I had to give up on the mushroom search in both Spanish and English. Nothing even close. I found this yesterday next to my compost pile. I see lots of little ones mostly in the lawn but never a large one like this. All I know is you don't eat mushrooms if you don't know what they are. This one is at least 8 inches across. It was next to all my other volunteers in the compost; tomatoes, papayas and this.
After the tomatoes expired should have cleaned up the bed, added a little more good soil and planted some more of anything. The few herbs that were beyond useful took up the space instead. This year I planted tomatoes on either end, with peas, onions and chard in the middle. The webbing I put up to discourage my cat from using it as a bathroom will help start the climbers but they will need more support later on. Last year with shallow wide containers I had almost no luck with radishes, greens of any type or onions. Hoping with deeper and better soil I'll get something to eat.
The next issue will be trying to keep the bugs from eating everything. When white flies attacked the tomatoes last year I tried a commercial spray and a dish soap spray with little effect. That's when I read about Zote, an insecticidal soap but the tomatoes were too far gone to bother with. I've since made a spray although a little stronger than the Mother Earth News article below. I sprayed some on my Avocado which is getting brown leaves from something.
Planted more tomatoes and Albahaca grande (Basil)
Hoja Santa, next pinapple and a tired basil
Zote and Fels-Naptha are insecticidal
To make the insecticidal soap spray, shave one quarter of a bar of Fels-Naptha laundry soap (about 1 inch) into 1 quart of heated water and stir until dissolved. This will be your insecticidal soap concentrate. Put the soap solution into a labeled jar.
To use the soap spray, put 1 teaspoon of concentrate per quart into a sprayer. This insecticidal soap is a contact poison, so spray it directly onto the insects you want to eliminate from your home, garden or orchard. For additional killing power, add one-quarter cup of rubbing alcohol per quart.
I always thought soapy water was the recipe for controlling bugs on tomatoes and peppers but it turns out soap is not just soap. I'm researching because my usual dish soap and water mixture this year is not working and I may have lost my tomato plants early.
An insecticidal soap is a potassium fatty acid soap (aka -- natural) as opposed to a synthetic detergent. It's much more like what would have been made in the home 150 years ago before chemical engineering designed something that will clean better. These old timey soaps work well for simple dirt but not well for stains. Here are a few that are considered insecticidal ---- Zote, Fels Naptha, Roma, Dawn(?)
Insecticidal soap works best on soft-bodied insects and arthropods such as aphids, adelgids, mealybugs, spider mites, thrips, jumping plant lice, scale insects, whiteflies, and sawfly larvae.
Soap Spray
Combining insecticidal soap with water makes a concentrated form of insecticidal soap spray. In order to make the concentrate, grate about 1 inch from a bar of Zote soap, put the grated soap in 1 quart of warm water and stir the water gently until the soap dissolves. The concentrated solution should be stored in a clearly labeled container. When you're ready to spray your plants with an insecticide, place 1 quart of water in a spray bottle or garden sprayer, and add to it 1 teaspoon of the Zote concentrate you made. Don't use a stronger solution. Although insecticidal soap spray is safe for most plants, a high concentration of it may damage plant foliage.
The cherry tomatoes are coming out in bunches now and it's like an Easter Egg hunt for Nahima every day she comes over. Right now they are at her eye level but soon she'll be asking for help to reach them. With 6-7 plants I'm gonna need help eating them. The Roma tomatoes are still very small.
Four in a group
The second crop of chilies from seeds Hugo planted. I'm gonna have to make a decent bed for them and try again. This was the only plant healthy enough to produce.
The big Neem came down a few months ago but a 4 foot stump was just taking up room for other things. Hugo excavated around it and chopped it down to about a meter with a machete and then called Juan to come over with his chainsaw. First he's chopping off bark that was below ground and may have rocks embedded and then the saw. He even hauled all the pieces out to the street and wouldn't accept a peso.
