PROGRESS

The video below was taken in June of 2023. It was the first 

look at the property. We have been able to work only in 

the zeitoun garden, as well as the strips along the north and 

west property walls, where the bamboo is planted. Work on 

the other garden areas has to wait until the house is built.

The video below was taken in late March, 2025. 

 

This is spiny golden star, one of the pioneering plants that has appeared in the garden.

Calendula peeking out from under the mustard.

Adobe bricks being made in the Moroccan countryside. 

We hope to be putting these in place soon.

Cairo Morning Glory growing on a fence near the property.

EARLY SPRING

Calendula has popped up all over the garden.

This plant is either a dandelion or a hawkbit, and I am hoping 

that the hairy little buds are more poppies.

There were poppies near the house site last year, and I 

was so happy to discover this flower in one 

of the garden beds yesterday.

I think this is a pioneering plant we were gifted with. It 

is a spiny golden star and I plan on saving some seeds to 

make sure we have some next year. *UPDATE: I no 

longer will be planting these seeds. The plant has 

matured and lives up to its name. Those spines hurt!

It was nearly 90 degrees F yesterday, and Frankie Baby 

sought shelter in some young barley.

Kawtar raking gravel over the overflow trench.

While Frankie Baby was cooling off in the barley patch, Merman decided to check out the bamboo palace.

This 8 foot sunflower is boasting 17 flowers!

We are seeing ever-increasing numbers of critters in the garden. 

I think this is the caterpillar of the Sahara swallowtail butterfly.

RAIN

Some of the sunflowers have not bloomed yet, but others have 

reached the seed stage. I find these dried, withered blooms 

to be as beautiful as the plants that are in their full glory.

We have had a lot of rain these past few weeks. This was after 

the last significant rainfall, when the soil of the property 

was saturated. I took a tumble in the mud on the way over to 

this spot of halted construction.

The above video is of the lush growth along the north property wall. The plants underneath the bamboo consist of fava beans, sunflowers, leucaena seedlings, cuttings from the neighbor's apricot tree and pioneer plants.

Growth along the west property wall.

After so much rain we decided to test the irrigation system again. Water was coming in at a very sluggish rate due to mud buildup on the other side of the wall but eventually, it filled the olive and garden beds, overflowing in to the house site. This was valuable because it showed us where the berm walls were not sufficient. The water eventually reached the end of the overflow trench and made its way down the bamboo berm to the first tree, six places in.

A walk down the pathway after the irrigation water had sunk in. The pathway doubles as a dry "creek" bed when we irrigate, retaining some of the water and passing some on to the trees and garden beds on the north side of the path.

 

RAIN AND GROWTH

We have had a lot of rain over the past couple of weeks, and the garden is responding. There is new growth in many areas, and the fall plantings are bursting with vigor. The mustard forest is approaching 7 feet tall in places, as are a few of the sunflowers.

 

Barley is such a robust, beautiful plant! The wheat (you can see some peeking out from behind the barley) is also nice, but it can't measure up to the barley.

A few weeks ago I picked up three branches that had fallen in the garden from the place next door, and cut them into pieces. They have been sitting in water and this week, there were many buds and a couple of blossoms. They are apricots (Siberian apricots, which I find amusing) and while apricots are not my favorite fruit, I can not turn down a gift. I will stick these in the soil someplace and see what happens.

After no olive harvest last year, it is really satisfying to see so much happening on these branches this spring!

The ostrich toe has produced another couple of flowers, and it is fast becoming my favorite succulent.

I have been trying to start leucaena from seed for months, ever since I found a public area in the medina with a couple of these trees. Zero success. A few days ago I was walking past the area, checking to see if there were a lot of seed pods on the ground, when I spotted some small seedlings. Because of all the rain recently, I was able to pull some out of the ground, just ahead of a city crew who were doing the same thing. Two days later I planted 27 seedlings. Here is hoping that a couple of them may survive!

 I don't know if these calendulas are volunteers or if they came from the bird seed but they are a beautiful addition to the garden.

A couple of days ago we visited Souk Tlet in Ait Ourir, on the never ending search for wood chips. No success in that quest, but the consolation prize was a couple of these Blue Fingers. Succulents are an excellent ground cover in this semi-arid location and I will be planting every one I can get my hands on.

CHOP AND DROP

 We arrived to discover that a substantial rain had toppled some of the taller mustard plants. Hence, some early and unexpected chop and drop!