Our little Eden’s garden
Story behind great food
Did you know that at Fairmont Mayakoba, we use fresh ingredients? That’s right; we have our vegetable garden next to our La Laguna restaurant, famous for its previously Mexican buffet concept that has now transcended, due to the pandemic, to a ‘live station.’ Same concept but safer and fresher. Let’s go back to our garden though, our chefs visit the garden to pick up various ingredients, from spicing up a meal to create a complete green juice, and it just makes sense to do so as it offers a great punch of fresh flavors to the food we serve at the table. More importantly, it transmits our love and care to our guests and the planet.
Every day, our gardeners look after our plants, providing shelter during harsh weather, changing the compost every once and then, providing extra nutrition with fertilizers, controlling plagues, and so, so many other precautions for a very delicate habitat.
We are so proud to support and participate in Accor’s environmental and social sustainability program called planet 21 that has now given a chance to colleagues to spread the ‘know-how’ of creating your own organic garden, and we are now sharing it with you, our precious guest, to also be a caretaker of the planet.
Plants you can find at the eden’s garden
Tips from our experts’ gardeners to create and maintain an organic garden
Once you have decided that your home needs to be greener and have a little haven that will attract bees and birds to your backyard, the first thing you will need to do is buy the plants. Always look after the plant you want with the scientific name and provide as much information as you can to the seller to understand which plant you are looking. There are more than 100 sub-species of the plant that look very similar at first because chances are.
You will then have to find a location for your plants to strive and consider their specific requirements, such as hours and hours of sunlight or partial sun. Also, be sure they have effortless access to a water supply. You can also take some herbs in pots and place them in your kitchen for a very convenient fresh source of ingredients. Just remember to change the pot at least once a year, preferably during summer, for a bigger pot, in case you want your plant to grow. If not, change the soil to prevent any diseases and cut some of the roots and leaves.
Then, add the best soil for your plants. We encourage you to do your own
organic compost takes some time to break down, but it is easy to do and will make your plants produce strong roots.
Lastly, always keep it clean. Remove diseased leaves, broken branches, etc. remember that you can also over water your plant, so check their specific needs; some prefer arid and drained soil while others prefer humidity.
For the last recommendations, we want to share 2 techniques:
- ‘Esqueje’ – This means cutting your plant from 5 to 10cm and goes directly to the soil. There you go! You now have two instead of one plant once you have a good-looking branch.
- ‘Pinche’ – If you are looking for a fast-growing process, this is for you! The plants also feel young or old. If you don’t cut their leaves, they will believe they are old and stop their growth drastically. When you cut a few leaves from the top of the plant, approx. 5-8 leaves, they will think they are young and continue their growth rapidly to get to maturity. We recommend doing it regularly, so you get a big and bushy plant.
