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Friday, May 29, 2020 By Victoria Torley There is a lot to love up here in Arenal right now. The weather is perfect; it’s what we were told to expect from tropical weather at this height (635m). Beautiful mornings with bright clear skies, warm to hot in the early afternoon and showers later in the day. The lilies are blooming, the black raspberries are producing in abundance, and even the leaf cutter ants seem to be taking a break.  All the birds seem to be singing and we have nests everywhere. We think this is a common tody-flycatcher nest. They are a friendly bird and not easily spooked, or this one would never have built a nest next to our wind gauge. Those old seeds I told you about have performed well. The tomatoes are stretching skyward and some of the vining plants are already in flower. Each set of vines has a collar – a plastic cup with the bottom cut off to prevent the vine borer beetles from accessing their bases. It’s such an easy trick and I hate seeing the split vines, not when they are easily prevented. The seeds may be old, but they were difficult to find so I’m glad they are still viable. Now, this is not really a complaint, but I like my squash – especially my zucchini – small and fresh and tender. Why Costa Rican gardeners let squash get huge is something I still don’t understand. So, we have zucchini, yellow summer squash and acorn squash all growing in the garden. Spaghetti squash? I haven’t found any seeds yet, but we have a home. Carrots and beets are additional mysteries to me here in Costa Rica. I have never seen such huge carrots and the beets were unbelievable. Again, there are times when smaller is better. If I can get carrots to grow (advice appreciated as my attempts have failed time and time again), we will pick them when they are young and tasty. Same with beets and definitely with radishes. We have met some touch radishes here, and Metric Man prefers his crunchy. As the time stretches on to the rainy season, here is a tip for those of you with fruit trees. It’s time to fertilize them. You probably knew that, but the “how” is the issue. My first gardener fertilized the fruit trees by scattering the fertilizer pellets around on the ground. Wrong! Find the drip-line of your fruit trees (instructions on the web). Now, take a bulb planter – they work the best – and make a hole about 4 inches deep. Put in a teaspoon of fertilizer. Plug the hole. Move in a circle around the tree and repeat the process about every 3 feet. Not done yet! Move outward from the first circle by about two feet and start again but offset the holes. They shouldn’t line up. Depending on the size of the tree, you should repeat the process three or four times. Why? Scattering fertilizer nourishes the grass. Putting the fertilizer into the ground nourishes the tree. Plant
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 Just in case you couldn’t picture it, here is a “collared” zucchini ready to flower. Editor's note: More information on this article or about gardening, Ms. Victoria Torley can be reached at victoriatorley1@gmail.com. |
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