I don't know if I didn't remember last year when my Cherry tomatoes grew to over 12 feet or if I doubt they will even come up. Whatever it is I'm going to have to plan better for the next crop because tomatoes go crazy here and they probably will all year. I had so many come up I transplanted a few into buckets and they will use the chain link fence on my driveway for support
The biggest issue is supporting them so I'll build some sort of cage in the planter for the next crop. Also move my herbs out of that planter and put them in pots As well need some mulch to slow the soil from drying out. The Coco Coir plant near Cihuatlan throws fiber out by the highway and I'm going to ask if it's free. They also sell a Coir powder that is a lot like Peat Moss. A place over toward Barra has cow manure very cheap and I haven't been over there for awhile because of their road. For now we'll just keep tying them up and in a few months redesign their space.
Planted in January and got our first red tomatoes yesterday
Here's some and I've been pruning the non fruiting branches
This is supposedly the typical Mexican Roma tomato
So may Cherries came up I transplanted a few in buckets
I've been learning what works, what things are, what the bugs like to ruin, what stops the bugs and what plants do during different seasons.
As you can barely see I have a new pineapple. The plant is about a year old, I bought one, cut the top off and planted it. Wasn't sure it would do well in partial shade but it looks healthy.
Tomatoes are everywhere. My cherry tomato is huge, tired around the edges, turning brown but still cranking out lots of tomatoes every day. It probably will be finished in about a week. The Mexican or Italian tomatoes are popping up all over my compost pile. The largest has 5 big green ones.
The neem tree had a bunch of babies from it's dropped seeds and just waiting until they get big enough to transplant. Neighbor and I are thinking on one side of the jardin/playfield but there's no water there right now. If not, I'll look further.
The corn is only an experiment. I had no luck with some sweet corn seeds I brought down from Seattle .. so a neighbor gave me a couple ears of dry Mexican corn and that's what you see below. The only problem has been either my cat or the neighbors chickens like to get into them.
Well they must is all I can figure. The compost pile is sprouting tomatoes, a melon and baby Neems. The lime trees were quiet for almost two months and now are full of blossoms. My avocado tree that has done almost nothing since I got it is suddenly sprouting new branches and leaves.
I transplanted the avocado to a more open area and realize that probably shocked it but that was about a year ago. One major branch died and what was left was way lopsided. I trimmed it today to balance it out a bit.
Lime trees are very unruly, with branches going in all directions. The best I can do is cut some of what I call 'suckers' that grow straight up and look to be non fruit producing. I doubt I can keep them at standing on the ground picking level but so far so good.
I'm gonna have a bunch of baby Neem trees if I can get them planted in pots in a month or so. They are just coming up from dropped seeds from their parent tree which is now about 5 meters high. I might offer a few to neighbors if they look healthy.
My 2 Cherry tomato plants are producing 20 or so a day but the neighbor kids are eating them as soon as they turn a little red (with my permission). The cilantro and sweet basil are doing fine. Herba Buena (mint) and Romero (Rosemary) are new and some radishes and chives are just popping up. Gardens are good
I planted about 6 plants and ended up with two. Any cherry tomatoes I've had in the past have never taken off like this. Maybe there are miniatures? I've since read that they can cover the wall of a house if conditions are right. I'm just glad I planted these next to the column in the planters or I would have had a heck of a time supporting them. I put a 1 meter wire basket around them but they quickly topped that and are now tied to the column. Also read that letting the branches droop is OK and they seem to be OK with that. Very soon to have lots of tomatoes.
My sister gave me some sprouting radish seeds when I was in Seattle but I figured since they are radishes they could also be planted. I ended up with great salad greens but no radishes. The Thai Basil and the Cilantro are doing great and are considerably larger than they show in the foto. Large enough to use some of the Basil.
Don't know what it is with corn and me but my second crop is failing. Two more melon plants have popped up in the compost pile. Had black and curly leaf hit the lime trees again and had to spray. Found a family of caterpillar like worms on my third lime tree and soapy water took care of them. Another caterpillar worm on the tomatoes who was very green inside from munching on the leaves. Bananas are huge but maybe another year for fruit. The Star fruit tree must think it's winter because it's dropped a lot of leaves. I think everything likes the cooler weather (me included) because they seem to be growing faster than they did this summer. Winter in Mexico
The construction of the house finished in April 2011 and I'm pretty much settled in. As of March 2014 I'm in preparation for rain mode for this coming summer. That includes sealing and painting things and dealing with drainage issues from last year.
