The Conservative Gardener

Under Pressure

2009-09-15T22:28:00.007-04:00

Have you been there? You need to get planting........the season is NOW! You've got a window of a few weeks to get it done so, of course, you lounge around the first week......."I'll do some planting during the week after work, and finish it up next weekend" goes the usual logic.

Then the weekend comes and you forgot you promised a friend you'd attend their wedding. Bummer. Church on Sunday and another weekend is gone.

"I'll do some planting during the week after work, and finish it up next weekend".........again.

Then it rains all weekend. Bummer.

"I'll do some planting during the week after work, and finish it up next weekend"........It has to happen!

Then your Mother/Brother/Sister/Wife/Son/Uncle needs you to (fill in the blank) and thinks it's ridiculous that you'd say no so you can take care of your stupid garden! The pressure builds...........Sorry, but it's now or never Mom!

That's how I've felt the last couple weeks as I've gone from being ahead of schedule in the garden, to barley hanging on as October approaches fast. But I did get some work done during those weeks after work. Check it out............

As the gardens up north start to wind down, the Florida autumn garden is just getting busy. Like these beans...........just ate the first one this morning! Delicious.

68 tomato plants......and they were definitely started on time. I'm continuing to use rebar stakes for my tomatoes, as they worked great during the spring. I buy a 20' piece of 3/8" rebar and cut it in half. I push the rebar in the ground about 2-3 feet deep, by hand, right behind the plant. As the tomato plant gets bigger I just tie it to the rebar. What's nice is the rebar is strong enough & long enough to support the plant without bending, yet light enough to move around to other beds when needed. A great way to pack 17 plants in a 10' x 5' bed.

Cukes.......my first time using a net trellis.

A full bed of onions. A lot of people are surprised that onions grow in Florida, but they actually do quite well during the cool months. You just have to make sure you use "short day" seeds. Because they take a long time to grow (some varieties take 160 days.......51/2 months!), the bed I grew them last year got covered by shade as the winter progressed. So this year I moved them to a bed that gets full sun all through winter. I'm looking to harvest about 200 onions in this 5' x 10' bed. They store.........so I grow.

Hot & Sweet peppers (up top), Tomatillo (bottom left) & Okra (bottom right). All grown in the same bed. I've never grown Okra or Tomatillos before........I hope there's enough hot weather left for them. It's possible it might get a little cool for them by the end of next month. We'll see.

It's Florida......you've got to grow some citrus. My first citrus tree.........kumquat. I love kumquats!

On the left is some squash I think I planted too late.......and on the right some peas that I'm growing for the first time.

Notice the rolled leaf........middle-right?

Well, this is the rascal that wraps itself in the leaf...................

...............and this is the proper pest control technique for the situation. I bet I've squished 75 of these guys over the last couple weeks.

I've still got 4 beds to plant yet...........for the real cool weather crops. Broccoli, Brussels, Lettuce, Beets, Radish, Celery, Cabbage and some others I'm sure I've forgotten. I have been asked about the mulch I use in the beds. I use straw that I buy from a local farm supply company for about $10 a bale. It definitely keeps the weeds down and helps keep the soil from fluctuating wildly from wet to dry all the time. Don't use hay! All it takes is one time and you'll know why............it'll start to grow!

That brings me up to date. Now to get after those cool weather crops...................I've got to get them in this weekend.

Two Quotes Of The Week!

2009-09-03T18:14:00.004-04:00

1. "Daddy, do you grow cheese in your garden too?" - A certain relative of mine who will remain anonymous.......for obvious reasons. lololololol!

2."A fall Florida garden is just like a summer New England garden" - Mrs. Conservative Gardener, while discussing which was best....a Florida summer garden or a Florida autumn garden. I choose the autumn one.

Southern Garlic.

2009-09-02T14:15:00.008-04:00

I love it when garden paraphernalia comes in the mail. It's better than Christmas! The latest goodies to show up at my doorstop was this shipment of garlic from Gourmet Garlic Gardens. Because I garden in the warmth of the Deep South, I've been let down by garlic. It can be difficult to grow here since we don't have a "real" winter to put a freeze on it. So in my search for some garlic to grow in Florida I came across this company out of Texas, that not only sells garlic that grows in the south, but gives you direction on how to have the most success in our warm climate. If you're a southern gardener, you know that it can be hard to find supplies & directions for growing things here. It seems like the best seed companies are from up north and they tend to cater to people like themselves.....northerners! Which is fine.....because they still sell fine products that I can use, but............sometimes I need a company who caters to southern growers. So even though I haven't grown the garlic yet, I'm really pleased with my buying experience from GGG so far. Their web site is real informative (they're based out of Texas), my garlic was shipped very nicely, as you can see, and very timely as well. You can tell they have a passion for growing garlic, which helps me out in a poor garlic growing environment.

I just thought it might help some other gardeners who struggle with growing garlic to give this company a plug. Here's some other companies I buy from that I've had a lot of success with:

1. Johnny's Selected Seed.......the best overall seed company I've dealt with. Seeds are of very high quality. Based out of Maine.....(of course!)

2. Totally Tomatoes..........I love tomatoes, and I need a lot to keep my vegetarian wife happy. I love the variety that TT has, and I like how their web site has one big page with pics & descriptions of their tomatoes. Their seeds come neat, on time and as described. Some people might not like that they're owned by a big corporation......but I just like using them. Out of Wisconsin I believe.

3. Park Seed Co. ........... I like Park's because they're based out of the south, so they tend to have more things for southern gardeners. I like their planting blocks & bio-sponges as well. Out of S. Carolina.

4. Irish Eyes .............. For potatoes! I just ordered my potatoes a few weeks ago......they should arrive around mid-November. I've only ordered from them once before, but it's kind of hard to order potatoes for the south! As most of you know, seed companies only ship potato seeds at certain times of the year............ and the south's growing season starts in Dec/Jan, not April/May. Irish Eyes has been the easiest for me so far. From the state of Washington.

If you have any favorites that you use.....feel free to share!

It's On!

