---
date: 2022-05-06T09:10:00+02:00
draft: false
categories:
- blog
year: 2022
title: The Ivy Diaries, Chapter I
tags:
- ivy
- urban-activism
abstract: How I planted an Ivy behing garadge.
---
 I've become an urban activist in a way. And a terrible farmer in any another.
 <!--more--> 
I live in a typical polish flat. Luckily, we own a dedicated right in front of our building. The back wall of the garage complex (6 garages) faces the street, which I see every day. It was filled with soccer-themed graffiti for a long time, which I don't enjoy. Last year, sometime in the middle of the summer, I decided to plant Ivy there. Seemed easy. Now, a year later, I am a wiser man who knows that gardening to any extent is difficult.

My first attempt was to cut the ends of a grown plant and plant it. Two days later, green services were cutting grass and murdering my plants.

Before the second attempt, I've done some reading. I want Ivy to lose leaves during winter, to survive the harsh conditions of the barren earth, and not die due to pollution. And I bought seeds, some general usage dirt, and I played an urban terrorist one happy night. But, up till recently, nothing grew out of it.

I waited till October and then bought young plants. I still don't know what kind of Ivy I purchased, but the description matched. And then I discovered that gardening is a nightmare. Even a tiny hole requires inhuman strength. Pulling grass out is also not a trivial matter. But I managed. I even bought a special nutrient. So, this time patiently, I waited. I was regularly watering and nurturing my plants. I even named them - Quark and Rom. Since it was almost winter, I received the plants without any leaves.

Right after winter ended, I surrounded them with a small fence to ensure that they won't get slaughtered again. One thing I did not take into account is other humans. Someone decided that my small plant covered a fence looked like a trashcan. And for the last few weeks, I have removed empty beer cans every few days. Always three there are - no more, no less.

But, on April 29th, we finally saw that the Ivy is still alive.

{{< img-center "ivy-22-2.png" "Quark on 29th of April">}}

What a happy day it was. Soon after, I covered the entirety of the fence covered space with sticks, so it's not that easy to throw cans there. I am not a handyman, but it works. So today, the new can batch was not directly on my plants but beside them. I consider it a win.

{{< img-center "ivy-22-3.png" "Rom on 4th of May">}}