Hive Gardener friends!
My garden this month is intensively vibrant, challenging and gloriously bountiful!! Following a pretty laborious first year re-taming the space, and following a scalding-hot summer with added insect life which has made it very difficult to even spend the watering time there... now things are calming into the most wonderful symbiosis and harmony. Heaven!!
The mano di buddha citrus tree is throwing out these glorious sculptural forms - especially the first one above, is really like a hand, and is the biggest fruit I've seen on the tree since it was planted around 10 years ago.
Again, this garden doesn't belong to me, and I am using it as my own because the (technical) owner has abandoned it: there was a period where the space was very neglected and became a jungley mess, so it has required immense efforts to both tame the wild growth and to grow the soil and nurture/ train the fruit trees...
Just along from the Buddha's Hand lemon, there are some bitter oranges which are in fruit and a beautiful small mandarine orange tree which unfortunately has suffered quite a lot from the neglect. It is coming back to health with a good leaf form this year, and I am using it in the meantime to grow a zuccha (pumpkin) up.
The zuccha is planted in a pot outside the garden, which I salvaged and filled with healthy soil, and which I maintain - it also has some mint and periodical rucula/ rocket in.
And this is another pot in the street that I water: there's a young zuccha which is doing well, and I just planted some pepper and spinach seedlings there too... Sometimes the cats dig up delicate small plants, or folks throw rubbish into the planters, but over the years it is getting easier to grow things there, as folks see the improvement and appreciate the efforts I make to chat with them. Mutual respect is such a powerful connector and leveller.
The caper berries/ cucunci are bursting open now and revealing their seeds, which I am harvesting and planting in a few places where they may or may not flourish: capers are notoriously challenging to get going from seed, but taking up the abundance of seeds and throwing them strategically around - there's every possibility that a few plants will grow :-D This is increasingly my approach with many plants, and seems to be a beautifully rewarding method that harmonises with Nature's power.
Entering the garden here - it's hard to illustrate what's going on, as there are so many layers of growth, and my wee phone camera can't pick up the subtlety of colours and shapes...and the light differences! Plus there's just sooooo much going on... E.g. above, we're looking through an olive and a fig tree, with grapes on both sides of the steps, and pumpkins, jasmine and ringosperma (a kind of hardy jasmine) growing all interwoven with each other.
So I can just try and give a general overview and some snapshots, to try and convey the good vibes; but all these snaps are just from the first two tiers of the garden - the rest is even busier, and I'll share more later about that! This is when you turn right as you enter the garden, and go down under the grape vine pergola, where I have a lot growing in the shadows.
With the regular watering, there's a spontaneous 'lawn' thriving; it is made up of many edible leaves, some of which I have to keep pulling out - but I crop baskets-full of fresh greens for my meals, and adore having a more varied choice of greens than would be available if I were buying them packaged! Above is plantago/ plantain, shooting up quickly with the (fractionally) cooler weather.
The portulaca or purslane plants are also flourishing: one of my favourite salad leaves ever!
And this wonderful amaranthus is huge now: I'm letting it go to seed and will save some to grow the greens later.
Above is one of the few things I'm growing from seed and which are thriving easily in the heat and light: a chard I think - though I tend not to label things! Heheh... Either way, there are multiple strategically-positioned seedlings that seem to be rooting well - here in amongst chive, blackcurrant bush, marrows and basil :-D
Some exotic berry tree which I saved from under a marauding jasmine beast... I forget the name, but sense we researched it and found what it was... It has never made fruits yet, so I'll post here as and when it does! The berry tree was stunted and bent over, and had not grown much in a decade - but it is shooting up now that it has been freed into light and air. Mmmmmm.
Hanging down nearby, under the pergola, are these uve fragola or strawberry grapes: they are wonderful to eat, and are already ripening, so I can pick a bunch to snack on whilst I'm watering - I love 'getting paid by nature' like that!
There are not so many olives as in past years, as the weather has pulled a lot of them off the trees - which isn't an issue for me, as I harvested and conserved about 3 + years' worth, back when I was clearing the jungle-garden! I have loads of jars just waiting, and the olives in them becoming tastier and tastier over time! I will pick and gift some this year though.
If you love pumpkins, you won't be bored by the next stream of photos, which are my 'pride and joy' - I get so excited seeing the steady growth when I visit each day - and seeing the forms and colours change and expand... The above pic has a pumpkin growing up behind the olive - and this is illustrative of how most of the zucche are thriving in the garden.
The pumpkins are growing ferally down from the first level, in front of the big stone wall, then up through the branches of olive, lemon and fig trees.
I LOVE SEEING THIS PARTNERSHIP IN NATURE!
It is one of the most deeply-satisfying aspects of gardening, for me: to see a plant that I seeded, coming into harmony with another plant or tree; nature filling space, and thriving as it should, through our discernment and vision....
I'm here just tweaking - adding a border here, a rock there, guiding a shoot towards more light or a gentler microclimate.
Not all of the choices I make are for the best of all elements - sometimes I have to sacrifice one plant for the better of the whole, and for the betterment of my own wellbeing and other humans...
But overall I feel that the garden is in tune with the elements, with a very-long-term vision of harmony and symbiosis, including a great abundance of energetic expansion!
I'm affirmed of this, as new plants come into the equation without having been seeded: there are new giant spinach, artichokes, asparagus, and all kinds of leafy sprouts and tree saplings - an enthusiastic hoard of spirits who want to join in with the project, and who offer their contribution freely, easily and generously.
My part is just listening, and maintaining humility and gratitude 🙏
