Gardening as Intervention, a Mega Update

Confessions of an exotic fruit seed junkie

I thought 3 years in, I would be done with planting seeds and moving on to keeping them watered and watching them grow.  Not so.

My obsession has turned acute.

To accommodate these additions, I’ve had to clear off more undergrowth. That’s not easy for a guy who recently celebrated his 60th birthday. There’s still more clearing to be done too!

I have to pace myself.

I do see a time when I’ll spend more ‘time’ keeping things watered and concentrate on the veggie garden.  An acre is about all I’m good for.  Most of the fruit trees I’m trying to grow do not get big – “big” being a relative term.  Some of these, I’ll ‘set free’ down in the hoya (ravine) and wish them well.  Then as the surviving ones prosper, I’ll cut back the natural stuff.  At least that’s the plan.

This update includes my progress on earlier efforts and a few gardening ‘experiments’ I’ve got going.  I’ve made a few new discoveries too.

Veggie Garden Experiment 1A/2013

I’ve carried on about how it’s possible to grow veggies here in PR, year round.  Now I’m going to put that to the test.

I planted a single row of 4 Roma tomato plants a few weeks back and they are doing great.  That’s inspired me to ‘go all in’.  I used the little roto-tiller to carve 4 more short rows.

The whole area is only about 10×10 feet so this is just a test bed.

My first round of veggie starter trays did not go so well.  I used the black trays with the individual seedling cups of 48 per.  The problem with those is getting the delicate seedlings out when it comes time to plant them.  I slaughtered more than I managed to transplant so I switched to little peat pots.  They work great and are much easier to set in the ground later.  Plus 12 of them fit nicely in my recycled donut trays.

I’m sure several of you are asking why I didn’t just plant the seeds directly?

Problem is, some of the seeds were collected from fruit and veggies and were quite old.  None of my ‘saved’ pepper seed varieties sprouted.  Nor did some of the old commercial veggie seeds I was hoarding.

Seeds have a shelf life and some are worse than others.  A good example is Star Fruit (Carambola), once the seeds dry out, they are almost worthless.  You have to plant them as soon as they are extracted from the fruit.  I learned that one the hard way.  So in addition to the 4 tomato plants, I have cucumbers, carrots, leaf lettuce, a few Okra, Black Eyed peas and some Brussels sprouts.  The Brussels sprouts are not doing so well… I skipped a day of watering and they did not like it.

Tropical Bird Seed Test- 1B/2013

Yeah, I’m crazy.  I was looking for some sunflowers seeds to grow when I discovered a mix of tropical bird seed that had no less than 10 kinds of mixed seeds (among other things).  It was mostly Sunflower seeds, but also contained whole kernel yellow corn, red pepper pods and peanuts in the shell.  I took the 10 seed types and planted 4 peat pots of 3 seeds per, of each type.  All but the red peppers germinated.

Anyway, I took the 9 seed types that did sprout and started a second smaller gardening plot with them in one row, sans the corn which went into a second row.  Most of these are prospering.  Since the peanuts sprouted very quickly, I separated the rest of the peanuts and planted them in a new set of 16 peat pots.  Within days, all 16 have sprouted.

In a few more days, I plan to build a raised bed, just for the new Peanut sprouts.  When I was a kid in East Texas, my Dad would buy a bushel bag of raw peanuts and roast them at home.

Peanuts require that you dig up the entire plant, roots and all, once they achieve maturity.  I figured a raised bed would make that a lot easier to do.

I did try to grow peanuts previously… but no luck.

This second ‘test’ garden plot also has a few Gandules ‘Pigeon peas’ (a popular local pea), a bunch of large Green pepper starts and Cantaloupe sprouts.  At some point, I’ll need to thin them out.

Medjool Dates, a Rare Treat

We recently got our hands on some absolutely delicious, melt in your mouth, Medjool dates with pits.  I now have 13 healthy sprouts from 19 seeds.  Not bad for ‘free’ seeds.

Palms often take several months to germinate, but these were so fresh, they popped up in just a couple of weeks.

These will complement the Date palm plants I already have in the ground.

My Struggle to Grow Acai

I lost 5 healthy, 10 month old Acai palm starts to rats.… chewed off at the base.  Only one survived from my 2nd attempt at growing them.  6 plants was kind of the minimum since these are male / female palms.

My 3rd order of 46 Acai seeds never sprouted.

I swore I would not give up on these and finally found a good source for the seeds on eBay.  They claim theirs were fresh and there were lots of good comments to back up their claims.  I ordered 20 (got 21) seeds of which 16 came ‘pre’ sprouted and another 3 look ‘pregnant’.  I was jazzed!

Those 16 are now in pots and I’m keeping vigil over the remaining 5 seeds.  They say the 4th time’s the charm, but I’m not holding my breath.

The shot of palm sprouts in ‘Kettle Chip’ bags are the Medjool Dates and not the Acai.  The Acai are hardly 1/2 an inch tall at this point.

