I Gave Up

Apparently the key to gardening success in Hawaii is to give up. A couple years I go I grew a small garden with limited success.  I figured that with a constant day time temperature of 80-85, and no chance of frost I should be able to at least count on year round fresh tomatoes from the yard.  I quickly learned that it was not so easy.  In the desert, all you had to do was add water and things would grow, here in Paradise, I was way out of my element.

I did battle with slugs, bugs, and birds.  I worked hard, and the harvest was meager.  I finally gave up.  It just wasn't worth it.

Last summer I got a crazy high water bill, so I shut off the lawn sprinklers.  Apparently an underground pipe is broken and the leak was bleeding my bank account.  We are renting, and the lawn guy the owners hired tried to fix it.  The owner of the house is older, and mostly deaf.  The yard guy is older, and English is not his first language.  I don't really think he totally speaks English.  It's more like he knows a few sentences. Talk about communication break down ....  My ability, and more importantly, desire, to work it out with the "creepy yard guy" is limited.  After one round of "change de balbs" not working, I was done.  It was just plain easier to shut off the sprinklers and the let the grass turn brown.


But Wendy, you say, "You live in Hawaii, in the tropics, why would you need to water the lawn?  Isn't everything naturally green and lush?"  Andy my answer to you is, "Uh, no ....".  Regular old lawn grass as we know it is not a tropical plant.  It does not grow well here.  The soil is too sandy, and full of iron. My guess is that the nearly constant temperature messes with it's programming as well.  Here on the Leeward side of the island, we are actually rather dry.  Dry is relative.  We are not dry like Arizona, or dry like the Utah plains.  We are dry as in, it doesn't rain too often, and when it does, it doesn't rain too much.  We are right on the ocean, so plenty of sea water exposure, but not enough good old fashion rain.  It rains more in the winter than the summer.  It is winter now, and the lawn has some green patches, but the traditional grass hasn't fared very well.  Mostly what is green are the native plants.

Soooo, yesterday I took a little stroll around the back of the house, just to see how things were looking.  With the lawn dormant, there has been no need for me to mow, so I haven't done a full perimeter check in quite a while.  I am watching where I step, all dogs owners learn this skill, and a small yellow flower catches my eye.  It looks familiar, but it seems so out of place that I can hardly believe it.   I do a quick scan, and there are more.  There are tomato plants growing WILD in my backyard!  These are not just meager sprouts either, they are thriving plants with yellow blossoms on them.  In no time, there will be actual tomatoes!  I looked around and noticed some other things sprouting that look like food.  Maybe a cucumber or a cantaloupe, it's hard to tell at this point.  Having jumped out of the planter, the basil is now thriving.

I was blown away.  All I had to do was give up, and the tomatoes would just grow on their own?  Why haven't the slugs eaten these plants?  They aren't growing in a planter, or a bucket, or even in a flower bed.  They are just out there, exposed, in the middle of a semi-dead lawn.

In the end, the jungle will win.  It is mightier than the sprinkler, the bug spray and the mesh nets.  I'm just grateful that apparently the jungle likes Italian food - tomatoes and basil!

UPDATE 2/17/2010:  There are now more spontaneous tomato plants growing in that area of the lawn.  There are many little green tomatoes where the flowers once were.  If the are not ready to harvest before we move, I say "Dig em up, and take them along!!"

Of Slugs and Sluggishness

The best way I can describe how I am feeling today is sluggish. I've been feeling kind of yucky, with a slight fever, no big deal, just enough to take the wind out of my sails. The last week went by so fast, my head is still spinning. It was a good week, with lots of things accomplished. The weekend has been pleasant. I spent most of Saturday out shopping with Ryker and Quincie. Ryker needed a suit. Prom is next week, graduation in a month, then off to BYUH. The passing of time is freaking me out. I want to scream "stop!" and hold on to each passing moment just a little longer.

I'd like to go back and live the last 18 years over again. It was just so much fun, I want to do it again. I've been on an awesome roller coaster and now as the ride starts to slow, I just want to get back in line and do it again. I love our life now, it wasn't better then, or better now, it's all been great. I love being a mom, and I especially love being a mom to Ryker and Quincie. They are the best kids ever. They don't fight and argue with each other. I have never heard them yell unkind things at each other and they have never been in a physical fight. They are both obedient and respectful. They are good, kind, smart, interesting, and fun people. I am blessed to be their mom.

