Happy Winter Solstice From The Eternal Garden

Fresh harvest from the garden

Fresh harvest from the garden ;)
Lawrence H.

Fresh Tomato Harvest from the garden

Fresh Tomatoes from the garden ;)
Lawrence H.

Harvesting White Concord Grapes

The first harvest of our white concord grapes! Great for making wine, grape juice, jam, jelly, or freeze them to add to a nice healthy smoothie, the choice is yours ;) ~ Lawrence H.

Growing the Ghost Pepper (Bhut Jolokia)

Name - Ghost Pepper (Bhut Jolokia)
Species - Hybrid of C. chinense and C. frutescens genes.
Scoville Rating
1,041,427 SHU

The bhut jolokia is cultivated in the Indian states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Nagaland and Manipur. In 2007, Guinness World Records certified that the ghost pepper was the world's hottest chili pepper. The ghost chili was shortly superseded by the Infinity chili in 2011, followed by the Naga Viper, the Trinidad moruga scorpion in 2012, and the Carolina Reaper on August 7, 2013. The Ghost pepper is an interspecies hybrid of C. chinense and C. frutescens genes.

Ripens from green to red

I will be drying these peppers and grinding them into a pepper powder for a nice heat in future dishes and I will make infused pepper oil with garlic in future posts & more. Enjoy your peppers! ;)
~ Lawrence H.

Growing Plumeria's (Frangipani)

We first came across Plumeria's on our Trip to the sacred Island of Hawaii. The plumeria leis had a smell that was so hypnotizing that we had to grow our own!
Plumeria, a flowering shrub and tree often known as frangipani. Plumeriais a genus of flowering plants in the dogbane family, Apocynaceae They are native to Central America, Mexico, the Caribbean, and South America as far south as Brazil but can be grown in tropical and sub-tropical regions.
I rooted this plumeria cutting using the bag method. I filled a small sandwich bag with potting soil and moistened it with water using a spray bottle, then I dipped the plumeria cutting in rooting hormone and placed the Plumeria cutting into the sandwich bag using a rubber band to seal in the moisture. Keep in a warm place since plumeria's love heat and humidity.

Within six weeks you should see roots.

Once the plumeria has rooted I potted it up into a small pot using a mix of potting soil and perlite since plumeria's love good drainage. Water it about once a week and give it a fertilizer that is high in Phosphate.

When the plumeria gets too big for its little pot it is time to pot in up again into an even larger container so it can continue to grow even larger.

If you live in a place that has cold winters you will need to bring it indoors, all the leaves will die back but it will awaken in the spring.

This is an inflo where the flowers will bloom.

First bloom. ;)

Enjoy the beautiful colors and smell the fragrance of paradise!! I will be doing updates on this plant and on my other plumeria plants soon!! Enjoy :)

Lawrence H.

Growing the Manzano Pepper

Growing The Moringa Oleifera Tree from seed aka The Miracle Tree

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Items: container with a lid, paper towels, moringa seeds, water

Soak your moringa seeds in water for 24 hours. After 24 hours drain the water from your seeds, place your paper towels in the bottom of your container and spray with water until damp. Set your seeds on top of your damp paper towels and place in an area between 60 - 80 degrees. After a few days the seeds will begin to crack open like an egg and the shoot or shoots and roots will emerge from the same side as they germinate. Get your Moringa Seeds here Moringa Seeds 

Once they germinate gently remove your seedling from the paper towel and place them in potting soil with the roots going down and the leaves facing up. Place your seedling in a sunny window or under grow lights during the cold winter months. ~ The Moringa Tree grows in the foothills of the Himalayas in northern India.The Moringa tree is also known as "The Miracle Tree" and "The Elixir of Long Life" due to its miraculous healing abilities. It contains 46 types of antioxidants. According to recent studies, moringa leaves contain 90 different types of nutrients, 7 times more vitamin c than oranges, 4 times more calcium than milk, 4 times more potassium than bananas, 4 times more vitamin A than carrots, 50 times more vitamin B3 than peanuts, 36 times more magnesium than eggs, and 25 times more iron than spinach.
(After a few weeks your Moringa Tree seedlings will begin to take shape) :)

It also includes high amounts of additional nutrients such as iodine, lutein, zinc, zeatin, dietary fiber, selenium, and beta-carotene. The leaves of the moringa tree contain 18 amino acids, eight of which are essential amino acids, making them a "complete" protein - a rarity in the plant world.

