Green Thumb!

I've always been pretty good with plants but lately, it's not been that good. Quite frankly, i can even say it's been quite a disaster. I've managed to lost quite a few cactus (seriously, how did that happen?), a few plants that i've bought got either too much water or not enough, either too much sun or not enough but bottom line is that they're all dead. And that's without mentioning the veggies i planted which were growing good and then from one day to another, just shriveled up and rot. Nor the countless seeds i planted that didn't even pretend to grow.

I know plants are not like pieces of furniture: they need time, attention and care. At least most of them. I'm only blaming myself, and maybe a serie of bad luck that i've been going through lately. I've been extremely busy at work, i haven't taken the time to take proper care of my beloved plants, i've been exhausted and recently, unable to use one of my hands, my left one obviously, so not a very good gardener all together.

This morning, since i'm still stuck at home for another week because of mentioned wounded hand, i decided to do some long needed dusting. And when i made it to the shelf where my plants are, i noticed that some of them needed watering. 

I've always had orchids because i think they're just beautiful plants but unfortunately, i've never been lucky with flowers, less of it with orchids and they've all died on me. Since we moved in where we're currently living, i got myself an orchid at the local supermarket for something like €5. A beautiful dark pink almost purple tiny orchid. I had it for several weeks when naturally, the flowers dried up and died. I then decided to cut the stem on which the flowers had grown and kept the plant hydrated. And it's been standing still for months. 

Up until this morning, when i noticed this:

My orchid has a new growing leaf, which gives me high hopes on it blossoming again sometime in the future. I can't believe i've actually managed to get an orchid growing again. Has my wheel of bad luck with plants finally turned? Am i getting my green thumb again?

In a few more months, we'll be living in my man's grandfather's house. There is a massive garden and 2 gigantic balconies. I'll finally get room for more plants and most important: the proper sun exposure for them. Can't wait!

My New Project

I always have so many projects going on in my life and in my head and i'm always extremely excited about them all. Tonight is no different and to say that i'm excited about this one would be an understatement.

A few weeks ago, or maybe it was a few months ago already, a friend of mine did an outstandingly awesome artwork for his parents-in-law and then another one for his wife and in all honesty, i was green with envy. And i kind of felt a pinch of jealousy as well, not having that kind of gift myself. Well that was until tonight. 

I was chatting with a friend of mine and we were talking plants, garden and my wish on growing heirloom vegetables instead of the traditional ones you get to find at your local supermarket or grocery store (for those of you who don't know what heirloom veggies are, they are what we call in French "forgotten vegetables", those veggies that are old as dirt but that nobody else but passionate gardeners grow in their garden). 

She said it'd be a great idea and deplored the fact that she can't grow any kind of plant, even the easiest to care for. And that's when i remembered 2 things: 

- i do have green thumbs and can grow any kind of seed (with the exception of flowers, i'll work on it, i promise, but for now, flowers are definitely not my thing)

- a friend of mine had the same problem with plants and i actually care for her plants every time i was visiting her.

And i thought ... why not doing this "i take care of your plants" thingy again. Problem is: my friend is living pretty much on the other side of the world. We're not on the same continent and there's the Atlantic Ocean in between us two! 

That's when "i live in the 21st century" actually is an awesome thing: i can video call with her, i can send her written tutorials and genius idea: i can make little videos and send them to her with some basic advises for whatever plant she's willing to grow.

She sounded excited about the idea - obviously i was even more excited than she could ever be!! - and she's going to the nursery on Monday. I've never wanted it to be Monday that early in the week-end! I don't even recall wanting a Monday to arrive earlier EVER! LOL.

Obviously, since i'm still living in that rabbit hole, i won't be able to make video tutorials just yet but i don't care, i have this awesome project to help my friend sort her problem with growing plants and that's so exciting. Projects are fun. And this one is like doing my own garden already - but long distance. I can't wait to see the results. I'm sure she'll do great!

We're starting off easy, with cactus and perennial plants. Then we'll move on. Maybe one day i'll even managed to help her grow flowers! Who knows!