I have a long list of things to do in the next few days, weeks, and months. Graduation is in a month. Between now and then there is prom, a graduation party, and my mom comes to visit. I haven't seen my mom in a couple of years. We are all so excited! I want to have that week while she is here as free as possible to do fun stuff. I need to mail out the graduation announcements and party invitations. That didn't happen today like I had planned. I've been doing my imitation of a slug all day - moving slowly with my only motivation to move at all being the quest for food.

Work is really busy right now and I am very thankful for that. I have been learning lots of new things, which is both exciting, and frustrating. It will be nice when these new skills are old hat and the work comes easier. My brain has been stretching lately, and that's a good thing.

We are planning to move when our lease is up in August. We need a different house. We need a fenced yard for the dogs to play in, a garage for Carl's truck and tools, at least one more bathroom, and some personal space for me. Right now my office is the corner between the back door and the kitchen table. It's a nice little corner, but it is hard to shut my office door and concentrate. It's a little too soon to start seriously looking, but the thought of moving is ever present and colors many of my daily choices. For example, the yard ....

I want to leave it looking nice, but I am not going to plant any more flowers or vegetables directly in the ground. My latest tomato experiment is in a big pot that will easily come with us. It has a nice cluster of green tomatoes that should be ripe in another week or so. I've given up on the slugs. They win. Let them eat my marigolds. I just can't imagine marigold leaves being that tasty, but then again, I am only a slug in attitude, not in appetite.

Defense - Phase II

I tried yelling at the birds. I don't think that did anything but cause the neighbors and my kids to question my sanity. I hung a wind chime near my little pot of tomatoes. I think the birds were afraid of it for about 15 minutes. Finally, I took Tiffany's advise and bought some net to protect my tomatoes from the birds. Thanks Tif, I think this one's gonna work!

A couple of weeks ago I bought a watermelon from the local farmer's market. It was a small, local variety that was very tasty. I saved a handful of seeds and planted them. 10-14 days later and Wa Lah! Watermelon sprouts! I think every seed sprouted! I am pleased. Their sand fortresses are in place, so hopefully the yucky slugs will leave them alone.

The Birds!!!

My garden is getting it's butt kicked.
Now the birds have started eating my tomatoes!!!!

Slug Battle - Round 2

I did a little research and apparently slugs to not like sand. It will cut their underside and kill them. So, Quincie and I gathered a small bucket of sand at the beach. My precious plants are now protected with sand fortresses.

Gardening Again

My first experiment in gardening in Paradise was semi successful. Nearly everything sprouted, and we actually harvested some tomatos and cucumbers. The basil from a year ago is still alive and kicking. After the slugs ate my cucumber plants, and the cilantro never made it past 4 true leaves, I gave up. For a while. That was about 5 months ago. Last week I started gardening again. I just can't resist. There is something very satisfying about growing food.

Produce shipped from the mainland is ridiculously expensive and rather poor quality. The week boat ride drives up the cost, and doesn't do much for freshness. We eat a lot of fresh vegetables. Quincie and Carl especially love them. I love to cook with cilantro and in Utah it grew like a weed. It was easier to grow cilantro than grass in my front yard. It's pretty awesome when you mow the lawn and it smells like salsa.

It is a whole new ball game to garden in Hawaii. I thought it would be easy. It is exactly the opposite of the Utah climate. It is humid, warm, nearly always sunny. Sounds perfect! Gone were the days of freezing June nights and scorching August days! You can dig with a plastic shovel, rather than a jack hammer. Those points are as great as they sound, but they come at a cost. Living in Paradise is never free!

First off, there are slugs. They are big, fat, and very, very hungry. They ate an entire bed of fully mature cucumber plants in a few days. These plants were loaded with cucumbers, in various stages of growth. I thought all those prickly, itchy, fuzzy things on the stems and leaves were supposed to keep critters like slugs off. Guess not. By the time I figured out what was going on, they were dead. Such a sad, and useless death. Salt is the prescribed revenge. Apparently it makes them dissolve, just like water and the Wicked Witch.

