Because I believe in gardening, steemit, and blessing others, I am going to be sending KIWANO seeds to 10 different people who comment on this post.
There is no need to even upvote it, only comment. Unfortunately due to various customs laws, I will only be shipping these free seed packs to United States addresses, and not internationally. (My apologies to the rest of the world). I'll be picking ten replies randomly sometime this week and contacting them later for shipping addresses. (Just type “US” at the end of your comment or simply comment “US”, so that I know you have a valid US shipping address. Also, I’m just a guy, @papa-pepper, and not a seed company or online business. I’m a gardener who is growing some plants that I find to be amazing for many reasons, and wanted to share that opportunity with others by encouraging them online and even sending them free seeds to get them started. Anyway, enough about that. On to the Kiwano!
I had never met this edible until late last year, when I found some at a local health food store in Arkansas. Always being up for a new adventure in food, I bought a few and decided to try them. They were interesting, but certainly delicious. The outward appearance is very strange. It looks something like a fat, elongated yellow cucumber when it’s ripe, except that it is covered in spikes.
That’s why another common name for it is the African Horned Melon. My wife says that it looks like a cross between a cucumber and a pufferfish. She even calls it the "pufferfish fruit", and I guess "blowfish fruit" is a common nick-name in the south, so she's not alone.
Inside, it has a beautiful pattern, and is full of seeds. FULL. (That’s good news.) This characteristics has lead me to compare it to the inside of a passion fruit. Both fruits have tasty little gel packets surrounding the seeds. Though the seeds of the Kiwano are easy to swallow, we chose to save some too. That was a good idea.
In researching the plant, some claim that one vine can grow 100 feet and produce up to 100 fruit. Now that was interesting news. I was paying about $2.00 per Kiwano at the natural food store, and now I was being told that just one seed could potentially produce a hundred more fruit, not to mention thousands of more seeds. The value of the fruit from just one plant could effectively save me hundreds of dollars, if a penny saved is a penny earned... @papa-pepper/if-a-penny-saved-is-a-penny-earned
Obviously, we chose to plant. First I did a germination test. We saved a small handful of seeds and dried them. After a bit I placed 20 of them in a damp paper towel and waited. Soon, all 20 had sprouted. Wow, 100% germination rate, not bad! This test was conducted in the middle of winter, and due to strained living conditions and inadequate opportunity to provide sufficient care, many of these original sprouts died, but two did actually make it into the garden. One was about five feet long at the time I finally planted it.
Check out the size of one of those stems now. Already these plants are growing vigorously and producing fruit. Soon, some should be ripe.
Just look at how many large ones are already growing right next to that large stem from the original germination test! Plus, many more little ones are starting to grow.
The flowers are delicate and small, and the fruit tiny when it first appears. When full-grown, however, these are some solid, heavy fruit. We will see how well my cattle panel arches can support the weight, especially if each plant can produce such a large number of Kiwanos.
I’m also growing them horizontally on cattle panel fencing, as my oldest daughter is showing. Plus there are more Kiwano plants around the garden, so I probably did plant an excessive quantity of them and overcrowded them as well. Often, that's how I do things, and I’m comfortable with that.
Nutritionally each fruit is around 90 calories, and is a good source of Magnesium, Vitamin C, Iron, and Potassium. We find them to be a delicious food that is new to use, and are excited to be growing our own.
When I saw that the ones at the natural food store were locally grown, I thought, “Hey, I’m a local, maybe I could grow some.” That thought has now become a reality.
Moving forward, we hope to be doing more gardening and maybe some sort of CSA or Farmers Market. I think that plants like the Kiwano and the Chinese Red Noodle Bean are ones that will set us apart in a world of people with squash, tomatoes, bell peppers, and green beans. We grow those as well, but if someone stops by our table because of the weird produce they see, maybe they’ll buy the more common ones from us too. If you sell your homegrown produce at a Farmers Market or are thinking about that option, or if you just want to broaden your gardening horizon or start gardening, signing up for this giveaway is a good way to get started. Kiwano seeds are also for sale all over the internet, but 10 random replies to this post will be shipped a free packet of Kiwano seeds. Just add “US” to your comment so I know that you’re in the United States.
You may also want to check out my other seed giveaway currently going on for Chinese Red Noodle Beans. @papa-pepper/free-first-ever-steemit-seed-giveaway-garden-plant-spotlight-1-chinese-red-noodle-bean
Thanks for the support and happy gardening! @papa-pepper 7-26-16
