Learning how to garden in Paradise

Bumbye, a never-tested windbreak will get built, but for now, the wind wins.

Sunday, March 27, 2011

Spring is making a late arrival

Our wet winter is soon to be over. The avocado trees are trying to throw millions of blooms, with a few dozen fruits that make it to, well, fruition.
Nice to have last year's "crop" still hanging on. The job of finding them gets easier when the trees shed the old leaves, with new leaves popping out to shade the new avo's.

Orange blossoms are at hand now, with some already turning into teeny green promises.

I still have fresh OJ whenever I feel a need to remind myself just how good that stuff really is. I'll have to plant more in Maui when I'm moved for good. The 9 trees here are wonderful. I'm going to miss them!


I'm amazed at how fast the broccoli ran to seed. I had the center head, then several side shoots, but with all the rain and two, not just one, trips to Maui, I didn't even look at them until this week. I have no other "cole" crops near, so I think these seed pods are likely to make similar plants if I save them. I have no idea if they were "heirloom" or open-pollinated, or hybrid, but it will be fun to see what sprouts once I get the seeds out. I'm not sure when I should pull the plants up and hang them in the shed to dry. They are still green, but I suspect they should not be allowed to get dry or brown before I hang them up. I'm looking for my seed savers book but it is probably going in one of my media-mail cartons to Maui. I really look forward to getting there this year, so I can build my greenhouse/wind protector (60mph gusts this month!); the tomatoes get really thrashed even with lots of support. One bright note, the garlic plants have held on, and I think they are getting very close to harvest, which I will teach my wife how to do by Skype, I think. She's done a great job keeping the little garden beds going without my being there. I KNOW she can't wait for me to be the full-time gardener!




8 comments:

  1. Your citrus looks great Barry! My avos still haven't managed to set any fruit, sigh. Who can blame them with all this wind? Can't wait to see what kind of 'windhouse' you build.

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  2. Greetings from Southern California

    I tried to add myself to follow you and received this error message: We're sorry...We were unable to handle your request. Please try again or return a bit later.

    I invite you to visit and follow my blog if you want too. I'll follow back when I'm able.

    God Bless You :-)

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  3. Wow your oranges look beautiful! Citrus grows so well on Maui and some varieties will produce all year. I bet your garlic bulbed in Pukalani - each fall I plant it but it has yet to bulb in my Kihei garden!

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  4. Hi, Julie! I have tried to pry secrets from the avo growers here, to no avail. Some of them say to "scare" the trees with some whacks on branches using a sharp machete (Auwe!),others favor a dose of epsom salts (mebbe could work), but I might as well be asking for the combination to the bank safe.

    Hi, Jane, I have some oranges growing in Maui but I don't think they are very good so far. I have some commercial citrus orchard foliar feed, which I will try on the healthiest tree. I hope to put in some other citrus, like blood oranges, tangelos, da kine, because I found part of a long-neglected drip system to the slope where some trees were planted. The garlic stems are really thick, so maybe the bulbed - I'll have one harvested in a few days to find out!
    Aloha, Ron, I will visit your blog right away. Do keep trying, I haven't a clue why you
    couldn't add yourself as a follower. Mahalo for visiting this humble blog.

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  5. Mmmmm...LOVE avocados! I can't wait for the snow to melt here, I'd be happy just with that!

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  6. We used to have an avocado tree in our backyard. It had to be taken out because of a construction job. I still miss it :-(

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