Rains plus giving them dolomite plus a soup of chicken poop and fish emulsion ha resulted in the planting of Jack Beans (Canavalia ensiformis) has let them take off in the spring heat along the new south bed's goat fencing. I hope to get a lot of the pods to eat cooked like green bean plus dried beans this year.

My original plant of "Filipino Mexican Tree Pepper" died at eight years old in the 2010 freeze. Years ago Allen Boatman identified it as a form of Capsicum frustescens, truly perennial in south Tampa. I thought I'd lost it but two years ago found some old pods in a labelled envelope....so nice to have multiple specimens plus to have shared a few! Great heat and flavor comparable to a good Thai hot pepper. Allen and I chose the study name based on what we learned of its history. In about a month I should have some ripe pods to share with people for seeds.

Until a few years ago each spring I'd buy a small pouch of this aquatic herb at south Tampa's DoBond Market and grow it in a pond or in a pot of soil in standing water. It is chopped raw atop certain Vietnamese dishes.....the flavor "changes" as you chew from minty then lemony then cumin. Interesting yet delicate. Nate just gave me a clump now in a 6 inch pot in standing water. Time to look up Vietnamese dishes again!

http://www.vietworldkitchen.com/blog/2007/06/growing-rice-pa.html

Charlei and Nate just gave me this!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Na%C5%8Bar/Koorka

Andy Firk and Josh Jamison the two of the three Strawberry Guavas I bought at H.E.A.R.T. maybe 1.5 years ago are planted in buried 55 gallon Water Wise Container Gardens, each filled hugel kultur style, given chicken poop and fish emulsion...they look healthy but have not grown much plus they have never bloomed or fruited. So when I saw at HortPurdue they THRIVE in limestone based soils I just now gave each approx. 5 pounds of dolomite and will water it in. Here's hoping as I LOVED the ones I've eaten at Bamboo Grove!

https://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/cattley_guava.html

This is what I call "DoBond Shallot" that I bought last fall at DoBond Market in hopes they might be a kind of "potato onion" since they were wider on the sides vs. top to bottom as are regular shallots. There are many more in that container garden. So far no real bulb yet but they HAVE divided quite a bit after a few months. I planted these three in a new container garden in the south bed to see if they make a bulb or continue to divide....maybe even be perennial. They came from China. John

Quite a few of these vine like tomatoes appeared all over my southeast bed late this winter....I got a suggestion that the restaurant scraps I threw in there for the chickens last year when they were de-weeding for me was the source. The vines look sad in the heat but they have good Roma-type flavor and texture. I used several plus 1/4 of a home made Moroccan Preserved Lemon, katuk leaves, chopped onion, garlic, three eggs, a dash each of food grade diatomaceous earth and di-calcium phosphate to make a wonderful nutritious omelet. Dessert was some home made pickled ginger, carrots and onions. My Meyer's Lemons made a bumper crop of fruit so I made two more quart jars of Moroccan Preserved Lemons. John

A nice Sunday experiment project...used my first ever brand new drill (corded) to turn six scavenged Tampa recycle bins into Water Wise Container Gardens by using a large bit to drill eight holes in each, three inches from the bottom. The bottom drainage holes got filled in earlier this week with aquarium silicone. The last few months my yard helper Paul has filled several garbage cans and large tree pots with green weeds...I let them sit out in the sun and rain until composted. I filled each garden box 4/5 full of composted weeds, added a few pounds of Publix plain white cat litter, a few large handfuls of dolomite, then topped each with about two inches of Lambert potting soil. Each one got a GOOD drenching hand watering followed by the whole area getting watered by a hose end sprinkler to benefit the Jack Beans next to the goat fence. Next they get a dilute tea of fish emulsion, trace elements, and chicken poop. Then in goes seedlings already started of egg plant, bell peppers, Malabar spinach, Serrano peppers, and Everglades tomato.

My black and gold spray paintings from the mid 80s.

More sculptures I made in the 70s and 80s.

More of the sculptures that I made in the 70s and 80s.

Two springs ago I lamented that my 11 year old 'Triumph' muscadine grape did not bear much. I had never pruned it so took advice offered by Andy Firk and Paul Zmoda and gave it a hard classic pruning. It came back well but fruiting was reduced further. BUT.....I am glad I took their advice as THIS year's new growth is covered with hundreds of bloom clusters!

I spent $10 on a jug at Home Depot, waited till no rain chances and sprayed a few days ago.....NO effect at all on Bermuda grass, nut sedge, bidens, purslane and new growth coming out of a cut back Paper Mulberry. John