Green Peppers (Piman)

One of my recently planted Pepper plants is producing a nice Pepper. Both plants are tall a thin, so I just added stakes to help support them. Pepper plants can live more than a year and capable of producing many Peppers if properly taken care of, so there is no need for many plants. My first Pepper plant lived over two years and produced more than 100 Peppers. I think my success was to place it in a place that was partially shaded, watered it regularly and feed it well. I also trimmed it on occasion, like I would a bush. I planted it in a small flower pot about about six inches deep, which I think limited its height, but it did not affect its health, quality of Peppers or longevity. You can see some of my first posts as I tracked its progress https://okinawagardener.blogspot.com/2019/06/green-peppers-album.html. 

Egyptian Spinach

My Egyptian Spinach plants went to seed and the pods started to dry out, so I decided to remove them and collect the seeds.

I collected so many seeds I could not possibly use all them in a life time. Now remember, I planted these from cuttings I bought from a store for consumption. I took a few cuttings and placed them straight in the soil and watered them well. In a few weeks I had 6-7 healthy plants.
 

Celosia Flower

During a drive I noticed some Celosia flowers growing wild, so I stopped and picked one of the dried flowers to collect the seeds.

A lone Celosia plant is not that impressive, but when in groups and in full bloom, they are quite beautiful. 

There are many verities of Celosia in various colors. 

These are the seeds I collected from just one flower. They look like basil seeds, but smaller. I will plant them in the back of my house to add some color.

Tomato (Beefsteak and Cherry)

My Cherry Tomatoes are starting to ripen. Some of the plants produced some really nice Tomatoes, while some were not as productive. The Tomatoes on this particular plant are quite large.

I'm picking the Tomatoes once they get a little red and placing them on a window seal to ripen. If I leave them too long the birds will get them.

These are from plants that self-seeded. They are not large, but look pretty good and taste fine. I will grow more Cherry Tomato plants from seeds I collect.

I purchased six beefsteak Tomato plants. This planter is on my second floor balcony.

Beefsteak Tomato on my second floor balcony.

Beefsteak Tomato on my second floor balcony.

Beefsteak Tomato plants in the from of my house.

Lettuce Seed

Lettuce plants bolting. 

Here are a couple different types of Lettuce plant flowers. I will let them dry completely before collecting the seeds. Or, maybe I will hang them up and collect seeds when I need them.

This is a Cilantro (Pakuchi) plant that bolted last year. I treat it the same way as I do Lettuce.

This is from a Sunny Lettuce plant that I collected two years ago. The Lettuce I'm growing now is from these seeds. It is still hanging there, but if you look closely there are not many seeds left. One plant can generate thousands of seeds. I could remove all the seeds and store them in a bag, but they are kind of pretty, so I let them hang.

Green Peppers

 

These two Green Pepper plants are growing well, but a bit thin. The label in the containers say Paprika, but I forgot to update them. 

I have this another Green Pepper plant on the side of the house in a container I started from seed. It's probably six months old. It is in the shade and I forgot about it, but it is so healthy and has five Peppers. 

Celery

I planted these two Celery plants about two months ago and they are growing well now that it is getting cooler.

Planted on 26 November.

Lettuce

 

The Lettuce in these containers (Sunny Lettuce) is from my seedstock. It is the perfect time to start picking, while the leaves are tender. Just pick the larger outer leaves and let the center leaves continue to grow for future harvesting.

This tower planter contains a Mesclun mix of Lettuce.

 I had a few containers in the front of my house that I was letting rest, but decided to plant. The soil was in pretty good shape, but I added some fresh leaf mulch, soil and fertilizer all the same. It not only enriched the soil, but added a few inches of depth. Also, all these vegetables are 4-6 weeks out of season, but believe they will grow just fine due to this climate.  

In this container I planted 12 Daikon (Japanese Radish) seeds and 20 standard Red Radish seeds.

In this container I planted 16 Naganegi (Scallions) seeds and 12 Bok Choy seeds.

In this container I planted 12 Onion (Tama Negi) seeds and 16 salad Beet seeds. Salad Beets are smaller and sweeter than the standard American Beets and can be eaten raw; hence the name salad Beets. 

These are the Carrot seeds I posted about previously. I just crumbled up one of the dried Carrot flowers over the soil and watered, but was not expected this many sprouts. WoW! I will thin them out once they get a little taller.

Strawberry

The Strawberry plants I saved from last year are starting to produce runners. I will generate many more plants in hopes of getting some tasty Strawberries this year.

Carrots

The Carrot seeds I planted on 26 November are starting to sprout. I collected these seeds from the Carrot flower in the next container. I hope the mature.

Hibiscus (Pollination)

Some Hibiscus plants can self pollinate, but most cannot. This verity requires cross pollination. I want to collect some seeds from this plant for future planting, so I am cross pollinating a few flowers. I will only pollinate a few flowers, because I do not want this plant to use a lot of energy producing seeds.

You can collect Pollen from the Anther using a Q-Tip, or if there are two flowers close enough, just rub the Stigma of one flower with the Anther of another flower.

Rub the Pollen collected from the Anther of one flower to the Stigma of another flower. Hibiscus flowers normally fall off in a day or two if not germinated, but if the flower was successfully germinated the flower will remain on the plant for about 10-days before it dries up and falls off. The Ovary at the base of the flower will stay connected to the plant for about 60 days. After it dries up, remove it and extract the seeds. 

Back Yard

A snapshot of my tiny backyard. I tried to label as many plants as I could see in the picture below, but there are more plants than can be seen.

In addition to what is labeled, there is an Agave plant, two (2) Canistel trees, six (8) Pineapple plants, Shell Ginger, Red Guava tree, Acerola tree, Persimmon tree, Lemongrass and over 10 verities of flowers.

A closer look (left side)

A closer look (right side)

Papaya tree full of fruit.

A younger Papaya tree.

Purple Passion Fruit on the fence on the side of my house.

Yellow Passion Fruit vines. This plant will flower later than the Purple verity. Growing two verities that blossom during different times provides fruit for a longer period throughout the year. I do not get Passion Fruit all year around, but more than half the year I get fruit. 

Yellow Passion Fruit vines took over my fence.

Spring season red Guava.

Peach

Spring Peaches developing well.

Peanuts

I was growing Okra in this container that I previously used to grow Peanuts. Well, I guess I missed a Peanut, because a few plants grew.

The Okra in this planter was finished, so I decided to just pull everything out and replant.

I got a handful of Peanuts. I'll save them to grow more.

These are Peanuts I saved from my last harvest. I will plant these in the same container.

I found this Japanese Sweet Potato at the bottom of the container. There was a vine from the next container that fell in this container, but did not realize it actually rooted and produced a Potato. Lucky!

It was a pretty decent sized Potato 227 grams (1/2 lbs). That's a meal.