Busy busy...

It's been a tremendously busy time of the year for me. I've had time enough to water, but that's about it. Today, though, was absolutely perfect weather, and I spent most of it out of doors, cleaning out my winter garden and sowing seeds for the hot and rainy season that is around the corner. Let's see, quickly...

• In my Parks dome...
  
• 10A-C Globe Basil
• D-F Genoa Basil
• 9A-C Pineapple Tomatillo
• 9D-F and 7, 8: Cleome Dwarf Spiders from Parks
• 5,6: Zinnia 'Ruffles Yellow'
• 3,4: 'Desert Sun' Zinnias (these performed very well for me last year)
• 1,2: 'Dasher' Zinnias (love those Parks $1 sales!)
• In some little pots...
• Bunny Tail Grass
• Green Cat Goose Grass
• From the awesome DeLand 'plante' sale, I got a Dwarf Cavendish banana and some Blackberries... I'm skeptical that the latter will do well, but the owner assured me... Both of these went into my garden today.
• In the veg garden, I transplanted/planted:
  
• Quailgrass
• Amaranth (both this and the above from ECHO)
• Genoa Basil
• Cucino cukes
• Lemongrass

Some other garden notes...

• Blueberries: Some are ripe and ready to be picked tomorrow morning...
• The blueberry cuttings I got this winter: They're covered in leaves and today I gently pulled one from its pot to find... ROOTS! Hurray!
• Strawberries: Lots of berries out there, but I realize that a small berry patch (mine is 10x15) will yield no more than a couple handfuls a day. To really supply a family of four, you'd need no fewer than 75 plants. That said, the berries are beautiful and tasty, and I've used no pesticides and only a bit of synthetic fertilizers this year. I cannot tell the difference between Sweet Charlies and Chandlers. The Chandlers I got as bare-root, the Charlies as potted plants. They didn't produce much during the winter, but they've surely earned their place in my garden.
  
• Figs: First leaves, fruit's already formed.
  

Useful weather data... Long Range Temperature and Precipitation Forecasts

From the Climate Prediction Center at the National Weather Service. The charts show the probabilty for two scenarios:

• hotter than normal/and cooler than normal; and
  
• more precipitation than normal/less precipitation than normal.
  

The intensity of cooler indicates the probability of exceeding or falling short of the norm, while the white areas (EC) indicate equal chance of exceeding or falling short of then norm. (It does not indicate, it should be noted, that weather will be "normal," just that no preponderance of evidence indicates a warmer/cooler or wetter/drier -- a subtle but important distinction.)

Thus, dark brown means it is very likely that temperatures will exceed the norm while dark blue would indicate that it was very likely for temperatures to be below normal. Notice that degree or intensity of deviation from the norm is not indicated, only probability.

Here's the prognosis for April, 2007 made mid-March:

So, evidence would indicate that we have a slightly better than average chance of a warmer (but how much warmer?) spring and early summer and a roughly equal chance of a wetter or drier period over the next three months.

For our rainy season -- July, August and September -- it looks likely we're significantly more likely to have a wetter and warmer period than historical averages:

The accuracy of these instruments isn't terribly high, but they I suppose some indication is better than no indication.

Spring in Central Florida

Ranunculus

Freesia.

Delphiniums.

Blue-eyed grass

One of our native irises, Blue-Eyed Grass (Sisyrinchium atlanticum). Very tough, very perennial, very cheery.

From the comments:
Given where I found it I probably don't have sufficient soil moisture for it at my place. Mores the pity.

It's been my experience that B-EG is very drought tolerant, thriving on neglect. I had a bunch of these in a ceramic pot, outside of irrigation, during the driest summer EVER in Central Florida, and they came through unscathed. Under irrigation, they spread quickly and are easily transplanted.

Freesia

I noticed yesterday that my freesia has begun to bloom -- a cherry-red stalk from the freesia that I planted a year ago December. The new blooms are mixing it up a bit with a Buddleia here. Several other plants from the same batch are getting ready to bloom. I'd say about half the freesia I planted a year ago are back this season, about what I've come to expect in perennial bulbs here in FLA. Up north, of course, they'd have proliferated. Here many of them succumb to the heat, humidity, and excessively-drained soils.

A garden update in pictures

Pea vines ('Tall Telephone') have reached the top of my seven-foot frame.Fava bean ('Windsor) blossoms.