Indeed, moringa's protein content rivals that of meat, also due to their trace mineral content, dried and powdered moringa leaves are great for nourishing the skin. The Moringa seeds produce a healthy oil, the pods contain almost 40 percent of this edible non-drying oil called "ben oil," which is comparable to olive oil in nutritional and antioxidant value. Ben oil is odorless, sweet-tasting, clear and - most importantly - lasts indefinitely. Moringa leaf powder is also immune from spoiling...

* * * * Update September 2015 * * *

The first tree has 3 trunks and is growing nice, The second tree is a single stem and is growing nice also :) I will do updates on the other 5 tree seedlings within the next few days & weeks :)

I will be doing updates on these Moringa Tree seedlings as they grow ;)  Get your Moringa seeds here Moringa Seeds Enjoy :) ~ Lawrence

Germinating Pepper Seeds Indoors

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Start your pepper seeds 8 to 10 weeks before your last frost date so your plants will have time to grow before putting them out in the spring. Moisten the soil and poke 2-3 1/8 inch holes in each cell using a pencil or something small you can poke holes with, place 1 seed per hole and sprinkle soil to fill in the holes behind the seed.

Water the seeds in and cover with a dome cover to keep in the moisture.

Use a heat mat or the top of your refrigerator to keep the seeds warm through bottom heat, keep them around 85 degrees for best germination. Your seeds should begin to sprout within 6-10 days, some pepper varieties take longer than others. Once they start to germinate remove the dome cover and place under indoor lights or in a south facing window to get the maximum amount of sunlight so they don't get long and skinny or leggy. It is best to bottom water your seedlings to prevent / reduce damping off.

Of course, when it comes to fertilizing pepper plants, the best kind of fertilizer really depends on your soil. If you want to be completely accurate with your pepper fertilizer, you should have a soil test done to find specific deficiencies. Once your seedlings have 4 to 6 healthy leaves you can transplant them into 4 in pots so the roots can grow and produce a nice healthy plant. You should plant your peppers outside 2-3 weeks after the last frost when the soil temperature is around 60 degrees. You should harden off the seedlings for one week prior to transplanting. To harden them off, Bring them out into a sun shade area for 1 hour then bring them back in, the next day bring them out for 2 hours and the third day 3 hours of direct sunlight, keep doing this for a week then plant them outside in full sunlight or sun/shade depending on what zone you are in or in the greenhouse. I will keep you updated with these pepper seedlings in detail...

Enjoy growing your peppers !!! :)

My pepper seedling update ;) 3/13/2015

* * * Pepper Update * * * I will be posting updates on my pepper varieties as they ripen ;) Enjoy !!

Italian green peppers, Orange Manzano, Jamaican Hot Chocoalate, Orange Habanero, Serrano, Anaheim, Canary Yellow Bell Pepper, Red Savina, Tabasco, Ghost pepper (Bhut Jolokia), Coral Bell pepper, Moruga Scorpion, Thai Dragon, Fresno Chili, Pablano, Hot Cherry, Ethiopian Brown, Mako Kokoo, Purple Naga jolokia, Carolina Reaper. :) If your a pepper lover and want to grow your own seeds, click here Pepper Seeds~ Lawrence

Happy New Year!!! From The Eternal Garden

Happy New Year From The Eternal Garden <3 2015!! Wishing all gardeners a happy gardening year, I will be sharing my experience with everyone this year so lets take a ride!! ;) <3 http://theeternalgarden.blogspot.com/ From: The Eternal Garden <3