THANKSGIVING 2017, RID'N THE WILD SWALE

On Thanksgiving morning we realized our main pond was too high and not draining. We went to investigate the overflow area and found that the run-off swale had become clogged with tree roots, palm sprouts and dirt.

Mary started the day with a two-hour dig to begin opening it up. I joined her and we spent another eight back-breaking hours digging, sawing, hammering, chopping and clearing the swale so it would drain. Just in the nick of time, we had an inch of rain fall and got to see the fruits of our efforts, it was finally draining. We still need to improve it but we reduced the pond level by a few inches which took pressure off plants at the far end which were drowning in too deep waters.

Peacock boys passing through the drainage area

We love our wild Peacock friends

The Peafowl hunt for lizards, frogs and tasty bugs around the property

Part of the drain canal

Another view of the drain canal

Opening up the drain and letting the water out

Massive tree roots were blocking the drainage of water

WINGED BEAN - Finally, a Vegetable That Grows Like a Weed in Florida

I've been skimming the wealth of knowledge (and pseudofacts) on the internet regarding permaculture, sandy soil, tropical fruits and vegetables and how best to grow them, with one objective:  To grow delicious fruits and vegetables here at P2 in central Florida.  I've got bananas figured out, and I'm almost there with a replicable system for papaya, malabar spinach, katuk, and okinawa spinach.  But I hadn't yet proven winged bean, which is touted as an amazingly healthy vegetable that loves tropical climates.  The pictures here are proof that winged bean grows here!  They were really no trouble, as long as they got regular water and sun.  I tried planting a few in a place with no accessible water...  not so good, they're struggling.  One oddity is that they don't bloom unless the day length is 12 hours or less, which for Melbourne, Florida is mid October.  Right when we hit mid October, I saw the first beautiful purple bloom.  I took pictures today as Mark and I are going to eat our first harvest today.

Winged bean is happy to ramble up bamboo poles, or hang onto Pop, the male papaya.

I wanted a close up of the flowers next to the 6" bean... they're a lovely lavender color.

Next year we're growing a LOT more winged bean.

WILDLIFE, FRUITS AND PLANTS

Another beautiful day here at P2. These photos were taken Sunday, November 19th.

Look at all that fluffiness

Two boys wandering our farm

A mallard going into breeding colors

flowers in the Fall

Pip, Pop and Peep the papayas

Date palm continues to get more healthy

Mary reveals a freshly emerged banana flower

The trunk of the banana plant must be big enough to pass the flower out full size

the flower bends over due to weight

Note how the bananas start out red when the flower petal peels back but then they turn green

A Home Depot banana making bananas, now that's a good deal

Big Mike, stands sentry duty by entry gate to our property

We also planted three banana plants and two bamboo plants today. The bamboo were propagated from our "original recipe" bamboo that came with our property. We had forgotten them and they were lost in some tall grass. In spite of no water and being in pots these two plants survived so we gave them a wonderful new home. Photos to follow.

Mary's Update Monday, November 20th:  One the way home today, coming up the driveway, I glanced over at Home Depot 2 (lovingly called Ho2) and was stunned to see that the very upright flower shown in the above picture emerging very high out of the plant (where I had to reach up and pull a leaf aside to see it) is now hanging over, ready to start making bananas.  This is one day of change!  You seriously have to look every day or you miss the magical evolution of the flower turning into bananas.  Love it!

IGGY THE BIG GREEN WILD IGUANA VISITS P2

BIG GREEN WILD IGUANA VISITS P2

We were swimming when I first spotted Iggy prowling across the yard in front of the bamboo. He was over near the pond and I was fearful it was a small alligator coming to make our pond his home. We raced out of the pool and while Mary scanned with binoculars I mounted up the Sigma 650 zoom lens on my Canon camera.

Meet Iggy our first Wild Iguana

From tip to tip Mark estimates Iggy is 4-5 feet in length

That's a damn good looking Iguana!

He slowly made his way down to the Paradise end of the pond and then eventually climbed up into the Traveller palm where he disappeared into the green-ness. 

We're contemplating a whole new garden area just for him to feast (and maybe hang out with us more in the future). 

And you MUST see Iggy run LOL...

STILL GOING...........DOWN!!!!

First there was this teaser when I first used the scale. Off I went to make coffee and after a couple of very small sips, um, lets just say I got rid of some more weight :-)

There you have it, another new low weight, 171, I own you. 170, I'm com'in for ya!

Banana Art

My iPhone plus these stunning banana trees, together, are creating some of the most beautiful art I've ever seen.

Ho3 (Home Depot banana #3) is just opening his petals to reveal the first TINY little bananas.

Behold!

FINALLY, ANOTHER NUMBER DOWN

Soon, I'll be exiting the 170's on the low end and it's gonna be SWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET!

Bamboo Food 11/4/2017

I fed the bamboo today, with the usual timed release fertilizer.  All of the bamboo looks amazing, but wanted to get some growing boost in now that it's back up to 80+F every day again.

Two New Banana Flowers! October 29, 2017

Two more banana trees have made flowers, and one of them is proudly kicking out lots of bananas!  The other is in the flower stage still but will soon have bananas.  And... I have no idea what types of bananas they are!

When I bought each tiny tissue cultured banana plant starting in 2016, I carefully labelled them with a tiny plastic label stuck into the ground.  Little did I know at the time that the mat of each banana plant would be 2-3 feet across and that the plastic plant label would be lost in the mat.  So although I remembered my favorite bananas, I've forgotten a few of their names.  These guys could be Goldfinger, Gran Nain, Cavendish, or Mona Lisa... who knows?  But they're gorgeous.

Here's the one that flowered a couple of weeks ago and is now covered in bananas, very similar to the size and magnitude of Ice Cream's bananas.

The close up of the hands is beautiful, so perfect and aligned.

And the EXTREME close up is pure art.

The trunk of this banana plant is a foot across, hard to tell from the picture but he's a meaty banana plant/tree considering he started about 6" tall and 1/2" thick.

And of course, the magnificent flower with it's strong fragrance is so stunning.

The 2nd banana plant is about 12 feet tall, so it's really hard to get close enough to see the flower right now before it turns up and over.  It's still sticking straight up over the banana plant, ready to turn over soon.

This view shows the beautiful red/purple color of the flower.

And here's the whole mat, with pups ready to take over when the flowering banana is done.

Remember Mona?  Here she is today, pups well on their way to make fruit.

I love this picture, as it shows the original Mona truck chopped off about 6" off the ground.  Once the trunk has flowered and fruited, it's done!  Pups, your turn to make fruit.

And finally, I have found plant tags on Amazon that last forever.  I read a review about them by a scientist in Alaska who tags plants with these aluminum write-on tags stapled to wood stakes, and when he comes back year after year they're still there and still legible.  I was sold!  So I'll never forget my bananas' (or any of the other fruit trees soon to be planted!) names again.