spiceoflife's Blog

Weird Warm Weather and New Seeds!
Oct 24, 2007 | 9:34 PM PST
Tags: cavendish banana , rhambutan , longan berry , green coconut

It's 70+ degrees, on October 25th? What's going on? That's right! Here in Eastern Massachusetts we are still enjoying the warm weather that's been pumped into our area from the south, and it's been great, if a little wet. I have to say that it's been a joy to take down my summer garden so far this year. I've taken down all my tomato plants and pumpkin vines in the front and already laid down my winter greens and put up my first greenhouse frame. I think I'm going to try covering two beds this year and put in some potatoes (no, not in the same bed that had the tomatoes, don't worry) so that they'll be in the ground when the ground warms up in the spring. Voila! No slogging through wet ground, turning it over, etc. when I'm going to be busy enough trying to do other things. I'm planting white fingerlings that I bought at the produce store this past weekend.

Speaking of which, I really like this produce store that's in my town. They have lots of tropical fruit and vegetables that you simply won't find in the big chain stores. Like what you ask? Well, they have the usual mangoes and pomogranates, but they also have guavas, rhambutans, longan berries, green coconuts and a host of other root vegetables the names of which I'd never even heard before! I bought some pomogranates, rhambutans, longan berries, a guava and a green coconut. I would have bought more, but I only had so much time on my hands, money in my wallet and room in my house. :-) Two years ago this store was actually able to get me a durian! If you are wondering why this is a big deal, look up "durian smell" online. I wonder how many people held their nose to get that to me. Man, did that thing reek! I'm sorry to say that I couldn't bring myself to keep it much less try it. It cost a bit of money, too. Maybe I'll try it again sometime.

I've already eaten the guava, rhambutans and longan berries and one of the pomogranates. The guava wasn't really ripe enough, so I wound up just eating some of the fruit and sending most of it to the compost pile. I didn't get the impression that the seeds were mature. Don't ask me why, maybe I'm picking up some skills from my son. (See my first post for this reference.) Anyway, I took all of the juice out of one handful of the little pomogranate jewels and put the seeds into a cup of water to soak. I also peeled all of the rhambutans and longan berries, picked out the seeds, ate the fruit, and am soaking those seeds in water, too. I'll have my son with me this weekend to help me get them all into into some moist coconut coir and set them on a seed mat to germinate. From what I've read, if the fruit has been refrigerated the seeds of the rhambutan won't germinate. I'm going to try anyway and see what happens. Both the rhambutans and longan berries had a similar, interesting texture once I got the rind off of them. They were very round, and firm, and translucent. I think they would make great "eyballs" in a Halloween fruit cup if I could get the large seeds out from the middle without messing the flesh up too much.

The coconut is still in the husk. The description on the label said "green coconut", but it looked pretty brown to me. So I bought one for $3 and brought it home and stuck it in a pail of water. After all, it's just another seed, right? And what do you do with seeds before you plant them? You soak them, that's right. So regardless of whether they're the size of a pinhead like the dragonfruit seeds, a kernel of corn like the pomogranate seeds, a small marble like the longan berries, a large almond like the rhambutan, or a childs head like the coconut, I like to soak them first. I'll soak the coconut for at least a week and then put it in some soil. In all likelihood, the coconut seed isn't mature enough to actually germinate, but if it doesn't work, I've only lost $3 and some time.

My camera doesn't handle macro shots too well, but I'll post some pics of everything if I can take some good ones.

In case you couldn't tell, I'm sort of a sucker for growing unusual plants, especially from seed, and especially tropical plants, and really especially ones that bear stuff to eat, like fruit. I'm already growing some dragonfruit plants, passionfruit vines, lemon trees, apple trees, and avocado trees, all of which I started from the seeds of fruit I bought at the store. So these rhambutan, longan berry, coconut and pomogranate plants would be nice additions to my collection.

I have several dwarf cavendish banana trees that all came from dividing one little banana tree I bought at the garden store about two years ago for short money because it was half dead. I need to divide at least two of them again. I don't know what I'm going to do with 7 or eight banana trees! But I don't have the hear to just kill them.

I also have a cardamom plant that is doing fantastic! From what I've read, it doesn't get hot enough for long enough in my neck of the woods for it to actually flower and give me any cardamom pods, but the leaves reportedly have a great flavor all their own and can be used to cook with, doing things like steaming fish, etc. So I'll be able to do that.

Also on my list of food to grow, are pineapples from the pineapple tops, ginger from ginger root, and shiitake mushrooms. I've tried all three several times, and can't seem to get the right set of materials and conditions. I've been doing research, though and am ready to give them another try.

Now for my catch phrase......"Keep those thumbs green!"

Hmmmm.... Maybe not, sounds kinda gross.