Flowers, Fruit and House Construction

When my mom was here she brought some borage and calendula seeds. We planted the seeds in flats and after they germinated I transplanted them to plastic drinking cups until they were ready to be moved to their permanent home. Gardening in Costa Rica is still a huge experiment for me. I planted some of the flowers in the new vivero, others in pots in the old vivero, some along the edges of the old vivero and yet others in the ground in full exposure to the elements. Those that have done the best are in pots in the old vivero and in the ground along the outside of the vivero. The flowers in the new vivero are disintegrating due to all of the rain we have received lately. Those planted fully exposed to the elements are stunted but still alive. My goal with the experiment was to see which environment was best suited for these flowers and to let the best plants to go seed so I can plant again in the future.

 

 Above is the calendula flower.

  Some of the pineapple plants are beginning to fruit. This picture shows the very beginning of the fruiting process.

Here is a picture of one of the pineapples. It’s about 6 inches long.

We planted several different types of bananas on our property. Lately we have become fond of green bananas. It took me a few tries to figure out how to cut and cook these without leaving behind an incredibly sticky mess from the latex like substance inside the green banana skins. Now that I have the method down we eat these every morning as part of our breakfast.

House construction continues to move along. I am still amazed at how quickly the crew works, even in the pouring rain. This picture shows the grid work that is part of the foundation. Soon they will begin pouring the concrete slab.