Blueberries ('Emerald')

Chickasaw Plum blossoms.

A brief natural history of Arugula

I've been very happy with the 'Apollo' cultivar of Arugula that's been growing in my garden all winter. I can harvest a couple of salads worth every ten days from a single square foot of the garden. Totally pest free. Healthful. Tasty.

Arugula refers to several species, including Eruca sativa (Eruca means rough or harsh, presumably referring to the peppery flavor of Rocket; sativa refers to a cultivated rather than wild plant) and some spp. in the Diplotaxis ("double rows," referring to the double rows of seeds) genus. The Eruca, which I believe is the one almost universally called Arugula here in the States, is in the Brassicaceae, so closely related to cabbages and mustards.

It was a well-known herb in ancient times, gathered for eons as a potherb, and surely part of the horta (χορτα), the mixed greens gathered by Greeks and Etruscans that formed one of the bases of their diets.

We find it, for instance, mentioned in the Book of Kings:

4:39 One went out into the field to gather herbs [oroth, widely believed to be E. sativa], and found a wild vine, and gathered of it wild gourds his lap full, and came and shred them into the pot of stew; for they didn’t recognize them. So they poured out for the men to eat. It happened, as they were eating of the stew, that they cried out, and said, “Man of God, there is death in the pot!” They could not eat of it.

Mmmm. Death in the pot. (My guess: Zucchini!) Guess they should have brought back the Arugula.

In most cultures where it is indigenous (the Mediterranean basin and some parts of western Asia, particularly Turkey), it has been considered an aphrodisiac, but it was more than a classical Spanish Fly: I've found it cited as a cure for freckles, baldness, and intestinal worms. Its healing virtues are lauded as a cure for children's coughs, as a way to increase milk flow, and as a way to "take away the ill-scent of the arm pits." Given that one book I came across referred to the smell of Arugula as "like rancid bacon," one wonders if this might not be another case of the cure being worse than the disease. (Personally, I like the bitter and peppery smell of Arugula, and I'll often mash a leaf between finger and thumb while watering or weeding.)

I read that Pliny advises one to eat Arugula seeds before being whipped: Anyone who does so shall be "so hardened, that he shall easily endure the pain." The Talmud teaches us that it can be used to treat eye infections.

Most cookbooks I've glanced in claim that Arugula first gained popularity here in the States in the 1990s, taking its place alongside roasted red peppers during the mania for all things Mediterranean. However, I read in a 1960 New York Times article ("A Green by Any Name; Pungent Ingredient Is Cause of Confusion for City Shopper Arugula -- or Rocket -- Is the Secret of Experts' Salads") that Craig Claiborne, the Times food critic, found the herb everywhere in New York City: "Most Italian chefs know [that Arugula] is the secret ingredient of their salads-about-town." He lists a half-dozen stores in the area that sell bundles of the stuff for fifteen to nineteen cents, about the price of spinach. (The Publix down the street sells a couple ounces of "baby Arugula" for close to $4!)

Galen, the Greek physician whose theories dominated 'medicine' for over a thousand years, proclaimed Rocket to be "hot and dry in the third degree" and therefore unfit to be eaten alone. He instructed that the herb be eaten with "cold herbs" like lettuce and purslane. Galen's advice aside, I eat the stuff straight with a cheesy vinaigrette or stacked high on a roast-beef sandwich. It's an undemanding herb, and the 'Apollo' cultivar is ready to pick within a few weeks. The seeds germinate at nearly 100% and transplant easily from a seedling tray into my garden. I've tried the wild stuff, but it grows much more slowly and the leaves are far smaller and have an unpleasant rubbery texture.

(The photographs are, from top down, 'Apollo', "wild" arugula (E. sativa) and 'Selvetica')

Garden crops for Florida Summers

From a gardening standpoint, we have three seasons here in Florida: We have an extended fall, which runs from the first cold, dry airmass that hits Florida sometime in late October until the last frost date, sometime in February. Spring lasts from mid-February until the onslaught of the wet season, which starts most years the first half of June. Summer lasts until late October, etc. etc.

You can, with good timing and a little luck, grow really just about anything during fall and spring. For instance, I often buy mums in late October for a little color and to replace my summer annuals (zins, dahlias, tithonia). Those mums bloom for a couple of months, go dormant in December, and then, if I'm patient, will bloom again abundantly in March. I buy pansies and Johny Jump-ups in November, with the first sustained cool spell. They bloom constantly and reliably all the way until at least the end of May the beginning of May. Biennials like Foxgloves (Foxy) and Poppies, when planted in November and December, bloom in March and April. The "cold season" (November through the beginning of May) find my roses in full glory.

