Sugarcane Jujube
My jujubes grew like crazy this year, and even put on a few fruit. The Sugarcane was far and away the most vigorous growing. The little fruit I did get wasn't all that good, and before you say anything, I even picked them early in the morning. For those of you who aren't familiar with this advice, one often reads that jujubes should be picked early in the morning when they are at their juiciest. Jujubes picked in the afternoon will be dry and pithy. Mine were dry and pithy even in the morning. I really want to like jujubes, but so far I'm not impressed with the fruit, at least not for fresh eating. I want to grow fruit my kids can pick and eat, not fruit that I have to cook with added sugar in order to make it palatable. That being said, any fruit tree that can grow from one to 7.5 feet in 18 months deserves some consideration, so I'm going to give jujubes another year or two.
I've also started picking and eating my Florida Fry muscadines off of the play fort this week. These are some exceptionally delicious grapes. Not only are they huge, but the flavor is amazing. They have thick skins, four to five seeds each, and are bursting with juice. I don't eat the skins, but I guess they could be called 'technically edible'. They're definitely worth eating, even though there's a fair amount of spitting involved. The Florida Fry muscadines are big and green, with a slight bronze sheen. The Supreme and Darlene grapevines I planted didn't put on any fruit this year, but they've grown like crazy, almost completely covering the play fort. I hope to be able to compare all three side by side next year.
This weekend I finally was able to finish rigging up the irrigation system inside the greenhouse. It actually was pretty easy, once I finally had all the pieces. Earlier this year I ran a 3/4-inch PVC water line to the greenhouse. I put together a PVC manifold, and rigged up some inline sprinkler valves, and then attached DIG drip irrigation hose. I wired all the valves to a programmable timer, so now all my tropicals will get watered every day without me having to drag hoses around. I'm really getting spoiled to not having to water plants by hand anymore. If the electronic timer works out, I may have to fully automate all of my irrigation lines.
I've also started picking and eating my Florida Fry muscadines off of the play fort this week. These are some exceptionally delicious grapes. Not only are they huge, but the flavor is amazing. They have thick skins, four to five seeds each, and are bursting with juice. I don't eat the skins, but I guess they could be called 'technically edible'. They're definitely worth eating, even though there's a fair amount of spitting involved. The Florida Fry muscadines are big and green, with a slight bronze sheen. The Supreme and Darlene grapevines I planted didn't put on any fruit this year, but they've grown like crazy, almost completely covering the play fort. I hope to be able to compare all three side by side next year.
This weekend I finally was able to finish rigging up the irrigation system inside the greenhouse. It actually was pretty easy, once I finally had all the pieces. Earlier this year I ran a 3/4-inch PVC water line to the greenhouse. I put together a PVC manifold, and rigged up some inline sprinkler valves, and then attached DIG drip irrigation hose. I wired all the valves to a programmable timer, so now all my tropicals will get watered every day without me having to drag hoses around. I'm really getting spoiled to not having to water plants by hand anymore. If the electronic timer works out, I may have to fully automate all of my irrigation lines.
Sugarcane Jujube March 2011
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Sugarcane Jujube July 2012
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Honey Jar Jujube
Cluster of Florida Fry Muscadines
These grapes are BIG!
Greenhouse irrigation manifold.
Pineapples in their new home with drip irrigation.
