Paprika

Got some really nice Paprika Peppers. They are beautifully red and heavy. I cannot wait to eat them. I suspect they are so sweet.

 

Peach Tree

My Peach Tree was in full bloom this year. I can't believe I did not take any pictures. It was so beautiful. Anyway, I'm now starting to see Peaches develop. They are so cute. Now this is a tropical Peach Tree that I believe was imported from Taiwan decades ago. Due to the hot and humid climate these Peaches do not get that large, but are still delicious. This tree is roughly four years old and I only got a few Peaches last year, so I'm excited to see how many it will produce this year.  

Myoga (Japanese Ginger)

These Myoga (Japanese Ginger) plants are growing so quickly. They started to sprout about three weeks ago and now quite tall.

Strawberry

I would love to let my Strawberries on the plant to ripen more, but the birds are smarter than I am and they can get under the net to get at the Strawberries, so I pick them as soon as they ripen. They are still delicious, but wish I had more. 

 

Beets

My Beets were getting pretty large and I have Bitter Melon (Goya) starting to grow in this same container, so decided to remove the Beets. Plus, I love to eat the leaves and stocks and wanted to harvest while they were still tender and fresh.

I got roughly 670g (1.5lbs) of Beets from one container. I still have Beets in another container, but they are not as large as these and will harvest them later.

Yummy Beet Greens.

Tomato

I planted my last Tomato plants a little late and got a really poor harvest, so I picked all the salvageable ones and removed the plants. It is now Tomato season again, so I planted a few seeds, plus I purchased a few plants from a nursery. I hope I have better results.

Japanese Persimmon (Kaki) Tree

 

I never featured this Persimmon (Kaki) tree before, but I've had it for a few years. I was growing it is a pot, but the root started to grow in the ground preventing water from draining, so I decided to transplant it; unfortunately, the root grew around the inside of the pot and I could not remove it, so I cut the main root and transplanted it about a year ago. I thought it was going to die, but surprisingly it survived and starting to produce new leaf growth this year. It's a nice shape with three branches close to the ground, which will allow me to keep it small. I hope it grows healthy and produces fruit someday.  

Herbs (Sage)

This Sage plant is doing well and starting to flower. I started this plant using a cutting and have a few plants scattered around my garden. 

Chili Peppers (Togarashi)

 

My Chili Pepper (Togarashi) plant is starting to flower again and already producing tons of Peppers. It was attacked by stink bugs and doing poorly, but as soon as I rid the plant of the bugs it rebounded wonderfully.

Japanese Sweet Potato (Purple Satsumaimo)

I planted these Purple Satsumaimo slips on 28 September 2020 and decided to harvest them on 25 March 2021, but was shocked that there were no tubers of significant size. Anyway, I enriched the soil and planted new slips. I will wait eight months this time and plan to harvest them the end of November.

Surinam Cherry Tree (Brazilian Cherry Tree) Fruit

I have several Surinam Cherry trees around my property. They blossomed last month and I am now starting to see some fruit. This is the first year they produced fruit, so excited to see how it tastes.

 

Paprika (Red Peppers)

I picked a few Peppers on 2 March to allow the plants to produce new flowers and now I have a few more Peppers. Some have already turned red, while the rest are just starting to change color. 

These are the Peppers I picked in early March.

These are the two Peppers I mentioned above that I needed to pick. 

Carrots and Beets

I pulled some Carrots and Beets last week. What surprised me was how sweet the Carrots and Beets were and the aroma of the Carrots. So strong compared to store bought. I guess they loose their freshness sitting on the self.

Lantana Camara Pink Caprice

I transplanted this Pink Caprice plant a few months ago and it has grown out of control, but cute. Beleive it or not, under all those branches is a small Banana tree and a Biwa (Loquat) tree. 

Acerola Cherry (Barbados Cherry) Tree

My Acerola Cherry (Barbados Cherry) tree started to bloom. 

 

Strawberry

My Strawberry plants are starting to produce fruit. I have already tried a few that ripened. They are not huge, but I was pleasantly surprised how sweet they were. Much better than previous years.

Strawberry Guava

Several of the Strawberry Guava plants have buds. This is the first year they fruited, so not sure how well they will produce or if the fruit will taste good, but I am looking forward to trying.

Guava Tree (Red)

The Red Guava tree in the back yard has buds, so it looks like I will get Guava this year. The White Guava tree in the front of my house has no buds, but several of the Strawberry Guava bushes have buds.

 

Goumi Berry Tree

One of my neighbors was trimming his Goumi Berry Tree (shrub) and asked me if I wanted to try one. I never heard of a Goumi Berry before, so obviously I had to try it. Some people liken the taste to sour cherries or rhubarb, which I might agree with. Personally I can eat them raw, but think they will make an excellent jam. 

I kept the seeds and planted them, obviously. My neighbor said they should start producing fruit in about five years.

Iris Flower

My Iris started to bloom this week. 
 

