Fall Planting in a Sub-tropical Climate

We had a pretty big typhoon 10-days ago that devastated many of my vegetables, but it gave me the opportunity to  begin a new fall crop. Remember, I am in a sub-tropical location, so many plants grow nearly year around. Here's what I have going on the end of September.

If you recall, I was growing strawberries in this tower, but re-purposed it for the below, which I grew from my own seed stock:

• First Tier - Basil
• Second Tier - Green Peppers 
• Third Tier - Tomato
• Fourth Tier - Lettuce
• Fifth Tier - Tomato
• Sixth Tier - Pineapple and some Lettuce

Cucumber (Top Right), Okawakame (Center), String Beans (Bottom Left).

In the front section I recharged the soil and planted Red Cucumbers (Moi) and Bitter Melon (Goya, Nigauri).

Tomatoes

Eggplant (Nasu) 

Green Peppers (Piman) 

Cilantro (Pakkuchi)

This is my Green Pepper plant from nearly five months ago. I was going to remove it, but found new peppers and flowers, so decided to leave it and give it same fertilizer and plant food. To the left I have a Red Lettuce plant and in the center a Garlic Clove (Niniku).

I put this small Red Lettuce plant in a bucket to hide it from my puppy, who loves lettuce. She can smell it, but hasn't found it YET.

I'm trying something new, Strawberry Guava. I bought these from the famer's market last week and like them, so saved some of the seeds and see how it goes.

Strawberry Guava

Roses

We have seven verities of roses. Most of them bloom continuously throughout the year and three verities are blooming now. They are quite beautiful.

Hibiscus

I love Hibiscus plants, because their flowers are beautiful and bloom all year around. Unfortunately, the flowers only last one day.

Banana Bell (Banana Flower)

So, in one of my previous posts I explained the bell can be eaten and I would share how that was done. When the Banana bunch is finished producing, the branch between the last banana and bell will continue to grow. I let is grow for three or four weeks before I cut it off so it does not continue using energy that could go towards growing bigger bananas. Also, I leave only one banana on the last hand to drive the energy up the bunch. 

This is the bell. I will warn you that banana sap will leave a brown stain on any material that cannot be removed easily, so protect your counter top with paper towels and rub cooking oil on the counter top and your hands before you get started. The oil will prevent the sap from penetrating and can be washed off with soap and water. 

 

When you start to remove the pedals, you will see banana flowers. These can be eaten and many cultures cut them up and add them to stir fries, but the Stigma and Perianth (see diagram below) need to be removed for each flower since they are tough, which I find tedious, so do not use them.

After all the pedals and flowers are removed you will get to a solid core. This can be eaten raw in salads or in stir fries, but it is bitter. So, for many it is an acquired taste, like bitter melon (Goya).



Kumquat Tree (Kinkan)

My Kumquat Tree (Kinkan) bloomed a few weeks ago and so apparently the bees did a great job, because so many fruit matured. This mere 50 cm (20 inches) tall tree has over 20 fruit. Amazing!

Garlic Chives (Nira)

I used some Garlic Chives (Nira) is a stir fry a few days ago, but it was so tough, so I decided to trim it all. I trimmed the Chives three days ago and found it has grown back quickly. I found it is growing at a rate of 1cm (1/2 inch) a day.

Garlic (Niniku)

I planted a few cloves of store bought Garlic (Niniku) about a month ago and one clove is growing well. Garlic is a bit difficult to grow in a hot and humid climate. Garlic is a bulb and like most bulbs they do not like a lot of water and tend to rot in the moist dirt if the dirt does not drain extremely well, and because Garlic has a long growth period, roughly nine months, you need to monitor its health closely.

Red Cucumber (Moi)

The Red Cucumber (Moi) plant in my side yard is just about finished and I was going to remove the vine, but discovered this baby Moi hanging off my Persimmon tree. Nice surprise.

Bitter Melon (Goya, Nigauri) Seeds

I was shocked to learn that the pod surrounding the seeds of Bitter Melons that have ripened are sweet. Of course, you don't want to eat the seeds, but instead of washing off the red seed pod, you can eat them. They are very sweet with no particular flavor. Then keep the seeds for planting.

Bitter melon seeds can be planted immediately or years later. They are a hardy plant. 

Papaya Fruit

I'm starting to experiment with Papaya as a fruit. Papaya have a unique taste, but kind of taste like a Cantaloupe. I'm trying to determine when to eat them for the sweetest possible flavor. I let this sit for about five days. I was sweet, but feel it could be sweeter if I let it sit longer. I have a lot of Papaya, so can experiment a lot.   

Giboushi Flower (aka, Hostas or Plantain Lilies)

Giboushi Flower (aka, Hostas or Plantain Lilies) starting to bloom. What a beautiful flower. The Giboushi flower and leaves will die in the winter and the leaves will start to sprout in late spring or early summer. The flower typically starts to bloom in late August or early September.