Welcome to the Christian Expat blog site (aka, Christian Repat). Since relocating to the beautiful island of Rota, in the Mariana Islands, I've been posting stuff primarily about my gardens here. Started this current garden in the first week of living in my new place, right on the Sasanhaya Bay. Winds blow right off the Pacific Ocean onto the garden. So, the garden gets a lot more weather than most others on the island.
Sun coming up across the bay. Time to water the plants!
The rainy season is over, and much has been happening in the garden.
Inherited 5 banana trees (were already here when I moved in). The 1st bunch of sweet bananas popped out this month. It might be another month before they're ripe. On Rota, we eat two kinds of bananas: bananas for cooking, and bananas for eating. These are sweet, for eating. Should be ready to eat in about a month.
New to the garden - Taiwan Cucumbers.
Not planting Taiwan Cucumbers because I like Taiwan so much, but because a local friend gave them to me, for free.
Have never grown Cucumbers before. Fortunately, the friend who gave me the seeds, told me everything needed to harvest a good crop of Cukes. They get extremely thirsty really fast, so it's at the break of dawn and at sunset, watering, every day without fail. Attempted to grow them a month ago, and they all died from dehydration and snails - in one week after planting in the garden, all 15 were dead. Very glad, this time around, they have been going about a month, all very healthy, and already producing fruit. The Taiwan Cucumbers have been a lot of fun, especially in the building of a trelis for every three or six Cucumber vines. Don't want to spend any money on trelis materials. Went into the jungle nearby, machette in hand, and cut down tang-en tange-en poles, not only for Cuke trelis materials, but also for the tomatoes.
Currently have growing a total of 17 Taiwan Cucumber vines, all of which are producing fruit.
If you read previous posts, you'll remember how I only got 1 unripe tomato from 16 Hawaiian Tomato plants last year. Hey, when you fall off a horse, you get up, dust yourself off, and get back on the horse. That's my approach with planting tomatoes on Rota. Planted 16 Hawaiian Tomato plants (14 in the ground, and 2 in 5-gallon containers). Most of the Tomato plants have fully matured, and are flowering. Again, I have 1 green tomato on the vine, slowly getting bigger. The big question is - "Will these Hawaiian Tomatoes successfully pollinate and produce fruit?"
Before, there was a question of a lack of pollinaters, like bees and butterflies. Found a small bee hive in the Mandarin Orange Tree in the front yard, seen many butterflies flittering about, and all the Cukes have pollinated.
Regardless, this will be the last attempt at Hawaiian Tomatoes. Prepared to start planting Roma Tomatoes, which are known to do well in tropical climates, if for some reason these Hawaiian Tomatoes don't produce more fruit (nothing against Hawaii, I'm just anxious to start eating fresh Tomatoes every day). Don't care where the seeds are from, as long as the Tomatoes can handle our unique climate and environment on this tropical Pacific island.
For a while there, it looked like only one solitary Eggplant would be possible. Now, there are 5 - all Long Purples, which are very common on this side of the International Dateline. Eggplant #1 has been going strong about 5 months. It completed its growth cycle last month, but it just keeps pumping out the eggplants. Lets see how long it will keep going (Does any one think it can keep bearing fruit for a year?).
There is one other mature Eggplant (Eggplant #2). Its fruit are exquisite - very dark purple, long and skinny.
The Water Spinach disaster is past and history. Asked the bush-cutter to cut down all the Water Spinach (aka, Kangkong) right down to the dirt. With no effort on my part, the Kangkong all grew back in a month, on its own, looking really good, less all the grasshoppers. Really like to often eat stir-fried Kangkong with garlic and a little sesame oil and oyster sauce.
Reduced the size of the primary Kangkong grow area, and added a secondary grow area.
The Hibiscus is really looking good. It was just a dry dead stick 5 months ago. Looks like its fully recovered. Still not sure what color the flowers will be. $5 cash to any of my G-kids who can guess the right color.
The Lemon Basil is making seeds now. Stopped watering it to speed up the seeding process. When all the seed pods are dry and brown, I'll harvest them. Lemon Basil, has become a frequently used spice in all my cooking. Very much enjoy it's flavor in a cup of black tea.
Discontinued the other Kangkong and Basil grow sites in the backyard. The 4 Sweet Papaya Trees still going strong.
Added a Wildflower grow site to encourage pollination. First wildflowers to be planted in this garden are the official wildflower of the State of Florida.
Looks like a wrap for this post. Hope you enjoyed the garden. Good bye until next time. 😎
