And to nicely end a cool and rainy year it’s – guess what – raining now. We had actually had three whole days without rain, and I had to use town water on the plants this morning as I was enjoying the sunshine. Then the sky became darker – and it rained! Quite a lot, in fact.
And an hour later it was back to beautiful sunshine.
collected eater after the rain
That weather and the water caused the Canna lilies to explode in size since the morning. A couple of months ago I cut back all the stems and took the bulbs from one big pot and put half back and half in another big pot. There were 15 stems growing before repotting, and gradually over this time the number coming up has become 12 – three in one pot – and these three are quite big, and nine in the other pot – some large and some still tiny. Which is encouraging. I am hoping I will get back to 15 at some stage. One pot became immediately waterlogged and I had to cover it before rain, uncover it when sunny and dry it out for a couple of weeks, then give it minimal water for a while. Meanwhile I kept on adding organic matter – compost and crushed dried leaves – to improve the soil. After three weeks I could leave it out in the elements and water it every day. Canna lilies seem to like water, so long as it’s sunny. Here are some photos of them and the other plants today.
very happy canna lilies
very happy canna lilies
home grown capsicum
despite protection the passion fruit were still attacked
a few passion fruit are still growing
but some of the vines are now dying back
with the rain there are new flowers
It should be the end of the passion fruit season. Only a couple of fruit are now growing. Last year it kept on raining during what is supposed to be the dry season, and passion fruit responded by having a second growing season, and I got fruit a second time.
lime tree is getting bigger
limes are getting bigger
mock oranges love the rain
The usual time for mock oranges to grow from seed is around Christmas time. But when it rains a lot, as it did last year, they didn’t germinate. With all the rain this year again they may not germinate, although I did put some seeds in the soil.
mock oranges love the rain – and are blooming
mock oranges love the rain – and are blooming
mock oranges love the rain – and are blooming
climbing beans are growing rapidly, but as yet no flowers or beans
Passion fruit like legumes as companion plants, so even if the bean plants produce nothing they nitrogenise the soil. But I will remove them before they totally take over if they produce nothing.
papaya is happy, but no fruit – they don’t seem to produce if in a pot
drying leaves in the sun – attracts worms to the soil where I put the crumbled leaves
papaya growing
pumpkin vines
the fist mini-pumpkin
plumbago doing well
chilli plant grew out of the compost and quickly produces chillis
lemon grass
aloe vera
ginger
little lime trees
hibiscus
papaya surviving – being partly covered has helped them survive storms, but they don’t grow so quickly
papaya flowering
yummy tomato – I picked it, and within a few days it was red, and I ate it. It was delicious. It was also the only fruit from three plants. Hardly productive. I really don’t have much success with tomatoes here.
Tropical Expat 