Cleaning up the yard

I had a section of grass that seemed unable to recover mostly due to traffic and a dog that excavates to cool off so this is what we came up with. The problem with bricking it all is water drainage from the shed roof above so I decided on that gravel strip. If that area wasn't dirt it was mud and both getting tracked everywhere. This is going to be so much better.

For a long time I've talked about filling in the door in my front wall that was originally designed as a second entrance to the other lot. The lots won't ever be separated so it's only a window for my dog to bark at kids passing in the street. It wasn't very attractive and the metal requires upkeep. I ordered way too many bricks for the patio so Hugo said why not use them for the door. And he needed the work.

New patio with shed roof above

No dirt showing now

Hugo filling in the door

Mostly about garden

Except for a little impermeabilizante (roof sealer) around the edges, it's mostly taking care of the garden. Learning what works, what things are, what the bugs like to ruin, what stops the bugs and what plants do during different seasons.

As you can barely see I have a new pineapple. The plant is about a year old and I bought one, cut the top off and planted it. Wasn't sure it would do well in partial shade but it looks healthy.

Tomatoes are everywhere. My cherry tomato is huge, tired around the edges, turning brown but still cranking out lots of tomatoes every day. It probably will be finished in about a week. The Mexican or Italian tomatoes are popping up all over my compost pile. The largest has 5 big green ones.

The neem tree had a bunch of babies from it's dropped seeds and just waiting until they get big enough to transplant. Neighbor and I are thinking on one side of the jardin/playfield but there's no water there right now. If not, I'll look further.

The corn is only an experiment. I had no luck with some sweet corn seeds I brought down from Seattle .. so a neighbor gave me a couple ears of dry Mexican corn and that's what you see below. The only problem has been either my cat or the neighbors chickens like to get into them.

New pineapple

Volunteer tomatoes

Tomatoes in the compost pile

The largest new Neem

Corn experiment

Impermeabilizante on the Ramada

I'm about 3/4's finished with the Impermeabilizante on this roof that was letting a little water through. I was surprised with the angle that water didn't just run off but cement is porous and a thin wash of Impermeabilizante wasn't working. This time I'm putting down a fiberglass cloth with Impermeabilizante below and above it. There are two grades of the cloth - thin and thicker. I'm not sure how much thicker but it's probably what you want to use if putting down large pieces. The thin stuff I'm using is hard to control and impossible with a breeze. I'm forced to cut 1 foot sections off the 1 meter roll and lay them down with a paint brush. I start in the morning before the wind starts and before the sun is too hot.

The rest of the time I'm working in the garden which has suddenly awakened in this winter weather. A dozen or so baby Neem trees below their parent, tomatoes sprouting out of the compost pile, lime trees are in bloom and the Avocado tree has come to life after doing nothing for almost a year. Gardens are a good thing.

Impermeabilizante on the Ramada

Roll of the fiberglass cloth

Avocado tree finally coming to life

Green Concrete

Pretty amazing video on how this "slab" will return water to the ground rather than create runoff headed for the ocean, lakes or low lying areas that can flood.

Mexico Ecological Concrete took first place in the contest Cleantech Challenge, their products are pavement and floors can capture rainwater for harvesting.

By: Viridiana Mendoza Escamilla

MEXICO CITY (CNNExpansión) - Mexico Ecological Concrete created a system for the recovery and use of rainwater through porous pavements and floors made ​​of concrete, a project that earned her the company's first Cleantech Challenge contest.

The prize for this company were 250,000 pesos, a 100% scholarship for graduate studies at the University of the Environment (UMA), and the possibility of going to Boston to present product benefits to a group of investors where there is potential for collect up to 30 million dollars in investment.

Contest article in Spanish

Cleaning a cistern

Every now and then you need to clean your cistern and I was totally unsure how much mud and sand was in mine. All I knew was that the intake valve was often plugged after non use of my pump and the first bit of water was always dirty. The first year the system had no filter for water from the street so I thought it might be serious but there turned out to be less than an inch of mud. My intake valve is 4-5 inches above the bottom so how it got plugged I don't know.

I drained most of the last 5 inches with a bucket and then we lowered a neighbor in and he finished the job with a sponge, rags and a little cloro. I imagine with double filters the cistern will be good for 3-4 years now.

Entrance under the palapa

Yony inside partially cleaned

I just liked this foto