MY COSTA RICAN GARDEN JOURNAL: Note to Self: Find Blight-Resistant Tomatoes by Marilyn

Me in my garden with my first carrots and daily lettuce.

In my last entry, I was mourning the upcoming loss of my squash plants to cucumber beetles. Although I planted five varieties of squash (3 summer, 2 winter), the only ones that made it through were the zucchini. They prospered despite the proliferation of beetles. Probably because they were the fastest growing they could push past the attack. The other squashes, and the cucumber and cantaloupe plants, were DOA. I will try floating row covers next time. I couldn’t bring myself to photograph the total devastation of that part of the garden.

In the other part of the garden, the spinach continues to produce and we have enough lettuce to eat salads daily. One day I found a recipe for lettuce braised in butter and garlic – two big bunches became my lunch – a nice diversion from raw salads. The carrot tops were getting huge, so I did a test harvest of two of them – the carrots are getting enormous! You can see in the picture that they have a way to go, but I won’t have to be getting carrots at the feria for a while. I googled carrot-top recipes because they are so beautiful, they look so healthy and smell wonderful. I’ll be making this one from Vegetarian Times soon:  

I will be eating the carrots AND the tops.

Warm Chickpea and Carrot-top Salad
Serves 4
1 tsp. olive oil
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 medium onion, minced
1 14-oz can chickpeas, drained
1 cup finely chopped carrot greens,
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt, to taste
Heat oil over medium heat. Add cumin, and sauté 1 minute, or until fragrant. 
Add onion and sauté until golden, about 2 minutes. 
Add chickpeas and sauté until heated through and any liquid has evaporated, about 2 minutes.
Remove pan from heat and add carrot greens. Toss, then transfer to a serving bowl and season with lemon juice and salt before serving.

And with all my carrot greens, I was happy to find the article, 5 Ways to Eat Carrot Tops.
from a great foodie website called TheKitchn.

The cornstalks “look” lovely and healthy. But I’m not holding my breath for that first corn-on-the-cob feast after talking to some folks who’ve tried growing corn here. It has to do with the light. Here in Costa Rica, we get 12 hours of sun every day (well, not in the rainy season – I’ll have to research growing corn then). Apparently, to bring the sugars up to the kernels, corn needs more dark and less daylight. One friend told me that his corn grew to about 4 feet and then – nothing. My cornstalks are now about 3 feet high and I’m seeing some tasseling – I will make a full report in my next garden entry. An aside – when we were here in June-July, Paul and I bought what looked like delicious, wonderful sweet corn from a guy on the side of the road. He had huge piles of it. Well, we got home, steamed the corn, got out the butter and salt and … blech! What were we eating, feed corn? Turns out we were eating the kind of corn used to make tamales. Live and learn.

BLIGHT BLUES

Early blight - so sad.

So, now for the sadness that was my gorgeous, full-of-blossoms tomato plants. One day they looked great. I thought I was doing everything right – I garlic-sprayed the white flies within seconds of discovering them, never got the leaves wet when watering, fed them yummy chicken poop mulch. But it was not enough. Early blight took over the crop, seemingly overnight. The plants are still blooming and fruiting, but, as you can see in the photo, every fruit looks like it was punched in the eye (if tomatoes had eyes). I googled “can you eat blighted tomatoes?” and some folks say “yes, just cut off the blight” but I went to the feria instead and bought a kilo (2.2 lbs.) for $2. I still want to grow my own – I just need to find blight resistant varieties here in Costa Rica. Since many coffee farmers have now turned to growing tomatoes instead, I should be able to find better seeds at a nearby agricultural store.

So many tomatoes, so much blight :(

Eggplant blossoms - I can't wait!!!

These pepper plants were totally destroyed by the dog
 knocking them down the hill. So happy they've come back.

First pepper blossom

The peppers and eggplant that I’ve also planted on the patio seem to be flourishing. They’re starting to blossom and so far nothing is eating them (knock wood). Eggplant has got to be my absolute favorite veggie (not counting tomatoes which are officially fruits) and I’ve noticed it’s hard to find eggplant at the Farmer’s Market, so I can’t wait to begin harvesting them.