These Boots Are Made For Walking

That's just what they'll do ...
And one of these days these boots are gonna
Walk
All
Over
YOU

I just adquired a pair of boots. I mean gardener's boots. That's what the tag says. They are black non-even-remotely-fancy boots and i already LOVE them. Now i want it to be tomorrow morning so i can slip my feet in and go all the way down that road a few blocks away from my house that i have been avoiding like the plague lately cuz i lost one of my tennis shoes in the mud. I also so hope it's gonna pour tonight ALL night so it's nice and muddy tomorrow and i'll be so excited with my boots. I'll most likely be like a little kid playing in the mud. Cuz that's how i am. I enjoy the simple things of life and it's been how long since i last played in the mud with new boots? An eternity.

So right now, i'm gonna christen them in my garden - cuz i have to walk within rotten mangos, rotten leaves and most likely bugs and shit like that (a few weeks ago my dog even found a snake) - i have no idea what i'll be doing in my garden (probably picking up the last mangos of the season ... FINALLY) but i just want to wear them and get them wet.

WOOOO.

Love it already =)




PS: believe it or not, i cant find one single picture of boots like mine. So i guess i'll take a picture of them, obviously as i wear them ;)


*** UPDATE ***
First of all, here you go for the picture of the famous boots ...

Fancy hey? jajaja. And with my green sweat pants shorts, very appropriate for gardening. Am I rocking the gardener's outfit or what?

So just came back from my garden, damn, my arms are going to KILL me tomorrow. I moved tons (or what seemed like tons) of gravels over ground recently cleaned up so that weed doesnt grow ( and i mean i still dont have bought a wheelbarrow so i did it all with a SPADE (OMFG)), collected all the trash that the ex-owner kindly left behind, bathed my dog, contemplated how many mangos are STILL hanging on the trees (*gasp*) and felt man, this place is freaking AWESOME.

So now it is high time to get myself a reward for doing all that and i'm going out to eat sushis! WOOOO.


  

Mangos, Mangos and More Mangos

The first thing i noticed when i visit the property i end up buying, apart from the amazing amount of space outside, was the 2 big mango trees ON THE PROPERTY ITSELF. And i was like "FUCK YEAH". I honestly didnt looked at the inside of the house much. I was obsessed by the simple fact that i was gonna be the proud owner of two mango trees.

My whole time dream.

Mango is my favorite fruit in the world. I discovered it when i was living in Ireland when my boyfriend of the time brought one home for me to try. Imported of course. 2 euros a mango, better be good.

So when i arrived in Mexico and i saw that the KILO of mango is not even 2 euros, that you can actually get mangos off of trees on the street for free, i was like, hell yeah i belong here.

Mexico is actually the 3rd country for mango production (behind India (far far first) and China) and if i remember well what i've been taught, mango is one of the 5 most produced fruit here (with corn, coffee, tobacco and marijuana i can't remember what's the last one).

And how happy was i when i realized that i was going to move in just on time to harvest my own mangos. Seriously, how COOL is that?
What i wasnt aware of though is HOW MUCH bloody mangos a mango tree produce. I mean.
OH
MY
GOD

I have been eating mangos like an insane woman who hasnt been eating anything but roots in like a month. I eat mango for breakfast, for lunch, for afternoon tea, for dinner, for midnight buffet, at all hour of the day and the night. I have been collecting mangos every second day, and washing them, and peeling them, and cutting them in pieces and freezing them in ziploc bags. My fridge is already full of mangos (picture will come soon). I now live mangos, breathe mangos, sweat mangos, dream mangos.

AAAAAAAHHHHHH.

On wednesday, i picked up all the mangos that were on the floor. Took me two hours to do so. Cuz i had to separate the rotten ones from the eatable ones. But i mean i was on top of my game doing that. I used my wheelbarrow with 2 massive buckets on it: one for the rotten ones, one for the good ones. And what did i do with the rotten ones? No i didnt trash them in a garbage bag. Do you have any idea how HEAVY a garbage bag is when full of mangos? Yeah well of course i've done that the first time. Couldnt lift the bag, when i finally managed to move it like 3 inches its bottom broke open ... story of my life.
So no, what i do with the useless rotten ones, i make HOME MADE COMPOST. I have this huge container i fill up with rotten mangos, mango peels and mango leaves and i am making my own mango compost so my other plants can grow huge and beautiful.

