New Edition

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

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.

Joy.

Peace.

Ooops.....

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.....

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!