Thursday, March 01, 2012

Call me a Gardener

Well I'm trying. Been collecting dry material from the yard and around the neighborhood, finally found a place I can buy cheap cow manure and am building a compost. Four bags of manure (like below) for 20 pesos ... I gave him 40.  Mainly I'm just short of plain soil to add to the mix. I gained a bit of soil today digging for new plantings and using compost for fill.    I can enrich the soil for plants that are already in but eventually want a few raised beds for vegitables and need decent composed fill.

I planted one banana a few weeks ago but it suddenly turned brown so I got about 5 more from neighbors. Left the old one in to see if it would recover. This time all with compost fill and fertilizer. Should be the very small sweet and the Chiquita style

The other trees are from a florist up the coast. Very glad my Avocado is coming back after a sloppy transplant. There was nothing but the "trunk" a week ago.

There are too many kinds of Sapodilla/Zapote/Sapote to figure out what kind of fruit this tree will produce ... but supposedly it will reach 20-30 feet some day. just have to keep it away from my dog who likes to excavate everywhere I water.

The Almond tree in front on the street survived hurricane Jova (had to plant deeper) but I'm not sure it will survive the neighbor kids. Two branches are missing on the lower level. Almonds (almendras) are an odd tree and not really a favorite but so many people use them on the street for shade I thought I'd give it a try.

Start of compost

Two lime trees in the back of the garden

New bananas along with 3 more

Almond on street that kids keep breaking branches

Chico Zapote caged from dog

Star Fruit

Coastal Avocado

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

hi there,

i would think you'd need more space between the banana trees. perhaps you should transplant one. they will need more room so their roots can grow well.

teresa in nagoya

Calypso said...

Good work amigo. Check this out:
http://weblife.org/humanure/

sparks_mex said...

Thanks teresa
The first died so fast I just wanted to get them in the ground. Yes I've seen how much room they take after awhile.

Interesting site John. Got some reading to do

Steve Cotton said...

I still want to try my hand at heirloom tomatoes. Have you tried anything similar?

norm said...

The recipe: a yards worth of lawn clippings, a gallon pail of dog crap, a few pounds of top soil and 5-10 pounds of urea. 3 months just sitting out and it turns into soil. Works on leaves as well but the end product will need a few handfuls of lime to knock back the PH at the end of the process before you add it to your soil. Straight from Mother Earth about 30 years ago. The easiest, composting system I have used.

sparks_mex said...

Steve - No veggies yet ... only some sweet corn that didn't do too well.

Norm - And I have a dog but waiting 3 months for the poop to break down is too long. I've been using mine in 3-4 weeks by keeping it wet and turning often

Andean said...

I found you can start anything in a container until you find the right place or soil in the garden, sometimes they're better off when young or small, helps them not get trampled or eaten by animals. I grow all my cooking herbs in pots, basil, oregano, thyme rosemary, sage... and mint grows wild, can take over a garden if not contained.

sparks_mex said...

Andean - I thought about that after Steves question and what all the poor people use here are 5 gallon plastic paint buckets and I have plenty. Next project!!

Also rather than do what Norm said I found sites that show you how to make a dog poop septic. Just a garbage can or plastic bucket with (holes/no bottom) in the ground with a top. Add water and septic additive. Better than throwing in empty lot next door.

Andean said...

Sparks, they do know best.
As far as tomatoes go I have always grown them in pots and they thrive. In the summer (and a short growing season here) a couple of plants produce too many to use and we all try to give them away to friends or neighbors! Its fun to try a variety as some do better then others in different conditions. Have fun with your gardening. Trial and sometimes error.

The construction of the house finished in April 2011 and I'm pretty much settled in. As of March 2014 I'm in preparation for rain mode for this coming summer. That includes sealing and painting things and dealing with drainage issues from last year.

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