Can you grow a Mango Tree?

I always believed that you can never get good mangoes here in the USA, until last year when I accidentally tasted a slice of Kent Mango at Whole Foods. I was looking for those mangoes here in Cincinnati and I was lucky last week to have spotted them at Pipkin's. Got home 10 of those as they were mature and inexpensive (2 for $1). As I was savoring each bite, an idea to grow my own Mango tree struck me!!! I had attempted to grow one last year but in vain. Had watched YouTube video on how a seed can be removed. Extreme caution needed as you insert knife to make a slit in the hard case. I gently opened two of those and buried them in a pot. It took one week to sprout.

Seed inside this hard case

Mango tree sapling

Mango tree sapling after 3 weeks

Have no clue how this plant will do in winter. I shall update this as and when possible with the progress. I happened to get a big piece of Jackfruit from local grocer this week and spotted 3 seeds that were already sprouted. They are buried in my plant pots!!

Jackfruit seed

Jackfruit sapling after 3 weeks

Make sure the seeds are placed horizontal on the soil bed. It is possible to grow a Mango tree but harvesting one is whole new ballgame, only time will tell.

Early Spring Update( Mar 2017 ): My Mango saplings did pretty good indoors in winter except they were dormant. One Jackfruit plant out of three survived winter!

Watering Plants While Away

We are planning a 10 day vacation to Adirondack National Park during second week of August. I have been thinking few ways to water my raised bed but wasn't sure what method worked best. I had spotted a water timer at Costco during early spring time. I got home Orbit water timer for $30 which has 2 ports, one for manual and the other to program.

Orbit Water Timer

My raised beds are 30 feet away from faucet so I have two hoses connected. I also got a Melnor oscillating sprinkler and turned the adjustment dial to Right to cover ground from center of the sprinkler to the right side of it at the farthest distance of throw where my raised beds are located.

Melnor sprinkler

It took a while for me to understand the settings of the sprinkler. This set up was tested during last weekend when I was away camping. All my plants survived!!

Sprinkler in Action!!

Veggie patch from kitchen Scraps!!

When I began my patio gardening back in California two years ago, I began growing greens and few veggies from my kitchen scraps. I wasn't ready to spend money on something which I wasn't sure of growing with minimal sunlight in a patio. Growing Fenugreek (Methi), Tomatoes, Potatoes, Onions, Chillies, Chamomile, Garlic are simple and easy for me!!

Here are few veggies growing this year in my garden....

Fenugreek: 2 Tbsp of methi seeds are good enough to get a decent sized patch of greens in about 10 days. One of the easiest greens to grow. Needs direct sunlight.

Fenugreek leaves

                         
Tomatoes: I do not use Tomatoe seeds in my cooking, they usually end up in my compost pile. If I like the color or texture then I dry those seeds and plant them. Make sure the tomatoes or any other veggies are heirloom variety. The hybrid doest yield good crops or produce. I use organic tomatoes in my cooking. Needs direct sunlight.

Tomatoes

Potatoes: Not all Potatoes can be grown when you toss them in ground. Most of them are hybrid. I plant them when I see sprouts in them. They are cold loving plants. Grow them in fall and early winter outdoors.

Potatoes 

Onions: They grow in spring, summer and fall outdoors. I noticed a giant onion sprout in my shelf so I planted in my raised bed along with few green Onions from store. They are all blooming now and I use them only for their leaves. It was interesting to note that none of my green Onions had bulb below them. Not sure if it was hybrid!!

Onion bloom!!

Onions         

Chillies: Am great fan of Chile California because of the sweetness and its rich red color. These dried chillies are available widely in CA. Here in Ohio, only Mexican stores carries them. I usually discard seeds while cooking. I save them up for sowing later. They grow pretty big!! My sister who lives in London imports them from here. If you need deep red color with zero spice, these are the chillies to use. Haven't tried with Badgi or Kashmiri dried chilies yet!!

Chile California 

Cilantro: For some reason I don't have green thumb growing Cilantro. I have tried splitting the seeds in two by crushing them. Tough luck there!!

