STUDY TIME

Now that physical work on the property has slowed down, I am concentrating on learning as much as I can about adobe construction, water harvesting, plantings in a semi-arid area, etc. In addition to the countless hours I am spending watching youtube videos on these subjects, I purchased a book by Brad Lancaster, "Harvesting Rainwater." It embraces and explores the concept of sustainable living and I am currently trying to absorb the chapter about understanding the angles of the sun in my specific location. This is going to be a challenge-math is not my strong point. As someone said once "I don't care for math. If a number wants to get different, that's not my business." Bingo.

 

TIME TO SLOW DOWN

It is that time of year when I have to slow down on my outside activities-the heat is coming, and I can only handle working outside in the very early morning hours. With a few exceptions if we have some breaks in the heat, I will concentrate on maintenance. Yesterday I finished the secondary olive garden pathway border, and I will ask the guys to haul in the gravel next week. I threw some nectarine and apricot pits in a small section of a new garden bed, expecting that nothing will happen, and that is ok.  Then I tripped over the string and discovered that those thickly mulched beds make for a soft landing.

 

CREATING A GARDEN: WORK CONTINUING

There are now eight calabash gourd plants in the two olive tree berms where I tossed the seeds. None of these seeds were placed in the dirt, they were just thrown in and covered with straw mulch.

Some days I have people here to help me create this garden property, but on others I work alone. On this particular day it was only me and there was a lot of work to do with the pick axe and shovel. The day started with the digging of zai pits to catch water and concentrate compost. I had one small area next to the bamboo palace where I could experiment with this technique so I dug 15 pits and mixed up some straw and sheep manure with the dirt. I threw in seeds from some loquats I ate last month, and some wheat seeds that may or may not be mature enough to sprout. As with the calabash I have no expectations that anything will grow but I hope to see a difference in the soil in a few months. That may also be an unrealistic expectation but as my old friend Jimmy Carter says, failure is an acceptable outcome.

Lining the pits with paper helps to hold the moisture in the pits for a bit longer.

Finally, in a fit of optimism, I placed bamboo sticks in the pits to be able to do some precise watering and if by chance something green appears, I will know what is coming up. One stick for the wheat pits, two sticks in the loquat pits.

On the same day I dug the zai pits, I worked on the trenches for the outer olive garden gravel mulch/pathway, and hauled the10 bags of terra cotta brick pieces into the former chicken and rabbit house. It was another tiring day but I felt great about how much I had been able to accomplish.

PLANNING NEW GARDENS

The land will have three distinct garden areas. Entrance to the property is in the northwest corner. The studio will be built in the southwestern area, and the remaining part of the west side will be given to pathways and garden. It will be dominated by bamboo growing along the north and west walls. Two acacia trees will be planted between the entry gate and the house, both to shade the house from the brutal afternoon sun, and because they are so beautiful. As I want to focus on native plants as much as possible, these two are a good start.

This tree grows along a busy road in Marrakech. I have not been up close yet, but I am pretty sure it is an acacia, a native tree to this area.

This is another acacia, and they grow in the area around the garden home. A couple of its common names are Jerusalem Thorn and in the US desert southwest, Palo Verde. Something about these beautiful trees has always made me feel cool and refreshed.

I am just now exploring the understory plants appropriate for the desert garden area, which will get the most sun, therefore needing desert plants. I have found this strange and beautiful plant growing in many areas along the highway, so I know it can take full sun. It is a pleasing little blueish mound shaped plant with needle-like leaves that at least this time of year, are strangely soft, almost rubbery. 

I think this plant is Launaea Arborescens. It usually grows between 40 and 80 centimeters high, and has yellow flowers. I read that the children of nomads collect the latex that flows from broken stems; they knead it so that it thickens and make small balls of it which they chew like chewing gum.  The plant is beautiful now, in early summer-I will keep an eye on it over the summer and fall and see what it looks like then.

PREPARING SOIL FOR BAMBOO

Today was dedicated to amending the soil for the bamboo. I was surprised to see that several of the holes had filled up with water overnight, apparently as the result of the bushes on the other side of the wall being watered. I hope that continues to happen.

I filled the 20 holes with a mixture of cut straw, straw, dried leaves from the olive tree, sheep manure, and a small amount of dirt.

I mixed it all up with the pitchfork, added water and stomped down the material in every hole. My hope is that if I can water the holes enough this summer, some soil improvement will be the result, if even just a little. Those bamboos are going in this fall!

BAMBOO PALACE MOVED AND IMPROVED

June 4

Smoothing the dirt floor was done over two days, so access to the interior (nap time!) would not be obstructed. No straw was added to the mud mix as the sole purpose was to make a smooth bed for the straw layer that will be covering the mud floor. When the floor had dried, I spread a layer of sweet smelling, fresh straw and laid the carpet on top. Home sweet home!

 

During the last week in May 2024, the bamboo palace was moved several meters to the south, at the end of the path through the olive grove. We installed some bamboo panels on both sides and the top of the opening, and put in the door made from a salvaged, deteriorating desk left on the property. This is an effort at cat-proofing the palace-we have had unwelcome feline visitors a couple of times. For the summer, we will leave the sheet of plastic over the top, and will be replacing it with a canvas "roof" next fall.

Our team piled up dirt around the perimeter of the palace to anchor it in place. A couple of days later we mixed sand, straw and water with the top layer of the dirt berms, in effect creating cobb, or adobe, or daub, the moniker depending on the country where it is used. 

The first step is to pour water over a small section of berm and start chopping the chunks of clay with the side of the trowel to break up the clumps, which can be very compacted and dense.

Next, we threw some handfuls of sand on the berm, followed by straw. These additions were chopped into the mud to mix them into the clay.

Once this mixture had been thoroughly chopped and more water poured on, the flat plane of the trowel was used to slap down the surface and caress it into a smooth paste. There is always a tendency for the straw and mud mixture to crack as it dries; sand is supposed to minimize this, so we will see how it looks after a few days.

We are also smoothing the dirt floor of the palace, in preparation for a load of straw from Souk Telet. The straw makes for a comfortable floor, keeping dust down and when overlaid with a carpet, it works wonderfully. 

DAYS AT MAROC GARDEN HOME

 

Days at the garden home usually begin before sunrise, when even in the heat of summer, the days begin with a cool breeze. The sounds of morning in the countryside are simultaneously soothing and invigorating, and regularly punctured with the strange and amusing calls of the peacock down the road. On this particular morning in June,  the ritual of building a campfire to make a cup of coffee won out over making use of every precious moment of cool working conditions. A surprise awaited on the coffee stroll-we had thrown out some old calabash seeds in one of the olive beds on a whim a couple of weeks previously, not expecting any results. Three had emerged from the thick layer of mulch! They will not receive the care they need this summer so it is doubtful they will survive, but it was still a nice little bit of encouragement that the improvements we are making are producing results. 

Then the day's work began. We finished digging the holes for the bamboo along the north wall, added more gravel to the middle section of the path between the olive trees,  finished the adobe berm around the bamboo palace, and started a secondary pathway around one of the trees. More river rock and adobe mud was piled around the spider plants to help hold water in place.

ANIMAL LIFE

 One of my neighbors a few meters down the road has this magnificent peacock roaming freely in their yard. I am always happy when it is near the road and I don't mind hearing its call from my garden-but it is close enough. I would not want that racket disturbing my space!

We have an abundance of these Berber toads, so we have built a temporary pond out of a dishpan. Placed near an olive tree, it is filled with rocks and pieces of wood to make sure they have a way to exit the water.