Gustav damaged or destroyed homes and trees, but luckily caused no major damage to anything of mine. I lost a number of plants, which gave me some new opportunities for gardening experiments as well as some newly opened spaces perfect for trying to grow new vegetables. And, most thankfully, it destroyed my cucumber plants ... I was so tired of eating cucumbers!!
One of my experiments was cauliflower. I've heard how difficult it is to grow, but it apparently liked the spot I chose for it ... and it tolerated 4" of snow really well. Today, I harvested my first two heads:
You'll note that there are a number of jalepenos and one lone poblano pepper nestled in there, too. The pepper plants survived the hurricane with little damage and the jalepeno didn't even mind the frost! Sadly, that is my last poblano of the season, but it has definitely encouraged me to start my seeds for the spring.
Other planting news ... the broccoli is coming along nicely and I should be able to begin harvesting in the early part of the new year. I have plenty of lettuce that can be harvested at any time, but I am fighting the snails for my cabbage!
And the papaya experiment is still going on. The tree itself broke in half during the 100 + mile per hour winds, but it survived. I lost a lot of papayas in the hurricane, but I did manage to save two. Of course, the fruits both cracked with the first frost this year, which was very early, and so I learned a new cooking technique. After letting the bitter and toxic latex drain from the fruit, I peeled it, steamed it lightly, then grilled it with my last eggplants of the season. It was absolutely delicious!
Since papayas don't tolerate cold very well, though, I am not sure whether it survived the frosts and snow we've had here, but I will leave it alone till spring to find out. If it succombs to the weather, I have another in a pot. And the nursery may have more in stock this year ... since a papaya grows about 1' / month here and produces fruit the first year, it would be well worth my time and effort to invest in another tree, if necessary.What will the new year bring? More landscaping ... walking irises and strawberry guava ... maybe a lemon tree .... I can't wait to find out!