2009-08-28T11:58:00.004-04:00

The first 34 tomatoes are in the ground.....with 34 to go. If looking at my garden map from my previous post, I planted 17 tomato plants each in boxes #14 & #6. Here's my varieties for this years fall garden:

1. Red Brandywine (Totally Tomatoes) - The classic.
2. Cuostralee (Johnny's) - Red, French heirloom........first time for me.
3. Red Pear (Johnny's) - Pear shaped, red with green shoulders, look cool....again, 1st time.
4. Bolseno (Johnny's) - Red with green shoulders.....hybrid, first time.
5. Rose (Johnny's) - Deep pink, heirloom........first time in my garden.
6. Black Krim (Totally T.) - Black, a constant in my garden......my wife's favorite.
7. Black (Totally T.) - Obviously........black! 2nd time in the garden.
8. Big Beef (Johnny's) - Red, large, hybrid......1st time.
9. Japanese Black (Johnny's) - Burgundy/green shoulders, pear shaped....very cool, 1st time.
10. Cherokee Purple (Totally T.) - Brown? Black? Purple? Always in the garden!
11. Sweet Olive (Johnny's) - Red cherry.......1st time.
12. San Marzano (Johnny's) - Red cherry/plum/grape. Hybrid......1st time.
13. Yellow Brandywine (RH Shumway's) - Yellow.........2nd time in the garden.
14. Chocolate Cherry (Totally T.) - Black cherry tomato. Wife loves them......2nd time.
15. Black Sea Man (Totally T.) - Black determinate. Always in the garden.
16. Velvet Red (Totally T.) - Red fuzzy cherry. Another wife favorite......2nd time.
17. Aunt Ruby's German Green (Totally) - Green.....almost can't tell when ripe! lol. 2nd time.
18. Dixie Golden Giant (Totally T.) - Yellow, big........2nd time.
19. Tomatillo (Ferry-Morse) - Does this count?

Wow, did I really plant that many varieties? I might've got carried away! I love trying different kinds.....although yellow tomatoes aren't my favorite. I like them in some recipes to add color, but they generally don't have the flavor as the others. You probably noticed we like the black tomatoes.......yes, they're our favorites (especially my wife!) Funny.......2 years ago we didn't even know black tomatoes existed!

I planted between 4-6 seeds of each variety, and I won't know exactly how many of each kind will make it into the garden for a couple of weeks.........You never know if the dog will eat a couple as they harden off, or if I won't drop a hammer on one or two, maybe a cut worm will take a liking to a couple of them. So I plant about 85 plants to get 68 (17 X 4 beds) growing in the garden. Hopefully I won't need all the extras and I can give some away.

Oh yeah, as a side note......I also planted some beans & peas:

Fall Garden Prep II.........

2009-08-26T14:23:00.006-04:00

My Fall garden planting is getting ready to be in full swing. I like to plant my tomatoes first because they are the most sensitive to the cold, so I want to get them started as early as possible. Last year in North Central Florida we had temps close to freezing around October 27th (it's a global warming problem)! So I started about 15 varieties of tomatoes inside around July 28th, and they're now ready to be planted outside. I've since started some eggplant & peppers, as they're also warm weather veggies. Here's a map of my garden and where I plan to plant with a picture from the roof to compare:

I number each raised bed so I can keep track of where I plant each season. Here's my notes from this past summer season:

As you can see, the page that's above left I have box #5 where I planted 4 varieties of beans on April 2, 2009. On the above right page I've listed 2 raised beds, #8 & #4, which I used to plant tomatoes on 3/27/09 and 4/1/09. I use abbreviations as a shortcut but I usually list all names with abbreviations on another page so I can check their names in case I forget. A few on this page: BSM= Black Sea Man , BK= Black Krim, Isis= Isis Candy (cherry tomato), EG= Early Girl, etc. My wife calls this Man Organizing. Simple and to the point. I know what, where, when and which direction (the word house tells me which way the box faces) as well as a documented history to help me plant the next season.

So now I'm on the doorstep of the 2009 Fall garden. My tomatoes are going in the ground while it's still warm and my cold veggies will be coming soon. The above map shows my ideas on what and where I'm going to plant with considerations to a few things. One is rotation. I always rotate, but it can be a challenge because I plant so many Nightshade veggies. The other issue is shade. Looking at the map, box #11 is north, #13 is west, #3 east and #8 south. During the summer the north end gets shady as the season nears mid-June. During the fall the south end gets shady as we near mid-December. If you look at the overhead picture above, which was taken mid-winter, you'll notice the south-east corner has no plants, but the north side has a bunch. So I try to plan accordingly.

Fall Garden Prep 1

2009-08-09T14:38:00.008-04:00

So, as you can see in yesterday's post, the garden's a bit of a mess......but we've been working to get it ready for the Fall growing season. Here's some pics so you can see how's its coming along:

The first thing I do when getting ready for the fall garden is to plant my tomatoes. Even though Florida has a warm Autumn, it can get chilly in October. Last year on October 29th it got as low as 32 degrees in Ocala. So you must start your tomatoes as early as possible. I start them indoors in August for the opposite reason Northerners start there's indoors in March.....because it's still too hot.

You'll notice that I like to use Park Seeds styrofoam seed starter (with the bio-sponges which are about 7 cents a piece). I love the accuracy, speed, organization and the strength of the plants when I use it. I label each styrofoam tray (I have about 8) with a letter. If you look on the notebook, this one is labeled "X". I wrote the letter "X" on the actual tray as well, so I know which way to read it & match it with my notebook. Now I can keep track of which varieties & how many are planted & where. If some don't pop up....I just re-plant in the same sponge.

Here's an okra newbie with some great looking root growth all through the bio-sponge. The sponges are made of some kind of sterile medium. Because you only pour water into the tray and not on the plant, it causes the roots to grow down & strong.

I then transplant them into some peat pots with a mixture of peat moss & potting mix.

And then it's under the lights until the end of the month. I'm looking to transplant them into the garden the 1st week of September.

You're looking at 54 tomatoes in peat pots on the bottom, 6 okra in peat pots on top left, about 24 assorted peppers still in the sponges top right, and about 12 tomatoes still in the sponges top right. With more on the way.

My Florida Garden.....Summer Style!

2009-08-08T18:07:00.004-04:00

The great thing about growing a garden in Florida is that you can grow veggies all year long........well, except for July & August. Oh sure, you can try, and you might find some success. But it won't be pretty. What I find interesting is the gardens above the Mason Dixon line.........they're thriving right now. Of course come October I'll be picking tomatoes and those gardens up north.............well, they'll probably still have some Kale in the ground. So for all you Northerners, this ones for you. My Florida Garden.......Summer Style!

Yes.....you're looking at lots of weeds.

This is what your tomatoes would look like if you had 2" of rain everyday at 3PM, temperatures over 92 every day, and the hordes of bugs that those two ingredients bring.

I am in the middle of getting my Fall garden ready. Here I'm getting my sweet corn spot ready. More pics to follow.

A Little Catching Up.......

2009-08-02T00:20:00.004-04:00

As I mentioned in my last post, we got bunches of rain this year in Florida. About 15" in one week alone. The rain wrecked havoc on my garden, but I was still able to harvest a bunch of veggies. Here's some pictures I took over the last 2 months while I was in and out from going to Honduras & Nicaragua:

A wet, wide look at the garden.....probably about a month & a half ago.

The tomatoes did well......but I bet I lost 40% due to the rain.

My first time growing corn...........and my first time dealing with Japanese Beetles! They feasted on my corn. I was only able to save a few ears.

Cukes. We have delicious pickles in the fridge right now.

Carrots.......... Crooked Neck, Magda & Sweet Lightning (bottom) Squash.

Squash, Eggplant, Sweet Potato, Garlic & Beans. The Garlic didn't do to well, so this year I bought some from a place in Texas that sells Garlic that grows in warmer areas.