Basil doing fine!

Two tiny chive plants - c'mon guys,
you can do it!

In our little backyard, I had turned over some soil, added compost and planted several varieties of herbs. So far, the only herbs that seem to have made it are basil, one tiny cilantro plant and two even-tinier chive plants. Once the rainy season starts I will stick in some rosemary sprigs from my neighbor’s giant plant. I would love to be able to grow oregano, thyme, and parsley. Maybe I need a greenhouse.

Mmmmm ... snow peas in paradise

One little cilantro

I did plant some snow peas against the fence, despite the fact that the clue in their name should have discouraged me from trying to grow a cold crop in the tropics. So far, I’ve harvested enough for a nice lunch – raw snow peas, minutes from the garden, dipped in homemade honey mustard yogurt dressing. That was heavenly. They are still blossoming, so maybe I’ll get one more lunch out of them.

I do love getting lost in gardening, so I’m not giving up, even though my first attempts in Costa Rica have only been about 50 percent (maybe 40 percent) successful. I welcome insights and guidance from anyone who’s happily gardening in Costa Rica (especially in my micro-climate – 4,500 ft. in the Central Valley).

Lots of lovely lettuce

MY FIRST GARDEN IN COSTA RICA: AN ONGOING JOURNAL by Marilyn

Nasturtiums are beneficial as pest control (and salad).
I'll be planting more of them in different parts of the garden. 

 I have always loved growing things. Genetically, this came from my maternal grandpa, who believed roses were the cure for all ills, and my mom, whose beautiful flower beds were the envy of our neighborhood. My mom’s freezer was always stocked with fruits and veggies harvested either from our property or from her many trips to pick-your-own farms. (The one thing she never did – canning – after an exploded green bean jar episode before I was born. She was deathly afraid of botulism.)

When we lived in Delaware I had the advantage of a 30-year-old compost heap which made growing veggies as easy as plopping seeds in the group and watching my tomato plants rise to over six feet, heavy with luscious fruit.

Then we moved to Arizona. About a week after the June 2005 move, I bought some tomato plants from Home Depot. I figured if they were selling them, I should be able to grow them. Despite shade cloth, judicious watering and loving attention, my plants succumbed to a week of 115 degree (plus) temps. 

This was my garden in Phoenix. Very challenging.  

RIP.

Noel and his pup finishing the garden.

In eight years of desert living, my many attempts produced about five edible tomatoes. When I planted in the fall, a deep winter freeze zapped everything. I was eventually able to harvest kale, eggplant, arugula and some incredibly delicious snow peas, but I never really got the hang of desert gardening.

Noel, Jenny and Nathan taking a break.

EVERYTHING SHOULD GROW HERE, RIGHT?

I couldn’t wait to start my garden in Costa Rica. Once the rainy season (e.g. winter) started to wind down, we hired Jenny’s gardener Noel to dig up the back yard of the workshop. Five hours after shoveling and hauling about 25 wheelbarrows full of “good dirt” from across the road, Noel had given me a nice 16’ x 20’ plot. The “good dirt” was pretty dense, and Jenny suggested I add graza (rice hulls) to aerate it. A few days later she called and said better than plain graza, she could get organic chicken poop fertilizer mixed with graza. “You’ll love it,” she said. It was 1 mil (about $2.00) a bag. I had purchased bags of some kind of fertilizer from one of the garden centers and they were about a kilo for 1 mil. “How many bags would you like?” she asked.

“How about if I go with 12.” I figured that would be a good start. A few days later I heard the familiar rumblings of Fernando’s (Jenny’s dad) truck pulling up to the workshop. Jenny and Noel were with him. The truck was filled to the brim with huge sacks. I think my eyes popped. They had to be at least 50 kilos (110 lbs.) each. And I was getting a dozen. Jenny saw my face. “Bigger than you thought?” she asked.