But our summer is a lot like the winter up north: Many plants -- flowering and vegetable -- cannot make it through June and July, and those that do usually die of fungal issues during September's combination of shorter days, hot nights and constant deluge. By October, I need those mums to add a life back to the garden.

Anyway, I've really been into the whole veg gardening thing. I've pulled pounds of Collards, tons of Rocket, bunches of carrots, turnips, lots of lettuce, some strawberries, fennel... Just recently, my peas have started to produce prolifically. My favas look to be not far behind.

I'm now ramping up my spring garden, with a couple dozen tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, and various warm-season greens like chard and spinach hybrids. I expect to switch over to warm-weather gardening soon, pulling up the brassicas and cool-weather plants and replacing them with the Solanaceae (tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, etc.). I've got dozens of seedlings ready to transplant into my intensively-planted beds.

That phase of the garden, though, will come to an end in June. Fungal diseases, nematodes, insect damage and dry spells just make it not worth my while. What to plant then?

I ordered some vegetables for summer planting from ECHO, which should do pretty well here in Central Florida:

• Quailgrass (Lagos Spinach)
• Edible Amaranth
  
• New Zealand Spinach
• Roselle (Florida Cranberry, Red Sorrel)
• Ethiopian Kale

Descriptions of all these plants can be found here.

In Niger, Trees and Crops Turn Back the Desert - New York Times

In Niger, Trees and Crops Turn Back the Desert - New York Times: "Better conservation and improved rainfall have led to at least 7.4 million newly tree-covered acres in Niger, researchers have found, achieved largely without relying on the large-scale planting of trees or other expensive methods often advocated by African politicians and aid groups for halting desertification, the process by which soil loses its fertility.

Recent studies of vegetation patterns, based on detailed satellite images and on-the-ground inventories of trees, have found that Niger, a place of persistent hunger and deprivation, has recently added millions of new trees and is now far greener than it was 30 years ago."

Free blueberry cuttings!

I received in the mail today hardwood cuttings of five blueberry cultivars from the National Clonal Germplasm Repository:

• Beckyblue
  
• Bluegem
  
• Aliceblue
  
• Pearl River
  
• Gulfcoast

All these are rabbiteye blueberries, well-adapted to Central FLA climes, with very low chill-hour requirements (under 200). At least the Pearl River and Aliceblue are fairly difficult to come by -- they aren't appropriate for large-scale farming (they ripen over a long period, for instance), and have therefore fallen out of cultivation.

I am supposed to get two cuttings of blackberries that are Central-FLA approved sometime soon: Oklawaha and Flordagrand.

From what I've read, getting hardwood Bb cuttings rooted is tough, but I invested in some high-tech new-fangled (and VERY expensive!) rooting hormone, and I'll give it a shot. For the moment, I've got them in straight-up vermiculite, but I've read in my propagation book that I should do a 50-50 vermiculite/peat mix. The cuttings look as though they were made yesterday. They arrived in an overnight package. All for zero bucks. A great service from our government!

An Update: Some quick answers to questions from the comments section:

• Let's see... There's rumor that one can grow raspberries as an annual crop here in Central FLA: Just order the canes from up north, plant them in fall, and harvest in spring. The only other raspberry that does well in our zones (9a through 10a) is the Mysore raspberry (Rubus niveus), a tropical bramble. It's considered an invasive plant, but if you're living in a disturbed ecosystem (you are), then cultivating it in a home garden isn't a problem. What is a problem is finding it for sale.
• Here's how to order blueberry cuttings:
• Go to the list of available cultivars and decide which you'd like to order. In FLA, the main consideration is low chill requirements. (To find your chill hours here in FLA, see here.)
  
• Then read their distribution protocols and make your request here. Bear in mind that you have to request cuttings (or seeds , etc.) at particular times of the year. For instance, for the hardwood cuttings above, I made my request back in August for cuttings delivered in January (when the plants are dormant).
  

Alstroemeria in FLA

I'm always trying out new bulbs in my garden. I read somewhere on Dave's Garden that you can grow Alstroemeria here in FLA as a perennial bulb if you 1) plant it in rich soil in a large container; 2) keep it fairly dry and out of direct sun throughout the summer.

