Gardening Again!

It has been quite a dry spell for me!  Our two month mainland trip (September & October 2010) put a damper on my gardening enthusiasm.  When we got back everything was still alive, but wild, veggies and landscape!  After a week or two I pruned some of the landscape, but left the veggies alone.  There were weeds and some sort of mushroom bloom among the tomatoes, yuk!  Finally, I took it all out expect the swiss chard.

Happily three volunteer Komohana grape tomato plants have started giving me new energy.  I staked them yesterday.  So, I guess I am officially back in the vegetable gardening business!  I ordered some seeds earlier this week based on one recommendations form one of my favorite Hawaii gardening blogs (A Kitchen Garden in Kihei Maui). Veggies coming soon!

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The Experiment Failed! Or did it?

My experiment in ground covers failed to suppress our prolific Hawaiian weeds. I planted a cutting of ornamental sweet potato. It grew extremely well almost too well.  Much pruning would be required if I kept it in the landscape.  The plant is beautiful and looked great next to the black lava rock.  But,  Friday, I yanked it out of ground as a failed attempt at weed suppression.  To my surprise, I found small and large tubers!  Yes, sweet potatoes!  I Googled it and apparently these tubers are editable, not sure what they will taste like...

Surprise!

Back to weed suppressing ground covers.   I am also experimenting with an herb cutting a friend gave me.  I saw it growing as a ground cover in their yard. Looks like it can be pruned to create a thick mat.  It is currently growing quite well.  Only time will tell...

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Citrus from Seed???

I have been waiting for local citrus trees to bud (timing that activity is not easy without help from the tree owners!) so that I can acquire some scions to graft a citrus tree that I thought was already grafted!  It has never flowered and has been in the ground or a pot for at  least 2 1/2 years. Anyhow, I ran across this post talking about getting citrus fruit trees from seed.  Hmmmmm, I thought it could not be done. And perhaps my tree proves that right.  

So what do I do with my tree?  

1. Assume it is from seed, leave it alone because one day the fruit will come?!
2. Assume it is from seed, won't fruit and just admire it's beauty?!
3. Assume it is from seed and graft lemon and lime scions?!

I think I favor #3, but my problem is finding the lemon and lime scions to graft!!!If you have additional information let me know!!!

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Naupaka

Yesterday, I removed a medium sized stand of beach naupaka about 60 feet from the ocean sea cliffs.  What a chore!  Some might ask why remove it?  Three reasons:

1. The local mongoose like to use it to hide out in.  Not sure I want to give them shelter.
2. It began to intrude on areas where it was unwanted (the neighborer's yard)
3. A root fungus is turning it yellow and eventually it will die.  Not a pretty picture!

Scaevola sericea is a native Hawaiian plant common to the shoreline and low mountains. The brilliant green foliage is quite beautiful next the contrasting black lava rock which makes up much of the shoreline on Hawaii Island.  

There is an interesting Hawaiian folktale explaining why the white flower is only a "half" flower (pedals missing).  Check out the story at Aloha-Hawaii. 

Unfortunately, even this beautiful native can fall victim to disease!  A soil born fungus will slowly wipe out that which once was healthy and beautiful! We first saw it in my neighbor's yard.  He thought someone had sprayed his naupaka with Roundup!  However, soils containing the fungus, Verticillium dahlia, effects the root system of many plants by blocking the uptake of water from the roots to the foliage.  And our neighbor did import soils from the Hamakua coast to establish turf grass. The turf grass butts right up against an establish naupka bed. I suspect this is where the problem started.  And it seems to be spreading!!!  Although the process it slow, it isn't pretty!!!

You can see the yellow leaves and die back on the left!

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Lilies

Perhaps some of you read the recent post at http://freshdirt.sunset.com/ about lilies in pots. Well it got me inspired to try it! I do know that daylily rust is a problem in Hawaii, so I expect that to be one big challenge. Well, I've got to go and find some bulbs!

Posted by: Sunset, July 27, 2010
By Jim McCausland, Sunset Magazine

It turns out that among the flower bulbs, lilies are among the easiest to grow long term in pots. Add to that their summer-flowering habit, often-terrific fragrance, reliable reblooming, and imposing size, and you have a combination no deck or patio should be without. At the moment, I have eight terra cotta pots full of lilies coming into full flower for the second year in a row.

For the sake of experiment, I tried five varieties in several sizes of containers, including 9-, 12-, 14-, and 18-inch pots ranging in depth from 6 inches to 18 inches. There was no difference in performance among them. All the care I give them is regular fertilizing and watering, and the lilies do the rest.

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The Freak of Nature - Opened!

Still looks a little freaky to me!

Here is the orginal "freak" photo.

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A Freak of Nature?

Hmmmmm...What do  you think?  Freak of nature?

My Heliconia psittacorum, (parrots beak)  flower on the left (not yet opened) appears to have a leaf at the tip. I have never seen this before. I can't wait to take a picture when it is fully opened!

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Ugh! - Slugs!

Hawaii sure does have it's share of slugs! I found this great post on the control of slugs, on one of my favorite blogs - Tip Nut You must check it out!

Hawaii has some special issues with slugs and human disease, particularity rat lung which is a tropical disease.


Angiostrongylus cantonensis, is a parasitic worm and is carried by rats (the parasites live in the pulmonary arteries of rats, hence the name "rat lungworm") Then the local slugs eat the excrement of the rats and then deposit the parisites on the garden vegetibles they so like to eat. As a result, we must throughly wash our produce take from our gardens! Unfortunately a few people on the island have contracted the parasite from their gardens and have suffered life threatening symptoms. WASH, WASH, WASH those veggies! If you are interested in learning more about rat lung disease, check out this article - rat lung.

