Japanese Sweet Potato (Flower)

(10/27) Today I noticed a flower on one of my Japanese Sweet Potato plants. As I previously mentioned, Sweet Potatoes are not really Potatoes, but rather part of the Morning Glory flower family, which is why the flowers look the same.

 

Dragon Fruit

(10/26) I planted these Dragon Fruit the beginning of the month and they are starting to grow new branches. I do not know how long it takes to grow a new branch, but will start recording that now.

 

Soybean (Edamame)

(10/26) My Soybean (Edamame) plants are starting to flower. These Edamame will be ready to harvest in about 6-7 weeks from now.

 

Okinawan Flat Beans

(10/26) My Okinawan Flat Beans are growing well.

Kumquat (Kinkan)

(10/26) My Kumquat (Kinkan) fruit are almost ready to harvest.

(11/01) I picked the Kumquats (Kinkan) yesterday and will make marmalade. 

I got 1.1 kg (2.5 lbs) of fruit. This should be enough for maybe three jars of marmalade. 

Malabar Spinach

(10/23) I had Malabar Spinach as a side dish today. I pick about this much every other day with tons more to pick if I desired.

The leaves get quite large if I do not pick them regularly, but they are still tender. 

I add the smaller raw leaves to my salads, but boil the larger leaves, add some Okra, Tomato wedges, Sesame Seeds and add a little Tsuyu dressing.

Papaya

(10/22) I picked a Papaya about a week ago and let it ripped on my counter. Yesterday I decided to eat it.

Looks delicious right?

I sliced it up, added a little whip cream and sprinkled it with Cinnamon. It was delicious. In the eventing I made Papaya Ice cream, but that requires the fruit to be frozen. It is so easy and super delicious. Here is the ingredients: 

    Frozen Papaya (400g)

    Heavy Milk (120g)

    Sugar (60g) or Vanilla Protein Powder (30g)

    Vanilla Extract (1 Tbls)

Add to Vitamix or blender and mix for 30 seconds or until thick.

   

 

PawPaw

(10/21) My old friend in Erie Pennsylvania was telling me about PawPaw fruit earlier this year. He said it was George Washington's favorite fruit, but I'd never heard of it before. He said the fruit's flavor varies. Some trees develop absolutely delicious fruit that tastes like a mix of Banana and Strawberry or Mango and Pineapple, but some tree's fruit is horrible. My friend said he got his trees from a person that spent years crossbreeding his trees to get a delicious fruit. Well, I found this tree at my local farmers market, so will give it a try. It should start to develop fruit in a few years, so I will have to wait a while.

PawPaw saplings at my local market for 980 Yen ($9.30).

 

Celery

 

(10/21) The roots from Celery I harvested last year started to grow again, and in fact had a baby and created a second stock. These stocks will be ready to harvest in about four or five months from now.

Pakuchi (Cilantro, Coriander)

(10/21) I do not have great success growing Pakuchi (Cilantro, Coriander). I plant the seeds in several planters, but plants do not sprout for a year or two later, even though I crack the seed pod. Anyway, what I do is look in all my planters for seedlings and remove them and replant them together. I do this every year and generally get good growth from this one planter. I just wish I was more successful from the beginning. I find that Pakuchi sprouts twice a year in my region. Once in October and again in March.

Sunny Lettuce (Red Leaf Lettuce)

(10/21) The Sunny Lettuce (Red Leaf Lettuce) in the back is growing well. I've already picked Lettuce from these plants twice to make salads. The Lettuce in the front container is just starting to sprout, but the beets are growing faster. 

Kumquat (Kinkan)

(10/21) The Kumquat (Kinkan) on my two foot tall tree are starting to ripen. There are about 50 fruit on this tree, which I plan to use to make marmalade. 

 

Tomato

(10/21) The Tomato plants in the front of my house are doing well. They are not experiencing any fungal problems and the plants are now producing flowers and some fruit.

These Tomatoes are about the size of cherry Tomatoes, but will get much larger. I will need to cover them soon to protect them from snails and birds.

The Tomato plants on my second floor balcony are also doing well. They have flowers, but no fruit yet.