And I'll end with a message for all bugs.................

Current garden pics coming next.

Back at it........

2009-07-26T20:41:00.003-04:00

All is well. Just took a little time off to take care of some personal stuff going on in my life........mostly business & a few mission trips to Nicaragua & Honduras again. I felt a little guilty not posting pics from my garden and I think that added to my absence as well.

I'll post some pics of the garden tomorrow, but it's basically done for the season. So much rain! I think the first week in June we got 14" of rain in 5 days....I don't know if you know, but tomatoes don't like 14" of rain in 5 days! We did get a very good harvest this year (despite the rain) and I really pushed my vegetarian wife to brink with all the tomatoes we harvested. But she did keep up! I will say that this summer was our most wasteful garden because we grew so much and had so many new veggies that we didn't exactly know how to deal with the volume. So our goal going forward is to learn and practice canning & freezing methods to handle the bounty! We actually just bought our first canning kit last week and are hoping to wear it out!

The great thing about Florida is that our 2nd growing season in the Fall is just as good as the northerners Summer growing season.............. and so I'm starting to plant my tomatoes & peppers for the Fall garden tomorrow. Is that awesome or what!

Pictures to follow shortly.

Question Of The Week-End.

2009-05-09T10:37:00.004-04:00

Am I the only one who needs a watch on when I go out to the garden in the morning so I can track/time the sun on my plants?

It goes something like this.........

To myself....."Lets see it's 8:22 and my corn & back row tomatoes are getting nice sun........if it gets shady at 4:00....... that's............almost 8 hours of sun! Very nice.........Geesh, it's 8:45 and the dang squash still doesn't have any sun.........Dang it, I've got to plant them in a different spot next time..............OK it's 9:12 .......yada, yada, yada.

Am I the only one?

Question of the week.........

2009-05-07T13:30:00.003-04:00

Is 6 hours of full Florida sun equal to 6 hours of full Vermont sun?

Cutworms!

2009-05-03T16:56:00.002-04:00

They're killing me. They've chomped over 25 pepper plants & 10 tomato plants this year. It started out with just a couple pepper plants getting chomped in half and I thought........"I've had some plants chomped in two before......no big deal" Well..... it was a big deal. I planted some replacements plus about 10 more and the next day..........all chomped down. I then used some paper cups cut in half to wrap around the stems and they were too low......I lost another 8. So I planted some more a couple of days ago with longer wraps.........and they seem to be working. Check it out:

Right above the dirt line they chew & chew & chew until...........

........they're chopped in half. My first attempt to sleave the stalks.......uummm, didn't exactly work out as planned.

My new style.....it's not pretty but it's been 3 days and no damage yet!

Behind The Scenes.

2009-04-23T14:54:00.011-04:00

I know not everybody who reads this blog is a full time church goer, but for those of you who are you will relate to my past week, as I had one of THOSE church weeks. The one where all your responsibilities converge at the same time.

To start, my wife and kids are headed to Nicaragua this summer on a mission trip and one of the ways they raised money for the trip was working on a very large church yard sale. One that takes up a whole gym and lasts for 3 days. A lot goes into one of these kind of yard sales, you must set a hundred or so tables out, fill them up with millions of pounds of stuff (organized of course), put sticker prices on all the stuff and then sell the stuff. The good news is they raised over $6,000........the bad news is it has to be split 25 ways. lol. On top of that I wear a few hats at my church like Christian Ed Director, Sunday School teacher, Tenor in the choir, Advisory board member and finally Mission board member. Throw in Plumbing Contractor, Dad, Husband, and my wife and I getting sucked into watching the past 5 LOST seasons to catch up with our friends who watch & talk about it regularly, and it's been an exhausting week. Barely enough time for the garden......but I'm back!

I'd like to thank Margaret at http://life-at-thistlegarden.blogspot.com/ for waking me up to the easy solution to my squash problem. She told me to just take the male squash stamen and rub it on the female flower (or is flour Margaret?). I know it sounds dirty, but as you can see below in just one weeks time I've got some squash! I feel like a dummy!

Above: Magda squash.

Above left: Sweet Lightning, Above right: Spaghetti squash.

Above: Crooked Neck.

Above: The Squash Patch.

In the middle of my busy week I had a disaster in the garden as well........20 pepper plants chopped down like the Amazon Rain Forest by some Cutworms. It's totally my fault. I stubbornly didn't listen to the advise I got to collar the stems of the plants. I guess I though I was Super Conservative Gardener and cutworms wouldn't dare continue to mess with me. I had read somewhere where an old farmer would put nails next to his plants and the cutworms wouldn't hurt the plants because the nails would bother them. Well......take a look:

The above pick shows where there used to be about 15 plants, the rest in the pic are now gone as well. I've got a bunch more under the lights getting ready to come out to the garden. Next time......I've got some Dixie cups going around them. (And yes, that is an eggplant that I mistakenly planted with the peppers)

And of course no blog would be complete without an update on my favorites........the Tomatoes.

I'm excited about the tomatoes.....they look strong! The cutworms did get about 5 tomato plants, but I had some ready to take their place. (btw- you can click on any picture and it will bring you to my Flickr page where you can enlarge the pic if you want. Just don't go browsing around my Flickr invading my privacy......lol, just kidding)

Well that's quick update, I'll see if I can do my next post without letting a whole week go by!

One Big Mistake.

2009-04-16T14:02:00.005-04:00

Since I was a Junior in High School when I moved to Florida way back in '82 (like Uncle Rico from Napoleon Dynamite), I had to visit the Guidance Counselor to figure out how to transfer my school history from Massachusetts to Florida, and then calculate the classes I needed to take to graduate from a Florida school. The Counselor made it known that my schooling in New England was stronger than what I was going to get in Florida, and that I only needed a few classes to graduate by the first quarter of my Senior year.

"Cool", I said.

So they gave me a list of classes to choose from, and on that list was a class that caught my eye.........French 1.

You see, where I lived in Western Massachusetts there's a nice little French population. I lived right on the Connecticut River near the Vermont border, and if you follow the river north through Vermont & New Hampshire (the Connecticut River is actually the boarder between the two states) all the way up to Canada you'll find yourself in French Canadian country.....Montreal, Quebec City, etc. You can actually listen to radio stations broadcast only in French in that area. So it was common in our school system for kids to take French as a language class requirement, and so I did......for 2 years. As in French 1 and then French 2. I should have been going into French 3 to continue my studies.

You must know that I was a terrible French student. Mostly C's & D's with a B- as my peak grade. Making matters worse, my French teacher, Mr. Routhier, had his son in my class who, obviously, was an A student. I was the antithesis of his son ,who spoke French like a Parisian. Needless to say I was also an annoyance to Mr. Routhier and he rode me hard for 2 years. So much so, that the only thing I can say in French to this day is....."Fermez la bouche, vous etes un cretin".........translation......."Shut your mouth, you're a moron". lol. Seriously.

