Gardening in Fuerteventura

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Some random pics from Happy Plants on Sunday:

 Parkinsonia tree, beloved by bees.

Cotton:
  

Pomegranates:
 

  

  

  

  

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Desert Roses:

I have several large plants, both have plain red flowers. We are lucky that in our climate they bloom all year outdoors. The only thing that sets them back from time to time is cochineal. They get a good spray of pesticide and soon recover though.


I collect the seed and get about 50% germination, sowing when the seed is very fresh. I'm quite happy with that success rate. All the young plants get given away - I just love the challenge of getting them started.

So, my question:
The latest batch of seeds are just germinating and one seedling is totally white - it was the first to emerge, about a week ago. Will this stand a chance of surviving? Is this something that occurs often?

 

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

A few observations from my garden over the last few days.

The poinsettia tree took a hammering in the calima. A friend is going to help me rein it in tomorrow - hope it doesn't snap as we pull it back upright 



A newly planted stephanotis has taken really well and has loads of bloom about to open:

 

The lantanas are doing really well. The orange/red one attracts loads of butterflies. They hardly glance at the pink/yellow one, this African Monarch is the first I've seen on it!

  

Noticed today that one of my big hibiscus bushes (2m x 2m) has become fasciated on nearly every stalk. If it doesn't grow out soon I'll give the whole bush a severe pruning, back to below the affections:




A few purple variations, a small pepper and purple basil, both doing well, proving wind tolerant:

 

the fennel is also surprisingly resistant to the wind and heat:



The salmon poinsettia is coming in to bloom:



Whilst the daturas delight me with their fragrance every morning:

  

I'm experimenting with growing some ferns in pots under my trees. If they seem like they're going to survive I'll give them some nicer pots and make a feature along with the tillandsias:

 



Finally, I've been blessed/cursed with a baby wild rabbit. My dog (a terrier mix) is on guard by a clump of bushes, where it seems to have taken up residence, all day, but is proving extremely inept at catching it. I've also got a humane rabbit trap set but no joy.

   

[Emmi Smith]

Well done Tamara, all looking very lush and colourful.

[TrickyFox]

Limited irrigation timing availability

So, I have installed my irrigation system but for various reasons I only have a 24 hour timer using water from a kitchen sink waste tank(so only on every day or manual override).

My other irrigation system has a 'proper' timer and is set for 1 hour every 72 hours.

So, would you recommend using the timer, say every day for half an hour, or rely purely on manual actuation i.e. 1 hour every 72 hours?

It does feed a banana plant, which I know will need additional water, but the rest are things like lavender, screening, etc.

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

I would say every 72 hours but it really depends on the volume it is discharging per plant and how well drained your soil is. I reduce mine in 'winter'. The banana will need more, especially as it nears fruiting and while fruiting.
Try the 72 hours and see what the soil is like as it approaches next watering. Whatever you do try not to water when the sun has been on the pipes, it can boil the water!

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Today I've been dealing with my Desert Roses/Adeniums.

  

Today I potted on some seedlings that I've grown from the first set of seeds this year:



They've bloomed well this year and I've had several different sets of seeds. I sowed 15 seeds a few months ago. 8 germinated, 5 grew, 3 survived! That's what I potted today. 

A few days ago I noticed that the latest seed pods were well developed and I got them taped to prevent the seeds blowing away when the pods opened.



I harvested several pods today and planted another 30 seeds:



It really is a labour of love as they can take many years to reach blooming size! 

Happy to share some seed if anyone else wants to try. My plants all have plain red flowers. If anyone has a purple flowered one please can I buy some seed? (I'm not so keen on the white or red/white ones.)

ps - Adenium seeds need sowing as fresh as possible to get germination.

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

I've had masses of blooms on my Pitahaya (DragonFruit) this year but none seems to have set fruit. For various reasons I didn't try to aid pollination this year and left it to nature but no joy. Never mind, I've enjoyed the flowers, mainly by torchlight! And the scent on the night that I had 18 blooms out at once - heavenly!

  

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

I decided today to attack my jungle area - it really had got overgrown! The Monstera (swiss cheese plant) was so massive it was stopping the gate from opening. The honeysuckle had completely engulfed the Drago and was starting on a big hibiscus and a banana tree .......you get the picture!

 

I started by cutting a big pile of basil and then 3 leaves of Swiss Cheese plant to get into the jungle! And then I got diverted! I had forgotten all about the fruit developing on the Swiss Cheese until I spotted them down at floor level.



The one in this pic is fairly new and totally unripe. However one from last year was hiding behind it. When I took hold of it it squished between my fingers  . I managed to cut it off and backed out of teh jungle to investigate further.


The end nearest the stalk (top in this pic) was squidgy and covered in fruit flies. The middle was ripe and still firmish. The far end was unripe and still covered in hexagonal green skins. I hosed off the fruit flies and took it inside to investigate further. It's made up of hundreds of little kernels (like sweetcorn). In the interest of research for this forum I scraped (easily) some from the middle section with a spoon and took my life in my hands. It was amazing - best flavour fruit ever! A mix of banana and pineapple - yummy. I ate all that was in good condition on this fruit and I'm writing this 4 1/2 hours later with no ill effects! 

  

Now I know why the official name of the plant is Monstera Deliciosa!!!

As an aside - if anyone has a variegated Swiss Cheese plant please can I have a cutting? Happy to pay for it!

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Carrying on from yesterday .....

I had to saw a large growth off of the Swiss Cheese plant, complete with 5 newish fruits, to allow the gate to open 



Also a load of roots (the plant mainly has aerial roots) that had formed arches just waiting to trip me up! If I fell over in there no one would ever find me!



The good news is that the section I cut off has a load of new roots growing so I'm going to plant it under a tree at the top of my garden and hope it takes off.



It's still a jungle but I can just get through now 



Discovered something new about Red Admiral butterflies in relation to this exercise - details in the Butterflies thread! I'll link it once I've posted there.

https://fuerteventura.click/Thread-Butte...6#pid26406