I bought a gallon pot of them I found at Lowes last winter, and enjoyed a season of heavy blooms and lots of cut flowers. I added some Polka Dot Plants (the Alstroemeria were initially very small, and looked lonely in the pot).

Summer came, the Alstroemeria died back completely. I dragged the pot under the eaves of my gazebo, where it got hit lightly by a sprinkler (that ran way too often last summer), but was otherwise allowed to dry out completely. All summer, the pot looked completely dead, including the Polka Dots.

As soon as some cool weather hit, the Alstroemeria popped back up, and gave me some disappointing blooms. I read up on the plant, and some sources claimed they needed a lot cooling hours to produce flowers. I figured all was lost, but over the last couple of weeks, the things been flowering like crazy...

The Polka Dots bounced right back, though all summer there wasn't a spec of green in the pot.

If it blooms like it did last year, I can expect this level of bloom until mid-May. Not bad for a $4 pot of flowers.

I noticed an online vendor that sells a "grab bag" of bulbs for $5.

Here is a link that might be useful: Alstoemeria

Even for a Tomato, Looks Aren’t Everything - New York Times

Even for a Tomato, Looks Aren’t Everything - New York Times

Even for a Tomato, Looks Aren’t Everything

By FLORENCE FABRICANT

FOR about three years, flavor has been pitted against form in a bureaucratic battle over tomatoes. And although the governor of Florida took sides against it, flavor has prevailed.

In a ruling being issued today by the federal Agriculture Department, a creased and ridged but tasty tomato, the UglyRipe, can be sold outside Florida until late spring.

The line in the salad bowl was drawn when the Florida Tomato Committee, which controls most of the $500 million industry in the state, refused to allow Procacci Brothers to ship UglyRipe tomatoes out of the state. The committee was established by a federal agreement in 1937, and is one of many such groups that regulate agricultural products in several states.

The committee’s rules, called marketing orders, are very strict as to the shape and uniformity of Florida tomatoes that can go to other states during the season, from Oct. 10 to June 15. Flavor is not a factor because, in the committee’s view, it is too subjective.

But the difference, when it comes to UglyRipes, is that their deviation from the norm is not accidental, but the result of breeding. They were developed from a French heirloom called Maramondo that was cross-bred with non-heirlooms to make it more disease resistant and to strengthen the stem.

The favorable comments all had to do with taste, often comparing UglyRipes to homegrown tomatoes.

The tomato committee, which guarantees the consistency of Florida tomatoes, said that the new ruling could create a precedent that might allow inferior tomatoes to get to market. But the rule change applies only to UglyRipes, whose authenticity must be verified from seed to distribution under a new Agriculture Department heirloom program.

Procacci Brothers plans to begin shipping the tomatoes, including some that are grown organically, tomorrow. They will carry the brand name Santa Sweets and each will be nestled in a stretchy white netting to protect the ripe fruit. Among the markets in the New York area that plan to sell them are Pathmark, ShopRite, Waldbaum’s and Whole Foods. The tomatoes will carry a premium price, around $3 a pound.

Winter Density Lettuce

I started the seeds for this Winter Density (from Pinetree) at the very end of November, so six weeks from sowing. You can see Red Sails next to it. Red Sails grows prolifically, and is a first-rate cut lettuce. But it gets banged up like nothing else in a heavy rainstorm; I've had to pinch it back severely to deal with damaged leaves. The Winter Density, on the other hand, is much sturdier.

Garden booty

It's been pretty nice, more or less seasonable the last week. School's back in session, and I had the flu earlier this week, so I didn't have time to do anything in my plot the past week. Nature managed without me...

The carrots are Adelaide, which I planted way back on October 14. So much for sixty days to harvest, granted it was in December and January. I pulled twenty carrots from one half of a window box that measured six inch by twenty-four inches... So that's twenty carrots in one-half of a square foot. Impressive.

Those are French Breakfast radishes. I didn't have my usual trouble with splits for whatever reason. In the corner is a large bunch of collards and some turnip greens, Turnip Toppers. I won't probably grow turnip greens again, since I like collards much more.

I also picked a eight quarts of a mix of Apollo arugula and Red Sails lettuce. My Winter Density salad has really taken off, a lovely dark green and very upright leafed-lettuce. I left it for another day.

