As I could have predicted, the ayote squash once again claimed reign over the garden. Squash is a hearty plant in general, and here in our "dry tropical" climate, ayote demonstrates a supreme level of prowess. This time, however, I was prepared. Instead of planting 3 seeds to a mound 2 ft apart, as dictated by standard squash cultivation, I planted a total of only four seedlings, and several feet apart at that, so the voracious monsters have been unable to dominate completely.
Many fruit have already formed!
Thanks to my newly-acquired curcubit experience, this time around ample space was available for my sandía (watermelon) to finally spread her vines!
(Last fall during my first go-round in the garden, squash ended up obliterating all trace of my precious sandías. i cried.)
Other exciting developments include:
Other exciting developments include:
arbolitos!
Front and center is a cashew baby, started from a fruit i harvested (and ate) on the farm. Behind, do you recognize these two? The Jane Doe sisters! Unidentified saplings that i started from an unknown seed.
Espinaca!
I think i finally got the hang of my favorite flavor of all, jenhibre (ginger),
And.....
This is only a small taste of the delicious overgrowth happening during our Epoca de Lluvia. Here, when it rains it really does pour. i am spending most non-rain hours, usually mornings, pulling a jungle of weeds which then re-grow during the afternoon. i love it! Recently i've found that getting down on my hands and knees and pulling weeds as i crawl makes me feel like a jungle cat. anyway....
While the weeds grow, i'm doing my own growing indoors--the kombucha keeps comin'!
Two new flavor discoveries, Zacate Limón (lemongrass) y Fresa (Strawbery).yum!
At this point, i have more SCOBYs than i know what to do with!
and my real jungle cat, napping to the sound of rain on the garage roof
3 comentarios:
Liz,
this is great. If you post a closer picture of the Jane Doe seedlings and describe the seed they issued forth from, we might be able to work it out.
You're dry forest, so does that mean you're on the Pacific side? We harvest our ginger in February, (we're on the Atlantic side, rains all year). But basically you can harvest it any time, though the best time will be when the green part dies back - it will go dormant for a while and this is when all the goodness is in the root. Are you growing turmeric too? It's as easy as ginger and the leaves make a good addition to stir frys.
Your ayote looks great. Are you eating the leaves and male flowers too? The stems are like a true green penne pasta. I love them.
All sounds lovely!
Just noticed it's Malabar spinach you have, ours does better with partial shade, how's yours like the dry season?
Ancel, sorry for the delay! Malabar spinach did not like the dry season, but i learned to keep it well-watered. i'm competing with another leaf muncher,,not sure what is chomping it in the garden. So turns out i don't have ayote: it's pipian! somehow i got the seeds mixed. do you have pipian in CR? i suppose i can eat its flowers too...
Publicar un comentario