Greetings Growers & Lovers of Green Things

The Tropical Grower welcomes you to the online version of Our Garden. Check out our What’s Bloomn’ slideshow featuring last week’s flowers, cruz the latest topics at the Blog Page for information, enjoy the Photos, or just check out what’s happening this week in Garden Dirt. While we are Growing Tropical, growing is for everyone, and we’re here to share the green.

Garden Dirt

May 4, 2026

The Rains Are Coming

It won’t be long, now.  We’re maybe a couple or a few weeks, possibly a month, away from the start of the Rainy Season.  You can’t exactly plan around a specific day.  There isn’t one.  One day in May, usually towards the 3rd week, it rains in the afternoon and repeats until Oct.  It’s a “Just Like That” moment.  One day you’re in a terrible drought, and the next, things are perpetually wet.  LOL!  It’s Growing Tropical.

There are both wonderful and awful things that come with the Rainy Season.  Pro:  Everything is super lush and green, growing crazy.  Con: Except the Veggies which don’t grow well in the daily downpours.  Dang.  Pro: Except for trimming and weeding, things are healthy and need little extra care.  Con: Trimming and weeding become a full time job.  LOL!  I can go on and on.  Truth is, Tropical Planties love rainy season, and it’s a joy watching them grow.  Con: Damaging storms.  LOL!

So, with us looking toward the start of daily rains, it’s time for our final push to get everything needing to be done dry, complete.  For instance, we do not grout or otherwise apply things that need to dry completely to set.  Paint, grout, polyurethane, or sealants need to be applied prior to the Rains setting-in or they will have to be redone, if not immediately, soon.  Any final stabilization of dirt, berms, or swales should have probably been completed a month ago, but tweaks are still possible.  The mulching we did the week before last helps.  So, if you’re Growing Tropical, get out there, take a look, trim those widow maker branches and make sure anything that needs to be stabilized or sealed against wet is taken care of.  The Rains are Coming.

Around Our Garden

It was a busy week, see above.  LOL!  We finally got the cinder block retaining wall along the front berm repaired.  Woo-Hoo!  Wish I felt that more.  It’s hard to get excited about redoing something the neighbors broke. And, yes, the neighbors broke 2 cinder blocks from the retaining wall/planter into pieces.  I can only guess they sledgehammered our metal fence post into them until they broke.  Aren’t they kind, considerate people.  So, we had to replace the blocks and the wash-out, where they poured water into our yard.  Super fun.  But it’s done, now.

We also worked on the new tunnel system on the undeveloped front lot.  Clearing Pepper Bush is not fun, but I do enjoy being in the woods.  Our tunnel system includes one along the perimeter, and the whole reason we are doing it.  The idea is to create a planting area for a new perimeter berm with much better trees and shrubs.  It will take several years to grow-up before we can start clearing more of the Pepper Bush.  It’s a process.

The Shell Circle also got some more attention.  About a ⅓ of it is ready for grout.  Woo-Hoo!  It’s possible that may be all we get to this season, but even so, it’s the part that keeps filling with dirt.  If I can sweep that area this year, it’s a win.

Harvest

We finally cracked all the Coconuts that fell after the Hard Frost.  Nope.  They rotted.  We probably waited too long.  One day we’ll be Coconut experts, but it isn’t today.  Indeed, Coconuts might continue to ripen once they fall from the tree, but a week or 2 is about all they survive if removed from the tree before their time.  It was pretty gross, but we are closer to unraveling the inner mysteries of that giant fruit called the Coconut.  LOL!

We took more Peaches.  The count is at 9, none fully ripe, yet.  1 pecked by a bird.  Unclear with all the fishing line how it got to it, but it did.  Dang.  All the fruit remaining on the tree is small, late blooms.  We’ll see how they do.

We also took Broccoli, Tomatoes, Carrots, Swiss Chard, Cabbage, and Celery last week.  Yum.  There are few things that make me happier than eating food I’ve grown or walking outside with Grumpy Old Man Buc Dog to grab a basket of Swiss Chard and a Carrot for dinner.  Pick and eat.  It almost makes me giddy discussing.  LOL!  Few things taste as good as a freshly pulled Carrot.  If you haven’t tried it, grab a pot and a Tomato plant or Carrot Seed.  You’ll never go back.  Check out:

Flowers

For your viewing pleasure, the White Phalanopsis Orchid took the feature this week.  It is glorious.  Each bloom is so big and snowy white with just a touch of yellow and orange at the center in a spotted burst of color.  The plant seems very happy in its new location, and we’re hoping for an extended bloom.  The 1st one has been open a week, and it’s still perfect.  Woo-Hoo!

We got another giant flower stalk of My Grandmother’s Easter Lilies.  Few things catch the light so perfectly.  The Yellow Dayliles keep dazzling, week after week, with so many golden blooms.  And, one of the Purple Hong Kong Orchid blooms was finally low enough to snap a photo.  I’ve mentioned the tree has been blooming since the 1st of the year with just a few blooms up top for awhile now.  Proof.  LOL!  Enjoy!

Check out What’s Bloomn’ slideshow for more flowers or visit Garden Dirt Diary to catch up on what’s been going on around Our Garden.