Last month we moved out of our run-down house in favor of rented accommodation (we are now dryer, cleaner and more rodent free - thanks for asking).
One consequence of this move is that our garden has been severely neglected. In our absence, it has taken advantage and is now out of control like a wayward teen.
This is eight weeks ago:
This is today:
Rainy season in the tropics. Who knew?!
This past week, our garden has been under attack.
It began when we discovered our entire crop of Chinese broccoli decimated by leaf-cutter ants. Then, a plague of whiteflies appeared and spread cucumber mosaic virus over our tomatoes and pumpkins.
A whitefly on the end of a tomato leaf.
Two days later, an army of red spider mites marched in and attacked our beans and cabbages. Yesterday, caterpillars began grazing on our cucumber leaves and last night our first locust dropped by.
Every day brings new troubles. Our sense of optimism suggests that with five plagues down, we are about half way done. Maybe we are batting six for ten if you count swine flu.
This is not to say that success has alluded us. Most of our Asian vegetables are doing well. These include Chinese water spinach, Chinese broccoli, daikon radish, napa cabbage, white mustard greens, perilla, and chrysanthemum. They seem to thrive in this heat and are relatively resistant to pests and diseases. Our arugula is also plodding along and we are into our second crop within a month.
Since moving in, we have been surprised at what litte waste we are generating.
We started composting and have two bins going, one for kitchen scraps and one for leaf mold. In our tropical climate, the compost is decomposing fast, and after three weeks, a rich black soil has developed in our big blue bin.
In addition to composting, we now shop for almost all our groceries at the central market located a few blocks from our house. We buy a selection of fruits and veges that get placed directly into our Mexican-style shopping bag with zero packaging. What packaging we do aquire (a bag of chocolate mole sauce for example) tends to be thin, flimsy plastic that gets reused at least once before heading to the trash.
At the end of each week, we create three small bags of waste. One contains glass bottles to be recycled, one is food scraps that cannot be composted, and the third (the smallest) is everything else. It’s pretty amazing how much less waste we produce through some minor changes to our daily habits.
![For downtown Mérida, our 450 sqm site is quite large and in desperate need of a good landscape design. Lucky for us our landscape architect friend, Patrick, has graciously offered to lend a hand.
For our first homework assignment, Patrick asked us to think about the “subtle energies of the [site]” and identify its “energetic network”. He further advised that such woo woo (his words) is best done with a little wine. Who knew that landscape architecture could be so boozy.Lacking a clear idea of what he meant, but eager to please, we immediately went on site and commenced drinking. We came up with six key ideas and spent the afternoon diagramming them. In the end, we had six drawings highlighting the following concepts: circulation, thresholds, sight lines, push vs. pull, material transitions, and “organic-ness”.We found a network of interesting moments spread across the site. This tree growing from the roof of the adjacent property is one such moment. The way it grows into the wall makes the building feel alive and wonderfully organic. The building’s owner, who will ultimately see the wall crumble as a result of the tree roots, possibly does not share our view.](http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3458/3386199125_0b72b0e506_o.jpg)
For downtown Mérida, our 450 sqm site is quite large and in desperate need of a good landscape design. Lucky for us our landscape architect friend, Patrick, has graciously offered to lend a hand.
For our first homework assignment, Patrick asked us to think about the “subtle energies of the [site]” and identify its “energetic network”. He further advised that such woo woo (his words) is best done with a little wine. Who knew that landscape architecture could be so boozy.
After an impromptu bit of landscaping (moving large cut limestone blocks to build a path) and emptying what seemed like endless bags of topsoil, we are now fully admiring the fruits of our labor.
As of today, we have french beans, snow peas, water spinach, Chinese broccoli, spinach, big ass tomatoes, and herbs firmly planted in soil. With summer creeping closer and temperatures rising daily, we’re keeping our fingers crossed that some of the vegetables survive.
Our quest to find a vivero (plant nursery) over the weekend led us north of the city along the Periférico (the large highway that circles Mérida). Driving west on the Periférico, between highway 178 (to Motul) and 261 (to Progresso), we were suddenly in vivero heaven, with about a dozen of them dotting the highway.
Based on a discussion board thread we read at Yolisto, we decided to go directly to a vivero called La Flor de Xochimilco, named after the UNESCO World Heritage site Xochimilco located in Mexico City.
The vivero did not disappoint. If it grows in Yucatan, they’ve got it. We even found fresh oregano and thyme, staples we’ve been missing since moving to the city.
In addition, they sold dirt, which comes in two varieties: standard and premium. Although we didn’t quite catch what the difference was, we opted for premium as it cost only six pesos more than standard.
In total, a bag of premium topsoil (approximately two cubic feet) cost us $38 pesos. We purchased 90 bags. Another $100 pesos for same-day delivery (schlepped from the truck to our garden by three rather strong employees) and we’ve got the start of our garden.
Now all we need to do is lay out the new soil, add water and start growing.
Four days of effort finally yielded a small hole in the ground that will become our vegetable plot. Who knew digging out 5x4 meters of dirt would be so hard.
The existing soil was worthless so it had to go. In order to experience the joy of shoveling dirt in 95 degree heat, we first had to break up and remove a six inch layer of concrete that sat on top of it.
Now that the hole is dug, it’s time to find a local vivero (nursery) who can deliver us some topsoil.
We got great news today. We will be closing on our house this Friday, so if all goes well, we will soon have the keys and the house will be ours!
One of our first tasks is to start a garden to help supplement our diet with vegetables we are unable to get locally (like pea sprouts, mustard greens and fennel root). During our last trip NOB, we bought seeds in preparation for the grand and glorious garden of our dreams.
That said, Brent’s been reading about gardening in the Yucatán and discovered a few things. The layer of topsoil is thin; dig down 6 inches and you’ll likely hit solid limestone (not a good start). The dirt we’ll buy to thicken this layer will filter down through the limestone and be lost forever. Once planted, our vegetables will be attacked by a menagerie of tropical insects and diseases. And finally, what the bugs don’t get, the iguanas will finish off in the night while we sleep.
This, however, will not deter us especially when yummy food lies at the other end of the trail. To kick it all off, we planted some seeds (hyacinth beans pictured above) in preparation for our move in date. So far, so good.
