"Starting" Over: a photo tour

Since getting back a month ago I've had to re-start the garden. With warm tropical temperatures day and night and just enough sunshine in between rainstorms, my new seeds have been spoiled into sprouting! Here's a rundown of my recently-started starts:

the results of a mixed bag of bell peppers. i can't wait to find out which varieties i've got.

and turning over a new leaf: turnip top greens! Seven Top turnip greens are grown only for their leaves, with no edible root to speak of. their flavor is much like mustard greens, they lend a spicy zing to sandwiches.

Not sure what type of chile peppers I have here--a friend brought the seeds from Mexico. Its gorgeous red peppers have a light, fruity spice

Gulp, here i go AGAIN with the upside-down tomatoes. i am so determined to have a healthy tomato plant!! (If you are unfamiliar with the upside tomato technique, see my Last attempt which was not successful; I did actually cultivate fruit during my first time around.)

Out in the garden, heavy rains nonwithstanding, my bush beans sprouted and are growing with a ferocity that would impress old Jack. Beautiful violet blossoms just showed up.

Finally, I started new luffa seeds, as my first plants have all died off. Since the luffa grow along the fence, I also planted a few cucumber seeds thinking they may be a nice climbing pair. Now i am unsure which is which!
The old luffa harbored one last fruit, which was looking a little too brown by the time I went to pick it. Our frequent rains are great for growing plants, but don't allow much time for anything to dry out. Several of the final luffa fruits rotted on the vine. anyway, as I was leaning in to harvest this last one, I stopped short. Someone was taking advantage of its dark color!

do you see who i see?

I didn't want to disturb the speckled one, so the rotting luffa remains.

curly-Q flowers

Actually, the curliness is in the seed pod....
While passing this colorful flower in front of a neighbor's house, my friend Jenny grabbed a handful of seed pods from each of the pale pink, fuchsia, and purple blossoming stalks. After a couple of days in the sun, the fuzzy pods curled up all cute like, then released small black seeds.
Nonchalantly, I planted handfuls of the curly flower seeds next to my doorsteps, a half-hearted attempt to beautify the bare dirt entryways that tend to accumulate junk (coolers, buckets, bicycle tires, you name it). I know this is very bad feng shui, i'm working on it.

What'd ya know???! A mere six weeks later:

Now i understand why so many others line their fences and patios with flor de China, as it is known around here, (no idea of its english name, though i'm fine with Curly-Q Flower.)

Dense green leaves and dazzling colors are sure to disguise, or at least draw the eye away from, our junky doorways. And according to the laws of feng shui, cheerful healthy flowers invite positive energy flow into the home.

There you have it, step 1 of my Landscaped Paradise in progress ;)

seeds

For the most part, every plant i'm growing i started from SEED: not always an easy task. There are several nurseries in the area, but they are typically ornamentals or fruit trees. Plus i've been attempting the monumental (or dim-witted?) enterprise of growing north american crops down here where i am learning that the two distinct seasons (wet and dry) are equally extreme and challenging in their completely opposite ways.
Por eso, it seems smart to save as many seeds as i can, which i'm still trying to get the knack of. some plants make it easier than others:

Scarlet Runner Beans, always an eye-catcher!
Sadly though, this is one of only 4 pods that I harvested from the 10 plants that i started! Transplanted in January, the little starts seemed happy enough...leaves were large and green, tendrils began to curl and climb. BUT, they were not destined for high places i suppose, as the leaves repeatedly began to yellow and eventually fall off. When red buds finally appeared on my one would-be show stopper, I cheered thinking it would grow and flourish.
Despite the hopeful blossoms, you can see the leaves continued to wither and die. I suppose i should count myself lucky that there were any beans at all? The question remains: what the heck was wrong with them??

From day one, sunflowers have had a presence in the garden. Braving a thirsty dry season, the first batch never grew over 4 ft (though the package claims that Mammoths will reach 12 feet high!) Being a favorite decoration as well as healthy snack, I was eager to harvest the tasty seeds.Supposedly an heirloom variety, these seeds should be viable. however....
most every single one is shell with a dried up carcass inside. Maybe they needed more fertilization??

Moving on, borage, a lovely edible flower as well as butterfly attractor, is a fun flower to harvest seeds from.

Little green pods open to reveal four round seeds, which when dried, turn brown and are released.

i am waiting to plant these guys, as i read that borage is an avid self-seeder. But if not, i've got seed stock ;)

Maybe i've mentioned them before, but i am continually proud of the bell pepper plants i nursed from seed to start and now FRUIT!

Because it was a mixed bag of bell pepper seeds, (and i just discovered that all pepper plants start out green regardless of their end color), the identity of my eight pepper plants remains secret!

Glutton for punishment?

you tell me. i couldn't resist trying again, this time with a supposed heat resistant variety. Upside-down Tomato Experiment : take 2

To everything, turn, turn

In gardening world, there's little time to cry and mourn over fallen crops. because new life is always springing up! i was pleased as punch just yesterday to note the fantastic blooms on my gandul (perhaps you know it as pigeon pea). i planted several rows of the round chickpea-esque seeds way back in November, knowing that despite a long growing period (average of 8 months 'til harvest), they were prolific producers.

Gandul, Pigeon Pea, Cajanus cajan

Celebrated in permaculture circles for its multi-purposes--cover crop, animal fodder, living fence, nitrogen-fixer, on and on--gandul is a legume commonly grown and chowed in India. The seeds can be harvested green and eaten like peas, or allowed to dry in the pod. Out of the 12 or so gandul i planted, only 2 or 3 are flowering right now, which is still a happy surprise as only 5 months have passed since planting. and by the way i have given these guys no attention, no water, no fertilizer, nada. Low Maintenance certainly being another reason they are a permaculture favorite.

A brand spanking new crop has sprouted, tiny and elegant and full of potential--can you guess?

this little beauty will grow up to yield ears and ears of sweet corn! yahooooo!

And now that i've got your wheels turning, may i present the true MYSTERY seedlings, in hopes that you may be able to help identify these poor jane does of the plant kingdom:

My gardening habits mimic my unorthodox kitchen habits, wherein i mix various recipes, never measure anything, and tend to create smallish messes all about me. In my fervor to germinate every fruta nueva that i try (and through the inadvertent encouragement of one Richard W. Langer in his The After-Dinner Gardening Book), i have been dropping seeds into plastic bags and Coke bottles left and right. Our backyard has transformed into the science lab of my agricultural experimentos, save one vital science-experimenty detail: labeling?
I hypothesize, ahem, that these seedlings could be 1) the jocotes i am so enamoured with, 2) a tasty fruit called manzana de agua that is not really an apple, or..... 3)something i forgot i planted.
DOES ANYONE RECOGNIZE THESE PLANTS?

A final flower featured in my garden right now, one deserving mucho respect for its pest-detering properties, not to mention its beauty: Marigold, Calendula officinalis

Supposedly one of the easiest and "most rewarding" flowers from which to save seed, i did just that for the very first time ever.


I studied up first, of course. then carefully dissected two dried French Sparky marigolds, to my delight discovering a wealth of wispy light seeds, ¡que bonita!

A time to reap, a time to sow.