It has been several months since I last posted about what is new in my garden. Over the summer of 2015, I gave the garden a rest and focused on reaching out to the community with the exciting results from my research into the benefits of urban food growing.
Meanwhile, the mango tree gave out hundreds of mangoes this year- each weighing 1-2 pounds each. I canned/preserved a lot of them. They still are the best mangoes I have ever eaten! Look carefully at the mango in the yellow circle- it seems to be looking back…is it smiling or frowning? You decide.
Besides the mangoes, there were sugar apples, malabar, calalu and portulaca harvested from the garden. I had a nice crop of muscadine grapes this year. These are very different from other grape types because the bunches have only a few grapes (even though there are a lot of bunches), the skin is thick and the inside is very sweet and flavorful. These are perhaps the most flavorful grapes I have ever eaten.
In August, I prepared my garden beds and replanted! The garden beds are filled to capacity with beans. Yes, beans! Pinto beans, black beans, pigeon peas (a type of bean), lima beans, pole string beans and winged beans. Why so many beans? Well, this season I am trying to grow enough fruits and vegetables to feed at least 2 people from my backyard garden- which is more than 100 cups of cooked dry beans. Below is a picture of my garden- all of the plants you see are beans. These will be ready for harvest in October. I’ll pull the mature bean plants from the garden to dry and then plant the winter vegetable garden.
Check back in October for another update from my backyard food garden!