So when I saw the French 1 class on the list I started to think......"Don't they know I've already had 2 years of French? Is this a test? Are they serious? They don't really know? If I'm able to take French 1 again.......I think....I think... I could do well. Will my old school tell the new school? Can I get this past my parents?...... If I check it and they say something, I'll just say I checked the wrong box.....yeah, that's what I'll do"

So I checked the box. (Routhier be damned!). I showed up to class and the teacher busted out the basics......la garcon (the boy), les femme (the woman), parlez-vous francais (do you speak french) and so on. Well! I was a master. Before long all the girls in the class surrounded me and were stunned at the ease in which I mastered the French language. Yes.....Mr. Routhier......I was a "star", an *A* student in French!

I never told anyone and nobody ever asked (my parents still don't know), but I was the best French 1 student in the history of Deland High School. How they ever overlooked such a thing I have no idea. Which brings me to my point.................

How I ever overlooked the need to have flowers around my garden to attract bees I have no idea. But I did. I'm like the Guidance Counselor and overlooked an easy, obvious issue. So I had to humble myself (if only I could humble that Routhier! lol!) and go to Lowe's to BUY some flowers and hope that I attract some bees to pollinate my squash before........the pickleworms get here! One big mistake.............. I won't make again.

Bloomin' Tuesday

2009-04-14T11:22:00.001-04:00

Can you name that plant:

Great Garden Watering Technique

2009-04-14T09:32:00.005-04:00

In Case You Didn't Know.....

2009-04-11T20:13:00.010-04:00

I believe that God is the Creator and I am the creation.

I believe that Jesus is God With Us - Immanuel.

I believe that I'm a sinner (liar, thief, murderer, adulterer, scammer) .

I believe that His death has payed for all those sins.

I believe that Jesus is who he said he was.....God.

I believe that I can't grow anything without the Creator giving me a seed.

And for you naysayers.......make me a seed from scratch....... It's only wood.

And for you naysayers........Jesus is considered a great teacher by everyone, Buddhist, Hindu, Muslim and even atheist.....What was His crime?.........claiming to be God. How many people/teachers in the history of the world claimed to be God and weren't considered crazy, a liar or a fruit cake?

Nobody.

Except Jesus...............I wonder why?

That's why I believe that on the 3rd day................... He rose.

Happy Easter everyone!

Morning Garden Update.

2009-04-09T11:05:00.005-04:00

I love trees. I also love shade. I think it has a lot to do with the fact that I spent so many years as a new construction plumber working outside in the Florida sun. So day after day, year after year of the bright Florida sunshine burning my skin caused me to seek........shade. So when I went to build my house a few years ago I picked property that was woody & shady. To me it was just so comfortable. That's how I viewed shade........comfortable. Little did I know that years later I would start my first garden and need lots of ..........sun. Which is why I've been spending that last year cutting trees down. Just so you know, I hate cutting trees down. I still love the shade that trees provide, but.............my garden needs sun! It can be such a battle. So there's been times when my garden has been too shady and as a result I've had some failures in the garden. Twenty plus trees being cut down has fixed a lot of that. One of the failures I was sure of was the onion patch I planted. When I planted it I had full sun, but as Winter got closer & closer the shade also crept closer & closer until.......complete shade covering my onions. I was bumbed. I thought for sure the onions were done. But as Winter passed and Spring came around, and some trees being removed, the sun returned. As the sun returned the Onions kicked back into gear and today I harvested my first mature Onion. So the lessons continue as I realize just how cool it is to grow your own stuff. Why didn't I start doing this 10 years ago?

I'm also growing shallots in my onion patch.

Check out my double-headed squash flower. I'm really afraid of the dreaded pickleworm destroying my squash, so I planted them as early as I could so my harvest will be before they get here, which is usually in late May. I hope. No signs of them yet, so my plan is working......so far.

This is big. I'm going with a different system for staking my tomatoes. I'm using mostly 10' long re-bar driven into the ground 2-3 feet deep for each individual tomato plant. I've got 70 tomato plants this year and this seemed to be the best way for my garden. If the plants get too heavy with fruit later on I have a plan to strengthen the stakes by tying them all together. We'll see!

Thanks Aunt Kathy........

2009-04-06T22:23:00.003-04:00

Thanks for the "Real" Maple syrup, candy & cream....we loved it! And yeah, I'm having breakfast for dinner.......it's fun sometimes. And if I could grow Maple trees in my grove, there'd be buckets hanging from them right now! Thanks again....tell everyone hi & we love you.

One Big Sunny Spot.

2009-04-04T20:25:00.005-04:00

One of the tricks of gardening in Florida is staging..........getting the last of the winter crops out in time so that the spring crops have time to ripen before the heat/rain/bugs in June/July kills everything! You Yankees up north wouldn't know about these problems because July/Aug for you is Prime Time growing. Not for us. Actually, July/Aug is the only time during the year we really don't grow anything.

Because of this I'm always having to think ahead so I can manage my garden to it's fullest. Throw in some inexperience, different crop heights, crop rotation, & different locations for sun/shade and it's easy to end up with empty spaces where a crop should be!

My point is this....... I've been a little worried that I wasn't going to be able to grow some corn this year because my potatoes are taking longer than expected, and they're in my planned corn spot for Spring. So I started looking around and notice a real nice sunny spot on the South end of my garden. Not in the garden, mind you, but outside of the garden fence. A pretty big sunny spot at that.

So the Wife & I planted 8 rows of corn 40 feet long with 4 different varieties: Ambrosia, Sugar Pearl (white), Early & Often and Sugar Dots. I don't plan on fencing it in, I believe that I've planted enough seed to have a great harvest even if I loose a few. Plus.....I don't feel like putting up more fence! lol. I estimate about 350 plants if all goes well. I'm pretty excited......I've never grown corn before!

Not nearly as exciting is my Bush Bean planting. I planted some "True Red Cranberry" I got from Old Sturbridge Village in Mass. I also planted "Rocdor", "Borlotto Solista" (from Italy) and "Jade" which is pictured above.

What a Saturday!

1st Year Anniversary.

2009-04-03T09:10:00.005-04:00

I'm not real sure what started it all. If I had to guess I'd say it started with me trolling the Internet for information. Who knows what kind of information? Probably from reading the book "Mayflower", which is about the Pilgrims voyage to the New World, and in it I read how they had used the "Three Sisters" technique to grow their veggies. You know, the one where the Indians taught them to grow beans, squash & corn together. Being intrigued and starting to remember learning about such things in school, I went to Google, and from there Wikipedia. You know how it goes. Once I started reading about it I started to think.........."I've always wanted to grow my own veggies." So I probably clicked on some link, and then clicked on another link, gathering info all the way, and then ended up on some blog called "Skippy's Veggie Garden" : http://carletongarden.blogspot.com/ . As I started to read about how a fellow New Englander was growing her own veggies, I was impressed. Especially how she grew her tomatoes. And, to top it off, she showed you how to do it.......with pictures! The rest is history. The next thing I know, a year has gone by and I'm eating homegrown potatoes for breakfast and writing in my own blog every three days! Yep...it's my 1 year Anniversary as a gardener. I actually didn't plant anything in the ground until April 21, 2008, but the garden prep was started a couple weeks before. So here are some photo's from about a year ago.....my first garden.

