The Scurvy Dog's Puerto Rican Blog

Big Yearend Garden Update, 2013

The further adventures of living in USDA Zone 11 where you can grow stuff literally year round. As of this week, I’ve added 13 new sprouts of 5 species to the ‘collection’

The new additions are:

3 African Medlar, Vangueria infausta (had none)

1 Rainforest Plum, Eugenia candolleana (had 2)

2 South Am. Nance, Byrsonima crassifolia (had 6)

3 rare Atemoya ‘X’, Annona Squamosa X Cherimoia (had 5)

4 Jackal Berry or African Ebony, Diospyros mespiliformis (had 1)

When it comes to potting sprouts, I use a mix of 1/3 commercial loam, 1/3 commercial potting soil and 1/3 of our soil, all sifted to remove rocks and debris. I do adjust it for certain plant types, but that’s the basic formula. Seeds are started in a much lighter mix of shredded Coconut husk (coir) and Sphagnum moss. That’s what I use in the donut trays.

There are other new things in pots as well.. [Read more…] about Big Yearend Garden Update, 2013

2013 Year End Wrap Up

I’m sure a few of you are wondering what’s happening with me Scurvy Dog’s Blog. Let me explain…

First, the Blog has grown so big, its database has become extremely bloated. So much so that I run the high risk of losing some content to data corruption. All these posts with tons of photos takes its toll on data management. If and when the database becomes corrupted, I will not be able to restore it completely, if at all. Yes, I do database back-ups, but even that is not a perfect solution. Nor does it protect the thousands of images on the site. The ‘back-up files’ exceed my allowed limit for my hosting service account. Taking older posts off-line and archiving the content is one solution, but it would make searches take longer than they do now. Some images would no longer be available. Me Internet savvy First Mate has setup our own private hosting account so as to have more control over website hosting issues. Now, all our assorted sites reside in one convenient place.

That’s a good thing.

Second, I have a degenerative congenital condition of both ankles that until recently, was only ever a minor inconvenience. Back in the day, I used to backpack and cross-country ski so it never got in the way. Fast forward to my late 40’s, I got to where I could not stand on my feet all day to work. Simple solution- stop standing all day. [Read more…] about 2013 Year End Wrap Up

Montoso Gardens in the Mountains of Maricao

In my quest to track down other sources of tropical plants from within Puerto Rico, I stumbled onto the Montoso Gardens Website. The site has many photos and details about their effort. They also feature guided and unguided tours of the grounds.

Sounds like a fun afternoon to me so I had to check it out.

After trading emails and meshing schedules, we set a date in late July. Though this part of the island at this time of year gets lots and lots of rain, we lucked out and had a wonderful day.

Montoso Gardens is owned and operated by Bryan Brunner and his brother Dave. Bryan is a horticulturist who works at the Agricultural Experimental Station of the University of Puerto Rico in Lajas. He moved to PR in 1987 to the mountains of Maricao and started with 9 acres. Over the years, he’s been able to expand the ‘little patch’ to 70 acres. Dave joined the effort in 2001 and runs the day to day operations. A couple of great guys.

Their farm was originally part of the 137 acre coffee Hacienda el Cerro, and was owned by another horticulturist, Dr. Frank Martin of the Tropical Agriculture Experimental Station (TARS) in Mayaguez.

Getting there

Finding the place was not hard. It’s the same route we had covered to take in the Coffee Festival of Maricao which also took us past the observation overlook of la Torre de Piedra. The turnoff to Montoso Gardens was a few miles after that. If you plan to visit, their website has details about how to set up an appointment and how to find the place.

Basically, we exited Highway 2 at Sabana Grande and headed to town via Highway 121, then took Highway 120 out of town, into the mountains. We still managed to make the same wrong turn in town, but at least I knew where I needed to be. [Read more…] about Montoso Gardens in the Mountains of Maricao

Paradise Tax and the Costs of Living in PR

I’ve mentioned ‘Paradise Tax’ in past posts, but for those Gringos who don’t know what it is- It’s the real costs of living plus the many little and ‘not so little’ hassles everyone puts up with to live in an absolutely wonderful place.

Just to be clear, it IS wonderful living here and I have NO regrets about making Puerto Rico my retirement home. NONE! No place is perfect, but this is pretty close.

That said, I thought a ‘Reality Check’ might be in order since
I sometimes gloss over stuff.

Writing about issues is not what I want to be doing, but here goes-

Internet Issues- Claro/PRT (Puerto Rico Telephone)

First and foremost is our continuing Internet provider issues.

We rely heavily on PRT’s hardline A/DSL service to maintain our many websites (18 at last count), keep 2 computers, a laptop and tablet updated and the rest of the software we use on a regular basis updated. I also ‘like’ to stream the PBS NewsHour in the afternoons since it’s only shown on tape-delay at 11:30 at night here in PR, about my usual bedtime. This is the first thing to go when we start having issues with our ISP service. Dish Network removed PBS from our station line-up two years ago when the local station stopped supporting it. [Read more…] about Paradise Tax and the Costs of Living in PR

Manatí on the North Coast- Wake of the Cross

We found ourselves in Manatí, ‘the Athens of Puerto Rico’ on a scouting trip, the weekend before the reenactment of the British Landing in Cangrejos, staged on the grounds of Hacienda La Esperanza. I’m glad we did because finding the Hacienda was quite the little trip. Once we nailed that down, we went back into town to check out the plaza.

Though we visited Manatí before the reenactment, I’m presenting it last as ‘icing on the cake’.

We were there on a beautiful, but overcast Friday afternoon with large fluffy clouds floating by. Some of my shots are a little flat because of the overcast. This required a little more Photoshopping than I usually do, but no biggie. It was worth it.

‘Photo Ops’ were everywhere since Manatí is one of the older towns of Puerto Rico. Our effort was limited to the plaza and places just off the plaza.

The plaza is unique in that a large municipal parking garage is tucked underneath it. I had walked 3 sides of the expansive plaza before I discovered this fact. A great idea since parking is always hard to find when approaching almost any plaza in PR.

The Mayor’s Office or Alcaldia and the Catholic church sit just off the plaza. The only structure ‘on’ the plaza was a beautifully restored Mercado built in 1925. Centro De Las Artes is an excellent example of the period. [Read more…] about Manatí on the North Coast- Wake of the Cross