My Meditteranean Garden in Andalusia (Southern Spain)

Mediterranean Garden

This Mediterranean Garden was not planned , perhaps I conceived the plan to have at least some cacti that I could get from the wild areas of the mountain path we used to walk our Rottie at, and thought to plant some along our fence. One day on my way home , I was passing by the Green depot where locals and foreigners threw their garden cuttings in. While the two huge construction containers got full, who ever placed his cactus cuttings down on the floor had been a blessing for me, because this cactus type is expensive. Oh man, the elongated pieces were so heavy and I was excited to get them into the car.

Originally dumped Succulent called Euphorbia Ingens

Below are those pieces I shot recently and after five years, they all have grown so green and healthy. Some branches sometimes fall off the ground because we always have gusty winds up here and just recently daily for about one week.... what I always do is to replant them somewhere along the fence.

Euphorbia Ingens

Facts: Source

This succulent belongs to the euphorbiaceae family, largely from southern Africa. This species is also known as "Candelabra", due to its particular shape in its round crown glass, highlighting its long branches of a dark green hue.

This was the state of the plant below when I got them and planted for the first time.

Image source

These are the flowers of euporbia ingens, these succulents do not have spikes, but its milky sap is poisonous to both humans and animals.

Garden set-up

I had to put a stone wall at the back of the elevated soil and rocks to protect the area from collapsing. Since our land is so rocky, all I did was to gather the stones and made the wall below. I had fun doing this as I added the soil to elevate the area, I went adding the rocks to form the wall and each time adding the soil behind it.

Image source

Before and After Set-up This is the garden below on the left side of the gate after the set up and the first succulents planted.

Image source

And this is the matured garden on the left side of the gate after 5 years since set-up.

Gathering of the Succulents:

I started accumulating succulents and cacti from my German girlfriend whenever she trimmed her wonderful garden. Her garden is nicely planned and the succulents she grew turned out to have given her a full-time job. So she trimmed and trimmed until she had enough of work and called me and said I had to come - by because she trimmed her garden and that it breaks her heart to throw the good cuttings of succulents. And so , That´s where I have all my plants. I did buy a few succulents from my friend in the coast who owns a Garden Center.

Pandemic Blues

Before the pandemic broke out in Spain, we were able to leave the country by the last week of January 2020 thereby leaving the plants on their own. We only came back last Oct.2021 after 22 months absence. I was very skeptical as to whether the plants would survive because no water was available in our property. We are turning off the electricity every time we leave for home base which means the pump wouldn´t work. A spanish friend takes care of the weeds during Summer.

Brownish color of all the Aloe Brevifolia caused by lack of water for 22 months.

I was fearing already that the garden would be a devastation...but I was astonished that all plants were alive and kicking except for the Aloe Brevifolia and Aloe Vera which became so brown because of lack of water. In the last 2 Summer season, I heard that it did not rain much, so that the water level of all lakes in Spain was critical.

When we came to Spain , I immediately gave them water.... and just have a look at how happy they are now. They all turned green and so healthy!!!

The Agaves were trimmed one by one, I have a dozen including the Agave Americana that is variegated with green and yellow outline of the leaves. All needed some trimming, otherwise the newbies that grow on the sides will become uncontrollable and dangerous because of the spikes in each leaf.

Turning to the left side of the gate, the Aeonium Arboreum are now blooming and inviting the bees to come by.

Aloe ..showing buds and are about to bloom soon..soon soon!!!

The Agave Attenuata is a beautiful succulent that has an elongated flower fully clustered with white small flowers

Carpobrotus acinaciformis - common name is Pig Face or Ice plant. I love them when covering the ground, they give a beautiful sea of pink flowers.

Aloe Brevifolia

Brewed coffee and tea rest
I use brewed coffee and tea rest as fertilizer and spread them around each plant. They are organic and give each plant minerals...Aside from coffee and tea rests I also use the eggshells which I use to fertilize every 3 weeks.

That is all for today! Have a nice weekend ahead, stay safe...... I´ll see you around!!!

All images are owned by @mers

GIF by @gremayo