my garden on Rota 11

 

Welcome, welcome, welcome!

My garden has gradually increased in size. At last count, there are 19 Hawaiian tomato plants, 17 Taiwan cucumber vines, and five Eggplants (long skinny, purple kind). Aside from those, also have oregano, basil, a local spinach, water spinach (aka, kangkong), sweet papaya, lemon grass, local chili peppers, and banana.

 

 

The Taiwan cucumbers have been great fun to grow. If they don't get watered early in the morning and right after sunset, they dry up super fast and die.

 

Been harvesting the cucumbers almost two weeks now, and tossing them into glass jars, and pickling them.

 

 

The cucumbers grow super fast, and they love to climb for more sunshine. Asked my local friends what kind of trelis is commonly used here, on the Island of Rota. The easiest for me has been a "tee-pee" type trelis. It's been working well. Instead of going to hardware store to buy materials to build a trelis for each cucumber plant, went into the jungle with a good machette, and cut down tang-en tang-en (a plant endemic to Rota, good to use for poles).

 

 

The four sweet papaya trees, in the back yard, are coming along very well. They are still young, so we still don't know which of the four new trees are female.

 

Was having doubts about the Hawaiian tomato seeds - no longer. A small hive of bees moved to my area. Plus, many honey bees have also been visiting from the jungle. There are some butterflies from time to time, but the bees are often around.

 

 

 

To help the tomato pollination process, every day, around 3 o'clock, when the sun is usually at its brightest, I tap the main stem (quickly and strongly, for one minute) of each tomato plant with a stick. Surprisingly,  it actually works. One day, when there was almost no breeze at all, started tapping the first tomato plant - a small cloud of pollen poofs out from the plant. 

So, the tomato plants that are flowering, all have tomatoes. Of all the 19 tomato plants in the garden, two of them are out-performing the rest - 21+ tomatoes on the same plant at the same time. 

 

Love to walk in the garden, early in the morning, and count how many tomatoes are on the vine, soon to be harvested.

 

 

This is Eggplant #1, already about 8 months old, just keeps pumping out eggplant.

 

 

Here's Eggplant #2, also from the same pack of seeds as #1, but for some reason, its fruit are all darker purple, and much tastier. For that reason, started cloning the #2 plant. Now have 5 mature Purple Long Skinny Eggplants, two of which are clones of #2 (cloning is very easy with this species of eggplant).

 

This is the banana tree that is making a new bunch of bananas. The weight of a new bunch of bananas, can easily cause the entire banana tree to fall over. So, you have to get a strong forked-stick (from the jungle) and prop up the banana tree to suppot the new bunch of bananas. Perhaps in another two or three weeks, fresh banana bread will be baking in the oven.

A friend gave me some oregano, green onion, and local soinach cuttings. Planted them close to the kitchen window.

Never realized how beautiful oregano leaves are in their natural state.

Only starting with 4 green-onion plants. Hoping, with time, the green onions will multiply on their own.

 

 

This local spinach is still a mystery to me.  It might turn out even yummier than kangkong. Regardless, the more green leafy veggies, the better.

February and March 2021 at my garden on the island of Rota, in the Marianas, is a time of continual harvesting - all the cucumber, eggplant, and tomato plants are mature and bearing fruit.

A little overwhelmed with all the help from friends and  fellow Rota gardeners - very grateful for them and to them. 

Behind the scenes, God continues to  bless the garden - wanted to be sure to acknowledge that.

Hope you enjoyed the post. Thanks for visiting. You're always welcome.

my garden on Rota 10

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.

At the Germination/Seedling Table are Tomato clones and Oregano and Local Spinach cuttings, all of which will be planted in the garden when they're big enough.

Looks like a wrap for this post. Hope you enjoyed the garden. Good bye until next time. 😎

my garden on Rota 9

Welcome, welcome to my garden! There have been many changes in the garden this month.

As you can see in the picture, the long row of 16 Hawaiian Tomatoes is gone. How embarrassing to find out the time to plant tomatoes on Rota is January, after the rainy season. No wonder none of the tomato plants pollinated. Got 2 tomatoes (weren't even ripe) after all that effort, no crop. Hopefully this time around, we're going to see some juicy Hawaiian Tomatoes.

Here's my Eggplant #1. Not sure how it's survived these past two months, but it's pumping out the eggplants. This eggplant is called "Long Purple," especially suited for tropical climates. Have already harvested 5 eggplant fruit, and it has 4 still in the making.

Have two other eggplants new to the garden. Both, as Eggplant #1, were started from seeds.

 

This eggplant is about one month old. Found a quicker way to get Eggplant seedlings - cloning. Cut off the top of a main stem, stuck it into some potting soil, and it's growing (much faster than starting from a seed).

A local farmer-friend assured me that now is the time to plant tomatoes. Fortunately,  6 Hawaiian #2 Tomato seedlings were ready to plant in the garden. Wished I had more, but only 10 germinated, and four have already died.

