Some more lockdown projects: building stone walls and succulent gardens and other garden disasters
Everyone is very sick of lockdown by now except me, I had to go back to my job in retail very early on because my work was classed as an essential service but being back at work and earning helped employ and support some families who weren't working and had zero access to state support, due to the shambolic and corrupt governance in my country. Having captive neighbours was good for me, the man who did the work is good at what he does and often unavailable so I was glad to have him around to build this stone wall for me. We used a lot of stone that was already on my place, as well as some we collected from the hillside next to my house.
Although we used mortar, the wall is built as a retaining wall , with a lot of stone behind it so that water behind the wall drains away quickly so the soil layer behind it is not very thick, creating a perfect sunny spot for a succulent garden and I was glad to get planting.
Some of the plants closeup:
Sedum nussbaumerium and a dwarf aloe behind it
Kalanchoe "Fang", Trailing Jade, Graptoveria "Fred Ives"
Aloes, crassulas, mesembs, cotyledons, sedum and the tall plant is a Kalanchoe beharensis
This area gets strong sun, which colours up the plants really well
Jade "Hummel's Sunset", sedums in front, Graptopetalum paraguayense and cotyledons on the left. I've forgotten what the purple plant behind is called.
Those with sharp eyes would have noticed the large bush in the background. It came up by itself due to the smoking habits of the man who built the wall. I'm not a smoker, but I left it there since it's a good cash crop. The bush was getting large and starting to flower and then disaster struck. We had some odd little storms with a lot of wind and one morning I woke up to find this:
It's tough and has kept on growing but not as well as before and the harvest is going to be reduced.
The weather has been weird generally and it's now unpleasantly hot and dry, with everything left in the sun roasting unless it's moved. First we had 3 weeks of non-stop rain that made a lot of plants either growing rampantly or rotting and now all that excessive growth is frying in the sun. I took this picture during the nonstop rain. Some of the cacti flourished but I lost quite a few.
I like the way dew forms droplets on the cabbage leaves, I noticed that it's common with all varieties of cabbage. The tomatoes grew like crazy with the rain but the harvest hasn't been good so the vegetable garden has been a mixed bag this season. I still deciding what to plant as winter crops. I have kohlrabi that I am excited to try
The rest of the yard is still under construction and I'll feature what else I have been doing later as it gets completed.
This post is for the Garden Journal challenge, hosted by @riverflows, that you can find here
Very nice! It's good for our souls to create and live in beautiful green surroundings.
Thabk you! My back yard has been ugly as hell for long enough and I couldn't agree with you more
wow, the wall is impressive. Your neighbour sure knows what he is doing. 😊
And the succulents. They look very comfortable in the new environment. Great job!
Thank you! Hhe succulents are all plants I have had in pots for some years already so they are used to the conditions here and got comfortable quickly
👍😊
Awesome to see a succulent garden post for the challenge! I love my succulents as they survive in the worst of the summer when other things dont, and their flowers always suprise me! I love how they are all nestled in the rocks too.
I just planted kohlrabi seeds - I love the stuff! Great post and thanks so much for sharing!
Thank you :) I cant justify using scarce and expensive water on garden plants so I only grow what's suited to my climate and keep the stored rainwater for the vegetables.
Kohlrabi is new to me so it's all just a big experiment at this stage. I like the way they look
They are quite alien aren't they? My german Nana used to cook them all the time. They are nice raw, thinly sliced - kinda crunchy and watery. But you can also boil or steam them and layer them in a gratin, like a potato gratin - or layer with potatoes and kohlrabi! So good. I cant' recommend them highly enough. Whereabouts do you live for water to be expensive and scarce?
I can't wait to try them, I'll sow some seeds today
I'm in Johannesburg, South Africa, which is a drought-prone country. Growing urbanisation is putting pressure on water supplies and a city to my South, almost ran out of water completely. Here, we have a system where you are allocated a certain amount free. After that, it's a sliding scale and you pay more and more per KL that you use. Heavily irrigated gardens are a complete no here
I love your stone wall for the succulent garden. I recognized the erect kalanchoes from afar it looks great. And your graptoveria looks great. Not to mention the droplet effect on that cactus You have beautiful specimens and I see you have them in pots too. In the publication with peanuts. They are very large and beautiful.
Good thing that big tree didn't fall on top of your garden.
Thank you! We have a perfect climate for succulents and cacti most of the time so they do well
Oh how lovely that succulent garden is! I have a few little cacti in pots in my office, but I love to see all yours together. Like @riverflows I'm a big fan of kohlrabi, so I hope you have success with it. We've gotten some out of the garden a few times. It's also abundant at the farmers market around here.
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Thank you! I'll share my progress on the kohrabi. I actually got interested in growing it after seeing posts here on Hive
Prrrrrrr!
Wow! Quite a drastic improvement to your garden!! Love the stone wall; sorry to see that broken branch! Incredibly strong wind! It must have been a twister! Lots of interesting plants. I hope they’ll do very well in the coming months.
Thank you, I always wanted to have a stone wall like this around, they are magical. Many of them are happy and grow well during our winter so they should settle in well
That’s very nicely made stone wall! Would love to see an update with bigger plants!
What a beautiful yard you are creating.
All of us that have gardens are always at the mercy of Mother Nature.
Your neighbor sure knows how to build a stone wall. There is nothing like using the natural resources provided in the area one lives.
Good idea to leave the cash crop growing. You may not smoke, but at least you knew what you were looking at. They call it weed for a reason and you know what gardeners do with weeds, we pull them out.
Good luck sprucing up the remainder of your yard, by the time everything is done, it will surely become a haven of comfort.
Have a wonderful weekend.
Thank you for your kind words, have a good weekend too
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I love the stone wall and all the succulents planted around! just lovely!
Thank you!