The Dragon Is Alive And Kicking!!!

When we were still living in Launceston, we bought two dragon fruit cacti. One Ruby and the other Pearl. They were started off in pots in the hot house I built and they thrived.
But ..... we of course decided to move to Queensland and we didn't want to leave the cacti behind. So I bare rooted them and cut them up and put them in polystyrene boxes to bring them up here. They survived the trip very well and about a month or so after arriving here, I planted them out.
First of all I had to build something for them to climb on and after a couple of failed attempts at design, we agreed on a multi-purpose frame covered with shade cloth. I jokingly called it my C.A.T.B. ( Camouflaged Anti-Terrorist Bunker). I tell everyone about it and explain that, in case of a terrorist attack, we would be safe as the bunker is manned by regiments of miniature shock troops!!! The punch line is "when you see how small the troops are, you GET A SHOCK????!!!! Sometimes it works!!!

C.A.T.B with young Dragon Fruit on the outside

But back to the Dragon Fruit. They have grown very well here with their air roots clinging to the shade cloth. But up till now, they haven't produced any semblance of fruit!!!!
That has now changed. I was outside having a smoke the other day and just happened to dreamily glance down the back and saw this protuberance on top of the Dragon Fruit. On closer inspection it turned out to be a bud. So, with much haste and a lot of joy, I snapped a picture.
 

10 March 2012

 Not having ever seen Dragon Fruit growing, I wasn't really sure if I was right about it being a bud or not, so I decided to keep an eye on it and take pictures every five days or so just to record its development. The first one was on 10th March 2012 and the next was on 15th March 2012. You can see there is a lot of difference in the growth.

15 March 2012

I check it every day and there is always substantial growth, so we may be lucky to get our first Pearl Dragon Fruit.

It is now 20th March with a very overcast sky and troublesome rain. I always love the rain but at the moment with the nuisance rains we have been having, I am a bit jaded. I want to do so much in the garden but I just can't get a long enough dry spell to do it.
I took another photo of the Dragon Fruit this morning. It is now 30 cm tall and still growing. You can almost see it growing day by day. It also looks like it is starting to open up, so I am looking forward to seeing the actual flower. As I said before, I have never seen this fruit flower or produce fruit, so it is an amazing sight for me.
During the day I kept looking at the Dragon Fruit when I went for a smoke and I am still amazed at Nature. This morning it was squally rain and very overcast. This afternoon the sun came out and the Dragon Fruit also started to change for the better.
I could almost see the flower opening as I was watching it. I expect that it will be fully open tomorrow.

20 Mar 2012 at 0900

20 Mar 2012 at 1500

This is absolutely amazing!!! Just compare the two photos. This happened in a period of just six hours!!! I know that some of the most beautiful flowers on Earth come from cacti, but the speed of which this is developing is astounding. I only hope that the wind doesn't destroy it before the fruit ripens.

It has finally happened. Overnight the bud opened and this morning, 21 March 2012, I was met with a splendid display of Nature in her beauty.

21 Mar 2012 - Side View

21 Mar 2012

The flower is quite large and spectacular. I only hope the fruit is of a comparable size.
I am naturally inquisitive and I am forever searching for information on things I don't know or understand. That's why I love crosswords and puzzles. Not only the challenge, but the processes of getting an answer intrigue me. As I don;t know much about Dragon Fruit, I decided last night to do a search and see if I could find out about harvesting the fruit. That eventuated in a very simple explanation from a film clip on You Tube.
But, I did find out two other interesting bits.
1. The Dragon Fruit flower usually blooms in the evening and night and they are pollinated by bats and moths and other night creatures.
2. The flower only lasts for one day, just like the passionfruit. It then gradually wilts and the fruit is produced to picking stage over a period of about two weeks.
So I have decided to publish this post as it is and when the fruit is starting to form and through to the ripe stage, I will write another.
So ........................... keep watching for .............................

The Dragon Is Alive And Kicking!!!(Cont'd)

An Improvement ????

I think that Kay was definitely right when she said that I should remove the Bar-B-Q pit thingy. It was sort of large and the top was beginning to get a bit heavy to remove as I get on in years. So now it has given us more space to grow herbs.
And it has also given me a heap of timber that can be used for a lot of other small jobs!!

As you can now see, there is a lot of space.
So far we have basil and long chillies on the left with penny wort and kang kong near the fence. Closer to the front are Vietnamese mint and pandan.
I dropped a couple of cement slabs down to use as stepping stones. They were just left and buried by the builders I suppose as I dug them up when I did the initial digging of the plot. Lazy bastards!!!
With the timber I salvaged from the Bar-B-Q, I built the pot plant stand against the wall and there are a couple of turmeric plants (in flower now), couple of pandan and some indoor plants we are cultivating to eventually be put into hanging baskets.
All the plants seem to like the area, especially the pandan and mint as they don't like too much sun. Here they get the early morning sun, which is clear of the area by mid morning, and are protected from the wind. An ideal situation for them.
Time will tell if I am right as they grow (or die) and everything is easily accessible for Kay's delicious cooking.

The Peanut Vendor - After the Rain

The peanuts have been hanging around on the trellis for 3 or 4 days now, and always I intended to bring them in and strip them today.
BUT ...... unfortunately there was quite a heavy downpour of rain last night (29 ml) and they sort of got a little wet. They are still OK and now that I have stripped them, they should dry out beautifully and the dirt on them should come off easily.
This was a very good crop as you can see below.

There should be enough there to keep us going until the next crop.
Which, of course, I've already earmarked some peanuts for sowing in the next couple of weeks.

I was really quite surprised that there were so many from a plot about 9 ft X 2 ft. I just pushed them into the dirt and left them.
Very resilient and industrial little buggers aren't they??

The Peanut Vendor

When I was in the Navy as a Musician, I performed in a lot of combinations from Parade Band to Fanfare to small dance band to big band like Glenn Miller and Tommy Dorsey.
It was with the big band that we played "The Peanut Vendor". It was a great piece of music and it came to mind when I was digging our peanut crop.
I don't know where the title came from, and I'm not really concerned. but it was a great piece of music.
But .... now that I have dug the peanuts I thought maybe you would like to see what I have grown .... so ....

I made this frame to dry the peanuts as I read that they need to be left in the sun for a few days so that the toxins in them will disperse. The toxin won't do too much harm to you but maybe make you a little sick.
Last year I just left them on the ground and when the rain came, I moved them to the shed and the mice had a real feast. So that's why they are on a frame.

As you can see, there is a fair crop here and I am sure that Kay will have the time of her life boiling some of them. The rest I will roast and maybe even put a little salt on and have with my beer each night.
I did find a couple of "rogue" plants a couple of weeks ago that were growing from last year's crop, so I pulled them and saved the nuts and I will use them as seed for next year.
Talk about sustainable gardening!!!!