Owning a Home in the Virgin Islands - Landscaping Update

I thought it was time to give you an update on our landscaping as it has been a while. The previous post can be found here: Landscaping June.

The bad -

My septic tank banana tree that has never produced a banana in two years was blown over by TS Issac.

I cut the stalk below where it give way, so we shall see if it re-grows.

The other banana tree I had planted, well when we had our cistern cleaned and re-coated, the workers poured the dirt and muck on it, it died, but alas I planted yet another one. I am determined to have bananas as in the store they are up to 99 cents a pound!

The mango tree, well it didn't do so well.



So, in it's place we have a ?

The Good! The papaya tree is doing really well! Sadly, I discovered the life span of this tree is only like 3-5 years.

Now on to the vegetables. The zucchini started to bear fruit, but then turned all yellow and got infested with worms. It never made it and will not be trying that one again!

Basil is rocking, have used it many times already in some dishes.

The jalapeno peppers are doing well with some peppers that are almost ready to be harvested! Sadly though I discovered underneath the leaves this white fuzz with black scales underneath the fuzz. I sprayed it with insecticide as I believe these are mites? If you have any ideas let me know?

The lettuce is doing great and have had several salads already from it. It is doing so good and with a box of salad going for $7 a box, I bought another planter and will start a new batch.

I have also started a new pot with green bell peppers as price for those here is $1.49/lb.

I am anxious to see if I can keep growing these vegetables year round here!

On another subject, if you are interested in what is going on for entertainment on St Thomas, there is a new Facebook page that is letting us know what to do! St Thomas Weekends Etc

Owning a Home in St Thomas, USVI - Landscaping - Part II

Just thought I would give a quick update on the progress of our landscaping here.

Big useless banana (plantain) tree has more leaves no bananas. Lime tree is still in the foreground, still no limes.

Little banana tree has some new leaves.

Mango tree has a bunch of new leaves!

Front hibiscus wants to do well, but with the recent dry spell, the iguanas having been making it lunch. The other hibiscus I planted in January has passed away. When I went to through it in the bush, it got stuck on some vine and is now hanging. Death by hanging, no, no cause for death other than it was bought from Home Depot.

To replace the dead and now hanging hibiscus, we have a new addition to our family, meet Papaya!

I had some seeds that got packed from stateside, zucchini and jalapenos (glad to have fresh jalapenos, when I was making my turkey crockpot chili when we went to Soggy Dollar, I went to three stores with no fresh jalapenos, finally found them at a small grocery store, Marina Market).

I also brought down in my suitcase some snips of my house plants since they couldn't make the trip. I have a spider plant that I had since college, yes 21 years ago, and a Christmas Cactus that was my late mother's. I put them in a Tupperware with a wet paper towel and replanted them here. They are really growing well!

Since the jalapeno and zucchini were doing so well, why not try some more. So now we have pablano peppers, lettuce (produce here sucks, they really don't grow anything here.), and basil. Not much too look at with those, waiting for them to sprout!

Here is the zucchini two weeks later, see the one leaf is turning silver? Read on-line that it is nutrient deficiency, so added some fertilizer. Jalapenos are doing well!



Fresh Vegetables and fruit soon come?