Few Lessons We Learned form Our Garden..

Last August, we finished working on our front garden. Today, I am going to share an update on how things have transformed over the past eight months.
When we finished the garden, we did interlocking, planted rows of plants, laid gravel pavement, and planted grass. Below is how our garden looked a few days after completing the work.

And below is the side view.

Over the past eight months, we have gone through a great learning experience, identifying various factors and threats that truly impact the well-being of our garden.

First of all, having the garden is something we have never regretted. Every day, we wake up with new hope, excited to see the subtle changes. It helps boost our positive energy and keeps our WFH days from becoming monotonous.

Let me share some of our experiences with our garden.

Water

Rainy and sunny days have been quite unbalanced over the past few months. When it rains, it rains for days, and when it's sunny, it stays sunny for days. When there’s too much rain, flowers fall, but when it's too sunny, flowers shine, yet some plants shrink due to a lack of water. We have to water the plants, including the grass, once or twice a day, but still, by the next day, they shrink back. Our soil is completely sandy, making it a huge challenge to keep the plants alive during dry weather.

Fertilizer

For a certain period, we didn’t use any fertilizer, and as a result, some plants, especially Plumbago plants, looked very unhealthy, with no flowers and low energy. However, after adding a bit of Yaramila and occasionally Urea, the leaves became greener, and flowers started blooming daily. We also applied Bower 11 to keep the grass layer lush and green.

Pests
We never expected pests to be such a big problem. The most affected plant is the Ivata, which is highly prone to caterpillar attacks. They can devour an entire small bush in just two nights, forcing us to use chemical pesticides to control them. Sometimes, we manually remove the affected branches.

Secondly, termites damaged a section of the grass, killing one side of the lawn. Unfortunately, we had to use a toxic chemical to save the remaining grass.

Cutting and Trimming

Cutting and trimming are among the most important activities we never miss. With rain, the grass grows quickly and often extends beyond the interlock border. So, once a month, we trim the grass along the pavement and cut taller plants. Since our front garden receives direct sunlight, the grass does not grow too tall too quickly.

From time to time, we trim the branches of Acteria plants to enhance their bushy nature. Since Acteria is planted in a shaded area, its growth rate is slower than other plants.

Weeding and Cleaning

Interlocked areas tend to accumulate algae quickly, so we periodically scrub them with soap and salt to clean them. We remove weeds as we notice them, so it doesn’t become overwhelming. To keep the garden tidy, we regularly pick or sweep up fallen leaves.

Cleaning the garden has become a daily routine for us, and we do it with great pleasure because every morning, we are greeted by a garden full of flowers. I wish we could add more colors to our garden, as it is currently dominated by white flowers. Once the Christina plants mature, we plan to grow some colorful flowers beneath them.