Second, there is the soil. It is salty, and on our part of the island, mostly red dirt, which is full of too much iron. No need to eat red meat, just eat some home grown tomatoes to get your iron. If you can get them to grow. I have since learned to add a TON of potting soil to the dirt if you want to have much success. Growing in a container, filled with potting soil, is also a good idea. You can move it around, and out of the way of horrid things such as slugs.

Third, the temperature. Some things just don't grow right when it is ALWAYS between 70 - 80 degrees. Corn doesn't get too sweet if you don't break 90 for at least a week. Lettuce does so much better if the nights drop below 65. Tomatoes, also like the heat to ripen. I found that growing hybrid varieties that were specifically developed for Hawaii makes a big difference.

Fourth, the jungle. The things that grow well here, really, really grow well here. I am not kidding. In the year we have lived in this house a TREE has grown from nothing, to 7 or 8 feet tall. I did not plant this tree. Some other tree produced a seed that happened to blow into my yard, and it happened to sprout and grown. The trunk doesn't have much of a diameter, but it is 7 or 8 feet tall! In Utah that would be a miracle. Here, it is annoying, weed, that much be chopped down rather than pulled or whacked with a weed whacker.

I am now the happy gardener of cocktail tomatoes, Manoa lettuce, cucumbers, and some cilantro. The cilantro doesn't look so good, but I love it so much I am willing to keep trying until I achieve success. I have planted some mini bell pepper seeds, but no sprouts yet. Hopefully in a few weeks we will be eating home grown veggies again. Wish me luck with the slugs!

Food Storage

There are tons of flowers on the cucumber plant. We will be eating fresh cucumbers soon!

A yellow pepper and the leaf lettuce should be ready to eat in a few days. The cantaloupe I planted this week have sprouted. The mango tree is loaded with almost ripe fruit. Yummy!

Just Another Day in Paradise

It has been raining all week. Rainy days are great. The sound drowns out the noise of the world and it makes the air smells clean. Rainy days are peaceful and soothing. Hawaii rain is warm. It is comfortable to just stand there in it. Sometimes it is just a fine mist that you can barely see. Something about the rain comforts me. I love it.

Today the sun is back and everything is green, lush and beautiful. If you turn your back for a few days the jungle takes over the yard. The ground is still wet but I had to mow.

The cucumber plants have made some serious progress in the last couple weeks. Hopefully soon we will have some to eat. The last time I planted these they were delicious. After a few weeks of steady cucumbers to pick and eat the plants died. I am not sure what happened. I have a couple theories so I am trying again to see what happens. The lettuce is also making some good progress. It took me some time to learn how to grown a garden in the desert. That was challenging, but I figured it out. I thought it would be a piece of cake here in paradise. I was mistaken.

The island climate is a challenge to the traditional garden. I used to wonder why people had plants in pots all around their houses. Why not just put them in the dirt? I think I might understand a little now. The dirt is full of things that like to eat plants. The pots are a shield from the creatures that like to eat the yummy things. The pots also help with drainage. It is wet here and mold is a problem. The potting soil is also easier to grow in than the red dirt we have here in Ewa Beach. The red dirt has too much iron and some plants don't like that very much.

Spring flowers are my favorite - tulips, daffodils, lilacs. These flowers don't grow in Hawaii. The climate is all wrong for them. I really love tulips. Simple, sleek, elegant - Bright vibrant colors -Tall and strong. I miss the tulips. Tulips have almost no smell, but the smell of blooming lilacs is so distinct and powerful that even the memory of it evokes memories - my grandmother's house in South Dakota , picking them in an empty lot in St. Louis, our one spring at the Church in Louviers. I only have to remember the smell and I am there.

Yard Work

I don't know what is wrong with me. The last few days I can't seem to get anything done. I have started lots of things, just can't seem to finish. My mind just wanders off ....

My "to do" list for the week is pathetically not done.

I did manage to mow the lawn today. A little time in the yard is about like a day at the beach for me.