What would you do with 24 - 2-meter-long concrete panels and a pile of bricks?

 

A wave of inspiration hit me recently and I began cleaning out parts of the galeron. Things accumulated over the years and it was time to tidy up. One thing led to another which resulted in a complete clean out of the "garbage stable". A lot of construction waste was put there ten years ago. Most of it not usable any more. About thirty garbage sacks of stuff was removed. Our workers helped with that dirty project. Somehow, they talked the weekly garbage service into taking most of it and a metal recycling man took the rest. 

It has been almost ten years since the house was complete. The time arrived to do something about the piles of materials in the yard that were left over from construction. Prior to constructing the new house an old house, made from pre-fabricated concrete panels, was demolished. Many of the concrete panels were used for retaining walls, raised garden beds and paths. The large pile of leftover concrete panels was used occasionally to place food for the vultures. Other left-over materials were a large pile of bricks, concrete rubble and rocks. 

We needed a plan to use the concrete panels, bricks and rocks for something useful. Several years ago, Mario built a trellised area, inside the fenced-in garden area, to grow chayote. At first it was great, the perennial thrived. However, the second year I realized the plant is too big for the space and shaded out two garden beds. It was also difficult to maintain through the chicken wire it grew on. 

I put my thinking cap on and identified some improvements that could be done to expand food production. After many different ideas we settled on a long-raised garden bed and a new area for the chayote vine. Construction of this used up all of the concrete panels, bricks and many rocks. I plan to grow crops in it such as corn, sesame and squash. 

A concrete pad was still in the ground, left over from the previous owner. It used to house a structure to wash cattle and horses. This is a good place for a proper chayote vine trellis. We decided to cut a square out of the center of the pad for the chayote vine. The vine from the garden was transplanted and if it survives it will have lots of room to spread and it will be easier to maintain. If it dies, I'll plant another one. 

The workers commented several times how nice it was to turn piles of rubbish into something useful. Now I am waiting for the rains to pick up a little more and then corn will be planted in the raised bed and chicory in the little rock garden area. The yard has a more uplifting feel to it now that the piles of junk are gone.