Strawberry Guava

My Strawberry Guava plants are blossoming. I hope I get tons of fruit.

Dill

 

My Dill plant bolted and now flowering. I will let it go to seed for future planting.

Dill plant flower.

Passion Fruit (Purple and Yellow)

The Purple Passion Fruit growing on my balcony over a trellis is doing well and producing tons of fruit with hundreds of buds really to bloom. I'm pollinating on average 7-8 flowers a day and estimate I'm a little over 50% successful.

These are Yellow Passion Fruit in the back of my house. They have really started to grow and now wonder if I planted too many. In a year or two they may be unmanageable. I only have two vines on my balcony, but this trellis has five mature vines and three saplings. Stay tuned for updates.

These are the latest Purple Passion Fruit vines I planted in September 2020. They are growing well, but I have not seen any buds yet. 

I planted these three Purple Passion Fruit vines in March 2020. I pollinated two flowers and the vines are full of buds. 

These are some Yellow Passion Fruit vines I am preparing. I'm keeping them in a shaded location so they do not grow too fast. I plan to give some to my neighbor and will leave a few in this container to mature.

 

Dragon Fruit

I planted these Dragon Fruit branches in mid-October 2020 and in a mere 5-months they have grown more branches. I hope these plants produce Dragon Fruit next year; unfortunately, I do not know what verity these plants are, so kind of excited to see the fruit. 
 

Myoga (Japanese Ginger)

My Myoga (Japanese Ginger) started to sprout around the beginning of March.

Radish (Hatsuka Daikon)

My granddaughters and I picked some salad radishes today, but I left them a little too long and they got a little larger than normal, but they are still juicy with a slight bite.

String Beans

My granddaughters helped me pick some string beans today. We got a handful, but these are an Okinawan verity that can get even larger while remaining tender.

 

Fruit Trees

Front of My House

Shikuwasa Tree. Grown from seed, planted in November 2019.  

Grapefruit Tree. Grown from seed, planted in March 2020.

Shikuwasa Tree. Grown from seed, planted in November 2019, but transplanted later than the first, so it is smaller.

Grapefruit Tree. I do not recall when I planted these seeds, but it looks a little more than a year old.

Valentine Sweet Orange. Grown from seed, planted in February 2020. This tree is about a year old and should be larger, but something attached it when it was a sapling and kept eating the leaves, which stunted its growth. I covered it with a net until it recovered.

Orange Tree. Grown from seed, planted in January 2020. It looks sickly, but the branches are green, so believe it will make it.

Mikan Tree. This tree is from a clone I created from my original Mikan tree using the Air Layer Method. I purchased the original tree from a nursery and had two seasons of fruit, but it later died due to a bark beetle attack.

 

Strawberry Guava. Grown from seed, planted in September 2019. Strawberry Guava should start producing fruit in 2-4 years when planting from seed and start to flower in April and May. I have 8-9 of these trees (bushes) growing around my property as shrubbery.

Paw-Paw Tree. I purchased this Paw-Paw sapling from a local nursery in October 2020. The leaves fall off in fall, typically blooms in April or May and produces new leaf growth shorth after.

Avocado Tree. I planted this from seed using the toothpick and water method sometime in 2018. Avocado grown from seed usually takes 8-15 years to produce fruit, but it has flowers, which is amazing; however, I do not know if any fruit will develop.

Peach Tree. A neighbor gave me this Peach Tree in mid-2019. It was grown from a seed from their tree and was 6-9 months old when I received it. I got a few Peaches last year, but hope I get more this year. Peaches start to blossom in March in this region and today I found my first blossom. Yeah!

Peach Tree Blossom.

Canistel Tree. I have a few Canistel trees I grew from seed. I have two in planters and one in the ground behind my house, but this tree is doing the best. It seems to like the planter, which I suspect is due to the constantly and regular watering. 

White Guava Tree. I purchased this tree from a nursery in December 2019. At that time it was about two years old. I got a few fruit from it in 2019 and 2020. The fruit is 2019 was not so good, but the fruit I got in 2020 was super delicious. I did not like White Guava until I ate last years fruit. Now I can't wait for it to fruit again. The tree only produced a few fruit so all the energy went to them. They were huge (350g), so sweet and juicy.

Plumeria Tree. I purchased this tree from a farmer. The roots were so tight in its old planter and went through shock when I transplanted it, but it is doing better now and recovering. I can see some new growth at the ends of the branches.

Papaya Tree. I threw an old Papaya in this area almost two years ago and many seeds sprouted. I transplanted a few saplings and gave the rest to neighbors and friends, except this one. I planted some new saplings in the back of my house and started a few more. Once they mature and start flowering, I plan to cut this tree down since it is hitting the bottom of my second floor balcony.

Papaya Tree Saplings. These are some of the saplings I have. A Papaya fell into this planter in which I have a Grapefruit tree graft. Papaya trees do not handle transplanting well, so I think I am going to transplant the entire planter, including the Grapefruit graft, in the back and cut down the trees once they start to flower so I can tell which one is female. They mature quickly and should start to flower in about six more months.   

