Updates from my Rooftop Container Garden, August 2016

I'm really sorry for not giving updates on my rooftop container garden for quite sometime. Honestly, this year I don't plant much. I've been busy these several months setting up an online bakery, which bake by order, beside my part time translating job.

Maybe I'll just take you to stroll around my garden. It'll be done in less than 5 minutes! :-)

Do you recognize the plant on the left? Well, yes it's a Mulberry. A church friend gave it to me last March when she moved to another island after getting married to one our our church fellow. So, she happened to hand me this Mulberry plant, some peppermint plants, a couple of red Amaryllis tubers, a small pot of lemongrass and also a small DIY pot(made of mineral bottle) of parsley. 

The second pictures is the result of my laziness. I took me forever before I repotted it. And since the weather was not very friendly in the first semester, the Mulberry plant was at the brink of death.. I guess it was a combination of constant drought and malnourished. 

The leaves finally turned yellow and burnt. 

And I felt very...very soorryyy.........! 

So one day I decided to act. I trimmed it first and I just repotted it to a 4-gallon container but only within days, I can see new shoots and fruit... yesss .... FRUIT!! Can you see it right in the middle of the leaves? Amazing isn't it??!

The characteristic of this plant is growing fast when it's still young but will soon slow down. Today, the plant is only this tall but I can find quite many fruit. I heard, it's very easy to encourage it to set fruit. Just trim it and it will react soon.

I harvested one today, and it tastes sweet! 

My other plants that sets fruit this year is my Kaffir Lime!!

I have harvested at least half a dozen of these, yet I haven't used it yet... I'm not really using this produce except to make Indonesian Salad with peanut sauce. But so far I haven't made any...

My Soursop tree has finally set male flowers after about a year or so... but I haven't managed to harvest the pollen for future hand pollination. I haven't been successful yet since I was too lazy to battle the heat of the scorching sun at noon or late morning.

This is the Nam Dok Mai or Lok Mai mango tree that I planted by seed. I don't remember how old it is, maybe around a year or maybe more..

My Arum Manis is also fruiting. Last year it bore fruit for 3 consecutive time but then it rest for almost 4-5 months before it gained new energy to starting bearing fruit again. 

My Nam Dok Mai is also setting flowers and fruit.

This one is my Hone Bell Fruit. It's not yet setting flowers.

Sadly for this yellow tomato must succumb to Fusarium wilt disease though it had set flowers!!

I missed harvesting tomatoes!! I will plant some soon!

 

Planting Pineapple from the Crown

Nothing is more happier than finding one of 3 pineapple crowns I planted in November last year, has finally started blooming!!! YAAAAY!!! Look at that cute pinkish bloom! 

How long does it take pineapple to bloom and set fruit if we plant it from the crown? The answer is between 16-24 months, depends on whether you plant it outdoor or indoor. If you plant it outdoor, normally it will start to bloom within a year, 

but in my case, only one from 3 crowns has started to bloom. 

I'm not sure why, but they are the same variety and planted on 

the same day.

 

I guess the size or depth of the containers used may play a role in  the health of the plants, as it provides more space for the roots to develop and thus influence the maturity of the plants. I use 

4-gallon pots for each of the two plants and one basin type bucket 

for the other one. 

I wonder if my hypothesis is right. 

Normally pineapple can bear fruit 3 times during their lifetime before we must replace the plant, but indoor potted plant are more likely to produce only one or two fruits during their lifetime because they may not always receive the optimum condition necessary for thorough fruiting.

The mother plant, or the first plant grown, produces a single fruit from the center of the crown. The second and third fruits grow from side shoots off the mother plant, called ratoons. In large containers we can leave these shoots, or suckers, on the mother to continue growing. The suckers are usually removed in smaller pots and transplanted to their own container, where they become a new mother plant. Each ratoon can only flower once, and it itsn't likely to send out its own suckers if left on the mother plant. Although each mother can produce multiple suckers, it's best to remove all but the two strongest. Too many suckers on one plant weakens it and minimizes the chance of fruiting.

Watermelon? In pots?? Why Not?

Who won't love a succulent fruit like Watermelon, especially under the scorching heat of the Sun?!

Watermelon, Citrulus lanatus var.lanatus from family of Cucurbitaceae, is a vine like flowering plant originated from southern Africa. It has been cultivated in Egypt a couple of thousand years BC, and by around 10th century AD had reached India and China and later spread into Southern Europe and the world. 

 A watermelon contains about 6% sugar and 91% water by weight. It is a good source of vitamin C and high in vitamin A and pottassium while being low in fat, cholesterol and sodium.

Watermelon, raw

Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy	127 kJ (30 kcal)
Carbohydrates	7.55 g
Sugars	6.2 g
Dietary fiber	0.4 g
Fat	0.15 g
Protein	0.61 g
Vitamins
Vitamin A equiv. beta-carotene	(4%) 28 μg (3%) 303 μg
Thiamine (B1)	(3%) 0.033 mg
Riboflavin (B2)	(2%) 0.021 mg
Niacin (B3)	(1%) 0.178 mg
Pantothenic acid (B5)	(4%) 0.221 mg
Vitamin B6	(3%) 0.045 mg
Choline	(1%) 4.1 mg
Vitamin C	(10%) 8.1 mg
Trace metals
Calcium	(1%) 7 mg
Iron	(2%) 0.24 mg
Magnesium	(3%) 10 mg
Manganese	(2%) 0.038 mg
Phosphorus	(2%) 11 mg
Potassium	(2%) 112 mg
Sodium	(0%) 1 mg
Zinc	(1%) 0.1 mg
Other constituents
Water	91.45 g
Lycopene	4532 µg
Units μg = micrograms • mg = milligrams IU = International units
Percentages are roughly approximated usingUS recommendations for adults. Source: USDA Nutrient Database

When I start gardening, my focus has been edible plants, i.e.: Vegetables and Fruit. Besides an experimentation and training for green thumb, I have always wanted a kitchen garden, where I can produce something to eat. And as an effort I have planted some fruit trees like mangoes, longan, citrus trees that I germinated from seeds, such as lemons, kumquats, limes and then watermelon which seeds I bought from SeedsNow.com.

But then, the question is would it be adequate to plant the fruit trees in pots? Well, it is. As long as you use the right size of pots and give enough  nutrition for the plant to flower and fruit. Because I'm doing organic gardening, I only depend on compost and manure. Sometimes I apply my homemade liquid fertilizer and organic fertilizer that I buy. 

My first experiment is Sugar Baby Watermelon, and I started germination in Spring. Since the pot I used was 5 galon pot. I guess it's not enough power to sustain 3 plants that I planted in one pot. And out of 3 fruits I got, one was accidentally cut off from the vine, another one got a bottom-end-rot and the last one was the biggest one (see the picture above), where it fits in my palm.

As for the taste, it's sweet enough to conclude that it's ripe. My only and biggest pest problem is with the Aphids and powdery mildew as the weather was very hot and humid from last December up to the hot season.

I plan to plant in a bigger pots next time.

For more information on Watermelon and how to cultivate it click here.