So, there are now 4 very young Hawaiian #2 Tomato seedlings in the garden. Should be 5 but one didn't make it. And, two, of the same kind of tomatoes are in 5-gallon containers under the carport.  Was very pleased to discover that tomatoes are even easier to clone than eggplants. Next post, hope to share my "tomato cloning" experience.

Had a nightmare with the kang kong, in the form of grasshoppers. The kang kong grew very beautifully, harvested many times, and enjoyed cooking and eating it often. After a short time with quite a few grasshoppers, all the kang kong was totally ravaged, and not eatable. 

What to do? What to do? 

A friend came by to visit one day, specifically to harvest some of my beautiful kang kong, but every leaf looked like Swiss cheese - no harvest.

Don't want that to happen again, so I removed every trace of kang kong in that grow area - right down to the bare soil. All the kang kong is gone, along with all the grasshoppers and their eggs. Three days later kang kong seedlings are popping up all over the place (no need to germinate any seeds).

Also added two more small grow sites for kang kong, one in the backyard and one right across from the main kang kong grow area.

Got some Taiwan cucumber seeds from a friend. Cucumbers seedlings don't like to be transplanted so had to be super gentle with the seedlings. The garden now has 9 young cucumber seedlings, three per mound.

Had to build mounds, then plant the three cucumber seedlings at the top of each mound. Then, cover the mound, and the dirt under each seedling, with dried grass (it keeps mud from splashing up to the plant, when it rains, which is how most plant diseases are spread). I added three stakes to each cuccumber mound, As it grows, each cucumber seedling will start to climb up the stake. Once the cucumber seedlings start climbing, a trellis will be built. Planning to just use tang-en tang-en poles (will cut down with machete in the jungle) and some cheap twine. It's going to be lots of fun with the cucumbers climbing all over the place.

The banana tree in my frontyard is getting ready to produce a bunch of bananas. To prep for that, had to remove all it's dead leaves, and heap loads of good soil around it's base.

The plan to have a small forest of sweet papaya trees in my backyard is slowly coming together.

Ate a papaya from the only sweet one in my back yard a few months ago. It was delicious and very sweet. After eating it, took as many seeds as I could, air dried them (not sun dried), and successfully germinated four. Planted the papaya seedlings right near their mother tree. They are already about three feet tall (in just a month). Hope to germinate more seeds to increase the sweet papaya trees in the backyard.

 

The lemon basil and sweet basil are thriving. Already harvested the leaves twice. Bundled up the stalks of leaves, and dried them in my kitchen. Haven't had the time to take the leaves and grind them into flakes or powder with a morter and pestle. Instead, I just grab as many dry leaves as I want, and throw them directly into whatever I'm cooking. Great flavor. 

After clearing out all the kang kong, had to bag it up, and dispose of it at the Rota dump. Purchased a small bike trailer online through Walmart. The trailer is just big enough to carry all my trash from two weeks. The island trash dump is only four miles away - a scenic bike ride along the west coast of Rota. After two months of hauling my own trash to the dump, the bike trailer has already paid for itself, and I got some good exercise bike riding.

Really hope you enjoyed the post. Until next time. Take care.

my garden on Rota 8

Welcome to my home garden on the beautiful Pacific tropical island of Rota, in the Marinas. It's rainy season, so plenty of growth in the garden. So glad we never worry about frost or cold temperatures here. The temperature here, year round, is the same with only a few degrees variation.

This past month, many good developments in the garden, primarily, with the papaya trees, Hawaiian tomatoes, eggplants, hibiscus, basil, cucumbers, and kang kong.

Let's get started with the sweet papaya tree in the back yard. You might be thinking, "Sweet? I thought all papayas are sweet." That's what I thought the first year in the Marianas. Papaya trees are everywhere here, grow just about anywhere, and thrive even under the worst conditions. Thing is, most of the papaya trees on the Mariana Islands are wild or jungle papaya, their fruit is not sweet at all, and they're good to block the wind, or provide shade only. They grow just about anywhere. Papaya tree seedlings can be pulled up out of the ground and transplanted easily,  They are super robust. The one in my backyard is not a jungle papaya; the fruit is very sweet. The flesh of the fruit inside is a bright reddish orange, with many black seeds, about 2-3 mm in size. Papaya is especially  good for the human digestive system. Have a problem using the bathroom? Eat a papaya and make sure you have plenty of toilet paper. Living in Taiwan 10 years, drank a lot of fresh papaya smoothies - favorite of all was a lemon-papaya smoothy (so healthy).

Collected all the seeds from the last papaya I ate from the tree in the backyard. Air dried them, germinated some, and succeeded in getting four healthy papaya tree seedlings. Took the seedlings, after they had matured a little, and planted them very close to the mother tree. Its not a sure thing that all four seedlings are female - that's why Hawaiian farmers plant papayas three at a time. Once it's determined which ones are female, the rest are destroyed. So, if all four of the new seedlings turn out to be female trees, wouldn't that be cool? The probability of at least one of the four seedlings being a female is extremely high.

