The end is nigh!

At least for paltas (avocados) in 2018. I took the last three off the “big” tree, including one that managed to remain hidden and is undoubtedly the record-holder for this year’s crop:

858 grams, or for those of you in Myanmar, Liberia, and the Untied Snakes:

1.892 pounds. Or 1 pound 14.271999979939547 ounces. Or if you want full ‘Murkan, 1 pound 14+34/125^th ounces.

6-1/2 x 4.25 inches / 16.5 x 10.8 cm.

I decided that the overgrown nature of our yard needs to be addressed, and in doing so discovered the extent of the comedreja’s (possum’s) raids.

The tree above this pile still has 30+ smaller avocados. It’s fun to remember two years ago, when our total harvest was 30+ avocados, and the comedreja getting one was devastating! This year we (and friends) have had avocados for almost seven months!

Meanwhile, both small orange trees are laden with flowers. Not very many bees, but some, and doing their job. Hopefully we get more than three oranges next year.

Behold the beady eyes

Hearing the dogs stir shortly after sunrise this morning, I got up to let them out. Almost immediately Mocha started barking at the closer avocado tree (for the record, not the one I put fence around). Aha!

comadreja - possum - in avocado tree — Hmmm …. trying to remember – can dogs climb trees?

The first year we had avocados, there were 32 of them. So when a possum got one, it was a big deal. This year, both trees have been producing since March. At 6:45 AM, standing naked in the back yard watching a four-legged looter getting ready to steal an avocado, my best course of action quickly became clear: go back to bed.

Later we saw that the critter had indeed had a heart-healthy breakfast. Mocha wonders if it is still in the tree.

Meanwhile, a few feet away, our little orange tree whose first harvest (three oranges?) happened this year, looks primed to do considerably better next. Which would be wonderful. But I have to wonder if it will be as “dumb” as our lemon tree, and grow so much fruit that a branch breaks. Time will tell.

And a _________ in the pear tree

No, not a partridge. A pear. One and only one single lonely pear, which will be our entire harvest from this tree this year – if we’re lucky and the birds don’t get to it first.

Around the garden

Posting about the squash plants yesterday inspired me to survey the area in which I plan to plant them.

Surprise!

squash seedlings

They’re already growing there! And the more you look, the more you see.

squash seedlings

Here’s a nearby clump in the shade of one of the little orange trees.

squash seedlings

Nearby, under the pine tree, a pigeon egg met its demise in yesterday’s very strong winds. Note the epiphyte as well.

fallen pigeon egg and epiphyte

My squash garden

Some time ago, after preparing a calabacín (here butternut squash, not zucchini) for dinner, I took the “guts” with the seeds, threw them in some dirt in a flower pot, and said dare you to grow!

They took up the dare, and before too long I found myself having to replant 35 seedlings.

Of the five or six I planted alongside the house, only one appears to have survived.

And I notice we have a volunteer avocado tree there as well, which needs a better location.

A few months ago, when we had avocados daily, I tried starting quite a few of the seeds. None took. So here’s one apparently spilled out of the “compost” barrel (which never gets hot enough to actually compost anything), thriving.

This is why I don’t take gardening too seriously. If things want to grow, they grow. If I want them to grow, well, maybe. Still: time to get those babies into the ground!

The little things: baby paltas

Baby avocados: the beginning of our third harvest.

Baby orange — first time from tree #1:

Baby oranges — first time from tree#2.

This is what our avocado trees looked like in August 2015:

Note the large pine tree in the background to the right. It’s still there now:

The two little orange trees are front right. I had to transplant them from the country because wind and hard soil there were just too much. It’s taken them a long time to get comfortable here. Very cool to see fruit starting to form!

Mangos, sort of

A couple years ago, after one of their distinctly non-native mango bushes died, Syd and Gundy gave us the other. The first couple winters, I built a custom greenhouse around it. But it has never produced fruit. Sure, lots of flowers, and lots of tiny starts, then they simply disappear.

Mango tree in our backyard, not native to Uruguay

But this year, it has produced a few tiny, very dry, somewhat tasty fruits. As you can see, something got to a couple of them first. The lemon is normal-sized.

Tiny, dry, almost-tasty mangos from our tree in Uruguay — Our son did the glass piece in 2008

The mango bush/tree is completely uncontrollable, as was the anacahuita (small leaf shade tree) next to it that had become so ungainly that I cut it down a few years ago. After two years, a new shoot appeared out of the stump. I carefully pruned it, until one day it became clear it was not connected to the stump, and had virtually no root system. So I pulled it up and got rid of it.

I’m not convinced that the mango bush-tree is the best use of this space.

Little things

A bird in our backyard pine tree, which is not particularly attractive but, as Syd told us long ago: “In Uruguay in summer, shade is good.”

Volunteer squash plants from the mound of dumped non-composted compost, taking over the side passageway of our house, fortunately not otherwise needed. Slightly wilted in the midday sun.

The usual garden story

A few days ago, I transplanted three squash seedlings. They’re doing fine, but …

Volunteer squash

… I now see six. Hmmm. And when I check on the first of the tomatoes I transplanted,

Volunteer squash

I see six more. On the second transplanted tomato,

Volunteer squash

SEVEN squash plants! I had given each transplant a healthy amount of the compost I had taken out of our bin just prior, which a few days later

Volunteer squash

looks like this. Maybe I can get some of these starts to grow at our chacra, where we have plenty of room for sprawling squash vines.

So this is how my garden grows!

Volunteer cilantro

The tomato seedlings are in a bed with a fair amount of cilantro, which I also didn’t plant this year.

And yes, I do need to do some weeding.

Dog-proofing the garden area

I’ve put this off far too long. With destructo-dog I absolutely have to have a fenced garden area. I’m not the most enthusiastic gardener, but I do have a bunch of seeds started, some of which (squash) will require substantial space.

fence-1

Using what I had at the chacra, I cut posts to have 80 cm exposed. I had a roll of 120 cm fence wire already, so I figured I take off the top 40 cm and double it when I ran out of the roll.

fence-2

It was pretty close — 2 meters shy! Had I not made a circular compost bin in the country earlier with the fencing, it would have worked out almost exactly right.

fence-3 — Where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise.

Benji, meanwhile, decided this was a nice place to hang out. No more. I trimmed the top 40 cm, leaving spikes, and built a gate. It’s not a pretty fence, and it’s not particularly well made, but it doesn’t have to be. It just has to keep out the dog and cat.

No excuse now.