This is a sucker I pinched and planted. It is growing well.

Here is another sucker I pinched and planted. It is also doing well.

 

Italian Parsley

(10/21) I transplanted the Italian Parsley seedlings from the seeding tray to this planter today. 

Acerola Cherry Tree (Barbados Cherry)

(10/20) Today I got a lot of large plump Acerola cherries.

Full of red ripe Acerola cherries.

 

Paprika (Red Peppers)

(10/19) My Paprika plants are producing peppers. I can get a Pepper every few days.

Strawberry

(10/15) My Strawberry plants are starting to produce runners, but they are too short to reach other tiers; therefore, I placed them in plastic bags filled with soil that I can remove and transplant once they produce roots.

These bags contain runners.

The runners are producing roots.

 

Daikon (White)

Radishes grow quickly and these giant white Daikon are no exception, but think I planted more than I need. I suspect my neighbors will be happy though.

Daikon can get quite large, but obviously my container is not that deep, so do not expect anything this large; however, I do expect something about half as large, which is still large.

Soybean (Edamame)

 

These Soybean plants are doing well.

Eggplant (Nasu)

I got one little Eggplant (Nasu) on this plant. I have two other plants of a different verity, but they got hit hard by spider mites, which I'm fighting now; however, they have a few small Eggplants as well. 

 

Thailand Basil

The Thailand Basil seeds I planted a few days ago are sprouting. I am growing a lot of this basil, primarily, to collect seeds for my seed stock; however, I suspect these seeds will also taste amazing in dishes, like Thai-chicken basil.

 

Bitter Melon (Goya, Nigauri)

This Bitter Melon (Goya, Nigauri) plant is growing well, but I did miss a Goya and it exploded. I need to keep an eye on this verity, because once they get a certain size and they are not picked they start to turn yellow and explode.

Also, I found a lot of aphids on this plant, which I'm battling; however, I'm keeping them under control and they are not damaging the plant much.

Flat Beans (Okinawan Flat Beans)

 

The Okinawan Flat Beans I planted on 6 October are growing quickly. I planted 10 seeds, so expect a ton of beans.

Beets

Since only six Beet plants survived, I moved some Carrots from another planter to this planter. All are doing well.

 

Carrots

The Carrots are doing well. I have to move some of the Carrots to another planter to make room for them to grow.

 

Tomato

The Tomato plants I started from seed seven weeks ago are doing fine.

These Tomato plants are from suckers I pinched off.

This was a large sucker that I pinched off and planted in the below pot.

This was a large sucker, so I planted it deep. The hairs on the stock will create roots. The deeper it is planted, the more chance it will survive and thrive.

 

Back Yard

(10/8) The space behind my house is on a slope, but I've been doing my best to create levels to plant stuff. It is an ongoing project, but here is what I've done recently.

This space had a large Papaya, small Avocado and some Banana tress. The last typhoon toppled my Papaya tree and the Banana trees were just not growing. Additionally, there was still a slight slop, so I decided to dig everything up, add some new soil and level it off. I removed 13 Banana trees, removed most of their leaves and roots and set them off to the side for about a week until I finished. Then I selected six of the best trees and replanted them using potting soil and nutrients. Let's see if that will spur their growth. I have a lot of space along the edges, so plan to plant other stuff, like Pineapples, Rosemary, Chilli Peppers and the like. 

The tier below the Banana trees I built a trellis for the Yellow Passion Fruit. I finally planted one at the base of each of the beams. I need to add a rope to help them climb. I am thinking to plant three grape vines on the opposite beans, but need to research that a little more.

The tier below the Yellow Passion Fruit I have some Dragon Fruit, an Avocado tree, Banana trees and a few Paprika plants.

Off in the corner, near to the Flax plant, I planted a Shikuwasa tree. It is really starting to take off.

I've been monitoring the progress of these Dragon Fruit and finding they are all developing roots. I cannot wait to see their progress in a year from now.

I had some extra Banana trees, so planted them in this location; however, I need to add more soil.

Getting crowded.

The last typhoon really beat up my Mango tree. I will cover it up next year during the typhoons. This is why most people grow their Mango tree in greenhouses.