Made my own oasis in the middle of a concrete jungle

[Ganoderma]

here is my garden. my back yard measures about 6 meters long by 4-5 meters wide. not big there are houses built up all around it and everywhere around us.....my back yard is even a concrete slab.

Here it is when i moved here. fire ants everywhere and beer is VERY cheap here. the result was a drunken white guy going soap happy in his back yard. Lets meet the neighbours.

Pre-fire ant


Post-fire ant



to start with i dont like spending money, i am cheap when it comes to building....i dont mind buying expensive plants though! second i run an ESL school with my wife, and kids are damn messy.....because i love nature and care i teach them how to recycle and whatnot....so i have lots of supplies to build my garden with (thanks to the kids)...keep in mind most people here think i am borderline nuts....

so. concrete slab with concrete walls all around....what to grow?

first i made a big raised bed out of pop bottles i filled with water.....probably around 1000 bottles in there now and always growing! i also used left over or broken bricks/rocks the builders left when building the walls around us.

the soil i hauled out from a friends farm. i used 20 5 gallon buckets to start....the rest is all from composting over 2 years! worms add a LOT to teh soil over time....




I am also growing vines up rope to my second floor deck. the first year i was here it was abotu 38 egrees in summer on a sunny day! the sun hits the wall all day. now that i am growing vines there it is always under 25.....screw air conditioning!!!!! 10 degree drop give or take....and they are not even covering the whole wall....

for this i am growing the following species

Rivea corymbosa


Argyreia nervosa
Passion fruit
Piper betel


Behind these, against my house, i am growing cacti.....because they are then sheltered from a lot of rain.

i am growing the following species:

Cereus jamacaru
Echinopsis arachnacantha
Ferocactus species
Gymnocalycium anisitsii
Harrisia jusbertii
Hylocereus undatus (dragon fruit)
Mammillaria prolifera
Myrtillocactus geometrizans
Opuntia species
Pereskiopsis spathulata
Rebutia species
Stenocereus pruinosus
Trichocereus bridgesii
Trichocereus huascha
Trichocereus pachanoi
Trichocereus peruvianus

and some succulents such as
Agaves
Aloes
and some others i have no idea what they are....they just grow....



Herbs, fruits and vegetabels are also a big part of it as well.
Lavendar


Leonotis species


Stevia rebaudiana


wormwood


motherwort


Catnip


Coconut
Custard apple/cherimoya
orange trees
coconut
betel nut
many chinese herbs i dont know the english names of



This garden is 100%********** organic....i use NO fertilizers or pesticides...."just add water"

here is the compost area for woody stuff that i dont spread on my garden area.


i use animals and fungi to decompose everything and that fertilizes my plants. when i weed the grasses and stuff out i throw most of them (minus the roots) onto the garden area again. looks messy, sure.....but the health of the garden is unreal. and the plants taste amazing!

the following arthropods LIVE in my garden:
millipedes


african land snails

3 different types of "soil snails", here is one kind:



some kind of land leech

crickets (Acheta sp.)

earthworms and red wigglers, i think. 2 species anyway

sow bugs (many)

many little soil organisms i have no clue what they are....

lynx spiders (2 species)



Argriope species



jumping spiders (8 species as far as i ahev counted...i find more new ones every season)

some orb weavers (and i am introducing some Nephila maculata to my garden to cut down on moths/butterflies!)




Gasteracantha kuhli (sp?)


2 species of Macrothele


3 kinds of moths and numerous butterflies

centipedes (Scolpendra sp i think and another...2 species)



Vinegaroons (Typopeltis crucifer)


Protaetia orientalis (seasonal along with some other beetles)


I bring the odd mantid home for pest controll as well....they always stick around.



5 ant species, not all are wanted such as the fire ants!!!!!




the following vertebrates LIVE in my garden:

Toad (Bufo bankorensis)


2 species of hemidactylus (geckos)


There are bats teh frequent at night but do not live there. 2 species that i can tell....no idea which. also birds come visit sometimes.

other than that not many.....cats frequent by, which is nice to keep away rodents.

And the following fungi grows here! Fungi is VERY important to break down things.
molds...lots...like everywhere
Osyter mushrooms
Various polypore species (3) including Ganoderma
3 kinds of "wild" mushrooms...not sure what....one looks like Paneolus....???
Psilocybe cubensis...this grows in the compost sometimes. sometimes it is aided along.
and some slime type fungi in which i have absolutely no idea about!


here are soem Amanita growing in an experimental area of composting....strangely i was trying to use Oyster mushrooms to grow in teh dead plant material below the soil....and these came up? there are 3 Brugmansia plants in there as well....including bugs.



