Archive for the ‘In The Garden’ Category
Jun
07
Posted by Adina
Your preparations for the organic garden do not have to cost you a lot of time. One excellent way to save time and build great soil for your garden is to compost directly into the vegetable garden. This requires that you expect to have a fallow season for at least some part of your garden. Many South Florida gardeners do put their beds to rest when the rainy season starts, so this will probably work great for you. The beauty of this backwards planting season (growing in the winter, fallow in the summer) for us is that while our summer is so extremely hot and wet that our bedding plants will rot it is perfect weather for the fastest compost possible. Here’s what you do.
May
15
Posted by Adina
Right now Black Eye Peas are coming up next to Okra, Collard Greens are hanging in, bush beans are still producing, and pole beans are beginning to kick in. Biter gourd is coming up now, and the garden is mad with small native cherry tomatoes. They don’t seem to mind the heat one bit. It is summer crop season and time for building and planning next fall’s gardens. I am psyched!
May
10
Posted by Adina
Organic gardening is not about doing nothing to help your garden thrive and wishing for results while accepting unreasonable losses. It is about employing naturally occurring systems present in our environment so as to eat without doing damage to our ecosystem. It is about fostering interdependence with our world rather than conquering and ultimately destroying it. This is not mumbo jumbo new age magic, it is solid science with practical applications, it is stuff we knew once and forgot along the way. You can do this too.
Tags: Organic Gardening, organic insect control, Predaceous Insects
Apr
14
Posted by Adina
A month later when my brother and his eldest daughter came to visit Florida they packed Lettuce the frog into a bag of organic lettuce, put the lettuce bag into her backpack, and that night Lettuce the frog was release back into the garden from which he came. He had traveled a total of 2,000 miles, spent several weeks in a terarium in a zone 5 town in February, and survived to return to the land of his hatching.
Tags: Add new tag, Frogs in the Garden, South Florida Frog
Apr
03
Posted by Adina
Greenbrier, Catbrier, Horsebrier, Smilax from the family Smilacaceae is edible. Not just edible for my rabbits, it is also edible for me. Better than edible it tastes great. I have heard it called wild asparagus, and I have found pieces so vigorous and large that they resembled asparagus tips a little. Like asparagus the part Continue reading →
Tags: Add new tag, Catbrier, Edible Weeds, Greenbrier
Mar
31
Posted by Adina
I have a very small Queen Palm or Cocos Plumosa in some of the whitest soil on my property. That poor palm has been yellow for as long as I can remember. Over the course of many years I have done very little for it. I am sure that at least once I have put Continue reading →
Tags: Cocos Plumosa, Palm Nutritional Deficiencies, Palm Yellowing, Queen Palm, Soil Health
Mar
28
Posted by Adina
Over the course of this year we have had the good fortune to harvest and eat swamp cabbage, or the heart of the Sabal Palm three different times. The first tree fell casualty to our new shed. We had to do some clearing to get the shed in. That was the only tree other than Continue reading →
Tags: Giant Palm Weevil, Hearts Of Palm Harvest, Sabal Palm, Swamp Cabbage
Dec
28
Posted by Adina
It is December, just before the shortest day of the year. Here are some pics from the gardens including the new box gardens. This so far has been a good season for South Florida growers. There is lots to eat in the garden. Here are some pics from the last 30 days or so.
Tags: Growing Organic Vegetables, South Florida Vegetable Gardens, Vegetable Gardens
Dec
22
Posted by Adina
This growing season has been fabulous so far. Great food has been coming into my kitchen from the garden everyday, and there has been lots of surplus to sell off or share. We are deeply grateful.
Tags: Home Grown Vegetables, Organic Harvests, South Florida Organic Grower
Oct
27
Posted by Adina
I killed the Seminole Pumpkin vine. It had taken over three 50 sq. ft. sections of my garden and ran around the fence blocking five sections and two out of three gates. It was cathartic to get that thing out of my garden. I am working quickly now to prepare those sections for replanting. I Continue reading →
Tags: Compost, Nematodes, No Till Gardening, Preparing for Planting, Seminole Pumpkin
Oct
11
Posted by Adina
In an effort to quickly bring forth new gardens for this planting season I have completed and planted my second No Dig Garden Box. It is a little different than my first box mentioned in The No Dig Garden Box I built this latest box with heavier lumber and it is wider and longer. I Continue reading →
Tags: No Dig Garden
Oct
07
Posted by Adina
I chose the no dig style of gardens for my new gardens so that I could get my extra planting started right away. The no dig garden box is a quick and easy way to get an excellent outdoor garden started right away. You don’t dig this garden you simply build it up. This No Dig Garden is often called a Lasagna Garden. It is built up in layers.
Tags: Lasagna Garden, No Dig Garden
Sep
29
Posted by Adina
In July I put a few seeds in a 50 sq. ft. section of my garden. No one bothered to warn me about how large this plant gets! It has taken over three 50 sq.ft. sections. It wants two more, but I am pushing it back. It has taken over the fence around 4 sections, and I have to keep cutting it away from the last two of three gates. It keeps growing them shut. I have put in 4 bamboo teepees. The pumpkin monster has swallowed them up.
Tags: Seminole Pumpkin Plants
Sep
28
Posted by Adina
I was checking into Joel Salatin, well respected practitioner of sustainable farming when I found this video. I have been agonizing over whether I have space enough on my property for more than gardening. Now I feel certain I do. Check this out, no matter how you feel about your garden this [...]
Tags: Home Garden
Sep
08
Posted by Adina
I am having a revolution in the garden of my mind. That garden happens long before I tie on a bandana, don gloves hat and clippers and walk out the door. As I prepare several of my garden sections for the South Florida Fall planting I am for the first time planning not to dig Continue reading →
Tags: No till garden
Aug
30
Posted by Adina
The longer I garden naturally the more I understand that there are just a few hard fast rules for how one manages or lives with the garden. The rest is fluid, not so rule bound. If it works right your organic garden is a part of your property’s micro-ecosystem. The rules I have chosen to Continue reading →
Tags: organic insect control
