The ups and downs of two gardens – one upstairs on the balcony deck and the other in the backyard.
BALCONY ABUNDANCE
Lemongrass, coco yam, peppers, parsley, basil and cilantro with turmeric and more cocoa yam tucked in the back. Bob rigged up a PVC water delivery system to make watering easy.
CONTAINERS
Bob is using everything from muck buckets to tomato paste cans to grow a wide variety of food. Malibar spinach and thai basil on the left. Coco yam on the right.
TURMERIC
Amy brought a piece of turmeric and planted it. Here’s what happened!
CHOCOLATE AND CHILI
Here is the beginning of a cocoa tree from seed – just because, why not? And a happy and prolific chili pepper plant. One day, these two plants could make beautiful flavors together.
LEGACY
Allison helped Camille weed the beds and Bob trimmed basil and helped Allison add compost on August 7. Then she planted beets, chard and collards that we will enjoy long after Allison returns to the States.
QUICK STARTS
Two weeks later, the collards Allison planted are already coming up and the lime basil Bob trimmed back has bushed back out.
HAVES AND HAVE NOTS
The okra is producing beautiful flowers and pods in the same way the sprawling bean vine is not. The beans seem more interested in visiting the neighbors than setting on fruit.
VOLUNTEER
Out of the old compost pile grew a squash plant and on that plant blossomed five inch blooms and twining tendrils.
MALE AND FEMALE
The male flower is showy while the female flower produces the fruit. We are sad to report this fruit didn’t get much further along before succumbing to blossom end rot.
EAT YOUR GREENS!
Our diet is rich in dandelion and collards (shown above). We also make occasional use of the chard (on the left) and moringa. We had heard about the incredible properties of Moringa and noticed a tree next door hanging over our fence. So Bob harvested seed and started them in cans upstairs. This is an incredibly fast-growing, tasty and nutritious tree. Camille is learning how to strip the leaves from the branches, leaving the stems behind.
MIRACLE TREE
A ten-minute video that will make you want to plant your own moringa tree.
TOMATO OR EGGPLANT?
Eggplant, believe it or not. This is the local variety and sadly, we found it to be quite bitter, even after peeling and sweating with salt. Therefore, this is the last you’ll see of these prolific plants. They’ve been removed to make room for peppers and long purple eggplant
GREEN PEPPERS AND PURPLE EGGPLANT
These two, living in the shadow of the fated Burkinabe eggplant have some elbow room now. The purple eggplant has been producing beautiful, sweet eggplants for months now. Together they spell “Spaghetti!”