My Plants in Chacala

Here is a view of Chacala from the back of my tame pelican. Just kidding.

I made two trips last week, looking for plants, soil, and pots. Went to the two nurseries just north of La Penita, and to the Thursday Market in La Penita. I ended up with 14 new plants, four packets of flower seeds, 10 buckets for pots, and one gunny sack of soil. Not enough soil or pots, and not enough money for another trip, so I am kind of cramming plants together. And trying to figure out how to make some pots. I have a plan about making pots, but haven't figured out the details yet.

It's a little tricky to get soil here, because the sacks are to big and heavy to handle on my own and I have to get someone to drive me home with the sack. Last week Jesus, my neighbor drove me down and back. That worked out great for me, but a little expensive. 200 pesos, which is cheaper than a private taxi. The other times I have gotten a ride to La Penita or a collectivo, and then bought my stuff and walked out to the highway with plastic sacks of plants and some buckets. The collectivo drivers don't seem to mind. They have room behind the last seat to put stuff.

Now I am planting stuff in pots and trying to keep all my little starts alive and well. This morning I moved all the pots arounds trying to shade the pots with baby plants with the bigger hibiscus. The lemon tree planted a year ago has lemons. Or limes. Very neat. All the plants we bought for this house last year look great. I had to trash the gardenia. It was very very infested with two different things (insects and some fungus) and I finally gave up on it.

Some of the seeds I planted 10 days ago are up and looking good. Nasturiums, coleus, and sunflowers. It's hard for me to guess what will grow well here, so I spend alot of time looking at other people's gardens and asking questions. Vinca, which I would have thought wouldn't have liked the humidity and heat, seem to grow freely and easily without any help.

This evening I am walking down to Esparanza's and hoping to dig some soil up from around there. The thought of carrying a bucketful of soil home is not very appealing, but chances are I will get a ride. With the road between the beach and paved road closed, all the traffic is on the beach road mostly. Handy for me. More chances of a ride.

Tomorrow I am going into PV to meet someone at the airport, and I am hoping to take the collectivo's around to some of the local nurseries. I have keep articles about PV nurseries that have appeared in the local English language PV paper, and hope I can find some of them.

I am especially looking for succulent-type plants, but who knows. I don't have any plant pictures yet, but here are a couple of Chacala photos, just to keep in practice.

Later: I just got a nice email from someone who has sent me some Chacala photos (I think photo at the top of this post is from him). He is going to be in the area in a week or so and said he could bring me some dirt, maybe. Sounds great to me.

Sunset from my camp on Playa Chacala