Park Seeds, Swallowtail orders

From Park Seeds:

• Corn Silver Princess Hybrid
• Chrysanthemum Gold Sticks Hybrid
• Coreopsis tinctoria
• Pepper Ancho
• Green Onion Parade

And from Swallowtail:

• TOMATOES, HEIRLOOM--NEPAL
• TOMATOES, HEIRLOOM--BLACK PLUM
• EPAZOTE

Tropical Corn

I'm going to give a shot at growing a small patch (sixteen square feet) of sweet corn this fall, sowing sometime in August, hopefully harvesting some ears for Thanksgiving. After a lot of searching, I chose Silver Princess Hybrid, since it offers very early harvest, good disease resistance, and sturdy plants. I poked around the 'net for advice on growing corn in a sub-tropical climate (which ours is, kind of...) and came across this great picture of tropical corn in Peru from Breeding Field Crops.

Corn used to be grown extensively here in Central Florida, but that period ended with the Lake Apopka cleanup effort, which involved buying out hundreds of acres of field, many devoted to corn. The phosphorous and nitrogen run-off from these farms, combined with degraded wetlands caused by wanton development, destroyed the ecosystem supporting Lake Apopka,. When I moved here at the end of the 1990s, wading birds were (no exaggeration) falling dead from the sky and Apopka's shores were lined with dead bass...

There is at least one farm -- Scott's -- around Zellwood, FLA, which grows significant crops of corn, and, even though I wince at the ecological harm and the amount of pesticides and fungicides, I buy some every fall and again at the end of spring. Zellwood grows seriously good corn, for sale from the backs of pickups on byways at fifty-cents an ear. One of our family fall/spring traditions is to hold a shrimp boil made of Zellwood corn, potatoes and freshly-caught shrimp. We also find the time to visit the Zellwood Corn Maze in October to buy pumpkins and corn.

Walk Score - How walkable is your house?

Walk Score - How walkable is your house?:

"Walk Score helps people find walkable places to live. Walk Score calculates the walkability of an address by locating nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc."

An interesting site. We're in "downtown" DeLand, right across from Stetson University. We scored 60 out of 100 -- neither here nor there. Many of the entries are inaccurate (like listing a Japanese restaurant as a clothing store...), but all tools have their inadequacies, and results are only as good as data.

Subjectively, I'd rate our neighborhood as quite walkable, particularly for Florida, or generally the southeast. Many students here do without cars, and I've had short-term colleagues live here without a car.

What's your score, Floridians?

FPL Group, Boca start-up join in ethanol fuel project -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com

FPL Group, Boca start-up join in ethanol fuel project -- South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com: "A tiny Boca Raton start-up got a big boost on Thursday from FPL Group, which will partner with Citrus Energy LLC to make ethanol from discarded orange peels.

The two firms will build a first-of-its-kind plant designed to produce 4 million gallons of ethanol a year to be blended with gasoline for vehicle fuel.

'It's great news,' said David Stewart, a former computer engineer who founded Citrus Energy last year. He said that the state now has very little ethanol in its gas. 'This would be a start in Florida.'"

Yellow Sunrose

Aptenia cordifolia. This yellow one has proved to be a very good, dense, low groundcover for full sun. I got it at the DeLand "Plante Fair" for a buck. It roots extremely easily. I have a pink and a red, but the flowers are much smaller and the plant is generally not nearly as vigorous as this yellow one.

Tuscan Sun Rose

I got a bunch of these roses from Merrygro. Very pretty, apricot color, almost metallic, that (in the summer in FLA, anyway) fades to a pale pink. I have it in a central bed, near a bunch of the very pretty "Our Lady of Guadalupe."

Froggy Heaven... or Froggy Doom?

A frog house that also serves as a froggy death motel...

The end of (full sized) tomatoes...

I couldn't deal with the stinkbug invasion, and decided to call it quits with my two remaining full-sized tomatoes. I'd planted these using the modified post--hole method, and they've been providing us with plenty of tomatoes since March. Absolutely no signs of RKN.

I plan to start tomatoes the middle of next month, for transplant into the garden the middle of September. For my fall crop, I'm going to try: Black Plum, Jetsetter, and maybe Nepal. All recommendations from the Florida Forum on GardenWeb.

A garden update in pictures, part I

'Don Juan'

Papaloquelite

A garden update in pictures, part II

Abraham Darby

'Foxy', defying all zones and bloom times.

Berggarten Sage (it doesn't bloom like garden sage. mine is 3 years old)

One of the great things about Kumquat is that it will flower (and set fruit) anytime of the year that it puts off significant new growth.

A garden update in pictures, part III

Glorioso Lily. Amazingly quick from planting to bloom -- maybe six weeks.

