The taming of our garden...

Our garden got sort of wild (to say the least) while I was away on my recent trip to the mainland.  There are days when my son, Anthony is in so much pain (Fibromyalgia) that I told him to not bother with it while I was gone.

On my return, I found the 'long bean' plant had grown so huge it had toppled over the wire cage we had put around it...and 'spilled over' to the nearby beds, where the viney tendrils were taking over, rooting and even choking other plants.

This past Saturday and Sunday we dedicated to cleaning the garden.  Weeding, pulling out dead stuff, clearing, and of course, hacking back the bean plant to a more manageable 'one stalk'.

Photo: Bay laurel in center of this bed - assortment of parsleys, sage and marigolds

We were in town Friday and in preparation for the weekend garden project stocked up on several plants - cherry tomatoes, 3 kinds of basil, more parsley, 2 kinds of eggplants and lots of marigolds.

 

Photo: I was told by the farmer who sold these to the nursery that this was called Japanese Parsley.  I planted it in our garden last November and it is now 'budding out' with tiny little white flower buds.  I would love to know the actual name of the plant.

Photo: 'Monster' mizuna tuber and green shoots - the mizuna was part of a mixture of meslun and other lettuces we planted in this bed last September.  Everything else is now gone except for the mizuna which is still providing us greens for our salads!

A couple of weeks ago, our church held their annual bazaar and I was able to pick up 3 rosemaries in 1 gallon pots - each was about 1-1/2 to 2 feet tall.

Photo: Looking across one bed to three other different beds - marigolds, mizuna, rosemary,  amustard plant....and you can see the beginnings of the "jungle" in the background....(our next project)

As we cleaned and cleared each bed of the dead stuff, we started planting the new to replace whatever we were taking out.  The new rosemaries were planted in the center of the different beds and we now have a total of 5 rosemaries!

Photo: Lemon basil (back of the grid area) was planted last September - the new tomato plants can be seen inside their little "cup collars" to prevent slugs or other critters from getting to them before they have a chance to grow.

Photo: Cuban aka Caribbean Oregano.  The leaves are slightly fuzzy and succulent and hard to digest - To use them I crush a handfull in a 4" SS mesh tea ball and dip it into the soup, stew, beans or pasta sauce, then just "fish" the tea ball out.  I'm getting ready to move this to another area of the garden, since it loves to just take over.

Surprisingly, enough of the original plants from last year were salvageable....and I have been watering early mornings and late afternoon to make sure everything makes it.... while praying over each plant as I water them and telling them how much I love them and asking them to please not die on me!

Photo: This eggplant was growing in spite of all the weeds and the 'monster long bean' vines that were covering it.

I also bought 3 packs different varities of nasturtium seeds and we will be planting them as soon as we can get an area ready for them.

Photo: Stick Oregano.  We have one huge plant and several smaller ones at different stages of growth in several areas of the yard some in pots and some in the ground.  All we have had to do is take a small piece and stick it in the ground and they root easily!

This afternoon , the young man who helps with the yard will be coming over and bringing a friend.    They will be cleaning a whole new area and claiming it back from the weeds and "jungle".....this is the area that starts at the line just where we have the dwarf banana trees and goes beyond to the edge of a gulch, where we had never cleared before... As it is, you can barely see the banana plants through the 'cane weeds'.

Photo: You can barely see the dwarf banana trees among the "weed canes and jungle" growing beyond them.  This is the area we will be reclaiming starting today.

We plan to plant more bananas, papaya trees and a pomegranate in this new area.   I started taking pics of before and will follow up with during and after on that little project!

I'm very excited about the garden again....but don't even look at my hands and nails!!!

Comments

[Richard]

Sonia:
From one Hawaiian farmer to another. It is the natural state of things that the jungle will reclaim whatever it can. Your plants are remarkably free of insect pest damage. You must have healthy friendly insects. Good to see you back.

[Sonia]

Thank you Richard....funny you should say that....all of a sudden, yesterday we discovered "something" is affecting the lemon basil and we have no idea what it is!!!

As soon as it gets light enough out there, I will be going out to check on it this morning!

[John Norris]

I just bought a plant that was labeled "Thai Oregano." It looks and sounds similar to the Cuban Oregano You have pictured here. My plant is solid green- sort of minty or light emerald. I have done searches for Thai & Oriental Oreganos but haven't had any luck finding info until I found Your page. If anyone knows what growing conditions mine might prefer, I'd appreciate You sharing information.

I love Your page here!! I envy You. I pay quite a bit for volcanic sand down here in North Texas but I imagine You can get it for a song in Hawaii!
John Norris
signalmessiah@hotmail.com

[Sonia]

Aloha John!
I have always heard it called Cuban or Caribbean oregano. Sometimes Mexican Oregano, but I had never heard it called Thai. Mine is varigated, but it also comes in the shade you mention.

I have it planted in a sunny spot, but beneath a palm tree. It likes to have sun or partial. If you plant it in the shade it will get very scraggly. At the moment, mine is doing beautifully and is mounding nicely.

No, no volcanic sand where I live. Thank goodness we have very nice and deep soil in our area, but I have a friend growing amazing herbs in pockets of volcanic rocks.

Thank you so much for reading and your comments about my site. I enjoy playing with it very much!