Sunday, January 27, 2013

January in the Central Florida garden...

Not a lot of posting lately. Lots going on in the garden, including several new peach trees, a new mulberry (Pakistan), and two new pear trees.

It's been very warm all winter long. My plum trees are in full bloom, and my established peach is budding out. All that activity is at least a couple weeks early. I dread a late season freeze!

I started tomatoes, cukes, squash and peppers last week. That's well ahead of my schedule. One reason I typically wait until late in the winter is that these Solanaceae require a lot of warmth to germinate. No problem this year.The seedlings are already up.

People ask me often what varieties of tomato I grow. I'm rather indifferent. I go to Tomato Growers Supply, and select late-early- and early-mid-season round red tomatoes with lots of letters after their names that the catalogue lists as decent in flavor. Surprisingly few fit all those parameters! Applause, Mountain Magic, and Bella Rosa this year. Some of those are determinate, some indeterminate; the difference isn't as notable in our relatively short growing season (early May to late-June for fruit... maybe 4 weeks of heavy production).

Some determinate tomatoes I've grown in the past have even defeated my indefatigable tomato trellis! So, i don't really pay much heed to whether they're determinate or not...

I wish I had had some Tomande on hand, but I forgot to order them.

Juliet and Sungold are two very reliable small-fruited tomatoes. Juliet distinguishes itself in both yield and disease resistance. If I had to grow only one...

The typical winter crops are doing well: Hakurei turnips, lettuces, chard, spinach, peas, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, radishes, cress.

Anyway, going with the whole "it's going to stay warm" thought, I've planted a long row of beans. 

6 comments:

Katherine said...

Hi,
Love your blog, and have started my seedlings of tomatoes, peppers, jalepeno peppers and I am thinking the same thing about starting the cukes and squash. I live in SW FL, and this is my first year planting a "real" veggie garden. I am hoping that there is no frostnext month too, but feel very confident that it will not. I've been going by some of your posts on ordering seeds, and planting times, and find you offer so much information. Thanks so much, keep up the blogging I've been waiting to hear from you again!!

Katherine

Michael said...

that's very gratifying, katherine. i'll try to blog more diligently!

David The Good said...

Good luck. I'm a big fan of mulberries. Talk about an under-utilized tree! They're amazing.

Hope your beans do well. I'm not that brave.

JWO said...

I dread a late season freeze
The bane of gardening in north central Florida, early budding and late freezes.

I took the same chance and also planted a row of green beans.

Unknown said...

HI,
I have been following your blog closely for many years and have learned quite a bit. Send me an email with your address and I will send you some Tomande. I bought extra's this year. My email is kdeford@cfl.rr.com.

Kenny

London Escort Agencies said...

I think ,it will be beautiful.I am from London Escort Agencies and I want to see this garden.