Tag Archives: garden

Banana-ganza!

2 Dec
Six kilos of banana-ganza

Six weeks ago, we harvested a six-kilo bunch of bananas from the banana tree in our garden. It was an unintentional decision. On that wet and rainy day, a strong wind toppled the adjacent papaya tree, and we were concerned that the banana tree might suffer the same fate. The constant pounding of the rain and the wind had already caused the banana tree to bend precariously, unable to sustain the weight of the fruit and the situation.

So we had no choice but to cut the fruit to save it, despite it not being ripe yet. The other worrying situation was the garden intruders – garden squirrels or worse, the free-roaming civet cat! If we don’t save the fruit for ourselves, these critters would help themselves to a free fruit buffet.

The large bunch yielded five smaller bunches, and it took almost two weeks for them to ripen. We gave some away, ate some, and made banana bread with the remaining bananas. Nice.

The tree is gone now, but fret not, there are several other banana trees in the garden for the next bout of banana-ganza!

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Wet Year-end Challenge, Part 2

25 Nov

It has been raining cats and dogs the past few days. The situation has gotten so bad that several toll gates on the main Plus highway had to be closed yesterday. Several states have experienced flooding, forcing families to leave their homes. A significant annual challenge as we approach the end of the year.

Closer to home, we typically have two issues: a garden filled with backlogged water that cannot drain due to the continuous rain, and an occasional leak in the roof. On the activity front, I have been very fortunate for the last two golf outings.

There were threats of impending downpours only to have the sun peak out, and strong gushes of wind to blow away the voluminous clouds. There was no need to bring out the raincoat, and the leather shoes held up without issues. And the rain came down only after we were all showered and sat down for lunch, for both games! Aren’t we blessed?

As I have said previously, I take each day in stride, and if the weather is unfavorable, it’s best to return to the clubhouse and be safe. If I can complete the round of golf with my friends, we return to the clubhouse to celebrate!

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Abundance

26 Nov
The towering papaya tree in our garden

The papaya tree towering next to the frangipani in our garden has been fruiting in abundance! Whee. Maybe the rainy season has contributed to the spurt and growth. This means we will have papayas again after a dry spell.

In the early stages, we put up nets to protect the fruits from the garden squirrels, and it worked when there were fewer fruits. However, as there have been more fruits, the netting protection could not cover the whole lot. So, hubby resorted to covering only the bigger fruits.

Two days ago, one rascal managed to eat a fruit on the tree. Ugh. So, hubby placed a trap on the ground to snag it, using the half-eaten papaya as bait.

This morning, the rascal was nabbed! Yay. We will relocate it to another area. Hopefully, it will stay away and won’t return to help itself to the abundance of fruits available.

I look forward to having papayas again from the garden.

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The Wrath of Mother Nature

16 Jul

We have been having some inconsistent weather lately. Last week, when we returned from the East Coast, we came back to strong winds and pelting rain.

Luckily, we were home already when the weather changed for the worse. It was scary as the tall trees in the area were swaying spinelessly with noisy leaves rustling, and the rain was pounding the windows. Our garden bamboo blinds were flapping like crazy. It was alarming, but we could not do anything.

The next day, we discovered the wrath of Mother Nature when we surveyed the garden. Besides leaves and branches everywhere, creating a mess, our second papaya tree was uprooted. This unfortunate mishap happened despite the tree being protected by a wall and in a narrow garden space.

There goes our second papaya tree!
Salvaging the papayas from the tree

We had no choice but to cut down the tree. And there were so many young papayas on the tree. Oh well. It looks like I can make pickled papaya or give them away. As for the space, we will leave it empty for now, and it’s been hot like a furnace.

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Fruiting Again, Part 2

2 Jul

It looks like the effort to safeguard the fruits paid off. Hubby has managed to pluck one papaya a day from the tree, and it’s just a matter of time before they ripen and we can eat them. Yum.

From our papaya tree.