This is what my ground looked like before i start picking up mangos today. That's what fell in just 3 days.
So since my wheelbarrow-2-buckets technique was working just fine 3 days ago, i re-used it again today. But man, i mean how many kilos a tree produce a day? My freaking god! It's insane. I looked on the internet but couldnt find that info. So i made my own maths (cuz i like numbers).
Today, i picked up one bucket of good ones : 15 kilos and 2 buckets of rotten ones : 30 kilos.
So that's 45 kilos i've been handling (no wonder my back hurts now).
45 kilos that fell from ONE of my 2 trees in 3 days. So that makes 15 kilos a day. Knowing that i only collected HALF of ONE tree, i can estimate that my i-used-to-like-you-so-much-but-not-so-much-anymore mango trees produce 45 kilos of mango A DAY. Between the 2 of them. So that's 27.5 kilos per tree. Approx.
In my case, one third is eatable cuz they have parasites. That makes a good 15 kilos a day.

FIFTEEN KILOS OF MANGOS A DAY.

WHO EATS THAT ?

They say that even though India is the first country producer of mango, they eat most of it themselves. If they eat that many, can they come pick up mine? Really feels like i'm producing half of Mexico's here.




Oh i can HEAR mangos falling every few minutes. That has gotta stop. How many more days of harvesting i'm having ahead? Anyone?


  

In The Dirt

Today was the perfect day to be outside. Yes, it's hot still but since it's been overcast for the past few days and because the sun didnt even show up today, it was actually nice outside. And kinda cool as well. As cool as 29°C can be obviously !!!

I really think my friend was right when she told me that doing nothing can be depressing after a while. And let's face it, i have A LOT to do still in my house!

We have a saying in french that translates like that: "Idleness is mother of all vices"
Which i just found out, is the equivalent of the english "the devil makes work for idle hands".
Well, it's true. I could be writing an entire post about proverbs and sayings but it's not really what i was planning just now! jaja.

So this morning, after my awesome favorite moment of the entire day (breakfast), i decided to get going (ok my internet was not working that's probably what saved me from sitting on my lazy ass all day!!).
I went out to water my plants. And my trees. I mean i have a LOT of plants and trees on this land and since a friend told me that in order to have lemons i need to water the lemon tree every single day, i'm doing just that right now. Watering the lemon tree every day (I already have no idea what to do with the hundreds of mangos falling on the floor every DAY if i start having lemons on top of it all, oh my ...).At least, lemon is chasing the mosquitoes away. Cuz even though my geckos are doing a fantastic job, they're still outnumbered by an estimated 10/1.

Anyway.

So here was i, doing a fantastic job with my plants outside, not even sweating too much cuz the weather, as i said was just perfect to be gardening. Then i noticed my 2 myrtles. Yeah, i know, the name is fancy and i had to look it up in the dictionnary to find it in english. And in french while i was at it (never heard about that tree before). So i kinda like those 2 trees i have (just found out they stay green year round) but they kinda look sad and not taken care of ... So i decided to use some of the hundreds of bricks the ex-owner left on MY land ...

And this is what i came out with:

Look at that ... I mean LOOK AT THAT :))

Yes, i did it all on my own, yes, all the bricks are at the same level and all of them are horizontal (i used my fantastic tool i dont know the name in english but it has a little bubble inside to make sure that what you're building is straight) and best of it all, i used wet dirt to "cement" it all up (between the bricks and on the outside so it doesnt fall apart).
I watered it afterwards and not a single drop of water escaped ... I mean how good am i? AND it was soooo much fun. I loved it. I'm gonna do that with all my trees now. And i also want to make a little alley for my car ... with bricks as well. Just the THOUGHT of it is enjoyable! I love it already ...

I KNEW i should have worked in construction. I just knew it.




PS: i am sending this picture to my dad right now ... and guess what .... i'm gonna make him so proud !

PS2: dad, i know you wont read these lines but all those manual abilities of mine, and all the techniques, i owe it ALL to YOU. I love you dad!