The original 4 raised beds. No compost bins, and if you'll notice, there's no path to walk on or harvest from in front of the beds, just a fence. I just walked around the fence to pick my first tomatoes. My fence was also held up by little 1x sticks, not the 4x4 posts I use now. And yes, I used pressure treated wood for the beds..........hey, I'm a contractor, I thought lasting longer was better! I also used "Skippy's" tee-pee technique for my tomatoes (pressure treated again!)......I'm still trying to find the best way to stake tomatoes. This year I'm going with 10' re-bar stakes. Besides the tomatoes on the left and right, I had cukes in the middle, beans & squash in the back with watermelon & pumpkin next to the bean bed. The squash & pumpkin got destroyed by pickleworms, and the watermelon wasn't grown with enough room in mind. The cukes did pretty good, as well as the beans & tomatoes. But they all got planted a little late and eventually succumbed to the Florida weather ( & bugs).

Close ups with a pic of my first ripe tomato.

Not bad for my first garden, but I quickly realized that I needed to make some improvements. I knew I needed more sun, so I cut some trees down. I then added some beds, put in a couple of compost bins and change the fence a little. The last photo is the current garden. That darn $20 book!........I guess the Pilgrims are still inspiring.

Surprise!

2009-03-30T12:26:00.007-04:00

So I was looking at my potato plants this morning, and because I'm a rookie gardener I had the following conversation with myself (you do it to!):

"Hmmm..what's up with these potatoes? Every veteran gardener I've read says that your potatoes are done when they've been flowering for a couple weeks.....jeesh, mine haven't even flowered at all. It's been almost 3 months, what's the problem?!... Hmmm.....I know I screwed something up.....man, I need this space for corn.....soon! .....uuuggghhh...I suck!...Was it too much water? ....... Not enough?......hhmmm.........Maybe it's getting too hot......dang Florida, I knew I should have planted them earlier! If I still lived in New England I wouldn't have this problem...........hhmmmm...... Maybe I shouldn't have used the top soil from the woods......I bet it had diseases in it!.............Wait a minute.....I read somewhere where you can dig down next to the plants and pull one potato out without hurting the plant........hhmmm....let me give it try."

So I stuck my hand right into the dirt and started to feel around (which is awesome fun for a 12 year old stuck in a 40 year old body!) .........and.......what ..........wait .........what's that? Well look what I found:

My first potato harvest. The ones pictured are Purple Viking & Red Potamac. I had my youngest daughter help me, and I love the picture with her dirty hands holding the potatoes she picked. Awesome!

Oh yeah......................... they were delicious!

Roof Top Tour

2009-03-29T01:12:00.006-04:00

I had to deal with a big leaf problem on my roof.......so to get a different perspective on my garden & yard I took my camera up with me and took some pics.

The Garden.

The Garden with Timmy (pug) & Fenway (tomato killer) in the pic. If you click on the pic and make it larger you'll notice one of the tomato plants I had to re-pot sitting on my stone column.

The leaf problem. What's nice is how this problem has turned into my compost supplier! I use a leaf blower/vacuum that chops the leaves up when you use it as a vacuum, and then it's off to the compost bin. I told you it's like Fall in the Spring here in North/Central Florida!

The other side. This is the East side of my property (the garden is on the West side). I just moved my Plumbing Company to my house and I'm using my large shed as a shop. Because of the bad housing economy my company went from 70 employees & 35 trucks to 6 employees & 4 trucks in about 2 years. I'm just glad I have room on my property to help me get by while we wait for construction to pick up. In the mean time.......not bad for suffering!

The North. The paved street in front of my house dead ends into a fence. It's a nice quiet neighborhood.

This island by my pool used to be covered with ferns until the hard freezes we had this winter. I know the ferns will be back with a vengeance by summer, but I'm thinking of doing something different. It's pretty shady so I don't know what I'd plant there........got any ideas?

The Race.........

2009-03-27T20:49:00.002-04:00

...............to see if the Broc can beat the heat! Started from seed on Jan. 14th and transplanted to the garden on Feb. 8th. I swear I looked yesterday and didn't see any heads forming....but I've been wrong before!

Wordless Wednesday.

2009-03-25T19:51:00.001-04:00

Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Tomatoes!

2009-03-24T20:45:00.003-04:00

The tomatoes are moving fast, come check it out:

Another "Am I the only one"...............who plans to harden off my plants for 5-7 days and then after about.... uummm....7 hours, talk myself into planting them before it gets dark!

Here we go.....gotta lay it out first so you don't have problems in 2 months!

Digging them down deep, all the way up to first true leaves.

The first of 4 tomato beds is in the books! I think I'm planting the 2nd tomorrow.....of course it depends on how long I can hold out on the hardening process.

As a side note.....my spaghetti squash, crooked neck and a couple other squash varieties are doing well!

Wrong again.

2009-03-24T19:39:00.002-04:00

Am I the only one who thinks...............

2009-03-22T20:26:00.005-04:00

....the time has come..........it's not going to work............they're not coming up.

New Edition

2009-03-20T09:15:00.002-04:00

Yep...I was talked into adding a new addition to the family. It didn't take much actually. Our neighbors (and best friends) got a female Chocolate Lab/mix from the pound yesterday, and when they showed her off to us they mentioned she had a brother there that looked just like her.......bad news for me! So my daughter begged & begged and....well, you know what happened:

"Fenway" is the one with the collar.

Now since this is a garden blog (and you CAN see the garden in the background behind Samantha & Fenway) I couldn't help but let you peek at my tomatoes..........it won't be long.

It's Falling Spring

2009-03-17T12:26:00.008-04:00

One common complaint this time of year in Florida is the amount of pollen in the air (and on your car)..........and it's justifiable! Darla over at http://familyandflowers.blogspot.com/ wrote a blog on pollen a couple of days ago with some pictures : http://familyandflowers.blogspot.com/2009/03/aa-aa-aaa-choo.html

But what many of you north of the Florida/Georgia line don't know is that Spring time is our Fall. Yep.....leaves everywhere! Most of our trees keep their leaves year round, but during spring new leaves sprout and knock off the old leaves. Hence.........Fall! So not only do we have pollen everywhere, but leaves as well. And I mean it's just like October in New England! Well.....maybe not quite the same!

You might be saying, "What's the big deal?" ........I'm telling you there's leaves everywhere! And it's March!

I took this picture this morning.....it looks like Autumn! And I just cleaned the leaves out of this carrot bed a few days ago.

