Gardening

The whole reason for moving to this home was to garden. The property of 5 acres came with garden beds and a raised nursery.

The hurricane winds blew down the covering on the nursery and the ex-husband didn’t leave the beds ready for gardening as he said he would.

After seeing what the pigs have done to this yard and hearing what they’ve done to neighbor’s gardens, I have not been anxious to do any planting. Not to mention that the day-to-day living activities take more time here.

I felt like a hypocrite when my techy guy starts to plant seed with India. I must tell you something about Jonathan. He makes everything seem absolutely effortless. NOTHING is a big deal. He can watch India, clean the house, cook a full meal and have the dishes washed without breaking a sweat or feeling stressed at all. Maybe I just make everything seem/look really hard (that is something I’m looking at and working on – he is such an inspiration to me).

So they started some seeds: Cilantro, Lemon Cucumber, Hubbard Squash and Cumin.

The squash are so fun because they sprout so quickly, India asks to go out everyday and see them. We’ll keep you posted.

Now Jonathan is also my Garden Hero.

The Yard

Banana, the grasses in front are Lemongrass

Papaya, Banana, Roses

Sugarcane on both sides of the "starters garden"

 

We have many banana trees, several varieties.

 

Hibiscus and Banana

Sugar Cane 

Yellow Ginger - divine.... 

Fruit and Flowers around the Ocean Retreat

 

I wondered why my dill and basil were tipped over one day and looked who I found! We got a few eggs from this spot, but no more since.

 

Karen hasn’t cooped them in years, so you never know where an egg may be. We’ve found about 6 so far, some under bushes and others just along the footpath.

 

There are lots of fruits and flowers here; almost every color Plumeria.

My favorite:Jasmine – the strongest and most divine scent.

 

India's Favorite: Water Apple

These are like a mild cranberry and VERY, VERY crisp. CRUNCH!!!

Hugh and Carrie's House

This is where we stayed 2 years ago when we 1^st came to The Big Island. My hair dresser had a friend leaving for CA for 3 weeks and needed someone to care for their dog and rabbit, exactly what I had ordered!!!!  Jonathan’s friend got us buddy passes on Hawaiian and India was free.  Anyway, we stayed here again between house sitting jobs and I thought you’d be interested to see it looks like.

 

Lemon and lime trees line the walkway to the deck.

 

Tree house below a Papaya Tree.

I'm not sure what kind of flowering tree this is - 50 ft tall... 

 

This is how pineapples grow. After you pick this one, two more, even sweeter shoot out.

Container Garden

A curry plant from someone Jonathan met playing soccer.

Here is a Plumeria Tree Cutting; supposedly you just stick it in the ground and it grows! We'll see, they smell soooo yummy!

This is the new tomato that was left after India picked two and brought them to me.

 Every year I try to grow tomatoes. One year it was the horned worms, then the dogs ate them. Last year it was India and we'll see if this year if I have any tomatoes for my basil and mozzarella cheese!

 

Lime Basil! 

The guy at the Farmer's Market says to pop the flowers off and put them in your salad. This is the best tasting basil I've ever grown. They are so easy to grow and produce way more basil than I can ever use.

 

Yummy Dill

My favorite on a salad

  

Red Ginger from a neighbor...

 

Ginger growing from the root of ginger that I used to make my ginger-lime iced tea.