Grapefruit Tree. I grew this tree from seed, but cannot recall how long ago, but I suspect 4-5 years ago. Grapefruit trees grown from seed can take 6-7 years to bear fruit under ideal conditions.

Biwa (Loquat) Tree. Grown from seed, planted in early 2020.

Papaya Tree. I have this Papaya tree in a planter next to the Biwa tree I featured above. It was not getting any taller since it is in a planter, but has a side branch, so I decided to cut the trunk just above the side branch about 3 weeks ago and see what happens. Recently I noticed more side branches growing, which is what I was hoping would happen. The tree cannot get too tall in a planter, but can get wider. 

Papaya Tree. I took the top portion of the Papaya tree I cut and scored the base of the branch and stuck it straight into a large planter I have. Tree weeks later it looks like it is growing.

Kumquat (Kinkan) tree. I purchased this tree from a nursery in 2017 or 2018 and had two good seasons in which it produced about 50 fruit. It is starting to flower now. It seems to produce pretty well every other year. I got a lot of fruit last year, so not so sure how well it will do this year.

Yuzu Tree Sapling. I planted a Yuku seed on New Years Day 2021 and it recently sprouted. The Yuzu is a citrus and hybrid between the Ichang Papeda and Mandarin Orange. It originated in China and is mainly grown in East Asia, but has recently found its way around the world for its amazing flavor and aroma. It tastes similar to a grapefruit with a Mandarin Orange overtone and used in a host of receipts and drinks. Yuzu trees can be grown from seed and generally takes 3-4 years to produce fruit, according to my research; however, a professional at my local nursery said they will take 8-10 years to produce good fruit. Additionally, according to my research, trees grown from seed generally grow true to the seed, which means you can expect good fruit.

Back of My House

Avocado Tree. In early 2019 a neighbor gave me a Banana tree and apparently they planted the Banana tree in a pot they had planted an Avocado seed, because an Avocado tree sprouted around May or June of 2019 and is quite large now. I cut it several times to keep it low to protect it during typhoons and built a wood frame around it until it gets stronger. I hope it starts producing soon.

Surinam Cherry (Brazilian Cherry) Tree. I planted Surinam Cherry seeds around March 2019 and kept five plants. I transplanted two saplings in the back of my house in early 2020 and recently noticed them blooming, but not sure if they will produce fruit since they are so young.

Mango Tree (Kitsu or Keitt). I transplanted this Kitsu Mango tree to the back of my house in October 2019 and in March 2020 it blossomed, but I cut off the flowers to allow the roots to strengthen. In September it was damaged quite badly during a typhoon and many of the branches died, but it has recovered; unfortunately, Mango trees start to bloom in February or March, but I do not see any shoots, so it does not look like it will blossom this year. I suspect it is still recovering from the shock caused by last year's typhoon. That's fine, it should grow well this year and able to bear fruit next year.

Biwa (Loquat) Tree. Grown from seed, planted in early 2020, and transplanted to the back of my house in late 2020.

Canistel Tree. Grown from seed, planted in February 2020. This seed was a late bloomer, so it is smaller than the saplings in the front of my house in planters. I hope this tree grows quickly and produces fruit. I love Canistel, but they are a little expensive here. They can take between 3-6 years to produce fruit.

Papaya Tree. This is a Papaya tree I kept in my office in a planter. It is a sister of the tree I have in the front of my house, which is huge. This tree was not growing, but had fruit, so I decided to bring it home and transplant it in the back of my house. It seems to be adapting well to its new environment and growing well and should soon start to produce fruit again.

Red Guava Tree. A local nursery gave me this Red Guava tree in July 2020 to replace a tree that was mislabeled and I transplanted it in August. It had 17 buds at one time, but a strong storm damaged them and I lost them all. All well, there is next year.

Acerola (Barbados) Cherry Tree. I got this Acerola tree from a neighbor in mid-2018 and planted it in a pot. I placed the pot in the back of my house and it rooted. It is growing well and now producing pounds of cherries each season. Acerola has a long growing season and flowers constantly, which means you have many months of cherries throughout the summer.

Banana Tree. Banana tree sapling sprouting from an old tree I cut down last year.

Banana Tree. Another Banana tree sapling sprouting from an old tree I cut down last year.

Banana Tree. A third Banana tree sapling sprouting from an old tree I cut down last year.

Japanese Persimmon (Kaki) Tree. I planted Persimmon seeds in a planter years ago, but the root grew through the hole of the planter. I cut the root and planted the tree about a year ago, but was sure it would die; however, it survived and I now see new leaf growth. I suspect it will grow quickly this year now that it has gotten past the shock I caused it last year. Sorry Persimmon tree.

Japanese Persimmon (Kaki) Tree. 

Shikuwasa Tree. I planted Shikuwasa tree seeds in November 2019 and transplanted the sapling in the back of my house in early 2020. It is growing quickly.