All I need is a little pumpkin soup. And yes, those are my tomatoes on the right.... getting ready!

O.K. these pics have some leaves in them, but my main reason for showing it is to show off my first ever strawberry grown.

Movin' Forward...........

2009-03-15T15:22:00.007-04:00

The heat is starting to kick in now......mid 80's for highs, high 50's for lows. The warmth came a little quicker than I anticipated because of how cold the winter was. I mean it was just 28 degrees a couple weeks ago and now it seems the cold is gone for good, so I've got to get moving preparing the garden for the big Spring season. I've got tomatoes & peppers (hot & sweet) coming and I'm preparing the raised beds by turning over my green manure, weeding, adding compost and then covering with straw while I wait for the plants to get bigger.

Of course there's still plenty going while we wait for the warm veggies to arrive. My onions are bulbing....which I'm mildly surprised by. Lettuce has been tasty, and my potatoes look like they're progressing well. Of course I've never grown potatoes before so I really don't know! I do know that my broccoli is doing well...because that I have grown before. Actually I'm wanting the broc & potatoes to hurry up so I can make room for some corn.

Red Meat radish......I don't know, didn't taste right for me. Maybe it's too warm in Florida.

Joy.

2009-03-14T12:47:00.003-04:00

Peace.

2009-03-12T13:31:00.002-04:00

Ooops.....

2009-03-10T20:06:00.004-04:00

Yep. I got a little agressive hardening off my cukes. We don't see failures as much...so here's one for the books.

Feeling Fruity.....

2009-03-07T22:34:00.003-05:00

One thing I've learned from gardening......nature doesn't wait on you. If you procrastinate it might cost you! I'm definitely ahead of last years spring/summer garden, (which was my first) but I still didn't start when I wanted. And my tomatoes took forever to sprout....I think because of the chilly nights. I brought them inside most nights but.........I forgot a couple of nights as well. Dummy. Anyway this is what's going on in my garden:

I love tomatoes. Definitely my favorite garden veggie. This season I'm growing about 70 plants which consist of Black Krim (boss lady's favorite), Italian Giant Beefsteak, Early Girl, Rutgers, Red Brandywine, Black, Black Sea Man, Yellow Brandywine, Dixie Golden, Georgia Streak, Lemon Drop (cherry), Velvet Red (cherry), Isis Candy (cherry), and Chocolate Cherry.

The Broc is coming along very well.

Lettuce & Beets are just fine.

And the new editions to the garden...... a little mini-orchard that includes a Dorsett Golden Apple tree, Anna Apple tree, Pineapple Orange tree, Rhode Red Valencia Orange tree, Persian Lime, Eureka Lemon, Sunburst Tangerine, and a Meiwa Sweet Kumquat which I have devoured about 50 of the little fruits so far!

Fruity

2009-03-03T12:46:00.003-05:00

Cleaning up around the garden and getting ready for a mini fruit orchard.

Before..............

After............

Spring into Action.

2009-02-28T23:53:00.007-05:00

Getting ready for my spring garden.....I almost can't wait! Well actually I'm not waiting as I've already planted 70 tomato seeds, 50 hot & sweet peppers, 12 cukes, 23 squash, 12 watermelon, 12 eggplant and 4 pumpkin. I've still got about 35 potato plants and 40 broccoli that need to be harvested before I plant my spring crop. It's going to be hectic! Here's some pics to put some visual to it:

Tomatoes bottom left, Cukes bottom center, Watermelon/Pumpkin bottom right, Squash top left, Peppers/Tomatoes/Eggplant top right.

Potatoes & Broccoli need to get going....I plan on planting corn here in April.

I don't think my onions are going to bulb. They went about 2 months with very little sun & I think it messed them up. I know next year they'll have sun. How do I know?.......................

...........because I did what any good gardener would do.........cut some trees down! I love trees, but I needed sun! I use a lot of wood in my fireplace anyways, so it won't go to waste.

I also moved my garden shed to make room for some soon-to-be new additions......Orange, Grapefruit, Kumquat & Apple trees. I'm pretty excited about the Apple trees. They haven't been around too long in Florida (I've heard just within the past 10-15 years) and are pretty rare, but they do grow here. Two kinds I'm looking at are called "Anna" & "Dorsett Golden". Hopefully I'll get them tomorrow!

Nicaragua Phase 2

2009-02-24T16:33:00.021-05:00

Don't know if anyone likes to look at these but I did say I would post more pics from my recent Nicaragua mission trip. I probably take about 2 or 3 of these kinds of trips a year and this one went so well we actually had a free day to cruise around and meet people. Our main goal was to pour a slab for some new barracks that will hold future missionaries that will help with the food distribution program. As soon as we arrived (about 6pm Thursday night) we started working laying out the new addition and putting up form boards. We worked until 1am that night and busted our butts for the next 2 days and were able to pour footers for a food storage building as well. I'll let the pictures tell the rest:

The start.

Yours truly, The Plumber.

Concrete - old school.

You will get fed..........Beans & Rice, baby! Beans & Rice!....... day and night!

Bonus work.......footers for a food storage building.

Worth it.

Finally.

2009-02-23T15:53:00.004-05:00

To all my Blog-a-Gardener friends. It's time......... need I say more?

Catching up.

2009-02-19T22:40:00.013-05:00

With the mission trip taking up a big portion of my focus the last week and a half, I'm a little behind. I wanted to have my tomatoes & peppers already started, my second wave of broccoli already planted in the garden and soil in some unused beds turned and composted..........none of which is done! I've also got some pictures of the garden that I wanted to post but haven't. So I'm going to do some catching up. And yes I still have some Nicaragua pictures to post. So here goes:

First of all we have an emergency.................5 small, wrinkly, sad garden tomatoes left! Which is still better than any store bought tomato, but I've got to get started planting my spring tomatoes......now! As soon as my wife has to buy one $5 tomato from Publix I'll hear about it (she is a vegetarian)............"doesn't taste like the garden ones", "it feels like plastic", "they have no smell".......... yadayadayada.

In the mean time I hardened off most of my broccoli & planted them right before I left for Nicaragua. I'm hoping to harvest them in time to plant some corn in their spot by spring.

I do have some more broccoli that I'm hardening off right now. I burnt some seedlings trying to keep them warm so I have a nice little gap for extended harvesting.

My potatoes seem to be doing great despite about 5 days in the mid to low 20's and some frost bite.

I've sowed some squash, cuke, watermelon & pumpkin seeds (we're from New England so we love pumpkin soup!). You may be thinking "wow, that's a bit early" but you don't understand that I have a problem..........pickleworms! If you don't know about pickleworms you're lucky. Moths lay eggs just after sunset (so you can't see them), then in the morning when you're checking your garden the worms are already hatched and on the move.....into the stems of the squash or any relative of the squash. Once they start burrowing, it's over. You just can't kill them. They are known to move up from south Florida around May and move up into the Carolina's where they usually stall out. So the trick is to plant & harvest before they move on through. This will be our third try at growing squash, I got 'em beat this time!