All in all there are likely hundreds on species living here on a 20-30 square meter concrete block surrounded by more concrete....they all live here happily and chemical free. i think a truly healthy garden needs to mimic an ecosystem. that means decomposers, photosyhtesser, predators etc. it is a cricle, adn the more species you have the bigger and better teh circle grows


more to come as i find more species! this is my little get away, although i know there may be 30 people looking down on me at any given moment

[InfiniteNow]

That's brilliant, Ganoderma! I love how you reused materials in the construction process. Nicely done, sir! Thank you for sharing this.

[Nitack]

That was inspiring!

Amazing reuse of materials and a not often seen complete view of the garden as part of an ecosystem. Most gardeners just want pretty plants and freak out at any bugs, especially spiders. Love the use of the vines as natural sun shade. I have a personal preference for Morning glories, but I think the diversity you used was great. Your vines are almost an alternate take on the green roof concept. Let the vines absorb the solar energy rather than your house and having it convert to heat.

You even given me an interesting idea! wondering if I could coax vines to grow up to and over the roof... Poor mans green roof... would not give the extended roof life that a traditional green roof does, but it would provide the shading and energy benefits... I live in Virginia (USA) and I am sure if I started at the beginning of the growing season that by the time July and August rolled around (our hottest months) that I could have the entire southern facing side of our house shielded by vines and possibly even up to the roof.

Hmmmmmm...

[freeztar]

Great post Ganoderma!
As Nitack said, it is very inspiring!

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by Nitack

Love the use of the vines as natural sun shade. I have a personal preference for Morning glories, but I think the diversity you used was great. Your vines are almost an alternate take on the green roof concept. Let the vines absorb the solar energy rather than your house and having it convert to heat.

You even given me an interesting idea! wondering if I could coax vines to grow up to and over the roof... Poor mans green roof... would not give the extended roof life that a traditional green roof does, but it would provide the shading and energy benefits... I live in Virginia (USA) and I am sure if I started at the beginning of the growing season that by the time July and August rolled around (our hottest months) that I could have the entire southern facing side of our house shielded by vines and possibly even up to the roof.

Well, you could use Kudzu (did I actually just recommend that ).

Vines would be excellent for cooling a house, but you have to consider a few things. They work better for brick homes than wooden homes. You should use vines that don't cause structural damage (in other words, don't use plants such as Virginia creeper). I'd recommend trellises placed close to the house. I'm not so sure about the vines on the roof idea. It would take a ton of work and would require lots of trips to the roof. That said, I have seen houses completely covered with Kudzu, so it is possible.

[Ganoderma]

thanks guys post some pics of your makings

freeztar, you raise a VERY important point. many houses in canada/USA are built of wood.....i totally forgot that! you may see a lot of termites, bad fungus and rot if you cover a wooden house with vines! houses here are brick and/or concrete...including mine. so there is no worry of those things. that said tehre are no plants directly touching my house. my decks stick out from the house and the vine grow up ropes to the outer extremities of the deck....which is about 2 meters out from the house.

your picture is great! there are forests and abandoned houses here like that with morning glory. to be honest i dislike very invasive species. morning glorry is a dangerous plant in warmer climates and has taken over many places here but cooler climates where they die back should be fine. but there are many species that grow in cooler climates....just keep it controlled! another great option (but much slower!) is clematis. tehre are evergreen species. i grew tehm back in canada very well. they covered a large metal she di had and kept it nice and cool. but because platns shade everything, they will keep them cooler....good right? BUT cooelr means wetter in many areas...so things wont dry as quick...this was a problem living in the PNW....very wet. here in taiwan its so hot even shaded areas dry within hours of sunshine.

to be honest, i find snails to be minimally damaging. they really only eat the lower portions on plants, but leave high foliage. to that i say.....they poop when they eat and fertilise the plants they are eating.... in fact the only REAL pest problem i have are cetterpillars....not because they eat my plants but because they eat my cacti as well, which are damaged permanently and take a while to recover. but even they only eat leaves off the other plants and they grow on ok.

food is secondary to happiness in my garden. to be honest, i realy enjoy seeing that due to some pop bottles holding in dirt, so many plants, animals and fungi can live on in a more or less "peaceful" existence in an otherwise dry baren and hot environment: aka concrete jungle. i see a pest and think "the spiders or geckos are going to eat you, and i helped them be able to do that" LOL

but really, life is beautiful...in all forms and colours!

[/end hippy love]

[begin modern love]
flowers are purdy.

