Gulu Landscaping
Garden Clippings for Dec 10, 2022
The place is in the outskirts of Gulu, about a 5 hour drive north of Kampala, Uganda.
I have reason to believe that the people here are the friendliest on earth. I haven’t been everywhere, but I cannot imagine friendlier people. I’m not on nursery business, but I landed up here somehow wanting to believe I could make an impact. As if.
For the moment, it’s not Karin Health Care Clinic I’m concerned about, but I allow myself to think about horticulture and landscaping. There are no wood fences, no western style postage stamp lots that selfishly separate us from each other.
There is no privacy. No need for privacy. The community is a community, and there is no desire to hide behind hedges or fences. Trees are king. Rather than meeting at the gym, mall or Starbucks, Ugandan village folks meet under trees, or they will meet under the canopy of a store front.
It’s November and it rains every day. Everything that is planted grows like crazy. By mid-December the dry season arrives. Like our Canadian winter, during the dry season nothing grows. The weather is hot, and plants would like to grow but there is no rain. Those who are resourceful provide irrigation for their crops.
Flowers are few and far between, not because flowers go unappreciated, but they are just not as necessary. It is only within the compound of hotels in the city that I can find manicured shrubs, flowering trees and annuals. Flowers are flowers here and because there is no frost there is no distinction between annuals and perennials.
Vegetables and fruits rule, because they can be eaten, shared, traded, or sold. There is no manicured grass. Soccer is played on weeds, and that’s just fine.
Food is bought and sold on the street, perhaps in a small kiosk. But not in a massive supermarket. The straw hut home is for cooking and sleeping. There are no dining rooms or outdoor decks and patios. After you sleep or cook, you go outside.
The soil here is red and appears fertile. Weeds here are just as nasty as any Canadian garden. Yet, bricks are made by adding a little cement mix to the soil. The ornamental horticulture and landscaping industry in Gulu appears non existent. I’ve built my career, sort of, on growing and selling flowers and trees, but if I moved to Gulu, I would be likely be unemployed.
