Beets

I planted a Beet that went bad in my refrigerator in late January and decided to pull it last week. I was surprised how large it was. The stock was over three foot tall.

The Beet weighed 630 grams (1.4 lbs). That's a lot of Beets.

 

Acerola Cherry Jam

I picked 840 grams (1.85 lbs) of Acerola Cherries and made jam today. After washing them I removed all the seeds and ended up with 585 grams of pulp. I boiled the seeds to extract a little pectin, which I would add to my receipt.

I blended the pulp, a tablespoon of villa extract and 218 grams of sugar (45% the weight of the pulp) until smooth. It gets a little foamy, so had to wait until it settled to cook. I placed the blended mix and pectin in a sauce pan and cooked on low heat for about 20 minutes until it got to the consistency I wanted.  

I ended up with 545 grams of jam. I added to jars, let cool and placed them in the refrigerator.

Watermelon (Suika)

I planted Watermelon (Suika) seed on 7 March and they just started to sprout. 

 

Acerola Cherry (Barbados Cherry) Tree

I picked Acerola cherries yesterday and got 640 grams (1.4 lbs). There are so many pests (birds, caterpillars, snails) that can damage the cherries; therefore, I typically pick them as soon as they start to turn red and allow them to ripen on a window seal. Additionally, Acerola falls off easily. So if there are strong winds, like we have here, it is best to pick them a little early. 

Corner Garden

I'm pleased how this corner garden is maturing, but think I need to spread out some of the taller plants. They all seem too centered.

I'm not happy with this corner garden. I need to work on this area.

I've been working on this area. I have 6-7 types of Dracena and a few elephant plants, but just can't find the right balance. I have many in planters so can move them around, but I just don't have the eye.

Giboushi Flower (aka, Hostas or Plantain Lilies)

My Giboushi plant stated to regrow in late March and looking beautiful. Giboushi is a perennial that dies back in late fall or early winter and sprouts again in the Spring. When it dies back I move it to a cool dry place until around March. Then I move it back in the sunlight in March and start watering it.

Paprika (Green Peppers, Piman)

The Paprika plants are producing well. I picked this Red Pepper after I took this picture. 

There are about six decent sized Peppers on these two plants that I plan to leave until they turn red or until I need a Green Pepper. 

However, I actually have a Green Pepper plant with three nice Peppers. It is not the best looking plant and now recovered from a stink bug attack. 

Chili Peppers (Togarashi)

This Chili Pepper (Togarashi) plant it still going great and producing Peppers.

Cucumber (Kyuri)

This Cucumber (Kyuri) plant has about 20 Cucumbers and it is just a foot and a half tall. I wonder hope many it will produce.

Green Beans (Ingen)

Every couple of days I get a handful of String Beans (Ingen). This was from today. Lately, I've been leaving one bean on the plant until it dries and then plant the beans. This way I always have a few new plants growing and have a few beans every few days. 

(4/19)

(04/17)

About a month ago I broke one on my bean plants and just stuck it in this container. Today I noticed a bean. It it is too large and will be too tough to eat, so I'll let it dry and plant the seeds.

Surinam Cherry Tree (Brazilian Cherry Tree) Fruit

I planted Surinam Cherry seeds in June 2019. The research I did stated that it will take around 5-years to produce fruit, but I suspect due to the favorable climate in this region these trees fruited in less than 2-years. Surinam Cherry trees are a cute plant, so I planted them primarily as ornamental plants in my garden; however, they produce fruit and are drought tolerant, which makes them even more desirable. I've done the same with Goumi trees. They are a beautiful tree, plus they produce delicious Goumi berries. 

Many people mix up Acerola and Surinam cherries, but they are different in both appearance and taste. From what I understand there are red and dark purple varieties of Surinam Cherries (also known as Brazilian Cherry). As they ripen they change colors. The verity I planted are red, but I understand the dark purple are sweeter, but I'm looking forward to taste testing my fruit in a few years.

Cucumber (Kyuri)

The Cucumber plant I bought from a nursery is already producing Cucumbers with 6-7 visable.

The Cucumber seeds I planted are growing quickly and starting to develop primary leave growth.

Passion Fruit (Yellow)

The yellow Passion Fruit in the back of my house are really starting to flower. They are a few weeks behind my purple passion fruit which is good since all the fruit will not be ready at the same time.

 

Strawberry

My Strawberry plant is starting to produce more Strawberries. They are small, but surprisingly sweet. The past few years the Strawberries had a nice aroma, but were not sweet. I plan to pick these tomorrow.

Passion Fruit (Yellow)

The yellow Passion Fruit in the back of my house started to flower. I saw one yesterday evening, but it had already closed; fortunately, I was able to pollinate this one. There are many buds on the vine, so I expect tons of fruit. The flowers of the yellow Passion Fruit are identical to the purple.

