Above you see part of my corn crop. I looked at it this morning and figured that it needs a few more days. Evidently the birds didn’t agree. I have some bananas at the end of the yard. They are still green and hard, but maybe I should harvest them before some bird, mammal or bug decides they are ready.
We used to grow tomatoes when I was a kid, but always had to wait for a longer time to get our first taste. My father liked tomatoes while they were still green and hard. He harvested them before anybody else wanted to eat them. We didn’t get our share until the productivity of the tomato vines overtook his daily consumption.
I really don’t have much success with my food crops. I got one watermelon. It was good, but not very big and the vines took up lots of space. I got a fair amount of tomatoes, but only after I changed to smaller, faster maturing varieties that beat the bugs. I doubt I will get any corn. I don’t like mangoes, but even if I did the fantastic production of the tree in my yard wouldn’t be worth much. The birds go after them high in the tree. We get dozens of those florescent green bungees. They are kind of pretty, but their songs suck. They show up at dawn and squabble. I suppose I can take pride in that I am feeding the birds, bugs and possums. It is a lot easier to buy produce at the supermarket. Given the actual yield from my gardens, it is probably cheaper too.
Below is my giant compost heap produced by the spring cleaning. Supposedly things decompose really fast in the tropics, but I have not noticed that it happens faster than in Virginia. To be fair, I suppose I am thinking only of the warm months in Virginia. Nothing much decomposes in the cold. The tree in the front with the interesting leaves is a breadfruit. This is what Captain Bligh was supposed to bring back on the Bounty when that famous mutiny took place. It was a Polynesian plant and is one of the most productive food sources. Breadfruit is starchy and hard to prepare. My tree doesn’t have much fruit and if it did I would not work too hard to cook.
