Black Greek - breba and main crop figs

The small Black Greek fig tree growing in the gravel growbed in our aquaponics tunnel has recently produced a couple of figs, 1 breba and 1 main crop.

The upside is that they were huge and juicy with good flavor; the downside is that they split badly and were a bit watery.  The splitting is tough to judge yet, though, since these two figs were low enough that they rested on the ground, which puts a splitting stress on the sides of the figs as gravity tries to flatten them out.

Despite the splitting, there was no souring.  The breba, which was still a bit underripe when I picked it, had a bit of a cavity and probably would have soured if I had let it fully ripen on the tree, but the main crop fig was solid throughout, so I think the main crop figs will do a good job of avoiding spoiling by denying entry to insects and moist air.  If the figs higher up off the ground can hang in the tree long enough to lose some of their water and concentrate their flavors, this could prove to be an amazing fig variety.

Here's the little Black Greek tree:

Black Greek breba fig (109 grams):

Black Greek main crop fig, visible in the tree pic above, showing its split eye (70 grams):  

Black Greek fig

Here's a Black Greek fig that is starting to ripen.  I haven't tasted this variety yet, so I'm anxious to give it a try.  It probably needs another week or so before it's ready.

I've also been picking some Hardy Chicago figs recently, but they've been pretty tasteless. Figs seem to need lots of heat and long daylight hours to produce their wonderful sweetness. The one below had a tiny bit of sweetness, maybe scoring a 4/10 compared to a summer-ripened fig:

Pineapple and Spinach

This pineapple growing in the aquaponics tunnel should be ripe soon (first pic is from October 1st, second pic is from January 23rd):

The semi-pit tunnel greenhouse is a bit cooler than the aquaponics greenhouse, so spinach and lettuce have been planted underneath the dormant figs and bananas.  Soon the ground will be covered in a lush sea of green :)

Kansas Farmers Union

We were happy to host members of the Kansas Farmers Union on December 6th.  GreenFin Gardens was chosen to highlight the "thinking outside the box" theme of this year's KFU convention. 

Here's a link to the KFU writeup: http://www.kansasfarmersunion.com/kansas-farmers-union-convenes-to-think-outside-the-box/

Hardy Chicago with ripening fruit

Flush Senior Citizens enjoy tour of GreenFin Gardens

Yesterday we hosted a great bunch of folks, the Flush Senior Citizens.  They're a very inquisitive and pleasant group, just really nice people.  It was a lot of fun showing them around and explaining how we grow bananas, figs, and blue tilapia here in Kansas.

Here are some pics:

Red Hat Ladies

GreenFin Gardens hosted the Red Hat Ladies for a tour on Thursday.  They're a wonderful group of ladies, and we really enjoyed showing them around and giving them the chance to taste some authentic Kansas-grown bananas.