Garden share collective April 7th

It is garden share collective time again!  I hope everyone had a very happy Easter, I had lots of fun with friends and family and even managed to fit some gardening into my four day weekend!  Link up here for this months gardens.

April is a busy time in our gardens up here in the tropics.  Of course we never know if we will get a late cyclone, or if the hot weather is going to hang on and fry everything before it gets established.  I had taken down the shaecloths, but then a dear friend gave me a vanilla plant, and I realized that my little perrenial bed really does need shade full time.  The pepper plant was also showing signs of distress from the hot sun.  The perfect spot for the little vanilla plant was chosen, with a nice trellis to climb.
 The small shade cloth was put back up again, and lots of lovely leaf mold and compost spread around.


The long green beans are suddenly taking off, but climbing right over the canopy of the barbados cherry.




I tied a few strings of rope out towards the back trellis so that maybe they would like to trail over there instead.  I might have to make that a bit more substantial.  They will shade that back area of the garden, but hopefully let in enough sunlight. I will plant bok choy, lettuces and other greens int hat area.  The grandkids wanted corn and  I planted a few more corn seeds, but think they might be old as nothing comes up.   Put in a few cucumbers, and tatsoi as well.  I had a rather meagre sweet potato harvest from that bed.


 I have okra!  The one plant has been doing amazingly well, and it is the plant right next to my in-ground worm bucket.  Is that the reason?  I have no idea, but I spread a bit of worm castings around the other okra just in case.
 the other okra plants are quite small and spindly.
 I cut back the mandevilla vine to get some light and sunshine into the herb spiral, and popped in a few beet and dill seeds.  Parsely has been started in little seedling pots as I find they take so long they often dry out in the garden before they get established.   I much prefer to plant in situ if I can.
 The barbadoes cherry is providing lovely filtered light and I planted rocket on one side and lettuce on the other.  The rocket has shot up, but I am still waiting for the lettuce.
 I tied the rosella back against the fence to make a clear path.  Once I have harvested the rosella I will move cherry tomatoes against that fence - I have lots of tomato volunteers all around the garden, and they dont mind being re-planted.   I just adore walking down this little shady path.  My food forest is looking good.  Further back the avocado is supposed to shade the back area, but it is still looking very sad and miserable.

Isnt the okra flower pretty? - hopefully by next month the other okra plants will have picked up as well.  I guess I planted them in the wrong season as they were dormant for a while.  I thought they would be a wet season vegetable.    They are supposed to be burgundy okra, so dont know what happened there.

I do so enjoy looking at everyones elses gardens at the beginning of every month - thanks so much Lizzie for organizing this collective!  

Comments

  1. Love your lush oasis Gillian. Thanks so much for the fabric. I think your choices suited you very well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Gosh it is lush. Such a different climate to down south in Temperate Zone.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Lynda,
      Yes it does seem strange that we can grow very little in the summer months.

      Delete
  3. I'm envious, your garden is doing really really well....mine is suffering terribly because I'm busy helping my daughter with a few projects at her dad's house....I'm away most of the day....too tired when I get home.
    Hopefully I'll get back to my garden by month end.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Virginia,
      I think the main thing that helped was keeping the shade up, and hopefully my fruit trees grow well so that they can do the job, instead of the shadecloths.

      Delete
  4. Your garden is looking lush and lovely. That okra flower is very pretty ... I bet your garden is loving that leaf mould!

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    Replies
    1. Frog, yes lets hope so. I am always surprised by the leaf mold as I put it aside and forget about it!

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  5. So glad you are getting okra! I won't rub in that I have tiny seedlings coming up all over the place then after taking down my skyscraper okra. Then again you can just tell me how fab it is to have a vanilla growing at your place. I really look forward to seeing how you get on with it as I know it takes two years for the pod to even form. Amazing. See you next month and glad to hear you had a great easter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Liz,
      Oh well hopefully that will be a continuous okra bed now that it has settled in! I think my main problem was planting it at the wrong time. One of the reasons I started the blog was to determine when everything grew in this climate.

      Delete

  6. A vanilla plant! I wish I could get my hands on one.

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    Replies
    1. Jan,
      There is a whole lot ot learn, as I have to hand pollinate the flowers (when it eventually flowers)

      Delete
  7. vanilla, okra, barbados cherry!! amazing what you grow up north :-) and yes that okra flower is pretty - sort of serene. thanks for the tour of your tropical wonders.

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    Replies
    1. e,
      Mine is definitely more of a tropical jungle compared to your lovely tidy beds.

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  8. Your food forest is looking amazing as always and I am envious as usual of your tropical selection of plants. I hope you had a great Easter.

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    Replies
    1. Kyrstie,
      I hope I can have a harvest like yours this year!

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  9. I just love looking at your garden! The photos are so inviting that I would love to be able to wander through. Everything is so lush!

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    Replies
    1. Linda,
      I have been quite remiss this year about keeping up with blogging posts, and gardening too in fact! I am so lucky that it just keeps growing all by itself!

      Delete

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