Roof Top Tour

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?

It's Falling Spring

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...........

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.

Spring into Action.

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!