'Our Lady of Guadalupe' from Jackson & Perkins

'Desert Sun' Zinnias going strong...

Tabasco Peppers

A garden update in pictures, part IV

Egyptian Kale from ECHO. Doesn't mind the heat one bit...

Yellow Sunrose. Small but very pretty flowers.

A garden update in pictures, part V

I've come to really like Torenias. During the hottest part of the summer, they bloom their heads off, so long as they have enough to drink and a bit of shade...

Brugmansia. I got this as a seedling this winter, and this is how it looks after three months in the ground.

My purple corner. You can see 'Purple Knight' Alternanthera, 'Mr Lincoln', ornamental bananas and Gaura.

Swallowtail Garden Seeds Shopping Cart

Swallowtail Garden Seeds Shopping Cart:
1 AN548 WISHBONE FLOWER, CLOWN MIX $2.00 $2.00
1 AN7096 WISHBONE FLOWER, CLOWN LEMON DROP $2.00 $2.00
1 AN7097 WISHBONE FLOWER, CLOWN VIOLET $2.00 $2.00
1 AN421 SNAPDRAGONS, ROCKET MIX $2.50 $2.50
1 AN518 TIDYTIPS $2.95 $2.95
1 AN281 NASTURTIUM, EMPRESS OF INDIA $2.45 $2.45
1 AN293 NASTURTIUM, TALL SINGLE MIX $2.45 $2.45
1 AN236 GERANIUM, SUMMER SHOWERS MIX IVY $4.00 $4.00
1 AN241 GERANIUM, RINGO DEEP SCARLET $3.25 $3.25"

Romancing the Velvet Bean -- Old Flame of Southern Farmers May Make a Comeback

Romancing the Velvet Bean -- Old Flame of Southern Farmers May Make a Comeback: "ROMANCING THE VELVET BEAN -- OLD FLAME OF SOUTHERN FARMERS MAY MAKE A COMEBACK

AUBURN, Ala.__-- An old romance between southeastern farmers and velvet beans may soon be rekindled, thanks to research underway at Auburn University.

Rodrigo Rodriguez-Kabana, professor of plant pathology in Auburn's College of Agriculture, has been exploring the use of velvet bean as a nematode control for Alabama's cash crops. His research has shown that velvet beans are highly effective, natural nematicides that provide multiple benefits to farmers and may have cash value of their own.

Rodriguez-Kabana explained that velvet bean is a tropical legume native to Southeast Asia and related to soybean and kudzu. Velvet beans were introduced into the southern United States in 1875, apparently by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Some southerners used the fast-growing vines for shade around their homes. Farmers also used velvet beans for a variety of purposes, especially after the discovery of a short-season velvet bean that became known as the 'Alabama' variety.

'Then, as now, nitrogen fertilizer was very expensive,' explained Rodriguez-Kabana. Because velvet beans are legumes, they can fix nitrogen from the air and return it to the soil, so many farmers used it in lieu of nitrogen fertilizers. Velvet beans also were used to control erosion, build soil organic matter and as a forage and feedstuff for cattle, said Rodriguez-Kabana. Southeastern farmers held the velvet bean in high esteem until the 1950s, when two occurrences displaced the crop. "After World War II, nitrogen fertilizer became much cheaper to buy and soybeans became the glamour crop," said Rodriguez-Kabana.

During the 1960s, farmers began to plant soybeans because they promised greater economic and nutritional value as a cash crop and feedstuff. Velvet beans rapidly vanished from the southern landscape. "At one time, there were about a million acres of velvet beans in the state. Now there are only a few," said Rodriguez-Kabana.

[...]

The AU plant pathologist is exploring the effectiveness of various plants that may be natural nematicides, including velvet and other beans, indigo, sesame and various grass crops. Rodriguez-Kabana's management strategy is to rotate acreage planted in traditional cash crops with one of these rotation crops when it is profitable to do so. While several of these crops control some nematodes, velvet beans effectively control a wide range of these diverse pests.

"Velvet beans control most types of nematodes. There is no other plant I know of that can deal with all these, and there are no nematicides that can do that," stated Rodriguez-Kabana.

Velvet beans may also suppress weeds, diseases and insects and they have potential as a cash crop, which means velvet beans can be viewed as an organic, sustainable pesticide crop."

Press Release : Natural Resources and Environment : University of Michigan

Press Release : Natural Resources and Environment : University of Michigan: "Researchers from the University of Michigan found that in developed countries, yields were almost equal on organic and conventional farms. In developing countries, food production could double or triple using organic methods, said Ivette Perfecto, professor at U-M's School of Natural Resources and Environment, and one the study's principal investigators. Catherine Badgley, research scientist in the Museum of Paleontology, is a co-author of the paper along with several current and former graduate and undergraduate students from U-M.

