Re: potting soil mix or: from desert to jungle

I planted a row of oranges on the side of an alley leading to the kitchen
door, on a mixture of building rubble, large pieces of limestone , wires,
old shoes etc etc to fill up the area . in my property ther was no soil .
( dry haleppo pine covered hillside on limestone rock.
then mulched heavily with shredded pine branches and kept them watered and
topping up the mulch with all the kitchen scraps. they grew away and gave
the first crop of oranges the first year. small and very sweet.
there were episodes of chlorosis occasionally on some of them, quickly
solved by the application of iron chelate and , lately, sulfur.
the most wonderful community of fauna and flora grew at their feet including
murgula (morilles) mushrooms every spring(didn´t take long to get them into
the kitchen). I have since sold that house and bought another one that has a
wonderful vineyard at the valley bottom and almond and olive groves on the
hillsides and much bette soil. I don´t think I will ever have sweeter
oranges
francisco
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "akvav" <akvav@hol.gr>
To: <rlance@sonnet.com>; "mediterranean climate gardening e-mail forum for
gardeners in these climates throughout the world" <medit-plants@ucdavis.edu>
Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2004 7:01 AM
Subject: Re: potting soil mix or: from desert to jungle


> Several years ago one August I had to plant my small Cretan garden in
> construction rubble with a ton of limestone gravel heaped on top of it.
> There was no more topsoil than what the plants carried with them in their
> growing pots.  Guess what?  Whatever didn't fry the first week (ivy comes
to
> mind) is thriving today-really thriving.  I planted nerium oleander,
> pittosporum tobira, bougainvillea, cedrus libani, cypress, pyracantha, and
> cortaderia first. As more shade was achieved over the years, I planted the
> rest:  teucrium fruticans, phlomis, thevetia peruviana, cercis
siliquastrum,
> acanthus mollis, rosemary, succulents, plumbago, pelargoniums,
osteospermum,
> felicia and numerous others.  I believe dissolved nutrients in the
> limestone, warm rooting conditions and perfect drainage made up for what I
> then believed to be "good soil."
>
> It would be interesting to hear if anyone else has had experience with
> unorthodox planting media.
>
> Karen-Athens, Greecc, Zone 8/9
>
>
>
>
>
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index