"Mad Max" Shade Bed Upgrade...

When we got here the shade bed was in pretty bad shape. The soil was hard as a rock, the boards holding the shade cloth were sagging or broken and the cloth flapped and sagged under the weight of achiote tree branches. It reminded me of the Mad Max roadside stand on the way to Shacks...where they sell Brazo Gitano "gypsy arms" and other stuff to the weary or starving. I didn't do anything for several months because I wasn't sure I needed a shade bed. Wasn't sure I'd use it...a flung a few tomato seeds in it and they rapidly became non-movable! I started to take leaves and twigs and weed wacked grass and put them in the "bed" to amend the hard soil. I have since moved a lot of wonderful soil out of that bed. I have also figured out that direct seeding isn't how to do it here -- everything does better if started in the shade bed until it gets a good root set on it. So the bed needed reworking. Here you can see how the walls are falling and slumping. They followed the slope of the ground. The first Jeff did was use rebar to make the top frame. Then I re-stretched the shade cloth and used fishing line to sew it up trampoline-style.


Then we argued about the best way to configure the bed. The framework wasn't square...do you follow the slope of the ground or make things level... don't want to dig into feeder roots of the trees...do you cut blocks or no...the fishing line laid it all out for how to do it - not easy. It got done the best we could - level but not square.


Today I did the finishing work on the cinder blocks to pretty it up. I will most likely paint when it cures (brick red like the front benches - shows dirt less than the limy-yellow). The lower step will be for cuttings and seedlings. The tall step will be for composting. Pots will undoubtedly line up on the wall as they ready themselves for a transfer out into the wild.

I also made little compartments for tools - used the cinder block holes half filled. I am always placing trowels and pruners and cutting scissors on the ground and then wandering around for an hour to find them. Hopefully this storage place will help! I've got 5 holes for a trowel, plastic name markers and sharpie, scissors for cuttings (only in dry weather), gloves, who knows what I'll put in there? If it is a bad idea I can fill them up... So now my hands really hurt, my wrist hurts, my back hurts and I have "cement skin" ( I did wear gloves). I always do too much - it could have been a 2 day project, but I figured I'd hurt to much to do anything tomorrow! So tomorrow I can perch pots on the edges and tidy up! As a bonus we FINALLY got a little rain, maybe 1/4 inch. The last little bit we had was when we did the other cement project!

New Fruit Surprises...

When I wander around the yard I always see something new. This is a new batch of "cherries" (which of course aren't cherries at all) on our shrub. I saw a chicken hopping and went to investigate and there they were - new fruits! I pruned this shrub pretty heavily a month ago so I was a little shocked. Everything here seems to do a speeded up bloom-fruit-bloom-fruit cycle. I've got the real name somewhere - it tastes like a plum to me but the furry skin is kind of like an apricot. They are small, so it is a eat-as-you-wander-the-yard kind of fruit.

This is a Jobo Tree (or is it a Hobo)? I don't really like this fruit since it has a lot of fibre, but here it is full of fruit again. Didn't we move here the end of October? It is fruiting again? Don't like the fruit, but the tree is a nice shape.

Besides millions of mangoes we are soon going to have gadzillions of guavas. These are fruit from the blossoms I posted a week or two ago! I only knew it flowered because I would wake in the morning to really loud bees. If you want to know what's going on in your yard watch the wildlife!

This is one fruit we haven't tried yet - quenepa. This tree was amazing. One day it had all brown dry leaves and overnight it was a fresh new green. Then the blossoms came and now fruit! We don't know when to pick or eat them but I will watch the birds - they seem to know.

New Flowers...I Wondered What That plant Did...

I kept watching these two shrubs to see what they'd do. It has been a seven month wait and finally I know why they are here. They have really nice flowers! There are plants where I wouldn't put them, trees too close or lined up, and big stuff crammed into small places. I don't want to remove things until I know what they do and this week some mysteries were solved. This shrub stays and its companion white blooming one as well.

I love taking flowers in to the house. Gingers, heliconias, croton and a pink dracenea of some sort are nice in arrangements. I thought there were only orange birds-or-paradise in a large clump but I have spotted several pink versions that are very nice!

This is a treasure a neighbor gave me. It looks like a ginger of some sort or canna maybe? A nice addition what-ever it is.

This is the first plumeria bloom we've gotten. There are a few more flowers today. The scent is not very strong but the light flower and dark foliage is nice.

All over in coqui alley and the bed near the Maria Tree there have been these nice looking tall plants. They haven't bloomed until now, and the bloom is kind of orchid-looking (this isn't the best example - sorry). I guess they will all stay put.


We've got an area I want to cover in hibiscus. I found this coppery, metallic looking hibiscus in BoKeana nursery for $1.75. It has been blooming continuously and the copper-hot pink contrast is really nice!

Tonight's Dive at the Caves Despite *$@#! Traffic!

After enduring 2+ hours of traffic to go 40 miles we arrived at the dive site in Isabella. Katrina was convinced mid week diving in the afternoon was not for her. She would rather sit in the yard and watch the chickens then sit in traffic. There were about 4 major intersections that had flashing yellow (our direction anyways) lights. In Puerto Rico that means don't stop (either direction) unless your going to hit something. In the states if you came to a intersection where the lights were not working you would treat it as a four way stop. Not here, you go through and don't stop! If you stop then the cars trying to cross the intersection would go and then you wont be able to cross until someone in the other direction isn't paying attention and they leave a gap. That's your cue to go and then your direction of traffic starts going again... Water conditions were very good. A little wind but only small waves on the reef. We swam out to the swim through in the outer reef and began our dive. Vis was over 50'. We saw all kinds of fish and coral. It was great. We spent over an hour in the outer reef. We saw a huge school of purple or blue tangs mating. Pairs of fish would make a mad dash 10' up in the water then release a cloud of eggs and sperm and swim back down to the main group of fish. This was happening over and over. We also were visited by a nurse shark, turtle, huge grouper, barracuda, spotted eagle ray, and I caught two tasty lobster. After 92 minutes under water we swam in. The dive was so good that Katrina is ready to brave the traffic to do it again. Monday nights dive was awesome as well. We dove El Natural and started the dive at 8:30pm. Night dives are so much better than day dives.