In the garden, as in life, some things work and some don't. I spent 2 months caring for a tray full of young eggplant and pepper seedlings only to see them wither and die as the sun relentlessly beat down and they got tired of waiting for the rain. Then miraculously little sprouts of things I didn't even know I planted shot out from the same dirt, volunteers from the compost that found their way into the mix. Survival of the fittest. It still hasn't rained but once in 2 months so we've taken to keeping the 5 gallon bucket in the shower and recycling the dishwater. In some ways the drought is good, forcing the roots to go deeper and hopefully passing on these drought hardy traits to the next generation, but mostly it sucks, the rain barrels have long been dry and hand watering is getting old. I still dont think I can get completely free from the supermarket yet, but we're getting there. Local edible log: Suriname cherries, elder berries, mulberries, grapefruit, avacado, chaya. Here's what the garden looks like tonight...
This squash that has taken over the bikini garden is a volunteer. We planted okra and eggplants and yardlongs in here. The eggplants (which I grew from organic seed) mostly died, the okra are holding on but are tiny so far compared to last year...
The two young eggplants that are growing well were bought as plants most likely grown in some non-organic soil mix. I will eat them anyway.
This was a cool surprise from a little packet of seeds with directions in chinese. I thought I was planting some kind of Asian summer green, but today I pulled up a tiny radish. It was very spicy. These things are doing surprisly well in the heat.
A proud moment, my sunflowers have outgrown me... 
This squash that has taken over the bikini garden is a volunteer. We planted okra and eggplants and yardlongs in here. The eggplants (which I grew from organic seed) mostly died, the okra are holding on but are tiny so far compared to last year...The two young eggplants that are growing well were bought as plants most likely grown in some non-organic soil mix. I will eat them anyway.
This was a cool surprise from a little packet of seeds with directions in chinese. I thought I was planting some kind of Asian summer green, but today I pulled up a tiny radish. It was very spicy. These things are doing surprisly well in the heat.A proud moment, my sunflowers have outgrown me... 