My huge bags of fertilizer.

“Uh, a little.” But heck, I’m a committed gardener now, I’m sure I can use them. Noel hauled my dozen bags to the little shed behind the workshop. I paid Jenny the 12 mil colones and set about planning how to use my wealth of fertilizer. I’d divided the plot into eight sections. In addition to the workshop plot, I’d started a small herb garden in the backyard of the house, and, after researching Costa Rica gardening advice online, planted my eggplants and tomatoes in buckets on the patio.

Paul turning in the fertilizer.

Me, watering.

With Paul’s help, I turned a half a sack of fertilizer into each of the eight sections. I then went over to the “good dirt” area across the road and filled pots for my tomatoes and eggplant, adding a few healthy scoops of fertilizer into each pot. My tomato plants were ready to be transplanted, so I shifted most of them to the new pots, leaving several in the original pot without the chicken fertilizer. I didn’t realize it then, but this has become my “control group.” There is an amazing difference between the “chicken pots” and the original pot that didn’t have the benefit of my new fertilizer.

Garden divided into sections and planted.

NOTE TO SELF: DON'T LEAVE YOUR GARDEN WHEN IT NEEDS YOU

Lots of squash and cucumber plants.

It’s now the end of January and my gardens are in various stages of happiness and unhappiness. Part of the problems stem from being away just as things started sprouting. We left for the states right after Christmas when I should have been using row covers and nipping problems in the bud. And as soon as we returned, I came down with a nasty stomach virus that kept me flat on my back and out of the garden for nearly two more weeks. So by the time I started focusing on the garden again, the bugs were winning -- big time. I'm posting the good, the bad and the ugly here in the hopes that someone might see this who has some solutions for me.

PLANT AND PESTS: THE CHALLENGE OF THE ORGANIC GARDENER

Spinach and lettuce. So far, so good. 

I’ve just harvested the first of the zucchinis (I have five varieties of squash) and am in an ongoing struggle with cucumber beetles, using two different organic insecticides that seem only mildly effective. 

Cucumber beetles.

The prolific pests seem most interested in the zucchini, but I’m going after them on the cucumbers and cantaloupes as well. The cucumbers and cantaloupes are blossoming despite the pests, 

Cantaloupe blossoms still undefeated by the
cucumber beetles, but not looking very healthy.

carrots are sprouting, and the spinach and lettuce, shaded by a row of sunflowers (although many of their leaves have been munched up by leaf-cutter ants – grrr), are progressing nicely. 

Leaf cutter ants ate all the sunflower leaves.

Organic pesticides -- not working very well. 

Pests have been leaving the lettuce alone.

Some lavender peeking under the eggplant.

Destroyed green beans.

My green beans have been almost completely decimated by a still-to-be-discovered insect (possibly the cucumber beetles, but I haven’t seen evidence of them); I may be able to eventually harvest enough to add to a salad. 

Basil.

Down in the shadier herb garden, I’m growing snow peas. The only herbs that are showing any progress so far are the basil and a few oregano sprouts. 

The herb garden did not have the benefit of the chicken fertilizer, but herbs don’t really need rich soil. And on the patio, the tomatoes are blossoming (at least the ones planted with chicken fertilizer). I have some lavender plants in among the eggplant to keep pests away, and I am either growing a bucket of marigolds or peppers – I can’t tell yet and I don’t remember what I put in that particular pot. The nearby nasturtiums seem to be doing a nice job repelling pests – I should have planted them in with the squash; I’ll know to do that next time.

MORE BEDS ON THE WAY

I’ve expanded one flower bed that was overgrown. A young mango tree and an azalea were crammed beside several agave. Now they all have their own space, nurtured with chicken fertilizer. In that bed I’ve also planted gladiola bulbs and some mystery flower seeds. I have lots more plans for other areas of the garden and so much more to learn about gardening on our beautiful mountain in Costa Rica. I’d love to hear from others in the Central Valley who’ve had experiences – positive or negative – with their gardens. 

Mango tree and azaleas in new flower bed.