As I mentioned in the last post I seem to have writers block occasionally trying to come up with things to write. I start to wonder if what is interesting to me is interesting to those who read my dissertations. I have been assured by our friend Elaine that it is all interesting and unique so if that is the case here goes!
We have been trying to grow a variety of fruits and vegetables over the 4 years we have been in the house. Most have been a total disaster.
The tomatoes we planted came up, bore two fruit and died. The corn came up, grew to 2 and a half feet, sprung an ear the size of pea pod and died. The list is longer but frankly it is depressing so I cannot remember all of the total failures.
However there was one item that grew like wildfire. Watermelon. We did not plant it. It was planted by Oswaldo when he was working here. The plant went crazy once it started to grow. It spread out like it should and flowered like it should. We know the flowers had insect traffic but the fruit never set. It was then we found out that most of the watermelons you buy are hybrids and won't actually finish fruit. So as they too died we took them out and were once again fruitless.
And then there were pineapples. We had been told that when you cut the top off of your pineapple just plant the top and it will grow. So Heather did that with a few of the pineapples we bought.
The first one she planted took to ground well and started to grow almost immediately. She diligently watered it and watched it grow wider and taller. This inspired her to plant more. However they were not as successful. Some died or rotted in the ground. Others grew but were not happy about it.
The original one was still growing and doing well but it was kind of lost in the front garden with the other plants that were overgrown and blocking its light and our view of it. I had even forgotten it was there.
We have noted that others that we have planted in our yard are not as happy as the one in the front flower bed. We are guessing it is getting the right amount of sun and shade whereas some of the others get maybe too much sun.
After all of the frustration of things we have planted today was a special day. Today in our garden an actual pineapple has sprouted on top of our plant. We knew they took two years to produce fruit and I am pretty sure that one has been in there for 3 years or more but my bet is that the plant is now happy that Ramon comes once a week and trims the plants, fertilizes and takes care of the garden. Somehow I think that the fruit on our pineapple plant showing up 6 months after Ramon started here is not a coincidence.
Either way, it does not matter. I am looking forward to putting a few slices of this on my plate one morning. Not sure how long they take to mature but hopefully it won't take too long because it will be hard to wait.
The good thing is they are so easy to start that we have 7 more plants growing across the street.
[caption id="attachment_516" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
Our first little pineapple[/caption]For more garden photos check out our photo albums on our facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/CasaMadera
Very cool.
ReplyDeleteSent from my iPhone
Wow, that is quite an assembly of fruit. We are about the same latitude as you in Volcano, Hawaii, but at 3700 feet. We have a rainforest setting (see website), but many things won't grow. Of all the Inns, Hotels, and Volcano Hawaii Lodging,we strive to have the most flowers and fruits, and to be the very best value.
ReplyDelete