  

Chiles

I dont eat chiles. Don´t like spicy food either. So buying chile plants is purely decorative for me. And buying chiles at the supermarket always makes me feel weird ... I have bought maybe 10 chile plants since i've been living here in Mexico. Don´t know why, not been doing a good job obviously, they all died on me. They must feel that i won´t eat them. Maybe i make them feel bad, make them feel completely useless. Yes, my lady plant, be beautiful and shut up. No, no, i won't eat you either, no need to wave like that. You can just germinate, grow, blossom, look gorgeous, dry up, died and rest in peace. Well, apparently, they don´t like that. So they shamelessly die on me those little bad ass motherfuckers.

Unfortunately for them, i'm not the give-up kinda girl, and when i really want something, generally, i get it. No matter what (and no matter what it is either :p). So instead of heartlessly trashed the plant away, i cautiously and patiently open every single chile fruit to collect the seeds (yes i did used my dishes gloves and didnt touch my eyes, i'm no tourist anymore thank you). But men, do they have seeds! I collected maybe 150 seeds from one plant and another 50 from a jalapeño i bought in the superstore (dont know why people looked at me this way, it's not weird for me to buy ONE jalapeño, for crying out loud, i live alone (and wont eat it anyway haha)). Anyway ...

Proud of my 200 seeds, i planted them following the very good advises i've been receiving from Bart the super-gardener (to the rescue from the other side of the world). I didn´t have much doubts about SOME germinating but jeez ... LOOK AT THAT :


I have like 80 (if not more) mini chile plants growing in such a tiny pot. What am i gonna do?? I'm supposed to plant them in separate pots ... jaja ... like i have 80 pots waiting in line to receive their chile plant ... Oh, and in the pot at the top of the picture, there come my jalapeños too! So far i have 4 out i think! Woohoo ... It's so freaking exciting!

With that much time on my hands lately, i've been a planting freak ... Chiles are just the beginning of a planting madness ... I am also expecting an avocado, 2 mango trees, tomatoes, bell pepper, pineapple and chayote. I still have a few more mangos in my fridge and will plants them as soon as i ate them!
Mexico has the perfect weather to grow pretty much anything. And just for the sake of it, i'll plant everything i can put my hands on. And Jose Jalapeño, God of all Chiles shall see ... i CAN take care of chile plants ... I'll make you proud Jose!

Will keep you updated on the chile front!

Pitbull & Orchid

Last week, i went to the botanical gardens of Vallarta ... 7 years later, well about time! I've always loved plants, have a good hand with them and recently discovered the wonders of beautiful exotic flowers and the delicate care they need. So needless to say how impressed i was with the orchidarium of the botanical gardens. If it was only for me, i'd sneak in at night with a truck and empty the orchidarium of all the plants there's inside but also of all those amazing hand made wooden breaded furniture ... (does that make sense??)


Since i'm a decent person (most of the time at least) and since i most definitely won't do that (ever), i took about a million pictures (34 total) and will do my best to make my patio and my garden look, if not better, at least as good as theirs!

My main problem actually has a name. It's a she (everything that brings problems is ALWAYS a she). Her name is Nikita. Niki for friends and relatives. She's my 6 months old 16 kilos bad ass looking tiger stripped pitbull. Apart from the fact that, being a dog, she likes on chewing shoes, i also noticed (and you can hear the voice of experience since it's my 3rd pit) that she loves chewing on sweet big leaves plants (such as ginger, pineapple, savila, agave etc. etc.). So putting orchids in "her" patio, in "her" territory, it's like sending a serial killer to the death row : they will die (one probably more painfully than the other but the result will be exactly the same in the end).

So what to do with this amazing orchid i've been given from the botanical? I decided to keep it in my bathroom. It's not too warm, it's humid enough, good light, what more can such a delicate flower ask for? Well rock on, it just blossomed 2 days ago ... I took a picture but it would honestly be an insult to its beauty to post it ... I'll try to scan the 35mm REAL picture i took of it if it comes out nicely.

Instead, i'll let you admire animals's ingenuity to deal with unbearable disgusting mexican heat (30°C this morning at 7:28am). And i proudly announce that YES, Niki can be in the presence of an orchid without being tempted of "romperle la madre" (as long as i keep her under close supervision, of course!)