Short pictorial history of the garden

In November the 2005 the plot was cleared. In January 2006 landscaping started. Leveling the ground and making canals.

In February the garden was plowed and we made a design for the paths. In March we started building a shed for the garden workers and the construction for a well with a small water tower. Planting of trees started in April and at the end of this month the rainy season started also.

On 10 July the rainy season was really "on" the garden was very wet. The canals did their work well but we had erosion, and this was going on.

In October 2006 the construction of the walkways started and three bridges were constructed.

In the first three months of 2007 we had to make a few more paths and we needed a temporary bridge over the canal. On the Google Earth image (image date 3-3-2007 )this bridge is clearly visible. This bridge has been removed already.

But this is also the dry season. The well did not have enough water. So the well should be deepened by 1 meter, but after a short time the workers had to give up. They reached rock. The only solution was to drill a new one. The new well is 39 m deep, and water pumped up from a depth of 33 m.

With the new well we had sufficient water. But the paths with mud should be cleaned. The garden layout and the watering system are "finished" except for the repair of the erosion damage of last rainy season.
But the new rainy season was about to arrive, but we tried repair the pipes.

After filling the gap with sand there was a big rain and all the sand washed away. We decided to wait for the dry season. The rainy season lasted longer than usual. In march and April 2008 we could start repairing the damage from 2006 and 2007.

On some places not enough mud was removed, so keeping out weeds is difficult. The gravel had to been washed.

For filling up the hole made by the waterfall we needed a lot of soil. This soil is covered by geo textile, sand stone and rock. We hope to have fixed the erosion for many rainy seasons to come!

On these pictures you can see that the construction works well. The waterfall starts if we have more than 100 mm rain in a short time say within 2 days.

In 2008 there were groups of students visiting the garden. But there was no accommodation for the guests.

It was clear we needed some better housing for the staff, an office and a terrace where guests can sit, have a drink and enjoy the beautiful surroundings and the garden.

We found a constructor. The building started in the end September 2008. The building should be finished end December or the beginning of 2009, but actually this was in March 2009.

The layout is clear: the building will be 10 x 12 meter, in three strokes

• One stroke of 3 x 10 m for the staff with two rooms 4 x 3 m and in between a small kitchen
• The middle stroke 4 x 10 m for an office and two storage rooms.
• Terrace 5 x 10 m for the visitors' room with a bar.
• A separate building for the toilet/douche.

The construction goes well: October 6, 2008

End March the house was really finished and in use. The shed was removed and the area for the shed was added to the garden.

The last construction in the garden was a pond.

To see the difference between the old and new garden layout is clearly by comparing the two pictures below. The light blue spot was the shed.

The following pictures are of the house, the pond and the new garden area as on 13 January 2010.

the new garden area without the shed