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Fruiting Again

28 Jun

After several months of waiting, the new papaya tree in the garden is fruiting in abundance again! Yay. There was a time when we had papaya fruit to eat daily. As time passed, the tree grew old and stopped fruiting – we had to chop it down. Hubby decided to plant a new papaya tree.

Months passed, and the new tree flourished well with the weather that we had been experiencing. But it has also attracted some unwanted critters to our place. No, it’s not the garden squirrels but the civet cat!

The civet cat has helped itself a few times to the exposed and unprotected fruits, as there had been evidence of half-eaten papaya on the tree or fruit droppings on the ground. We must protect our fruits!

Yesterday, we put our plans into action by wrapping the fruits on the tree with the new PVC netting mesh. I think I did a good job. But we will only know in the next few days to see if the fruits are well protected.

Protecting our papayas on the tree!

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New Fruits

1 Dec

After waiting for what seems like forever, the new papaya tree has finally matured and is fruiting! Yay. I miss eating home-grown papayas, and papayas bought from the stores can’t beat the taste of the home-grown fruits.

Before this new tree, the old tree gave us a lot of fruits to enjoy. It was a bumper harvest period until we had to give away to family and friends. But once that phrase was over, we were papaya-less for some time.

The wait period is over now that the new tree has stabilized and fruiting. Unfortunately, the garden squirrels got to the first fruit ahead of us. Hrmph. Looks like we have to start protecting our papayas from the uninvited guests. Otherwise, we will not have the opportunity to enjoy the new fruits.

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Forgotten Halloween

3 Nov

This year, Halloween slipped my mind. There were a couple of years I bought a watermelon or two to carve because pumpkins are so expensive. Unfortunately, this time, the novelty of Halloween was not quite there. Maybe it’s the wet weather putting a dampener on the occasion.

The last jack-o’-lantern watermelon, if I remember correctly, was devoured by the garden squirrel after we left it out in the garden. Perhaps it’s a good thing to skip the carving to avoid dealing with the mess after the squirrel’s garden party.

I guess Halloween is not a big celebration for us. More so when the mood to carve watermelons instead of pumpkins is not there. Oh well.

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A Beautiful Pineapple

16 May

A week ago, the latest pineapple was almost ready for harvesting. It needed a few more days to go, but hubby was worried that the garden squirrels would get to it. So he quickly harvested the fruit. However, we had to let it sit in the kitchen to fully ripen before eating it.

The trick to ensure the fruit ripens well is to hang it upside down and let gravity do the job to aid the process. So far, it is going very well. As each day passed, I could smell the fragrance of the pineapple whenever I walked past the cabinet where we hung the pineapple. Mmm, so wonderful!

See the string?

In a day or two, we should be able to savor the aromatic pineapple harvested from our garden. Lovely.

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Do We Look Like Rabbits?

9 May

Our neighbor has two dogs – a friendly Golden Retriever and an aggressive German Shepherd. We missed interacting and petting the friendly one when the aggressive one joined their family. There is no more opportunity to stretch the hands safely for a quick scratch or tickle.

The German Shepherd is an annoying one. Sure, he’s a guard dog, but we are neighbors, not intruders. Whenever we were in the garden, he would bark incessantly at us. It borders on annoyance and fear at the same time. He has snarled and shown his teeth at me several times. Because of its aggressive nature, I have stopped doing my woodwork outside on the garden terrace.

Lately, he is at it again, barking his head off unnecessarily, a test of our patience for such an unpeaceful situation. One morning, the annoying dog was barking at hubby so aggressively when hubby was watering the plants. It was too much!

Hubby went over to complain to the owner about the dog’s unbecoming behavior. The owner defended his dog, saying it meant no harm, and was merely barking at the rabbit (the pet from the neighbor flanking their house) whenever the rabbit was out.

Wait a minute! It was barking at hubby! Me (at times)! Us (all the time)! Not the rabbit!!! Do we look like rabbits? Hrmph.

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