Long before I found somewhere to live by myself, I wrote a list of all the plants I wanted to grow in my garden. I not only wanted eatable plants, but some very colourful ones too. Unfortunately, I didn’t know that in flats or units the owners are usually the ones responsible for maintaining the garden, and this was the case with the unit I found. So I had to be creative to have at least some of the garden I wanted.
I liked my small low maintenance garden at the entrance to my unit but it started to look unkempt after a while. I wanted it to look nice, not to please other people but so that when I saw it I would smile. I wanted to be able to say - That’s my garden! So instead of waiting for the owner to come and work on it, I fixed it up. Only removing enough of the overgrowth to make it look a neat and loved garden.
However, there is only so much you can do with a garden where you can’t put plants in the ground, except with the owner’s permission. So what I did was compromise! How? By collecting coolite boxes (about 57 cm long x 28 cm wide x 26 cm high) which were used to transport vegetables, from supermarkets or anywhere else I could find them. I also collected the free local newspaper and bought potting mix, mushroom compost and sugar cane mulch.
I pushed a gardening fork through the base of the coolite box three times – one near each end and once in the middle. I them put three layers of newspaper in the bottom that went slightly up all the sides. Next I put in some sugar cane mulch, then a mixture of the potting mix and mushroom compost. I finished with another layer of sugar cane mulch around the top to help keep moisture in.
In each box I planted something different – wombock, parsley, aloe vera, nasturtium, and spring onions. Originally these were place in my back courtyard which was concreted and very hot. I purchased garden stakes and hung shade cloth over them so the plants didn’t burn. Later a front Bagola covered with shade cloth was added to my unit, so I moved my plants around under it.
Over time I experimented with what plants grew well where I lived and which ones just died. I then started to collect some flowering plants and put them in pots. I dotted the more sun hardy plants which were either in boxes or pots, through the garden bed in front of my unit. Wow! What a difference all the different plants make to the look of my place. The owner has even commented several times as to how good my garden looks and how much he appreciates my effort.
What’s more – I can move all the different plants around changing the look of the front of my place from looking like an overgrown jungle when there is plenty of rain and the plants in the ground grow well; to a simple low coverage well maintained garden during the dryer months. Not only this, but when or if I move to a new place, I can take my ready-made garden with me to my new place of residence.
Was it easy putting aside what I really wanted to do and make this compromise so that I at least had some of the plants I wanted? No! It also took me quite a while to get around to doing it and I still don’t have all the plants on my original list. However, it is not something I have regretted compromising on. I enjoy my garden with its wide variety of eatable and non-eatable plants.
Until next time – remember, safety first!