[Moontanman]

Originally Posted by Ganoderma

thanks guys post some pics of your makings

freeztar, you raise a VERY important point. many houses in canada/USA are built of wood.....i totally forgot that! you may see a lot of termites, bad fungus and rot if you cover a wooden house with vines! houses here are brick and/or concrete...including mine. so there is no worry of those things. that said tehre are no plants directly touching my house. my decks stick out from the house and the vine grow up ropes to the outer extremities of the deck....which is about 2 meters out from the house.

your picture is great! there are forests and abandoned houses here like that with morning glory. to be honest i dislike very invasive species. morning glorry is a dangerous plant in warmer climates and has taken over many places here but cooler climates where they die back should be fine. but there are many species that grow in cooler climates....just keep it controlled! another great option (but much slower!) is clematis. tehre are evergreen species. i grew tehm back in canada very well. they covered a large metal she di had and kept it nice and cool. but because platns shade everything, they will keep them cooler....good right? BUT cooelr means wetter in many areas...so things wont dry as quick...this was a problem living in the PNW....very wet. here in taiwan its so hot even shaded areas dry within hours of sunshine.

to be honest, i find snails to be minimally damaging. they really only eat the lower portions on plants, but leave high foliage. to that i say.....they poop when they eat and fertilise the plants they are eating.... in fact the only REAL pest problem i have are cetterpillars....not because they eat my plants but because they eat my cacti as well, which are damaged permanently and take a while to recover. but even they only eat leaves off the other plants and they grow on ok.

food is secondary to happiness in my garden. to be honest, i realy enjoy seeing that due to some pop bottles holding in dirt, so many plants, animals and fungi can live on in a more or less "peaceful" existence in an otherwise dry baren and hot environment: aka concrete jungle. i see a pest and think "the spiders or geckos are going to eat you, and i helped them be able to do that" LOL

but really, life is beautiful...in all forms and colours!

[/end hippy love]

[begin modern love]
flowers are purdy.

Absolutely wonderful Gandoderma, you have inspired me! I have 3/4 of an acer to figure out what i want to do with it and I was over whelmed but I now I see that all I have to do is break it up into small pieces and go from there! thank you!

[freeztar]

Originally Posted by Ganoderma

you may see a lot of termites, bad fungus and rot if you cover a wooden house with vines!

Indeed.

houses here are brick and/or concrete...including mine. so there is no worry of those things. that said tehre are no plants directly touching my house. my decks stick out from the house and the vine grow up ropes to the outer extremities of the deck....which is about 2 meters out from the house.

I've honestly don't remember ever hearing of using ropes as a trellis, but it sounds awesome!

to be honest i dislike very invasive species.

I despise them.

morning glorry is a dangerous plant in warmer climates and has taken over many places here

It's invasive here as well, but nothing like Kudzu.

but cooler climates where they die back should be fine. but there are many species that grow in cooler climates....just keep it controlled!

That's the hard part (especially on a large scale).

another great option (but much slower!) is clematis. tehre are evergreen species. i grew tehm back in canada very well. they covered a large metal she di had and kept it nice and cool. but because platns shade everything, they will keep them cooler....good right? BUT cooelr means wetter in many areas...so things wont dry as quick...this was a problem living in the PNW....very wet. here in taiwan its so hot even shaded areas dry within hours of sunshine.

Clematis are good, but can become invasive in certain situations (here at least). I agree about the moisture issues.

to be honest, i find snails to be minimally damaging. they really only eat the lower portions on plants, but leave high foliage. to that i say.....they poop when they eat and fertilise the plants they are eating.... in fact the only REAL pest problem i have are cetterpillars....not because they eat my plants but because they eat my cacti as well, which are damaged permanently and take a while to recover. but even they only eat leaves off the other plants and they grow on ok.

food is secondary to happiness in my garden. to be honest, i realy enjoy seeing that due to some pop bottles holding in dirt, so many plants, animals and fungi can live on in a more or less "peaceful" existence in an otherwise dry baren and hot environment: aka concrete jungle. i see a pest and think "the spiders or geckos are going to eat you, and i helped them be able to do that" LOL

A healthy ecosystem is always best. The modern practice of milking every last penny out of plants by destroying the surrounding ecology sickens me. Take your losses and enjoy what is given.

"Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please! "

[Ganoderma]

"Give me spots on my apples
But leave me the birds and the bees
Please! "

that is a great saying!


moontanman, dont worry. i used to have 2 acres back in canada of wooded area and half was pond. i was doing the same thign there as here, but there was much mroe natural looking. you are totally right.....just start in a small area and expand. my garden here started as a 1x2 meter brick box on my roof and expanded from there.

everything is free if your willing to do the work.

[Turtle]

Nice work Ganoderma. Have you inspired any of your neighbors to try their own oases?