Up and Coming Food

It was in July, after the BB episode, that the garden shade-house thingy got covered and I started making my trays and filling them. The time to start plants in now, but I couldn't wait...seeds are cheap entertainment...and I can always replant! I couldn't help myself so I planted things and am having some results! As soon as the really wet weather comes (if it does) I will most likely lose some things but I don't really care. Things around the yard are always available ...it is just a question of whether I want to eat them or not. When it comes to jumbo guavas the answer is NO. Too sweet and too many inedible seeds. I don't want to make guava jelly (sweet) or pastry goo so I leave them for the birds. Much more entertaining. I gave the gutters another go and this time thinned out the lettuce. It appears that my not thinning them last time was the problem. Things are looking good! We have these fat bananas that have a few more seeds in them and are kind of orange inside. Manzanas are my favorite but the size and shape of these is perfect for making little banana plates to balance other things on.

I gave the gutters another go and this time thinned out the lettuce. It appears that my not thinning them last time was the problem. This time things are looking good!

 This is kale and the malabar climbing spinach I let reseed itself. The kale grows really well (why I don't know since it is a cole crop and we are in the tropics). I coat the leaves with nutritional yeast, cashews and a little olive oil and dehydrate them into chips. Yum! The reviews on the spinach are not so yummy - ya gotta mix it with better greens since there is that familiar tropical slime thing going on.

I've got one out of the 5 lemon cucumbers I planted really taking off. I am using cement mixing trays as the beds and put lots of holes in the bottom. I put aluminum screen in the bottom and a mix of mostly compost and some soil I loosened up by leveling my shade-house area. There is a tray of lettuce I've already thinned and a tray of cilantro.

I made myself a little sampler plate. I've got baby lettuce, wing beans spinach and micro-greens. What a disappointment on the micro-greens. I made an entire tray and they are stunted micro-greens or maybe they are supposed to be like that? I think they'd be better if I sprouted them in my sprouting jar. That's what I'll do with the rest of the seed. They are powerful when they get a little bigger like the radish and mustard tops but come on, micro greens aren't worth the hassle. I eat papaya on my granola, freeze it and dehydrate it. It is always good to have around. I continue to save and plant seed so I probably have a dozen trees ranging from 15 feet to 5 inches. I've got some peppers I probably started from seeds from something I ate. A lone pumpkin might be ready for Halloween. I'll carve it instead of eating it.

All my little trays that I hope will be lush with food some day soon. Turmeric looks like any ginger plant. The root is supposedly good for digestion and coloring food but I just like growing cool stuff because I can. Wing beans are all over the fence. I REALLY want zucchini. I mean REALLY want it. I have only gotten a couple in my previous attempts - just don't like humidity.

So stop and smell the lantana and grow some food today!