giyg... tropical harvest... malanga, roselle, bananas

14 years ago

what are you grazing in your garden?

an interesting time of the year in the garden, isn't it? i'm harvesting batatas, malanga, bananas, hot peppers, and roselle--like i'm in trinidad! but, at the same time, my brassicas and lettuce crops are well-established and poised to really put on some growth as soon as we get some cooler weather (and a bit of rain, i hope!). my tagetes (marigolds) are blooming their heads off, and zinnias are getting ready to bloom in a week or two, but so are my cold weather standards, calendula, oncidium orchids, and alstroemeria.

so, i know we've got a couple of other communal posts going on, but i'm always interested to see not only what you're

harvesting, but what you've got planted and ready to go for the next 'season'.

still working on understanding how to grow malanga. it's so tasty, so easy, but wow does it have a long season. i think i've decided it needs a 10 month season--which, given its persistent tubers, isn't as unlikely as it sounds:

From tropical harvest

From tropical harvest

i cut out most of my roselles a month ago because they hadn't started forming calyxes yet and I needed space for my cucumbers (yeah, the ones that got destroyed by stinkbugs...). i really regret having done that--the roselles are just covered in "berries." ah, well, live and learn. creating a long-lived annual/perennial vegetable bed should help solve this problem.

From tropical harvest

mexican tarragon... pretty stuff.

From tropical harvest

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Comments (15)

whgille
14 years ago
Wow!!! Michael, that is great. Now, you only need Calypso and the steel drum and you are ready to boggie!

I have this vine, can you guess what it is?

Soon, I will climbing up the ladder to harvest. lol

Silvia
katkin_gw
14 years ago
I've got bananas, hot peppers, pumpkin, arugula and malabar spinach we are eating now. I've tomatoes waiting in the wings. All the summer herbs are doing good, just waiting for the cooler weather for sage, dill and cilantro. Ginger grows all year long for me.:o) Oh and the radishes are up.
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zenny_jo
14 years ago
My veggie garden:

-I have malabar spinach which is still producing leaves (or at least, has leaves); it's also going to seed.

-Basil is absolutely wonderful, so easy to grow here.

-I harvested literally a handful (a pathetic handful) of peanuts after an entire summer. Blerg. Next year I will try planting earlier (May instead of June) and fertilize more.

-I have lots of marigold starts; very baby lettuce vulnerable to heavy rain and snails; very early starts of nasturtium, chard, orach, kale, pink cosmos, arugula, calendula.

-tomatoes, about 1.5 foot high, no blooms
-cukes and asian melons which have blossoms for the first time this morning
-beans which should blossom soon

I have a steadily increasing patch of ginger, but I love it so much I am afraid to harvest anything yet.

I am still very unsure of when to time my plantings...

Jenny
corar4gw
14 years ago
Michael, I noticed your post after I'd posted my question about Roselle. A Jamaican woman gave me a (verbal) recipe for making a "tea" from the caylex, but never said how I would know when it was harvest time for them. My bushes are so heavy, they're falling over. When and how do I harvest and how do I store/use them? cora
countrynest
14 years ago
Michael, Congratulations. You will not starve this coming winter. The malangas are beautiful. The bananas are also nice looking. Still to come later in the season will be your Yuca. You got it made,ol,buddy!
Silvia what is that interesting thing that you're growing?
I do not recognize it.
_ A Jamaican couple, gave me a drink made from Roselle,It was great but I have never tried growing it. I may plant some,next season.
Felix
countrynest
14 years ago
Michael, Congratulations. You will not starve this coming winter. The malangas are beautiful. The bananas are also nice looking. Still to come later in the season will be your Yuca. You got it made,ol,buddy!
Silvia what is that interesting thing that you're growing?
I do not recognize it.
_ A Jamaican couple, gave me a drink made from Roselle,It was great but I have never tried growing it. I may plant some,next season.
Felix
featherhoof
14 years ago
Silvia- Horned melon! Mine are making their first bloom today. I've been grazing. I'm am crunching on a cold puna keera cucumber. I think it is my favorite cucumber. The seeds burst with sweetness when you chew them. I harvested thai cucumber yesterday. I harvested two fairly big chinese cabbage and gave one to my chickies. My rabbit has been dining on turnip greens. Tomatoes are doing well-on the verge of ripening. I noticed a few new pups on the nannas. Today I am planting a few more cool veggies and starting some hardy and purple kiwi, guava- lemon and strawberry, and papaya to plant in the spring. I am going to try to use my screened porch as a greenhouse this winter.
whgille
14 years ago
Felix

That is a horned melon fruit, it climbed all the way up the maple tree. There are hundreds of fruit!
I included the link so you can see.

Silvia

Here is a link that might be useful: horned melon
catlover_gardener
14 years ago
The Roselle will be ready to harvest when none of the calyxes are green, but blood red and even dryish in texture. Fully mature calyxes are plump and deep red and the stems that they are on are longer than the ones shown in the picture. Those in the pic are not ready.
After you harvest, you peel them (calyxes) from the "seed", and wash them.

Smash some fresh ginger with a heavy object !!!! add some cloves, and steep everything together for half-a-day in freshly boiled water.(Just enough water to cover the leaves.)
Pour the liquid off and put aside.
Add more hot water to the leaves and steep again. Pour off and combine with the previous amount.

Add some rum (preferably Jamaican) and sweeten with lots of sugar (to taste) Chill. Serve with lots of ice cubes. Enjoy!!!
By now you know that I am Jamaican.
whgille
14 years ago
Miranda

I was posting at the same time that you did. Good for you and your family, you have so many things harvesting!
Here is a toast to good health!

Catlover

Nice to know a Jamaican gardener, I love Jamaica and go there every year. I am growing Jamaican papaya now, to be planted in the spring. :) I also have callaloo and scotch pepper seeds to be planted.

Here is a view of the Coyaba Botanical gardens in Ocho Rios

Silvia
corar4gw
14 years ago
Bless you, Jamaican Catlover! I think my roselle are ready to harvest and my ginger is overflowing its pot. Time to run to the store for a tot of rum!
An after thought - should I leave a few on the bushes for seed? cora
an_ill-mannered_ache
Original Author
14 years ago
i have no idea what a horned melon is... is it tasty? and, cora, yes, i think you can collect seeds. i'm going to try this year, anyway... i think more people should try roselle--very pretty, very tough, and who doesn't like red zinger???
whgille
14 years ago
Roselle iced tea is very popular in Arizona, they sell it as a Jamaica water as an option to horchata, a rice milk drink that Willy and I prefer when eating Mexican, spicy food.

Michael,you will be one of the lucky recipients of the horned melon when ripe, lol. And you will judge for yourself.

Here are more pictures of the fruit.

Silvia

Here is a link that might be useful: horned melon
featherhoof
14 years ago
I have two little baby horned melon smaller than my thumb nail. I'll take pics as they get bigger.--I want to save the seeds. Can they cross with cucumber? I don't want any horned cucumbers.
whgille
14 years ago
Miranda

Don't worry about saving the seeds from the horned melon, I have hundreds on the vine now, soon they will be ripe. They are the size of a pear now. And I have tomatoes and beans growing together in the same bed.
My chinese cucumbers are very far from this vine.

Silvia

giyg... tropical harvest... malanga, roselle, bananas

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giyg... tropical harvest... malanga, roselle, bananas

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