We want to believe that the garden's gifts are always abundant and wanted. You know, dripping, ripe, green, lush and calming. Sorta like the image here....
In reality, it sometimes isn't. And that's what our last month in the garden was about. Despite my best efforts to be grateful, I found myself CURSING at yet more wretched jackfruits falling from the tree! 😜
This "small" one?? Haha.... 'only' 9.1kg. And it was one of 7 which fell from the tree - overripe and past eating - in one brief week.
Over 70kgs of fetid, fruit-fly-attracting MESS that I eventually hurled over the fence and into the irrigation canal beside our house. 😆 Probably I need to work out how to distil an enjoyable alcohol from all this sloppy, sweet, over-ripe fruit. Did I mention we don't really LIKE jackfruit?
For every person about to suggest using the meat from the young jackfruit for cooking? Check this....
That thick white liquid goo seeping out? Latex. Yup. As in a glue like substance. It gets on EVERYTHING and needs to be chiseled off your knives, benches, hands etc. Honestly, I can't be bothered. Which is a sign of how abundant and BLESSED we are that we can afford to ignore nourishing, garden abundance. I'm almost envious of the zucchini brigade cos I quite like zucchini bread!
In other excessive garden news, the aloe vera is going feral. So top-heavy that it's collapsing and needs to be cut & used, or composted.
When I get back from my current European travels, I'm planning to use it as a rooting hormone for propagating some new mulberry trees. And investigating freezing the pulp for smoothies. WE have literally hundreds of pups in various spots around the garden and in pots on the porch. The more I neglect it, the more it seems to thrive!
The banana trees are booming and we have 4 new little trees poking their way up - they're loving the monsoonal rains and it promises to be an abundant banana harvest too. 🤣 Lucky there are way more yummy things to make from a huge yield of bananas, than there are from jackfruits.
But basically, we're on the road for a month now in Europe.
The garden will do what it does in our absence, and when I come back I will no doubt be spending days and days with a machete to simply find my way in. 🤣 All good. Lucky I had the brush cutter serviced before we left, I'm gonna need it.
What I'm really appreciating is seeing how gardens are done here in Cyprus... and very much looking forward to observing some Dutch gardens when we hit The Netherlands next week.
Grateful for garden abundance, most of the time.... 😆
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Give the aloe vera in more sun and it will grow more slowly
Oh that's an interesting idea. Had not really though of that - tend to equate rapid growth with thriving but maybe for a succulent it's a sign of stress and therefore the panic to reproduce?? I do have a dry sunny spot near the front fence I can move some of them too.
Great feedback. Thank you.
It's not stressful as such but coupled with a tropical climate, you get rampant, etiolated growth. My Aloe vera grow extremely slowly in hot sunny conditions
Not a fan of jackfruits, it's a sticky and messy business hahaha But we're growing more of a new variety at the farm. The source of the seedlings claimed that it is the sweetest jackfruit on the market called EVIARC or something like that 😅
I think our tree is one of the stickiest, least sweet and maybe most original jackfruits out there. LOL... Good to know someone is working on it though!
Hello @artemislives
It's a shame that the jackfruit falls off and goes to waste. I had a lot of it in Jamaica and the Philippines, but only recently did I learn about coking the green jackfruit (I've only used canned ones here in the UK). However, I do agree that the glue-like substance is a pain. In Jamaica, we always soaked jackfruit in salt water to remove the gooey stuff before eating it...I didn't do that in the Philippines though which must have been the reason why I got tummy pain after eating it there.
The Durian fruit from the family is one that I cannot eat!
The Aloe is gorgeous, and it's great when you can pick your own bananas. This post is making me homesick for Jamaica.
Thanks for sharing.
Have a lovely day:)))
We have so much to cook in terms of vegan-vegetarian in Thailand that green jackfruit seems like a lot of effort. 😆 I've done it many times and yes, the salt soaking thing does work.
Durian? Can't see what all the fuss is about. I can tolerate it but that's about all. LOL
Picking your own bananas? Nothing like it!! How long since you last went back to Jamaica? I think it might be time.... you can jackfruit and banana yourself up. 😁
Oh yes, a trip to Jamaica is long overdue. It's been 8 years, the longest time that I have ever been away.
It's gonna be a culture shock for me when I return, hopefully later this year.
I am looking forward to all the seasonal fruits in my backyard 😁
We cook young jackfruit fruits with coconut milk. We can also boil the seeds and eat it like a nut for that over ripe jackfruit. We can also jam the ripe jackfruit, an ingredient for halo halo and also turon snacks.
Yes, Thai people do that with coconut milk, and also the jackfruit seeds. GOOD PLAN to sit on the porch when I get back and retrieve the seeds. Jackfruits seem to be related to avocadoes - they're unripe for ever, perfect for 2 days and they they get that colour-smell that tells you "ooops - too far gone." 😅
I shall endeavour to get a good recipe worked out for the very young green ones - with coconut milk - to at least feel a little bit less guilty about the waste factor.
What do you have in your garden that yields crazy abundance??
Sometimes you are just to early or to late.😆
Unfortunately, I only garden on a bucket for now. Just so little greens and herbs. But I do have banana plants back home, and few lanzones and rambutans.
Haha yeah I think tinned jackfruit might be more convenient!!!
I can't even imagine how overgrown it will be. And thanks for the reminder re rooting hormone, I had read that somewhere....
Winters not even over yet and I've been craving banana smoothies .
Did you know you can share other people's gardens, such as botanical gardens, for the #gardenjournal if you aren't home? Us gardeners aren't fvat fussy.. we love the inspiration too. Would love a tour round a typical Dutch garden in summer!
Stupid thing is you can't even BUY tinned jackfruit in TH - and it's rare to be able to give it away. 🤣 Every house has a tree - they're hardy and give great shade - but there is SO MUCH FOOD that jackfruit seems like too much effort in the heat.
Bananas are an all year round event in TH - I buy a small hand for 20 cents or thereabouts and freeze half of it sliced for smoothies. They get overripe SOOOO FAST!! Now that I don't have a kitchen for a while, I'm dreaming about making banana bread - I saw a cool recipe online. LOL
Great NUDGE re other people's gardens - we're staying with a very garden-proud cousin in NL and it will make for a much more interesting September Garden Journal than "Marike is reacquainted with her machete". 🤣🤣🤣
Hahahaha I want a machete selfie!!!!
Banana pancakes too... Yuuuum... More pikelets, oats and banana, sans eggs. They ripen fast here too ... I do same, in the freezer they go!