So much has happened since my last blog...most notably, we have moved back to Hawaii! When I first got into gardening and sprouting as a hobby, we were living in Tennessee. I became used to a certain level of challenge regarding growing and maintaining plants.
When we got settled in to our new place, I was of course eager to get some greenery. On a major City Mill run, I picked out a few starts, including bittermelon, or goya (as it is known in Okinawa). This fruit is popular in parts of Japan and India, and it is a personal favourite of mine. I have been wanting to grow it for years, but my attempts at planting the seeds in Nashville were unsuccessful.
After just a couple of days I was amazed at the growth of the start! It got quickly out of control and needed the help of some bamboo trellises found on a jungle hike. Hawaii, it turns out, is very easy to garden in!
A small challenge nagged at me, however. The plant itself was undergoing rapid growth, and it kept producing flowers. But the flowers kept falling off of the vine. I tried spreading pollen between flowers, which has worked in the past for our peppers. With this technique failing, I decided to take a visit to our neighbor's house where there is an amazing goya vine growing all along their front fence. I took a single flower and used it to try to cross-pollinate mine. I am not sure if some helpful insect came around right at that moment, or if the trick worked, but either way, a mini-goya appeared just days later.
I have been reading about growing vegetables in Hawaii. According to this book, it should take 90 days after planting to get a bittermelon fruit. So far we are ahead of plan!
When we got settled in to our new place, I was of course eager to get some greenery. On a major City Mill run, I picked out a few starts, including bittermelon, or goya (as it is known in Okinawa). This fruit is popular in parts of Japan and India, and it is a personal favourite of mine. I have been wanting to grow it for years, but my attempts at planting the seeds in Nashville were unsuccessful.
After just a couple of days I was amazed at the growth of the start! It got quickly out of control and needed the help of some bamboo trellises found on a jungle hike. Hawaii, it turns out, is very easy to garden in!
A small challenge nagged at me, however. The plant itself was undergoing rapid growth, and it kept producing flowers. But the flowers kept falling off of the vine. I tried spreading pollen between flowers, which has worked in the past for our peppers. With this technique failing, I decided to take a visit to our neighbor's house where there is an amazing goya vine growing all along their front fence. I took a single flower and used it to try to cross-pollinate mine. I am not sure if some helpful insect came around right at that moment, or if the trick worked, but either way, a mini-goya appeared just days later.
I have been reading about growing vegetables in Hawaii. According to this book, it should take 90 days after planting to get a bittermelon fruit. So far we are ahead of plan!