After tonight's 25 degree low I'm going to sow my tomato & pepper seeds....a little later than I wanted but it'll be all good.

I'll leave with this cool tree I saw in Nicaragua........I was told it was a cherry tree and that it never has any leaves! Weird. I need to investigate to make sure I didn't loose anything in the translation. That happens from time to time. Anyway, I did eat some of the "cherries"..................I thought they sucked. But what do I know, I'm just a Gringo.

Nicaragua

2009-02-17T21:39:00.020-05:00

Well I'm back. I just spent the last 5 days on a mission trip to Nicaragua. I went with 6 other guys from my church and our main goal was to build a foundation for new barracks on the property of a missionary (Perry) who feeds about 15,000 kids a week. The new rooms have one bathroom each in them so the underground plumbing needed to be installed as well. Our goal was met earlier than expected so we also installed footers for a future warehouse that will store food. And we still had time to go out and make some new friends. I don't have time to post all the pictures I want right now so I'm going to do it in phases. This first phase is from the day we went and visited a community located in a dump.......yes I said a dump. Perry has a feeding center there and feeds about 200 kids. Check it out:

The entrance to the "Village" complete with grazing cows.

The kids.

Dinner. The lizards are kept alive and their legs are pinned together to keep them under control.

One of the reasons we came- to bring bowls & cups for food distribution. This is the Pastor of the "Dump Church".

A different life than me & you.

Climate Change

2009-02-05T12:39:00.003-05:00

A high of 48 yesterday with a low of 21 last night. That's chilly! Especially for Florida. Even Timmy had to warm up next to the fire:

And yes, as you can see, we have fireplaces in Florida. (It's cheaper than electric!) Of course the fireplace doesn't help the garden which I hope has no damage:

29 degrees at 9:30 AM! We'll see what happens.

Not My Garden Picture

2009-02-03T00:06:00.007-05:00

I have a confession to make. As a Plumbing Contractor in Florida, I'm praying for a very, very very, cold & snowy winter up north. (Do I need to explain why? We need work!). Although I think it's working, there's been a draw back........extra cold in Florida! Lows of 29, 24 & 22 are predicted again this week, and for the first time I'm really worried about the veggies in the garden. I'll do my best to cover them up, and then.........we'll see. In the meantime, I want to post this picture I took of my oldest daughter this past summer at the Bridge of Flowers in Shelbourne Falls, MA. to help remind me of the beauty of summer (and daughters!) and the never ending cycle of life.

"Consider how the lilies grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you, O you of little faith!" Luke 12:27,28

Broccoli

2009-01-26T16:21:00.007-05:00

I mentioned in one of my earlier posts that I was trying to squeeze some broccoli in before my summer garden. My family loved the broccoli I grew during the fall, it was sooo tender and tasty that they ate about 18 plants and side shoots in about 2-3 weeks! Alright maybe it was 3-4 weeks.

Anyway, I started some a couple weeks ago and transplanted them into peat pots today. Here's some pics:

I love these styrofaom seed starters. I believe I got them from Parks Seeds. They're reusable & I usually get a pretty high germination rate. If a seed doesn't germinate, I just re-use the plug.

Then just take the plug & put it in a peat pot. (sold at lowes)

I use a basic potting mix.

You know those aren't my hands, manly plumber men are too stubborn to wear gloves.

I got the trays from Parks seeds. They're very versatile, they're big enough for the styrofaom seed starter and then hold about 18 medium peat pots.

Add water with a weak fertilizer and the peat pots with soak the water up from the bottom. That helps the roots grow down & deep.

And then back under the lights for a week or two. The ones up top are about 8 little broccoli that I had to re-seed because I burned them last week when I was trying to keep them warm. I put a heater a little too close!

The Garden Flip-Off.....

2009-01-26T14:53:00.005-05:00

So I was blogging the other day on one of my favorite blogs, http://neurotic-iraqi-wife.blogspot.com/, and was engaged in a serious debate. Well right in the middle of the dabate a lady, who knows I'm the Conservative Gardener, gave me a Garden Flip-Off :

"Until you have life growing in your womb, your opinion means nothing to someone who needs financial support to provide a medical need to end a the growth of a life so that can she can support the life that is already here. Go plant some artichokes and while you are at it, please tell Edit _ Mommies about ..........."

Whoa! Go plant some artichokes! lololol! If only she knew how hard it is to grow artichokes. (esp. in florida)

The Manly Tomato......

2009-01-24T21:47:00.007-05:00

True story...... I was talking to an old friend a few months back. Not just any old friend mind you. You see my friend Bruce was my first friend in Florida after I moved here from New England. I moved here when I was 17 after going to school with the same 54 kids from 1st grade through 11th. If I remember correctly all 54 kids were white, Catholic and used to snow days. When I arrived at Deland High School in 1983 it was a completely different world. Bruce, originally from Florida, befriended me and taught me things I've never considered or seen. Like skipping school so we could spend the day at Daytona Beach. Back in New England the beach didn't have quite the same attraction! After (barely!) graduating we became plumbers together, got married, had kids and our families were tight. Now we didn't become just plumbers together, we became the best, toughest, hardest working, smartest and manliest plumbers together. Not the fat plumber that you call to come fix your leak under your sink with his butt crack hanging out. We were that guys boss. No, we were new construction plumbers. The ones that plan, design and install the plumbing in your new house or office. We were tough & smart. We could dig all day installing pipe in the Florida sun , carry a 300lb tub to your 2nd floor bathroom and party afterword and then do it again the next day, and the next day, and then the next day. Tough, smart & tan. Manly men.

Well as time went on, divorce, age, drugs and life changes happened and I moved to Ocala and didn't see much of him. As the past 15 years have gone by we've stayed barely in touch, growing farther and farther apart.

Hence, the phone call.

Bruce said, "So, haven't seen you in awhile......do you have any hobbies?"

Immediately I started thinking "Ummmm, I'm 42 with 4 kids, a struggling business trying to survive, I don't have any hobbies.......I suck!..... Oh wait! My garden!". So I said "Well actually I garden"

The Manly Man Plumber said, "Oh..... garden....... that's pretty cool, what do you grow, tulips and flowers"?

Feeling kinda girlie I said, "No, no (actually yes) I grow (a more manly) vegetables, like tomatoes".

"Oh, tomatoes. Very nice.", the manly man said.

Trying to justify I said, " Yeah, you should see how much digging is involved"!

"Cool" he said and we moved on to another topic and then hung up.

After the phone call I started to think "You know I love gardening. I love growing veggies for my vegetarian wife. I love not paying grocery store prices for veggies and I love the spiritual connection I get from tilling the ground".

I'll always love ya Bruce, but I've moved on to growing Manly Tomatoes.

Freezer Burn!

