Papaya

Still have a lot of Papaya on the tree in the lower part of my garden. The tiny wasps have been laying their eggs on the leafs, which cause a white sticky goo, so I've had to break those off. I need to get down and clean this tree up before it gets out of control. I use a mix of vinegar and water to spray the tree and actually clean all the goo off using a rag and a tooth brush. It's a battle!

Banana Tree Flower

Had a really nice surprise today. One of my Banana trees in the lower part of my garden has a flower. This flower is much larger than I've ever had, so anticipate a lot of bananas. I could see the first row of bananas at the top of the flower and can tell they are larger than normal.

It takes bananas about six months to mature, so I look at harvesting these in January. My normal harvest period has been March or April, so this is a little early. I have two other mature trees I expect to flower this year, but still waiting. It will be fine. It just means I will have bananas all spring. 

(3 August) It's been a few days since I noticed the flower and  it is starting to open nicely to expose all the tiny Bananas. They are larger than I normally get, so excited to try them. I will cover them to minimize the damage.

For those that do not know how to prune a Banana flower I will explain. The tip of the purple flower is called a bell. It will keep growing even after the all the bananas appear. I let it grow a few weeks and I will cut it off. I will cut all the bananas of the last hand, except one. This will force the nutrients back up the bunch. 

I do not each the bell, but it is actually eatable. Simply remove all the hard outer purple leafs until you get to the center. I will be white and look like a large bamboo shout. You can cook it or slice it up raw and add to salads. I'll share this in a future post.  

Bush Beans (String Beans, ingen)

The Bush Beans (String Beans, Ingen) from the second planting are starting to sprout. Only one seed from the first planting survived (top right). I suspect I planted the seeds too deep, but the second time around is a charm. 

Bitter Melon (Goya, Nagauri)

One of the Bitter Melons (Goya, Nigauri) ripened, exploded and fell. You can see it in the right red circle. The fruit is bright orange. This fruit will create a new plant. The left circle shows some new plants growing from a previously dropped fruit and to the very right there are some more new plants, but you cannot see them in this picture. These vines should grow and start developing fruit in about a month.

As you've seen from my pictures, Goya are green, but will turn orange when very rip. I used to throw them away when they turned orange because I thought they were bad, but I found they can still be eaten and in fact they lose some of their bitterness and become sweet, so I no longer throw them away, but rather eat them.

Red Cucumber (Moi) Update

The Red Cucumber (Moi) is growing at roughly 1cm to 2cm a day and starting to turn brown at the very top. You can see a little brown on the 27 July picture.

24 July (15cm long) 

25 July (16cm long) 

26 July (17.5cm long) 

27 July (20cm long) 

29 July (21cm long) 

3 August (24 cm long) I will pick this in a few days once the entire fruit looks like it has cracks, like it looks at the top.

I lost the first Moi baby probably since it did not get pollinated, but I found this one the other day and pollinated it myself. I'll be able to tell if I was successful in a few day.

(3 August) the second Red Cucumber (Moi) is growing quickly. As mentioned above, I found a third fruit and pollinated it myself, but not sure if it made it yet. I also found a forth Moi on my second floor balcony and pollinated it.

Bitter Melon (Goya, Nigauri)

I found a baby Bitter melon (Goya, Nigauri) on the vine in my side yard. It is the only one I've seen. It is still small and waiting to be pollinated, so I removed a male flower and pollinated it by gently tapping the Anthers of the male against the Stigma of the female. We'll be able to tell in two or three days if I successfully pollinated it. 

Male and female flowers look similar, but the male flower (left) is on a long stem and has a yellow Anthers. The female flower (right) is on the end of a small fruit and it's Stigma is greenish. 

Red Cucumber (Moi)

The Red Cucumber (Moi) in my side yard is growing fast. The smaller one was not pollinated and has dried up. Like with most climbers, the plants create a male and female flower. The female flower has a small fruit with a flower on the end and if the flower is not pollinated it will simply dry up and fall off. I should have taken the opportunity to try and pollinate the flower when I saw it, but did not think of it at the time. My fault!

Sunny Lettuce (Red Leaf Lettuce)

I have Lettuce growing in several planters. For one, I eat a lot of Lettuce and two it is great for weed control, but my Lettuce monster seems to be able to sniff them out and nibble them down. I caught her red handed again, but she is so darn cute I cannot say anything. 

Papaya

I was cleaning up my Papaya trees and found this pretty large Papaya behind some leaves, so I picked it and will make Papaya stir fry. 

Watermelon (Suika)

Well, I ate my little baby Watermelon (Suika) and surprisingly it was very good. I’m pleased! I will try to grow more.

