Earth bag construction on the Costalegre

The builder and others also call it Adobe Bag and Superadobe construction but I'm not sure you couldn't use any clean dirt, either moist or dry. Nobody went into any detail on what constitutes Adobe ... as in; mud, clay, straw, fiber, etc. Lot's of sites and pages on this kind of construction "out there" so we'll find the best answers when the actual time comes. Personally I'd love to buy an adjoining lot to mine and experiment with things like this and a real vegetable garden.

The casita builder below has a screen name of Mazinka and lives in or near La Manzanilla north of us in Melaque.  He just suggested that the fill earth should have a certain amount of clay and sent this link - What is Super Adobe .  The video on the bottom just has some ideas for something similar but I much prefer the palapa roof and other local ideas.   Stucco or mortar directly to plastic does not sound secure and I would definitely try to attach chicken wire like they do on old Adobe restorations.

3 new Neem trees on Pinal Villa Plaza

These are two of the 3 new Neem trees I've been planting on the plaza.  My Neem had about 10 babies this spring and I put them all in buckets.   3 neighbors have them in their yards and I still have three more ready to plant.   Someone even cut the grass yesterday and with all the rain we've been having it looking real nice.

The store owner on the corner wants to cut down the only tree there because it split in a wind storm but it's the only shade around.   Hopefully in 6 months these will be shade trees.   Mine that is about 2 years old is over 20 feet.

Keeping the pool clean in this heat

A few weeks ago the water temp went through the roof and started turning green. That's the first time in over 4 months. I gave it a good hit of Shock and surprisingly it was clear the next day. Now I just give a hit of Cloro out of the bottle every morning and it's doing fine even with big crowds.

I gave up doing the chemical testing for PH and CL. It just didn't seem to be doing anything for my knowledge or helping the pool. I will get some more Shock but adding acid in any form was just a waste of time and money. I stopped by the local pool store to see what could be done for vacuuming and the kid that works there gave me the best tip. Just get about 4 meters of 3/4 or 1" hose, get it siphoning and suck out the stuff on the bottom. Good excuse for me to get into the pool.   Every time you vacuum the level goes down so a chance for some fresh water. 

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