My garden is the 10x5m backyard of the restaurant I used to own, and above which I still live with my daughter. It's been a little over 5 years now, and the changes are exuberant. When the owner of the house came to visit once, he couldn't believe that it was the barren, suffocating piece of dust I had rented had become a paradise for humans, hummingbirds, insects, Nero the Cat, big black bumblebees, curious dogs of clients.
This is my favorite rose. I didn't edit the picture at all, that was just the perfect light in the perfect moment to capture that picture. Just like form my roof top, the sunsets are the most beautiful time in my garden.
This is how it started. A lot of dirt. Here, I had already planted some ferns, and put some mint in the corners. When I arrived, there was:
2 tangerine trees
3 lemon trees (can't say that without having the song in my head...)
2 half-dead apple trees
2 lavender bushes
2 rosemary bushes
2 Agave plants
1 huge agave-like plant (behind the tangerine tree in the background)
1 climbing rose
1 yellow-red rose
1 rose rose
This is how the same part looks now. I removed the bars that were reserved for the climbing rose, cut them in half, and used them as a fence to separate the "public" space from the "private" space (the private part is where the hot stuff grows. Chili. Stop thinking dirty... Also dill and all the things that I don't want kids to get into.)
The first thing I started planting was mint. Corsican mint, as I was told, a creeper that smells wonderfully. It's perfect for having kids around, they smell a lot better when they come out of the garden. Also, the amount mosquitoes is a little lower than in the rest of the surroundings.
The focus didn't turn out well in this picture, sorry for that. My cellphone is just not the best anymore. But with all that blurry green, you can imagine that the mint has since taken over most parts of the garden, except for the most "traveled" ones. It doesn't have deep roots, and dies off pretty quickly in dry season - but always comes back. With a bit of extra effort.
The good thing is that even in the definitely not at all perfect soil (a lot of concrete rests in the ground), most things still grow happily. These plants are some of the newer ones, and have already gotten beautifully big.
These are the best example for how Ecuador works. A few years ago, I stuck 4 sticks in the ground, each around 30cm long. 15cm below the ground, 15cm above. Now, they're 4 huge tree-bush-like-black-bumblee-magnets, always buzzing and humming in a way that can be quite scary. But the bees usually just gather nectar, and never bother. I tried to find a better picture, when they're in full bloom, because that's just the best time. It's all lilac color. The trees-bushes are called "Oregón" (I think) here, as they smell like a mix of oregano and lemon.
We have a lot of flower pots, too. Everywhere. They're all recycled. Most of them are either old gallon pots of vinegar or ketchup, or buckets of mustard or mayonnaise. Cut out a little, drill some holes, spray-paint the whole thing and done. I had a gazillion of those, but some break with time - the sun here is not a friend of plastic of any kind.
I have quite a variety of plants in the garden now. Here are some more shots of whatever it might be. I'm terrible with names, but whatever grows, grows.
This is the view towards my dill/rucula/chili part of the garden. The new ones are sprouting, as you can see in one of my later posts. There's a few Iris plants, too, that I weed out regularly as they propagate quickly. I have white and purple ones, and currently, only one white one is blooming.
There is more to my garden spaces. There's a little one in the front, too. It's like a little hole in the concrete ground, where a tall hibiscus was growing. We trimmed it several times, as it was ugly and not very flowery, and now it's more like a dense bush again. Not in flower season yet, but it does have nice orange flowers.
There are a few fire-cracker plants as well, and my absolute favorites - Flor de un día/ One day flower/ Tiger Lily. They're the absolute best. I love how they look, and they just sprout everywhere as I take all the organic leftovers to the compost in the back (below the organón plants).
This is my rooftop garden. Experimental. Just wanted to see what happened. All those pots are recycled 20l-frying-oil buckets. They work nicely. Things don't grow that well in them, though it depends. The peas were amazing, Lily and I ate them right before ripening, so they were super sweet. Most of things that grow here are the leftovers. Some onions stuck in a plastic bag developed roots? Cut the lower part off, plant them back. Same for cabbage. green onions. Peas that were forgotten just a little too long. Spilled Amaranth? Or Chia? No, no garbage - into the experimental pots.
This is the last part of my garden. East facing balcony - the only one that is protected from rain, so it works for tomatoes. Some potatoes have snuck into the pot, but it seems like there's enough nutrients for now.
So, that's my garden. I hope you enjoyed the little trip, as much as Nero enjoys his. And yes, I promised this post 2 weeks ago, but you know, life. Wish you all a beautiful day/night!