The sweet basil, under the rainwater spout, has already grown to about three feet tall. It's very likely they will be harvested in the next couple of weeks. The stalks will be cut, bundled, and air dried. It will be nice to have dried basil sprinkles for cooking and eating.

The lemon basil is completely at home now and already starting to produce seeds. It will probably also get harvested soon.

Looking through a big jar of seeds the other day, found a packet of old cucumber seeds. Bought the packet of seeds at the local hardware store at a discount for 10 cents. The expiry date on the seed packet was already overdue two years. The other day, when coming across the old seeds, I remember the attempt at germinating the seeds a year ago failed. So, growing cucumbers was no longer a consideration. But, the other night, when I saw the cucumber seed packet, I just got something like a gut feeling, like, "plant all the cucumber seeds." Grabbed the seeds, the pick axe, and made a good grow bed for the future cucumbers, right beside the Hawaiian tomatoes. Didn't even bother to germinate  the seeds first, just planted them directly into the ground. Every day, early in the morning, I like to look to see if anything "cucumber looking" has popped up out of the ground yet. Cucumbers will be loads of fun, especially in the building of another treliss.

Have to admit, eggplant has not been an easy veggy to grow. In the past year, have lost track of how many seeds were attempted at germination with no results. Planted two eggplants at the last place I lived - that was 10 months ago. Once a week, I go back to those two eggplants to harvest. Both are almost 5 foot tall and have been pumping out the eggplants, non-stop, for several months. Those two plants inspired me to not give up growing eggplant. For the past three months I have germinated about 30-40 eggplant seeds, with no success (not even one). Finally, got one good seedling. Then a couple weeks later, four more eggplant seedlings popped out of the soil. Lost one of the seedlings the other day, and now have only 4 healthy seedlings.  

Here's the biggest of the four. From the get go, something was munching on it's leaves at night - sprayed the leaves with soap water, and the munching on my eggplant has stopped. This eggplant has been growing very fast, and is way ahead of the other three seedlings by three weeks to a month. The Thai basil is gone now, and this sole eggplant took its grow area.

Took the remaining eggplant seedlings and care for them at the kitchen windowsill. Really don't want to lose anymore eggplant seedlings.  When they get much bigger and stronger, I'll plant them in the garden (in about 2-3 weeks).

 

The kang kong has exceeded all expectations. It truly is an extremely prolific veggy. Already lost count how many times the kang kong has been harvested. Kang kong has already replaced my love for spinach. Here on Rota, we don't see much spinach in the stores, because it has to be imported, which also means, it's expensive. Kang kong on the other hand, tastes more delicious, and now, is always available, fresh, from right outside my front door. Was considering possibly exspanding the kang kong grow area one more time, albeit, the kang kong grows so fast, and keeps spreading, there's really no need for a larger grow area at the moment.

 

Keep it simple with the kang kong, stir fry it on high heat, with minced garlic, salad oil, and a little sea salt. Stir fry about 3 minutes only, drizzle a little sesame oil on the kang kong, and eat (if you have it, add a few drops of oyster sauce before serving). Kang kong is also good in instant noodles. The flowers, leaves, buds, and stalks all taste very delicious. 

Three months ago, when I first moved into this house, noticed an old dead bush in the front yard. It was black, covered with mold, and had ants all over it. Many times thought of taking the machette and wacking it down. Instead, just kept watering it, week after week. Surprise, surprise, a hisbiscus plant busted out of the ground - so green and beautiful. The ants continued to swarm it, so they got the soap water spray (major anticide). Very anxious to see the first hibiscus flower and even more anxious to see what color the flowers will be.

 The three chili-pepper plants have fully recovered from damage caused from swarms of flying insects. All three are pumping out peppers. Not even sure about the taste of these peppers. Time to taste one.

 

There are other things in this garden to check out, such as the banana trees and the madarine orange tree, but this time, we'll finish up by taking a look at the Hawaiian tomatoes. All 16 tomato plants have been growing well - the tallest tomato plant is at least 5 feet tall. Putting 3 stakes around each individual plant, helped in guiding their fast growth. A treliss was slapped together with tang-en tang-en poles (from the jungle). It's almost like a big cage to contain the rapid growth of the tomato branches. Just in the past few weeks, all the plants started flowering, but very few bees or butterflies could ever be seen in or around the tomato grow area. Sixteen flowering tomato plants, and only one small tomato. A friend told me to get a q-tip and pollinate every tomato flower. Every other day, I have a routine to check for any new flowers, and to pollinate them. Only been doing this a few days, so I'm a little anxious to see more fruit.

 

Hoping to start making dried tomatoes - had many delicious dishes in Southern California with dried tomatoes. The one dish that stands out more than any other is an appetizer my daughter and I often ordered - dried tomatoes with fresh mozarella cheese and balsamic vinegar.

Hope you enjoyed your visit to my home garden on the Island of Rota, truly a Pacific island paradise. If you want to share this blog site with friends and family, please do. If you happen to visit Rota, then "Welcome, welcome!" Come by and visit - would love to cook you some delicious kang kong, or share some fresh Hawaiian tomatoes with you.  

Take care.