November Springtime in Mérida

What? Have we gone mad? How can it possibly be springtime when we’re north of the equator and were headed into winter?

The answer lies in the following image.

Unlike further north, the prime growing season is now upon us. With the heat behind us and tropical storms abated (well, almost), the air is feeling positively springtime and it’s perfect for growing yummy things.

Unlike our previous attempt at growing edible goodies, we now have our first opportunity to take advantage of Mérida’s four-month-ish growing season and see for ourselves what possible wonders will pull themselves from the earth and onto our table.

To start, we have plenty of Asian varietals like Korean radishes, Chinese cucumber, Japanese kabocha squash, and a bounty of leafy greens. In our past experience, they tend to be the hardiest. Mixed in with these are some other reliable croppers like heirloom tomatoes (using seeds we kept from last year’s treasures), chili peppers and eggplant (a surprise hit, as even in the heat of actual spring in Mérida, they grew and grew).

And just to make things interesting, we’re trying some past failures like fennel and green beans (we shall see). 

Even more exciting is our incoming drip-irrigation system. This simple system will provide a “water light” solution to keeping our plants drinking happily until the rain begins again next May. As water is delivered, drip by drip, and not via the gush of  sprinkler or hose, there is less change of stray water pooling on leaves and pathways and inadvertently creating an unfortunate mosquito problem.

Now all we need is a delivery of compost and organic soil, as well as a few additional components for our drip irrigation system (okay, and the rest of our hardscaping delivered and installed). However, who wants to dwell on details? We can taste our freshly-plucked tomatoes already.