Lizard Buddy

My Lizard buddy is back hanging out around my Acerola tree. Her babies are now making a home around my Passion Fruit. She lets me touch her tail, but that's as close as I can get. Anyway, I like to see her when I'm out in the garden.  

Madagascar Periwinkle (Ichinichiso)

Madagascar Periwinkle (Ichinichiso) is such a cute flower and grows like a weed in my area. It can grow in the crack of a sidewalk and requires very little water, but flowers nearly all year round. In fact, the Japanese name for this flower is translated to 100 day bloom, but honestly it flowers more than that. 

I picked one of these flowers I found along the road earlier this year. I put it in water until it got roots and planted it. Six months later I now have a bush with tons of beautiful pink flowers. 

Banana Tree

I planted a Banana tree I purchased from a farmer's market for 680 Yen ($6.50) about two months ago and it is doing fine. I lost all my other trees due to disease, but going to give it a try again. I wish I took a picture when I first planted it, but for some reason I did not. Anyway, I can monitor its progress from this point at least. 

Mango (Apple)

I'm growing these Apple Mango trees from seed. I've tried this a few times and failed. I've transplanted them once and will leave them in these planters until they are about two feet (60 cm) tall. I suspect I will plant one in the ground behind my house and the other I may leave in the planter. Growing Mango from seed may take 3-5 years and you can never be sure of the taste due to cross-pollination. Now I am in a sub-tropical region so things grow faster here. For those living in other regions it may take up to seven years before bearing fruit when grown from seed. Anyway, it's all about the journey, right?

 

Mango (Kitsu, Keitt) Tree

My Kitsu Mango tree came through the typhoon without any damage. It flowered this year, but I removed the flowers to allow the tree to mature a bit more. It has been growing well and hope to get some delicious Mango next year.

 

Guava (Strawberry)

It is Strawberry Guava season, but my Strawberry Guava are still growing. They are larger than average and hope they are sweet.

 

Guava (Red)

I picked a Guava today to check the taste.

The average Guava is roughly 200 grams, so this was a little small.

My lunch included Guava, Dragon Fruit flower Tempura, Shiso Tempura and Lemon Grass tea, which all came from my garden. The Dragon Fruit flower tasted like Okra and the Guava was sweet, but not as sweet as I hoped for. I will wait for the other to ripen more.

Guava (Red)

Some of the red Guava in the back of the house are getting large and will be ready to pick soon.

 

Papaya Tree

The little Papaya tree in the back of the house is really starting to produce fruit. I cut off many of the leaves prior to the typhoon to help prevent damage, which worked. The fruit are undamaged and the tree is fine.

Okra

One of the Okra pods started to split, which means it is time to remove the seeds. Of course, you can store the entire pod as is, but removing the seeds saves space.

To harvest the seeds just peel back the pod shell and remove the seeds. Each pod can produce between 100-200 seeds. This particular pod produced about 130 seeds.

Place in a dry area and let the seeds dry for a week or two before storing. Remember to annotate what type of seed and date stored. I can tell you from experience, Okra, Papaya, Malabar Spinach and many other seeds really look similar once dried, so it is critical to label the seeds when storing. 

Acerola Cherry (Jam)

Yes I did it again. I made Acerola Cherry jam and preserved it. My tree is so productive. 

Got nearly 500 grams (1.2 lbs) of cherries in three days.

Got nearly 315 grams of pulp after removing the seeds.

I did not blend it this time so have chunky Acerola jam.

Okra

I let a few Okra grow for my seed stock, but removed a few due to the typhoon. Normally it is best to leave the pods on the plant to dry, but I believe they are mature enough to produce viable seeds. I will let the pods dry before I remove the seeds.

Passion Fruit

My Passion Fruit flowered last week and I was able to successfully pollinate a few. With all the new growth, I suspect I will have more bloomage. I thought Passion Fruit only blooms once a year, but this is the second time this year.

Dragon Fruit

I planted these Dragon Fruit branches last September and already have fruit buds.

(07/17)

(07/19)

I have another Dragon Fruit plant near my Avocado tree and noticed it has a flower too. This is my original plant I got from a neighbor almost two years ago. It is kind of tucked away and I do not pay it much attention, but noticed the flower sticking through the fence. 

(07/24) One of the flowers dropped and it looks like the bottom one will drop as well. Next I think I have to remove one of the flowers to make room for one to survive. They are just too close together.

This flower is growing nicely through the fence. It has a good support system, so expect it will grow nicely.

(07/25) It was a really tough decision, but the two flowers are just too close together, so I had to remove one, plus I decided to remove the bottom one that was still small. 

I selected the largest to remain and removed the other two.

Dragon Fruit flowers are edible, so will slice it and cook it when making Tempura.

(07/28)

(07/30) on 30 July around 2pm I noticed the flower starting to open. You can tell this when the inner white part of the flower can be seen under the green pod. This means the flower will be in full bloom in around 8 hours.

I checked the flower at around 10:30 pm and it was in full bloom. I used a toothbrush to gather pollen from the inner antlers and brushed them on the Stigma. Dragon Fruit pollen is quite large. Now I am not sure if this is a self pollinating verity or requires cross-pollination, but I will see in 35-40 days, which is how long it takes a fruit to mature from pollination.

Roughly 20 cm (8 in) wide.

Roughly 30 cm (12 in) long.

(08/02) Dragon Fruit flowers only bloom for one day and wilt the following day, which is a shame considering how beautiful they are. The fruit is attached to the branch and if it remains after a week, it is a pretty good sign it pollinated and will mature into a delicious fruit.

Papaya Tree

My little Papaya tree (2 meters) in the back of my house is full of Papaya. I hope it survives tomorrow's typhoon.

Acerola Cherry (Jam)

I made Acerola Cherry jam for the third time this year. My tree normally blooms four times a year, so looking forward to making jam one more time. This time I preserved four containers and have a fifth I will put in the refrigerator to eat.

I picked 842 grams (1.85 lbs) of Cherries. There are more on the tree, but not ripe. If there are any left after the typhoon, I will pick them and eat them fresh.

After removing the seeds, I got 548 grams (1.2 lbs) of pulp. I added 256 grams of pure cane sugar, 1 tablespoon of Vanilla extract and four teaspoons of pectin. I cooked it until I got the consistency I wanted. I ended up with 550 grams of jam, which filled exactly five 4 oz (118ml) jars.

Mongo (Apple)

 

I have many of my plants inside due to the pending typhoon, which gives me a good chance to take pictures. It is now Mango season and I am planting the seeds of every Mango I eat. These are two seeds I planted on 23 June and the other on 5 July. The grow quickly, but are sensitive when saplings so I normally do not succeed. I planted four seeds, but only these two sprouted. I'll baby them and hope they survive.

Guava (Red)

My red Guava tree has tons of fruit a different stages of growth. I'm really looking forward to tasting this fruit for the first time, but a little worried how much damage tomorrow's typhoon will cause. Stay tuned.

(07/21) All my plants made it through the typhoon unscathed.