Learning how to garden in Paradise
Monday, October 29, 2012
A Hui Hou, Maui
A funny thing happened on the way to a long-envisioned Maui-based retirement. As each set-back, sidetrack, and unanticipated fubar compounded and expanded to an "epic-fail" situation, eventually it made our presumption untenable that we could manage being in Maui. After much research and real estate evaluation, we found a ranch alongside a river in Oregon, just a few miles from the coast, within reasonable reach of family and friends, at a very reasonable price, once all the details worked themselves out. We packed up our stuff and set it adrift along with our cars. Some stuff made it here, some is evidently taking a tour of other ports of call, but we are getting the new place functioning, much like starting up an antique touring car that has been sitting in a rundown old barn for several decades.
I didn't have much time to explore the wildly overgrown and generally neglected areas of our 10 acre ranch yet. Winter has been rolling right at us, so cleaning and painting the exterior, repairing and replacing so many systems and components, and preparing for the cold and wet times took priority. Are we ready? Hmmm, need some boots, the old slippahs won't cut it.
We will miss the island's old beauty. Hopefully, the economy of the islands will recover, along with a return to more rainfall to end the drought. I didn't build my multi-paneled PVC windbreak, sorry to say, and I never quite succeeded to grow the great variety of stuff like Jane, Julie, and many others, but I did manage to load my neighbors with papayas all year, and even managed to bring my coffee bean seedling up to a nice crop of beans, which turned red in the last few days we were there. I wish I could have harvested and roasted some! I wish everyone a fond farewell, with many mahalos to those folks we learned so much from, and those we counted as our friends.
I will start up another blog at makindirt.blogspot.com if anyone wants to see our new old ranch. I already found information about growing citrus and avocados in this area, and even bananas could be grown, with a greenhouse. At least I will get a garden tractor next year!
A Hui Hou, Maui
I've opened a new blog at makindirt(dot)blogspot(dot)com for those who might want to see how we adjust to 4 seasons at a long-left-alone ranch along a pretty little river. The rainy season just started.
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Tomatoes love roses, I think
Saturday, December 3, 2011
Home at last, after all
Sunday, August 14, 2011
Nothing to see here, folks.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Spring is making a late arrival
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Broccoli beats the cool weather blues
Oh, fooey, I put in the wrong shot - oh, well, now y'all know I have a huge clump of rosemary. Actually, there are two big clumps, with the droopy trailing stuff competing alongside the stiff spiky kind, which makes for some ono seasoning when I'm grilling. It blooms all the time, and I love to stomp by it to get that great aroma going. Some stuff is just "fall off the log" easy to grow. I have one of these bushes in Maui, too, so I'll be able to grill with it there, too. Yum!
OK, so here's what I meant to put in... The cool days have made it easy to beat the bugs that would have chewed up the broccoli, which is great for me. These past weeks have been too hectic for any conscientious gardening. I'm so grateful for all the neat posts from all those more diligent bloggers, whetting my appetite for much more gardening later this year. I put in my broc's in November , and mulched them very heavily with my homegrown compost. That's it. No feeding, no watering, just hoped for rain (and got it!). The broccoli plants were doused regularly with our wet winter, allowing me to harvest the central heads, then collect the secondaries, and even some tertiary shoots before I totally neglected the patch and the rest ran to seed. Yes, I forgot to take some pictures of those first heads, but they were really big and tight, looking like something off the pages of those snazzy seed catalogs. We'll see if I manage to glean some seeds later, but I've had some terrific broccoli soup and steamed broccoli along with some raw broccoli for snacking. Geez, I feel so virtuous with this totally organic goodness!
In a few weeks, I'm going to go "home" to Maui again, and maybe there's some peanuts, onion, garlic, and da kine in my little patch of heaven - I'm still not free to move permanently to the Upcountry, but "real soon now" I'll be home for good. I can't wait!