The information below is from the Tip Nut post on slugs.  But check it out for more slug tips!

Sprays:

• Coffee Spray: Save leftover coffee to spray plants that have a slug problem, make sure to spray underneath the leaves as well as the stems and surrounding soil. You can also sprinkle a layer of used coffee grounds around the plant to ward off these pests. Slugs won’t like it and will likely move on to greener pastures in a few short days.
• Vinegar & Water: Pour 1 cup household vinegar and 1/2 cup water into a spray bottle. Spray slugs on the ground as you see them, but be careful not to spray the leaves of plants since the vinegar & water will damage them.

Barriers:
The idea for using barriers is to prevent the slugs or repel them from reaching the plants.

• Copper Barriers: Copper rings, mesh and tapes can be placed around individual plants to deter slugs, when the slug comes in contact with it, it receives a bit of a shock. Look for these in your local garden center.
• Egg Shell Barrier: Sprinkle a generous layer of crushed egg shells around the plant, slugs will give up trying to reach the plant since it’s so uncomfortable for them to get across the jagged shells.
• Diatomaceous Earth Barrier: An all natural solution for insects of all kinds (ants, snails, slugs, etc.). Sprinkle diatomaceous earth on top of soil around plants with pest infestations. Reapply if it gets wet. Also mentioned in Natural Pesticides: Recipes & Tips.

Slug Traps:

Set out bait or traps to lure slugs. Some of the traps will kill them (by drowning) while others will just collect them for you to dispose of, some methods of disposal:

• Submerse them in boiling water
• Douse them heavily with salt or plop them in very salty water
• Drop them in a pail of very soapy water

What not to do: toss them over the fence into the neighbor’s garden–that’s bad garden mojo!

• Beer Traps: Bury a small dish or plastic container up to its rim so it’s level with the top of the ground. Fill with beer in the early evening and check in the morning–the dish should be full of slugs. Empty the bowl and replenish each night. Change beer every 24 hours to be effective. Some find it more successful to add a bit of molasses to the beer. Also mentioned in 10 Organic Aids & Natural Planting Tips For Gardening.
• Yeast Traps: Bury a small dish as above then pour in one of these recipes: 1 tablespoon of baker’s yeast, 1/2 teaspoon sugar and 1 cup of lukewarm water; another recipe is 1 tablespoon flour, 1/2 teaspoon baker’s yeast and 1/2 teaspoon sugar mixed with 1 cup of warm water. In the morning you’ll find a bowl full of drowned slugs (slugs are drawn to the fermenting yeast).
• Wet Newspaper Stacks: Slugs will be attracted to the dampness and the shelter the newspaper provides. Lay the papers down in the early evening then check under them in the morning, you should find a happy slugfest enjoying their environment. Get rid of them in the garbage or kill them buy dunking in boiling water.
• Grapefruit, orange, melon rinds, banana or potato peels attract slugs so leave a few piles of them around the yard (you’ll have a bunch of happy slugs to deal with in the morning).

The abovve Illustrations Of Land Slugs From Wikimedia Commons

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Weeding!

On Wednesday, I spent at least half of the day weeding! With my large brimmed hat, long sleeves, knee pads, gloves and my trusty weed removing table fork, I got out and kicked some weed!

So what is the best way to control weeds especially on the east side of Hawaii where the rainfall germinates millions of the buggers! I have learned from my MG that chemicals work, but I prefer organic methods (at least most of the time).

Above are some of the new little seedlings amongst my rocky soil!

So what are some of the organic methods for weed removal?

• Good old fashioned yanking
• Mulching - this is where your compost is most needed!
• Weed Fabric or Plastic
• Cardboard
• Prevention - Try not to let your weeds go to seed!
• Flaming - use of a propane torch to nuke the little buggers

I have recently read about vinegar and corn gluten as weed killers, but have not actually used these products. Apparently, the vinegar should be applied when the sun is shinning and in the heat of the day.

The University of Hawaii puts out a white paper on controlling weeds.

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Avocado Update

Although, several of the old leaves turned brown and dropped, the Haas seems to be doing OK. There are two new branches and the new leaves are still young.  They should get darker green as they mature.  Go Haas go!  :)

3/25/10

1/25/10

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Talk About Wilt!

My poor wilted plant!  I don't think it is coming back!  I transplanted this about 5 days ago.  It started to wilt right away.  I added more water.  Then it got very windy so I think that did not help. We had plenty of rain.  Anyhow the transpiration process has broken down.  I think I will start the cutting right where I want the final plant.  No need for transplanting!

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Planting among our Pahoehoe Lava

We are finally getting around to landscaping our street side yard.  When we prepped the site for the house build (2008) we left as much of the pahoehoe lava in place as possible.  Now it is time to find some salt tolerant ground cover to plant in and between the lava rock croppings.  Zebrina pendula, seen left, is a zone 2 salt tolerant ground cover growing to about 6 inches in height. I like the purple and silver colors.

I would like to pair it with something that is slightly taller and of a different color. I think a "lime" green color would pair well.  I am on the search!

If you have any suggests please comment and I will give it serious consideration.  Remember, I live ocean front in Hawaii so salt is an issue.  Mahalo

Note:  The University of Hawaii, College of Tropical and Humane Resources, has a great white paper on Wind and Salt Tolerant Plants.

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