Today, we built a platform for our cacao plants and moved the outdoor or into the green house. We've got the misting system from before, a small fan, and an old phone turned WiFi camera. I'm excited to see how things grow in here. I'm also trying to figure out exactly how we'll keep this warm in the winter, though we have some ideas.
The indoor plants are doing really well, benefiting from consistent temperatures and regular watering.
In the front is a Cinnamon tree we ordered online.
We thought our watermelon was all done this season, but it had one last surprise! While pulling out peanut and tomato plants, I noticed something green in one of the cinder blocks. Growing inside of 2 blocks (top and bottom) was our last watermelon!
I broke the blocks apart to get it out and washed and cut it before this picture. It tastes ok, though maybe a bit old, since we're not sure how long it's been there.
I may try this on purpose in the future with a smaller, sweeter watermelon variety. Pixel watermelon FTW :)
In preparation to move the blueberries into large grow bags and away from our house, I pulled away the blocks and found that peat moss holds together very well after some time. I found lots of insects and even a little gecko in there. I also found some yellow mold that I hope won't become a problem...
Some friends graciously spent 9 hours with me replacing a section of our metal shed roof with clear pvc roofing that I hope will let in enough light to make cacao and our other winter-sensitive plants happy. There's still a lot of work to do in here for insulation, termite control (it's an old pole-barn-type shed with a gravel floor), and adding electricity for lighting, fans, and some of the heating. I'm excited to try my first winter with a greenhouse!
The rest of the peanuts. I hope any pesticides used in the shed that stuck to the hanging bar don't get on the peanuts, though I'm comforted a bit by the fact that they have a shell...
A bit less than half the peanuts, up drying in the shed. They need to dry to avoid a dangerous carcinogenic mold that likes to grow on peanuts...
Several of our peanut plants had a lot of shoots(?) reaching down to the ground, but never made it because we didn't add extra soil around them. Thankfully the shoots near the base made peanuts, but the hanging shots are a lost opportunity for extra peanuts.
This year, I meant to add extra dirt, but wasn't sure when to do it. An online source says to do it when the plants get 6 inches tall. This is also a good reason to plant peanuts in rows instead of checkerboard.
The plants are yellowing, so it's time to harvest our peanut crop! We've tried some smaller scale plantings before, but hopefully we get enough for peanut butter this time...
As harvesting has slowed, so have our weeding efforts. The grass is currently winning the battle in multiple beds. However, today we're going to start working on cleaning things up in preparation for fall and winter. If we're lucky, we'll get some wheat planted in the main bed.
I removed the roofing from our shed overhang today in preparation for our shed to greenhouse conversion project (yay!). However, this sent the temperature in the tiny greenhouse skyrocketing over 107 F! I got the mister running continuously which shaved off about 9 degrees, but the temp started rising again!
I've heard that some farms use banana trees to shade cacao trees, so I'm trying that now! Banana and chocolate, together like they should be ;)
