Friday, March 21, 2008

Let It Rain!


Spring is in the air, the sun is shining warmly, and the rains they are a coming. Well not in drought ridden North Carolina, but the wet season has begun at Finca Nueva Berlin. After several months of very limited watering I have begun a new regimen.
















I began watering the plants much more often, and more water each time. A spray bottle for misting also appeared on the windowsill. I figure it is pretty humid in the jungle, so a quick spraying of the leaves a few times a day is now the norm.
Organic bone meal in a nice heavy dose, along with some compost, were mixed into the soil to promote flowering. The plants are all looking as beautiful as I can remember. The leaves are a deep green and lustrous. New leaves are popping up constantly and in places on the existing branches where I have never seen them grow before.












Just so happens there are a few other trees in my neighborhood. Unknown to me a guy a couple miles away has a half dozen mature trees he brought back from Venezuela about ten years ago. They produce fruit on occasion, and he allowed me and a friend to come pick the cherries. The plants are big, but don't look especially healthy. He also uses miracle grow regularly, so I still lay claim to Durham, NC's only organic coffee farm. I took about 30 cherries and buried them a couple inches down in a pot of nice rich soil. Don't know if anything will sprout, but what the hey. Last year the same guy mentioned above gave away small plants from his sprouts at a local store. A couple of them made it to Counter Culture, but they got left out in the cold. I took them home and tried to revive them. One survived, and with a new neighbor in the pot. It would seem a tomato seed from my compost decided the pot would make a good home. Can you say poly culture?

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