Red Cucumber (Moi)

Had a nice surprise today. The Red Cucumber (Moi) plant in my side yard is doing so well and growing quickly. When I was looking at the flowers, I noticed one that was different and realized it was a baby Moi. It is kind of white or yellow, but will get darker as it matures.

I got a second surprise with this even larger Moi. It has grown inside my Avocado tree, so I did not notice it. Yeah!

Upside down Tomato

Tomatoes, Green Peppers and many other plants grow well upside down. This is a nice option when you do not have a great deal of space, like balcony gardening.

I found a pot that was used for trick-or-treating. I bored two holes at the top for a wire to hang the pot.  

Next I cut a hole in the bottom.

I used some matting I use to line the bottom of my planters and cut a slice down the middle. This will be used to hold the plant in the hole.

I removed one of the plants I temporarily planted in the planter with the Potatoes.

I hung the pot up, stuck the roots of the plant through the hole. From inside I placed the stock of the plant through the matting to hold the plant in place and filled the pot with potting soil.

The plant will start to curl upward since that is it's natural direction. Let's see how this does in a few weeks.



Japanese Sweet Potato (Satsumaimo)

It has been about a month since I planted the Japanese Sweet Potatoes (Satsumaimo) and they are growing quickly.

Pineapple and Red Cucumber (Moi)

The Pineapple and Red Cucumber (Moi) plants are both doing well. I added a neat to allow the plants to climb. 

Avocado Tree

I have Avocado trees growing inside two of my Banana pods. I knew the tree was inside the pod below, but did not plant the one above. I suspect one of my neighbors planted it. Thank you!

My neighbor gave me this Banana tree when it was still in a pot. It looks like they planted the Banana on top an Avocado seed. The Avocado plant was starting to appear when I transplanted the Banana tree and I was not sure it would survive, but it seems to be thriving. You can actually see three branches of the Avocado tree.

Watermelon (Suika)

Well, living in Okinawa has some benefits, but it's not all rosy. A recent typhoon damaged my watermelon plant and I had to remove my cute little watermelon early since the vine died.

Okawakame (a kind of Madeira vine)

Okawakame is a kind of Madeira vine. Okawakame is a Japanese word that literally means Land Seaweed, because it resembles seaweed when cooked. The entire plant (leaves, vine and root) can be eaten and it will grow year after year in temperate climates. When it gets a little taller I will add a neat against the wall to allow it to climb.

This is what is should look like when it matures.

Papaya Tree

I planted two Papaya seeds a few weeks ago and one just sprouted along with something else. Not sure what the plant is to the right, but the Papaya seedling is on the left. Papaya trees are productive for eight or 9 years, and my mature Papaya trees are over two years old. so thought it a good chance to get a few more started.

Red Leaf Lettuce

I needed to plant some more Lettuce so I harvested some seeds.

I harvested some seed pods, which looks like little balls of cotton, and put them in a bowl.

I separated the seeds.





Using my figure I made two impressions in the dirt about a half inch deep. 

Sprinkled the seeds in the impression.

Covered the seeds with dirt and watered.

Pineapple

 

I was able to get two Pineapples for just 179 Yen ($1.79). I ate one and it was so sweet, so I decided to plant them. To plant a Pineapple, simply cut off the top and remove any Pineapple flesh and some of the lower leaves. Next, mix 1/3 sand, 1/3 manure and the rest potting soil. Finally, simply stick the Pineapple in the soil and water. Now recall Pineapples take about 30 months to grow, so I need to wait quite a while.

Bush Beans (String Beans, ingen)

I planted the Bush Beans (String Beans, Ingen) on July 8 and I just noticed one sprout. 

Tomato

Okay, I finally prepared another planter for the Tomatoes from my July 8 post. If you recall these were created from a Tomato I left in the refrigerator too long, so I cut it up and planted the slices. The problem is I do not know if the Tomato is a determinate or indeterminate (climber) type, so not sure how much space to prepare. Will find out soon.

I planted the other Tomatoes with the yellow potatoes but will move them. I decided to plant these upside down and hang them. Stay tuned for that.

Kumquat Tree (Kinkan Tree)

My Kumquat tree (Kinkan tree) has three generations of Kumquats growing simultaneously and it is flowering again. This year it has flowered about every 6-weeks with a few fruit making it each time. 

I found five caterpillars last week that I think was on the tree for quite a long time due to their size. They were green and shaped like a leaf, so I did not notice them. I suspect they were the cause why more fruit has not grown, but I'll get a chance to test my suspicion now that it has started to flower again. 

By the way, Kumquat flowers smell so good. Nice to have this near my front door.