The radishes have been steadily producing for almost two weeks. I eat a couple for myself but pick a bunch twice a week and trade them for a couple big tomatoes.
The Purple Teepee beans are blooming and already starting to produce their first teenie beans (only 3/4 inch long right now). I intend to save these beans for seed production rather than eating them.
The taro is in the shady section and is doing well. It would be a bit bigger if it was growing in full sun, but I've found that this variety will produce decent corms even in partial shade. It's nice to have something able to produce in the shadier areas, since it's hard to utilize those spots.
I discovered that when the taro is small, I can add compost ingredients in a trench between the taro rows then cover it over with dirt or grass clippings. As the material rots down it provides more nutrients to the growing taro. Taro doesn't like it's roots stepped on, so once the trenches are filled and covered over, I mulch the taro well and try not to walk in the bed too much.
Looking really good! Hey, are those guavas in the trench? I had a habit of swerving off the road if I saw a heavily-loaded tree of those, and I felt guilty about just chucking away the less-than-perfect ones I found. I dug holes in the spaces between the croton bushes to bury the papaya and citrus that fell off my trees, sort of pit-composting, I guess. It doesn't take very long for the compost effect!
ReplyDeleteGuavas, yes! And all sorts of others things. This year has be especially productive for guavas. I'm using just the most perfect ones for eating and freezing, using the rest for fertilizer and chicken food. On my way home from town 5 days a week, I have been routinely foraging two 5 gallon buckets of guavas. One for the chickens and one for the garden. There are so many guavas that there are bucketfuls along the roadside that I never get to pick up. An amazing year for this fruit.
ReplyDeleteYour radishes look fantastic. And I knew zilch about taro, so it was interesting to read about. Lovely to have a year round garden, isn't it?
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