Pitahaya Cactus, Dragon Fruit

As mentioned in a previous garden post, I have seedlings of the red fruited variety, coming along nicely.  I also have several mature ones of the white fruited type which I got in a trade with Guillermo. I finally got those planted.  I made up concrete anchored stands that the cactus can trail up.  I’ll make up 2 more when my babies get big enough to transplant.

These cactus stands can be extended if I think they need it.  It is wet enough where we are that the Pitahaya will not require much attention, once they take off.

Cheap Fertilizer, Anyone?

I’m not a fan of chemical fertilizer and only use it sparingly.  Besides, the stuff is expensive.  I have not been able to track down a bag of plain old Potassium Nitrate or even Ammonium Nitrate.  Before you go all ‘wanky’ on me, neither can be made into a bomb without having acquired ‘mass quantities’.

Mass quantities are monitored.

I could get either of those Nitrates in Alaska, no problem, but not here in PR.  Go figure.  Most places sell fertilizers repackaged into small bags or tubs and charge accordingly.

Meanwhile, our Bananas and Papaya could benefit from some cheap nitrate.

More Grocery Store Discoveries

I’m always on the lookout for new fruit.  Last month, I picked up a small bag of fresh Meyer Lemons.  This was the first time I had seen them locally.  They are a cross between a thin skinned Mandarin and Lemon.  They were very tart, but sweet and most flavorful.  Meyer Lemons are very popular with gourmet cooks.  I’ve also been scouting for a Key Lime and finally found some Mexican Key Limes under the “Susie” brand name out of Texas.  Though they were coated with wax to improve longevity, these had a mottled color to them.  I don’t know if that’s natural or not.

They are the same size as my PR Lemons I use ‘green’ like limes.

I had no problem sprouting the Meyer Lemons and have 5 of those in pots now, with another 12 in smaller pots I intend to give away.  The Key Lime seeds went into a tray only a few days ago.  I spot check them often.

Current Successes

Of all the new stuff I’ve planted, the Noni was the first to go to fruit.  The tree is about 2 feet tall and has a few small fruit on it.  I planted several of these, but I’ll probably pull out all but one or two to make room for new arrivals.

My buddy Guillermo turned me on to a pair of Peanut Butter Fruit starts and a 2 year old Ketimbilla.  Both were on my ‘hit-list’.  My one Jobo tree, 2 Quenepa trees and 4 Macadamia Nut tree starts are doing great.  As is my Governor’s Plum, 2 Biriba, 3 Bilimbe, 3 Star Fruit and 3 Pomegranate.  The one Govenor’s Plum is about 4 feet tall now, the others are about 2 feet tall.  The Jobo was planted from seed within a few months of getting here and is now well over 10 feet tall.  I expect it will start producing fruit this season.

The first Malay Apple I planted is not doing so well… I think it needs a lot more water and less sun.  I have several more Malay Apple trees in pots I plan to plant down among the trees, at the edge of the garden.

This should protect them from direct sun until they get good and set.

Other seed starts in pots include- 3 Cashew Nut, 3 Imbe, 4 Bread Nut, and 2 new Moringa I bought (since the ones I started from seed were not thriving) at the local nursery for $7 each.  Moringa is pretty temperamental… seems over watering them will kill ’em.  I also have two new Sago Palm sprouts cut away from the ‘mother’ Sago Palm.  The one Pineapple plant I planted 2 years ago is doing very well.  In the last month, it finally popped out a baby pineapple.  It’s soooo cute.  Now I wish I had planted more of them.  They are very low maintenance.  They can go without water for quite awhile before it starts to show.

There are 3 Imbe, but one almost died from neglect.  I repotted it and now it’s springing back to life.

Guava is another typical tropical fruit I was trying to score.  I’ve seen them in PR so I knew they would grow, but the one plant I bought died and the seeds I was trying to start, never took off.  Well, to my surprise, it turns out there are several old growth Guava trees on the property.  Seriously.  I did not discover them until I got started with cleaning up some of the overgrowth.  They were so covered in vines you could not tell what they were.  I’m so glad I did not chop them up with the machete like I have so much other stuff.

Some of the vines are as thick as your forearm.

One last mention-  The African Horned Melon Test was a complete success.  I pulled the last one from the vine just in the last week.  That means they produced for most of a year.  They are very drought tolerant.  I’m sure these would also benefit from a little fertilizer.  I’ll be growing more of these now that we have a juicer.

Not all of the things I’m trying to grow will prosper here.  I get that.  I’ve already had some ‘die back’ and the Pulasan and Rambutan are struggling under our dry conditions.  I’ll keep what does prosper and not sweat the rest.

Yea, I’ve been busy.

There are new seeds in the works, but until they sprout, I think I’ll hold off on writing about ’em.  Gotta save something for next time.

Anyone want some Meyer lemon starts?

Larger images may be seen over on the Scurvy Dog’s FaceBook Page.