Plants have been enjoying the beautiful weather and the constant irrigation from the well, and the garden is flourishing. So, unfortunately, is the Bermuda grass, but that is another tale. Since I see it everyday I don’t notice the change so much, but when I show someone around I am thrilled all over again with the incredible change that has happened on this property. There are so many birds, insects, reptiles and other animals either already here or scouting it out that I know the project is a success. It is a habitat, not just for me and my family, but for native flora and fauna as well. It wasn’t so long ago that I had a cracked, weedy asphalt driveway, a termite-ridden rickety porch that needed pest control, a house with a stinky deteriorating carpet and old splotchy paint, a tile kitchen counter with the grout gone in between and a cleaning nightmare, and a yard full of snails, weeds and Washingtonia palm trees, with the embankment eroding each rainfall. Over the last four years we’ve survived some pretty intense construction projects (none of which were done on time, no matter what they promised!). My house still has some repairs that need to be done but I no longer am embarrassed to have anyone over. The garden is wonderful to walk in and explore. I’ve taken some photos this evening to show you how things are growing:
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- Bees enjoying purple coneflowers
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- The luffa squash has mighty asperations.
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- A luffa squash and bloom. They are edible small and green, but I’ll leave them to dry.
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- Five eggs today! Each laying hen participated for the first time! The little girls have grown up.
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- The small lower pond and the palm pathway.
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- The veggie bed.
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- Rushes, fleabane, waterlilies and other plants are growing in nicely around the big pond. The boat is still on loan from Aquascape.
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- A pumpkin tree? This apricot isn’t healthy, but the pumpkins sure are.
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- These bare areas I’ll fill with plants that will make up guilds, each plant filling a niche to help the others grow.
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- The entrance to the bee garden.
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- Native vinegar weed loves a place we left untouched, and so do the bees.
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- Sugar pumpkins ready a little early for Halloween.
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- A feral zucchini, still producing at least one a day.
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- Melons, passionfruit, pitcher plant and many others under the back porch we call the Poop Deck.
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- Very eager bamboo, sugarcane and hops.
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- Olive trees tied to painted PVC pipe to make a hut.
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- The ‘Nest’ beyond the dry stream bed.
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- A thud and a swish… with no warning the neighbor’s tree fell across the fence.
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- A green roof for the entranceway, just beginning to show.
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- The watermelons in the vegetable beds were tiny… these monsters are wild. That one grew on the rock on its own.
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- Entranceway flower tunnel… with dogs waiting to go inside!