It is the 24th of January, 2015 already! We have been so busy that we have not even reported on the Festival of the Three Kings which took place here in San Clemente last Saturday night. Hopefully we will get a post done on that in the next day or two. Today, we wanted to quickly post some photos updating the status of our garden areas.
While our friends and family in the north are hunkered down enduring winter, we are moving into our fastest growing season here in Ecuador. Actually things grow well here all year, but for some reason, plants seem to sprout in accordance with some internal clock and grow especially well in February through April.
We wanted to take advantage of that burst and grow some achocha and cherry tomato plants, but we have had bad luck with these plants in past years. It turns out that iguana and coati especially love the tender stems and leaves of achocha and tomatoes. Coati are small raccoon-like animals the locals call, “Zorro” because of its’ fox-like snout. These little rascals can come down from the mountain behind our house and wipe out a row of achocha in one night. We also have the regular visits of iguanas who have eaten heartily on our tender plants in the past.
So this year we decided to try planning achocha and cherry tomatoes in containers and sequestering them on the second story balcony of our bedroom. These rapid growing vines have literally taken over the balcony and should start blossoming and producing fruit soon.
The tomatoes are doing very well too, but are barely visible behind the green wall of achocha on either side of our spider plant. We believe this location will keep them out of even the nimble climbing iguanas. Time will tell.
Last year we planted two fig trees (Higo – EE-Go in Spanish) near the maracuyá vines along the fence. They grew and produced some small fruit last year, but the ants consumed most of the fruit before we learned to guard against the little pests. We trimmed the trees a few months ago and they responded well with new growth and are now producing many more larger figs. The trees now look like this:
Around each of the clusters of leaves grow these figs.
We need to do some internet research to know for sure how to harvest this fruit and would be happy if any of our readers have experience and advice for us because we are really anxious to see if we can harvest some tasty ripe figs this season.
By the way – you can see the maracuyá plants along the fence line behind the fig trees. Each morning I generally go out and pick up two to five ripe maracuyá for breakfast or juice.
Mary likes the juice, but I like the sweet and tart taste of the fruit – seeds and all!
Also, long time readers will remember that we planted some piña (pineapple to your northerners) in the same area six or seven months ago. These plants are slow growers, but they are doing well and should start filling in a natural hedge line in the next few months.
We have several other little plants in starter pots including these Ghost Pepper plants
and some lobster-claw heliconia that we successfully have started from seeds. The process requires soaking the seeds first, then scoring them and then planting them and waiting six or seven months to see any sprout. But if these take and start producing rhizomes they will grow into beautiful exotic tropical flowers four to six feet tall!
Hopefully these fantastic plants make it to where we can transplant them to our flower bed area.
Until later then, this updates a bit on how things grow here where…
Life is good in Ecuador!
Hi,
Always enjoy your posts.
My Granny had a fig tree and hers were ripe when they turned a brown color. But I think some variety turns a gold color. Think the brown is the most common. She used to put wood ashes around hers to keep the ants away. But that might not be a possibility for you.
I will be moving to Ecuador later this year (single female). Mary, I have a question for you. Do you go out shopping, etc alone or are you always accompanied by John or some friends?
Have A Great Day!
Juanita
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Hi Juanita, thank you for the info on the figs. Hopefully we’ll be able to tell when they are ripe, possibly from the softness. So glad you enjoy our posts, we enjoy doing them. 🙂 Where will you be living when you move here? I have gone shopping by myself to Portoviejo. I’ve taken the bus in and when I’m finished I call a taxi driver, who is now a very good friend, to take me home to San Clemente. Too many bags to take a bus back. I think the safety issue would depend on where you will be living. God Bless, Mary ( and John)
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Thank you. Probably will start off in Cuenca – but I’ve been loving your posts about San Clemente – like the small town feel of it. Is it very humid?
Juanita
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during the rainy season Jan -April , it can get very humid.
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With a stubborn persistence, I finally coaxed the post to load, but alas – without the images! That’s ok, as I’m the lucky one who inspected and admired many of these plants last week!
Enjoy the bounty!
Z
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thank you Lisa, we really enjoyed your visit. We need to do it more often –then we can share the bounty with you 🙂
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I adore your beautiful garden there my friend 🙂
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thank you Jake, we’re blessed to live where plants grow so freely
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I love all the gardening posts and I see you have a variety of ghost peppers. Mine look much different. I really want to try planting achocha after googling what it is 🙂 I think it might grow here in northern Illinois. I just will have to order seeds online.
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Achocha are surprisingly good for you, have a mild taste, and are great in salads, stuffed, or baked. We love them, but so do the iguana and we do not have a garden area suitable for fencing out the hungry critters. Not to worry as they are always available fresh at the markets here.
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