2009-01-23T10:31:00.005-05:00

It was 22 degrees yesterday, 27 degrees today and we have a little damage. It's my first winter garden and I thought the cold crops were indestructible. I was wrong. Here's a couple pics.....

Very frosty. Maybe frost makes cabbage taste better!

Potatoes.
This is what happens when I'm in charge.

All you Yankees up there, look how bad we've got it!

I know this has nothing to do with cold weather, but I hate it when this happens.
Notice my little radishes coming up.

A little Catching Up......

2009-01-21T11:44:00.008-05:00

Since I've only had my own blog page for a few weeks I thought I might post some pictures and stories about who I am and what I do. Yes, of course I'm a gardener. And as I mentioned in the "about me" section I'm also a Plumbing Contractor and I own a (struggling) plumbing business. But that's not all there is. I'm also a short term missionary. I've been to Cuba, Venezuela, Romania, Hungary, Honduras, Trinidad & Tobago, Mexico, & other misc. Carribbean Islands. Next month I'm off to Nicaragua. A lot of my trips are construction orientated, like building schools, churches, houses, etc. Sometimes we'll bring humanitarian supplies like powdered milk, hygiene stuff, books, food or, believe it or not, baseball equipment. The Cubans love to play baseball! And other times I might go as a teacher or speaker.

So I'm going to start with a few pictures from my last Cuba trip which I believe was in the summer of 2007. Check it out:

Me & my friend Asmanti looking over the construction of his new house, which is being
built on top of somebody else's house. Upper left is one of his friends working on the roof.
Upper right is the Plumbing Contractor (me) checking out his HUGE bathroom.

Havana.

Back in time. Top middle is the Havana airport. Top right is a picture of electrical
meters for a building I was walking by. I took the picture from the sidewalk.

Did I mention the Cubans love to play baseball? That's me on the left and
my friend Asmanti (who played for the Cuban National team) on the right.

Yeah, I took a picture of the plumbing. But look, that's the shower head and
the water heater all in one! Just don't get the wires wet!

And of course the propaganda. I used to know what they all said but I've since forgotten.
I know the one on the bottom is about these 5 guys that Castro says we kidnapped. The rest I
can sum up for you like this: Cuba=Good, USA=Bad, Socialism/Communism=Good, Capitalism=Bad. All the billboards there are used for propaganda. I didn't see one billboard used
for advertising.

January- State of the Garden

2009-01-18T18:06:00.007-05:00

It was a nice run, but my fall tomatoes finally said goodbye. Low's in the 20's and 30's with high's in the mid-50's did them in. Don't feel too bad for us, it's mid-January and we're stocked with tomatoes! The cool thing is I'll be starting my spring tomatoes inside in about 2 weeks! Sweet! These pictures above show my tomatoes last week, and............gone this week.

Celery & Brussels spout. Not only have I never grown these veggies before, I've never even seen them grown before! Actually I've never seen most of the veggies I'm growing grown before.......thanks to the modern day grocery store! (speaking of modern day grocery stores....do you remember back in the 70's & 80's, before scanners, when the cashiers memorized all the prices and typed them into a cash register? lol!) So I don't always know how the plants are doing since I don't really know what they look like when they grow. The down side of being a green horn! I do believe both of these plants have suffered from a lack of sun.

I can grow a mean crop of green manure though!

The last of the fall garden- 4 cabbage left and a raised bed of onions. The family didn't dig the cabbage as much as I expected. I think these cabbage have been growing for about 5 months (including inside under the lights)! I'm looking forward to them getting out of the way.

The onions on the other hand, we can't wait. Again I've never grown onions before and I'm hoping they got enough sun.

The new guys to the garden, potatoes, beets and some radish. Just planted these around Christmas. Hate to be a broken record but............never grown these either! I'm kinda excited for some potatoes.

My first compost bin. I'm such an enviromentalist!

And finaly a quick crop of 40 broccoli pants on the way. I'm going to plant them where the tomatoes were.

They need to grow quick......I want to plant my spring garden the 1st week of March!

Is the Tomato your Uncle? Re-post.

2009-01-16T21:21:00.014-05:00

As a Gardener I can't get my head around how awesome the seed is. Is there anybody out there who can make a seed from scratch? I mean it's just a piece of wood. Anybody? I didn't think so. Do you ever wonder where the seed came from? I have, and I've checked around to get different opinions and I discovered something.....um, well.....weird I guess. I discovered the Theory of Evolution teaches that not only do all animals & humans share one ancestor, but all plants as well! I know that if you ask people what evolution means you'd get a wide variety of answers. Some people think that if a bird starts growing a longer beak to snatch worms from deep holes that that is Evolution. Actually that's not Evolution, that's natural selection. The bottom line on the Theory of Evolution is that you and me share one ancestor with every living thing on earth. Including plants. To me......that's crazy ridiculous. Dumb even. I wonder how many people know that the real definition of evolution means that YOU evolved from the same ancestor as the tomato? That means you're related to that Black Krim you love so much! lolol! Cannibal!

Check it out:. "All plants and animals share common ancestors with other plants and animals." - Richard Dawkins website. Or: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_plant_evolution

What do you think?

The Winter Garden

2009-01-15T15:46:00.009-05:00

The Garden. My peaceful zone. I only started gardening about 10 months ago with my first spring/summer planting. What a blast! I've learned quite a bit since then, most of it by trial and error (and the internet!). I started out with just four 10' x 5' raised beds in the spring, and as you can see now, I'm up to twelve 10' x 5' beds, two 5' x 5' beds and 60 feet of 1' wide bed along my fence line.

The great thing about Florida is that you can grow something in your garden basically all year. Actually, the hardest time of the year to grow veggies is in July/August. It gets really hot & wet, diseases flurish and I know you've heard about our bugs! So what you're looking at is my winter garden. It's in a little bit of a transitional stage. It's getting cold now (highs in the high 50's/low 60's, lows in the high 20's/low 30's) and my tomatoes are done. Which is fine by me because I want to squeeze in some broccoli before my spring planting. I've got some onions going now as well as garlic, celery, cabbage, lettuce, beets, radish, carrots, potatoes, strawberries and a few brussels sprout. I also have some green manure going for my spring garden.

One problem I have is.........trees. I love trees but they mess with my garden. My property runs East to West so as winter approaches the Sun starts to fade towards the equator and fall behind some of my trees. I've cut about 10 trees down so far, but I still have shade. The good news is that after December 21st the sun's been coming back my way, so it's just a matter of time before I have full sun again. Next year I'll start my Fall garden in mid-August instead of mid-Sept. and that should help.

Winter Tomatoes

2009-01-13T18:39:00.004-05:00

Yes, tomatoes in January. I know, you're jealous. That's life in Florida. I started these tomatoes in September and have been harvesting them since Mid-December. I've got some Black Krim in there as well as Cherokee Purple, Orange-Strawberry, Aunt Ruby's Green and I think an Early Girl or two. Low's in the 20's this week so it's all coming to an end.