Chamomile flowers: Chamomile tea is my favourite!! Sprouts farmer market in CA carry them in bulk. Drinking 2 cups a day keeps your nerves calm.  It also calms the upset tummy and helps to fall asleep when you have a bout of insomnia. Growing them is pretty easy. I sprinkle these dried flowers used in tea on a ground and in matter of weeks you could see the blooms. Needs lot of sunlight.

Garlic: I tried growing from a garlic that sprouted in my kitchen shelf. They can be grown from spring to fall. They are not hardy unlike Onions.

I have had some success growing few more veggies got from grocery stores. Lemongrass, Chickpeas, Taro leaves, Basella Alba(Basele Soppu), Lemon and Orange plant(from seeds).

Lemongrass: Got few stalks from grocery store and kept them in a glass so I could see roots when they emerge. It took about 2 weeks for the roots to show up. Change water once in 2-3 days. Once the roots emerge, you could plant them into a pot or ground. They need lot of sunlight.
               

Lemongrass root

Taro leaves : Got two corms from Jungle Jim's. An Indian guy who was helping other customers gave me a tip to pick the ones with pink pointy tip. I picked one with pink pointy and another one without. Planted two of those corms in separate pots indoors in Feb. It took 2 months for them to sprout. The one without pointy tip never sprouted but got rotted inside the soil. These need lot of water and sunlight.

Taro leaves

Garbanzo Beans: I love eating them raw!! It brings back memories from childhood where the pods were plucked from plant and eaten. Indian stores in Cincy carries them in spring and summer. I planted few mature beans and it took a week for plant to emerge. 

Chickpeas

Basella Alba/Basale Soppu: My mom uses these greens in making Tambli. In one of our regular conversation when I told her about the availability of this, she suggested I could grow them from cuttings. Needs lot of sunlight. Mine has a stunted growth as it is indoors.

Basella Alba

Lemon/Honey Orange: Out of curiosity, one day I planted bunch of lemon seeds and Honey Orange seeds in a pot and kept them indoors on a sunny windowsill. I forgot about it as nothing happened for 3 months. When the temperature started to warm up saw these saplings emerge. Well, I can't tell the difference between Lemon and Orange plant :-)

Lemon and Honey Orange

The list does not end here!! If you have tried with any other veggies not mentioned here please let me know.

My garden pictures - Exclusively for Euphoric Delight friends

Many thanks for those who showered me with compliments. Not sure if I have green thumb or not but I do have passion to grow plants. As said earlier, I have 2 raised beds. The one with wooden sides gets only 5-6 hrs of sunlight. Bradford pear tree behind blocks most of the morning sunlight. So I have Cabbage, Broccoli, Cauliflower,  Brussels Sprouts growing in them. They don't need much sunlight. My other bed has concrete blocks as fence and this gets 6-8hrs of sunlight. Onions, Zucchini, Dill, Carrots, Chards, Chickpeas, Chillies are growing.

The two raised beds are on southeast side of my backyard.

A friend of mine who recently moved to India gave few more plants that I have arranged on this table. I have a 4 month old chocolate lab so can't afford to let them sit in my yard. He will rip them in no time!!

I have tomatoes growing in Topsy Turvey planter(green) hung on one side of this pole. We have Deers who loves to munch on tomatoes. I have blueberry plant on the other side. Squirrels eat them too.

My front porch has herbs growing in painted canned tins.

I also have a perrineal herbs growing in a wooden crate. I recycled my neighbor's wooden crate that was dumped outside :-)

I have Apple Mint, Chives, Winter Savory, Lavender, Sage, Brown Fennel and Lemon Balm growing. I have put Petunias on the side openings, so looks colorful.

Also my daughter and I made this fairy garden in spring. 

I have Irish moss which is dark green growing with just evening sunlight. It seems to be doing good!! I used popsicle sticks to make fence. The dog and fairy were from a local nursery in fairy garden section. I love seeing those tiny figurines!!