'My hope is that we can finally put a nail in the coffin of the idea that you can’t produce enough food through organic agriculture,' Perfecto said."

Papalo salsa

OK, I've been won over. I really liked this salsa cruda, my translation of this recipe. It was an excellent way to use up some green tomatoes, and had a nice complexity.

SALSA AL PAPALOQUELITE

Under a broiler or on a hot, dry skillet, roast four garlic cloves (in their jackets) and two to four cuaresmeños chilies (cuaresmeños peppers are a kind of large jalapeños -- I used two of my very hot Italian Roasting Peppers, from TGS). The garlic skin should just color on all sides before removing; the peppers should be nicely browned and blistered all over. When cool, peel the peppers and remove the veins and seeds. (Now, go wash your hands, and don't touch ANYONE for at least a few hours!) Peel the garlic.

Chuck the peppers and garlic in a blender or food processor, along with six leaves of papalo, half a pound of hard green tomatoes, the juice from half a small lemon, a splash of olive oil, and salt to taste (about 2 tsp). Whiz it until just smooth. Taste for salt and acid. Right before serving, add some thin slivers of white onion (or scallion whites) that you've rinsed in plenty of cold water.

We served this salsa mounded in fried masa boats, sprinkled with goat cheese and, piled high on top, fresh garden cress and purple basil from the garden. It was a great summer dish!

The accidental squash...

Sometime in June, I saw this vine crawl out of blackberry bed that I had mulched heavily with kitchen waste. I kept meaning to yank it out, but somehow kept forgetting. then I went out of town for three weeks. Bill, who was looking after my garden in my absence, asked me what squash I was growing. I had no idea.

When i got back a week ago, I had a perfect 1 pond butternut squash. I guess it only set one fruit before it got too hot.

We ate it tonight, coated with a fiery spice rub and roasted until it was so done you could eat the rind, too. On a bed of rice, with lentils. fresh tomatoes for dessert. (mmmmm....) Perfect.

I bet if I tried a dozen times to replicate this -- to grow a winter squash in July in Central FLA -- it would never again work

Detailed information on Papalo, Papaloquelite Porophyllum ruderale subsp. macrocephalum

Detailed information on Papalo, Papaloquelite Porophyllum ruderale subsp. macrocephalum: "Papalo, Papaloquelite, Porophyllum ruderale subsp. macrocephalum"

My gardening conspirator Bill gave me seeds for this plant, which goes under various names, and is the same species as Bolivian Coriander, though this is the macorcephalum (big-headed) subspecies. Bill (who is culinarily pretty adventurous) hated it, and yanked the plants out of his garden.

I'm still trying to decide whether I like it: the flavor is very strong, much stronger than cilantro, with a bit of arugula on the finish. Lots of herbal notes, maybe a bit of citrus, too. Complex, in any case. I found this description in French that sums it up pretty well:

Une plante utilisée au Mexique à l'instar de la coriandre pour ses feuilles aromatiques. Odeur forte, ultra fraîche et musquée, qui rappele vaguement la coriandre mais aussi l'ozone. Saveur très concentrée: un petit morceau de quelques mm suffit pour assaisonner une salsa. À utiliser comme la coriandre. Grande plante à feuilles arrondies de couleur vert bleuâtre. Environ 1,50 m de hauteur. Soleil, mi-ombre.

We had it tonight on beans and rice, and I thought it played out nicely against the earthiness. I can see how it'd be really good with tomatoes and hot peppers, too.

The seeds reminded me a lot of zinnia seeds. I planted six seeds, but only had one of them germinate. I think this had to do with my lack of familiarity with the seeds: Like zins, there were a lot of husks that probably didn't contain seeds.

Mine is in a gallon pot. It yawns at full sun, low water -- conditions that spell IMMEDIATE DEATH to cilantro.

I'm going to try this recipe soon, since I have plenty of hot peppers and green tomatoes & papalo:

Ingredientes:

2 chiles cuaresmeños asados y desvenados
2 chiles cascabel o morita asados y desvenados
1/4 kg. de tomates verdes chicos, crudos
4 dientes de ajo asados
6 hojas de pápalo (se puede usar 2 cucharadas de hojas de albahaca, perejil, cilantro o epazote);
1/2 cucharadita de jugo de limón
1 cucharadita de aceite
sal gruesa
2 cucharadas de cebolla picada fina

Procedimiento:

Se muelen la sal, los chiles, el ajo, el pápalo, los tomates; se añaden el limón y el aceite. Al final, se agrega la cebolla picada.

NOTA: Si se muele en licuadora se pone a baja velocidad para que quede con textura y no líquida.