We Found a Box of Aloe Vera Plants on the Side of the Road...

So we found a box full of aloe vera plants on the side of a building. The box had been placed on top of a wall displaying a sign: “Take me home”.

Sweet. So we did!

We took the box and placed it on the boot of our Berlingo car.

Now, I haven’t really been very good with plants. In the past, every plant I’ve had has died on me. Really, really sad. I just assumed I didn’t have ‘the hand’ for them but I now know that you need to learn things in order to get good at them. It takes time, patience and knowledge.

We placed them inside a bucket filled with water til we decided where to plant them…

At home my mum didn’t really take care of plants. At times she would buy a few but eventually they got forgotten and I can’t remember the rest… but I can imagine. With 4 children at home I can’t blame her.

The aloe vera plants where displaying signs of needing some love and water : )

A friend of mine had already given us 2 aloe vera plants as a gift. They were a little ‘dry’ when she gave them to us (they were offsprings) but we said yes and decided to take care of them. We didn’t go a good job… again. Totally believing aloe vera plants need direct sun and not much water (which I have read many, many times online!), we placed them somewhere on our terrace where they would get exactly that… lots of sun. And we didn’t water them that much.

But the aloe vera plant is not a cactus. They’re are succulents, and we have plenty of those here in Tenerife. I used to dismiss the ‘verode‘ succulent plant (Aeonium canariense) as it grows anywhere and everywhere here and it just looked absolutely not special at all (at least to me). Hey, I was younger and also I was dreaming of overseas lands… where the grass was always greener (which, in this case, it was as I went to live in the UK : ) )

We took the aloe vera plants to La Finca and gave them a home.

Back to the aloe veras, once again we had not been very successful with the 2 plants my friend gave us. We basically almost killed them. The sad story is that we thought ‘that’s how it was’. They turned brown (very, very dry-brown) and the leaves where pointing in (yes, so sad!), there was almost no space between them. It had somehow ‘contracted’, possibly to make the most of the little water it could grab from the air. I’m guessing.

Then, one day, we finally decided something was not right. The direct sunlight was NOT helping! Or something was not helping, we did water them but that didn’t make a difference.

So, when we bought the rest of our first herbs (see here), we moved the 2 aloe vera plants with the herbs… to the shade. We really, really didn’t think it would work (aloe veras without direct sunlight?) but I couldn’t find anything online that I could trust any longer and we just took a chance.

You’ll be pleasantly surprised by how they turned over a period of 2 or 3 months… (photos below).

We took the bigger ones and planted on the side of the upper bit of land.

We couldn’t house all the aloe vera plants where we live so we decided to take them to La Finca where we eventually also took our other herbs (you can see a photo of our other herbs here).

My brother told us how much space to leave in between each plant.

We finally kept 3 aloe vera plants (the two that my friend had given us plus another one we bought) since we found the way to keep them happy and healthy (again, see pics below, towards the end of the post).

The aloe veras demanded: lots of shade and watering once a month or every 6 weeks during the winter and a bit more during the summer, depending on how hot it is.

I told you the story because we made the same mistake with the box of aloe vera plants we found on the side of the road. We again thought they would do well under the sunlight… but they didn’t. They VERY QUICKLY dried up! Within 10 days they looked dead.

From green to brown… our aloe vera plants started to dry up around 10 days after we had planted them (this photo was taken the day we planted them, so they’re still looking quite healthy).

Look at how happy I am below, thinking I’m doing a good thing for them. Really, why hadn’t I learned the lesson? It must be tattoed in my head that aloe veras need direct sunlight. But, in my experience, they shrivel and dry up.

Below is the area where we eventually moved them. Under the avocado trees, where they would get quite a bit of shade…

Here’s one we planted in the pot.

Look at how shaded this area is… It has taken them a long time to recover! Lynn and I decided to keep one at home, together with our other 3 VERY, VERY HAPPY aloe vera plants (pics below).

A photo of the aloe vera plants and our herbs (rosemary, sage, mint, etc).

Oh, yes, some thyme also, which we eventually had to cut down, almost to the very root.

I know the area doesn’t look that beautiful, but Lynn and I are taking time to make it look good. We don’t live at La Finca so we go there as and when possible. In the meantime, my brother sorted out a watering system.

Here’s the aloe vera plant we chose to bring back home with us and place next to our other aloe veras (her brothers and sisters : ) )

As you can see, a lot less green than when we found them, I knew from experience that they weren’t doing well under the direct sunlight.

Alas! Look at our WONDERFULLY HAPPY aloe veras! Never under direct sunlight, they always get the lovely shade and we make sure we keep the earth nice and moist.

Here’s another shot, this is the time Lynn decided to place them under the rain so they would get the lovely, fresh water.

Ooooh, that lovely deep dark green colour. Isn’t it glorious?

These aloe vera plants are VERY happy!!

This is the one we bought. The 2 above are the ones my friend had given us. It’s a shame we haven’t got photos of how BAD they got. Just trust me. They looked horrendous.