thought to be suitable for deserts and and areas. The process is numerically simulated and experimentally tested under similar environments of Western Australia. The results obtained from one dimensional and two dimensional column experiments to determine the salt and water movement under desert like conditions clearly indicate that the objective of salt leaching in two weeks can be met cost effectively for a plantation without any outside supply of energy sources. After two weeks, proper drip irrigation would be sufficient to maintain the soil moisture for the survival of the plant.