An all volunteer garden

Beautiful chard

Fruit trees

I planted all kinds of things in that bed where the chard is last summer and nothing turned into food except the cherry tomatoes. After cleaning up the bed and wondering what to do next I noticed a small but unmistakable chard leaf had popped up. I've been babying it and eating it ever since. All I can think of is chard  and maybe many leafy vegetables do better in cooler temperatures.

The fruit trees all came up from the compost but except for the papaya they were moved for more space. The citrus on the left  (we're unsure which) is almost a year old. The 3 papayas are just a few months old. The day before yesterday Lorena noticed a new plant and said it was a Guayaba so we moved that over to the lower right. I would have just pulled it up but Hugo confirmed it's Guayaba. A couple of years ago some kids from the Prepa came around with plants as an assignment. I put a Carambola in my yard but had them plant a Guayaba across the street in front of a neighbors but it's not being watered or cared for. Now I have one !!  Love the flavor in liquados but the seeds can break a tooth.

Chimole Picante

Thinking chimole would mean only one thing I looked it up with Google and it has many meanings. All the meanings are food but the only similarities are it's salsa like. Lorena says the literal meaning is chile molido but molido is usually dry ground to powder but not in this case.

There were about 20 ripe cherry tomatoes yesterday and Hugo said perfect for chimole so into the blender with a couple green chilies, garlic and a little water. Very good but very spicy and the sweetness of the tomatoes disappeared making me think any tomato would work. The chilies were from my garden too.

Cherries

Very good and very spicy

Made some duros for the kids to sell

Back to the garden

Last year Linda gave me about 3 each of three different kinds of bananas, all very small so we didn't know which was which.  I planted a couple in the back corner behind the limones. They turned out to be the big ones and soon became trees shading the limes and everything else. Just had to cut them down but saved their babies for other locations, the neighbors and the lot next door. 

The small one in the second foto already had a crop of the sweet small ones but now the plant just outside my lot has got a bunch. You have to wait until a few have a touch of yellow before you can cut them so we'll see if I or the neighbors get to them first.

Star Fruit has finished it's season, Moringa has flowers but no fruit yet, Peas (Chicharo) are up but very slow, Cherry Tomatoes going crazy as well as Beefsteak, all leafy vegetables are just leaves and not very big, Radishes are just leaves with no root

Not quite ready but not secure from hungry kids

The two remaining on my lot - Moringa on left

First crop a month ago

Indigenous girl with kinda traditional dress and traditional Coke

Most of the kids wear shorts and a Tea or school clothes so this was different

Gardening again

I had so much luck with cherry tomatoes last year in these raised beds I had to try it again. Had to pull up and/or transplant a bunch of tropical ornamental plants but this is food that you can eat!! Everything I was growing in buckets made a fast start and then died like they dried up?  Actually the green onions are growing in a bucket but are stunted.

I brought another large bag of coco-peat and mixed it with my compost soil for about 3 inches of good soil turned in to last years dirt.  I'm using that plastic screen over the beds to keep both dog and cat out. Dog like to excavate cool soil and the cat just using it for his bathroom.  So lots of cherry tomatoes on either end, some pepinos (cucumber) in the middle and some green onions here and there. The pepper plant I bought at Home Depot and it's doing well.

Last year the Carambola (Star Fruit) only had one fruit.  Even that was not bad for a tree only a year and a half old.  This year it looks like it may be over 100. There's 4 major branches full of fruit like this and 3-4 branches above filled with flowers.   I may have to support some of them as the full branches droop way down.  Now I have to get the girls to stop eating them green.  Even with the little bit of yellow you see they are still very sour.

The Neem (only one now) is in flower with lots of seeds ready to drop.  Very aromatic with the many small white flowers. Before long I'll either be pulling up baby Neem or trying find places to plant them.   I had thought Neem to be rather exotic but actually it's everywhere in this area.  Even one on the Melaque Plaza.

Now if the Avocado and the Chico Zapote will produce just one fruit blossom.  Both trees are healthy, same age as the Carambola but very slow to develop. .