Welcome to this blog sight. It's been about one month since the last Rota Gardens post. Finally the dry season is over, and the rainy season is here. Things are growing like crazy now - weeds and all the veggies that went into the ground in the past few weeks.
First let's do an update of what was planted in the "Rota Gardens 5" post - sweet basil. Here's the sweet basil in the grow area in my backyard, right under the water faucet. The smell is really nice. Munching on a few fresh leaves, early in the morning, makes for a good natural breath freshner. These sweet basil are off to a good start, but they still have a long way to go. As the first veggies planted since moving in, the new garden is off to a great start.
Found some old Thai basil seeds, dug out a small little spot, and sprinkled out all the seeds. So far, only have 5 or 6 seedlings popping up. Hoping to get many more.
A friend gave me some tomato seeds from the University of Hawaii - especially suited for Pacific tropical islands. About 20 germinated into some good looking seedlings - quite robust with strong main stems. Roots can grow right off the main stem, so I planted them deep, right up to their lowest leaves. Typically tomatoes aren't really suited for tropical climates, except for cherry and Roma tomatoes. These Hawaiian tomatoes are bigger than Roma. Anyway, got most of the stakes in place. Also have a few more seedlings to add to the 10 already. Will put them in the ground as soon as I get more soil.
In my 1st garden on Rota, the kangkong (water spinach) was quite a success. With that in mind, attempting to follow the same idea - plant where all the rainwater drains out, at the lowest spot on the property. It's working here - 5 mature kankkong are thriving, and one seedling was added last week. Hoping to add another 4 or 5 in the next couple of weeks. Love to snip off the top best branches for my instant noodles. So yummy, healthy, easy to grow, and kangkong are extremely prolific. Some states have banned kangkong as a foreign invasive species - not here. Kangkong love water, and do especially well in swampy environments.
It's interesting to take on new challenges from time to time - Chinese cabbage is just that. Know nothing about this veggie except that I love to eat it. So, doing my best with the Chinese cabbage, but honestly don't have a clue. Any advice or pointers would be appreciated.
Don't expect much from the Chinese cabbage I planted. Was browsing around on the internet - the post discouraged any transplanting of seedlings directly into a new grow area (like my garden) for various reasons (all of which read to be fairly sound or scientifically reasonable). The seeds were from Taiwan, so I just ignored the post and went forward, as if everything's going to be OK.