Mulberry Tree

My neighbor gave me a cutting from her Mulberry tree. It is fruiting now and the berries taste amazing. I wish I had more to make jam.

I prepared two Mulberry tree cuttings and will transplant them once I see roots come from the bottom of the planters. I will keep one tree in a planter and will plant the other in the back of my house.

Bougainvillea Vine

My neighbor gave me a cutting from her 50 year old Bougainvillea vine. The flowers are gorgeous. Bougainvillea flowers comes in many colors, but I think the purple is the most vibrant. Bougainvillea is a thorny ornamental vine that I intend to grow over a trellis leading to my back yard garden. 

I could prepare a few containers of cuttings and plan to transplant them as soon as I see roots coming out the bottom of the containers. Oh yea, I need to build a trellis too :)

 

Watermelon (Suika)

I planted Watermelon (Suika) two days ago. They should start to sprout in about a week.

 

Cucumber (Kyuri)

 

I repurposed the planter I grew Tomatoes and planted Cucumbers. I purchased on plant from a nursery and planted seed. The seeds are just starting to sprout.

The plant I purchased from a nursery is already producing Cucumbers.

Guava (Strawberry, Red and White) Tree

The red Guava tree in the back of my house is flowering. There are many buds, so looking forward to getting many fruit this year.

The white Guava tree in the front of my house has one flower and I cannot find any more buds. If it turns out this tree only has one fruit it is probably going to be huge and super sweet since all the tree's energy will be dedicated to this one fruit. Last year I got three fruit and they were 150% larger than average and very sweet.

The Strawberry Guava bushes in the back on my house are flowering and have tons of buds. The flowers are nearly identical to the flower of the red and white Guava.

Herbs (Dill Flower)

This Dill plant started to bolt a few weeks ago and produce flowering Umbels.

This Umbel has about seven flower clusters. Each flower cluster has between 6-8 flowers and each flower has five seeds. This Umbel only can produce over 250 seeds. They are tiny, but I'll do my best to collect as many as possible once it dries.

Dried Herbs

 Drying a few Herbs

Passion Fruit

Ripened Passion Fruit.

Carrot Flower

For some strange reason one Carrot decided to bolt and flower. It is still growing season for Carrots, which means it should not flower; however, I suspect it was under distress due to lack of watering. But, I'm not complaining, because a single Carrot typically produces between 3,000 to 9,000 seeds; however, it has the potential to produce tens of thousands. One Carrot will produce between 10-15 stems and each stem can produce 10-15 Umbels or bushy flowers. Above is a picture of just one Umbel. Each Umbel can contain between 30-50 flower clusters and each flower cluster contains between 10-12 flowers, which turn into seed. So one blooming Carrot can produce more seed than one could probably use in a life time.

Let the Umbel try completely on the plant. Once dry, remove each Umbel from the stem and remove the seeds. Rub the seeds between your hands to remove any chaff. Separate the chaff from the seeds by dropping the seeds and gently blowing the chaff away. Remove any twigs and store the seeds for future planting.

Acerola Cherry (Barbados Cherry) Tree

 

This Acerola Cherry tree is in full bloom with a few cherries starting to develop. I cannot wait to make jam again this year. 

Avocado Tree

The Avocado tree in the back of my house is doing great with a lot of new growth. It is still young, but I'm hoping it gets through this year's typhoon season with little damage and flowers next year.

Passion Fruit

Importance of Pruning: There are two vines on my balcony. These are purple Passion Fruit and are about 18 months old. This is the second season they produced. I got about 20 fruit last year and about 40 fruit this year. I believe I could have gotten more if I had trimmed back the vines. I will test this theory next season. Passion fruit buds only grow from new vine growth, so when a vine is cut it promotes new growth, which in turn should create more fruit.

Sunlight vs Shade: I propagated these three purple Passion Fruit plants from cuttings using my main plant on the balcony late last year. These vines are growing on the fence that leads to my front door. 

They are not even a year old, but producing well with over 25 fruit so far and still flowering. Passion fruit grow well in both shade and direct sunlight, but the fruit in direct sunlight are larger. Additionally, I have found that my pollination success is much great in direct sunlight. My pollination success with vines in the shade is roughly 50-60 percent and my success in the direct sunlight is 90-95 percent. Plus, the vines in the shade have stopped flowering and the vines in the direct sunlight are still generating new growth and flowering.

These three purple Passion Fruit vines are about seven months old and growing on a fence in the front of my house. They do not have as much new growth, thus not as many fruit.

Front of my house.

Front of my house.

The yellow Passion Fruit plants in the back of my house are growing like weeds. I planted these last June, which makes them about 9-10 months old. There are five mature plants, but I have four more saplings inside the trellis area and four saplings below, plus I planted about eight saplings in a different part of my garden that goes down a hill. I will have to think what to do with them next season.