Our house...

Our neighbor's mother, Linda, surprised us with this Christmas card, her excellent water-color painting of our beloved pink house. We live on Amelia Avenue in DeLand, FLA. Our street, which cuts through downtown DeLand, is named after Amelia DeLand Leete, Henry DeLand's sister and wife of the town's first minister, the Rev. M.S. Leete.

From the 1880s until the 1920s, our neighborhood was the center of DeLand's groves. In the early 1920s, the neighborhood was developed as a very upscale "subdivision" (long before there was something to subdivide here in Central Florida). There are about a dozen large homes that date from the 1920s in a five-block area. Ours is one of a half-dozen Spanish Revival houses built in town, all of them dating from the boom-time of the 1920s. Several Tudor-style homes, built by the same architects, somewhat incongruously share the neighborhood with some neoclassicals. The story I've heard, though never confirmed, was that there was a contest among seven architects to design their perfect Florida house, which explains the variety of styles and rather extravagant sizes. (For the time, this house was huge even without the additions: It's initial square footage was roughly 1200 square feet, built at a time when the average house was not much larger than today's garages... We forget often that as recently as 1950, the average US house size was under 1000 square feet.)

The 1920s was a heady time of economic expansion and easy credit (for the well-to-do classes, at least), and it left its mark in the eclectic pastiche of architectural styles here in DeLand. The 'Roaring Twenties' were followed, of course, by the Depression and World War II. In the intervening decades, the lots were divided and smaller, more modest cinderblock homes have been built, and Stetson has expanded from its original core of buildings to cover something like seven-hundred acres (about a square mile).

DeLand's groves are long gone.

An update: I had a colleague over for supper last week who told me a bit more about the history of our house. John came to Stetson back in 1955. He's in his eighties, and though he's physically frail, his memory hasn't failed in the slightest. He told me that this house was the first one he looked at when he joined the faculty at Stetson. At the time, it was roughly half the current square footage. (There have been three additions made to the house: one in the 1960s, the others in the 1990s.) He said three sisters lived here, and they were auctioning the house off in November. John and another new faculty member, James Stewart (the Dean of the Chapel), were inspecting the house. At the time, the house was heated by porcelain-framed electric wire grates -- not unlike the resistance wires in a toaster. (The grates are still in the walls, and some of them still work, though we have a central system now. We've hidden them behind furniture to keep kids' curious fingers out of trouble.)

Anyway, it was cold outside, but very warm inside, and John and Jim went out to check the electricity meter to see how much energy was being used. John said the dial was spinning so fast you could hardly see it!

Jim was worried that the auction was going to shortchange the sisters, and went inside to offer them $14,000 for the house. They demurred, sure that the auction would bring a fair price. The next day, the opening bid was for $7500. Jim won the auction and bought the house for $10,500. John said Jim even offered to pay the sisters the full $14,000 he had initially offered, but they refused his generosity.

James lived here for ten years. He died not so long ago, at the ripe age of 102.

Tomatoes planted...

Today, I planted:

• Four each of Tiffany (VFNT Hybrid), Matina (very early, good flavor), Sun Gold (the folks over at GW rave about it)
• Two each of Matt's Wild Cherry and Yellow Currant

Given that it's about 80 degrees out, the tomatoes should germinate pretty quickly...

Update: January 15. Indeed, quickly did they germinate:Tiffany seems to be the slowpoke of the bunch, but rest are up and ready for spring.

Horticultural Perlite and Vermiculite at Home Harvest Garden Supply

A good source for Vermiculite. One and a half bushels (quite a lot!) for $20, delivered to your door.

Horticultural Perlite and Vermiculite at Home Harvest Garden Supply

Florida Weave questions - Growing Tomatoes Forum - GardenWeb

Florida Weave questions - Growing Tomatoes Forum - GardenWeb: "I used 2x4s, 2x2s, and lots of chainlink fence toprail. I got the toprail from people on the FreeCycle website (there are FreeCycle sites for nearly every community and they are a good source for that sort of thing). The toprail works great when used as the poles in the middle of the rows, it comes in 21 ft. lengths so each makes three 7 ft. poles. The 2x4s worked great on the ends of the rows but they are difficult to get into the ground. Next year I think I will buy t-posts and toss the 2x4s, I will keep the 2x2s and toprail.
I am using grass rope between the poles and it has taken less than two rolls to support 142 plants. My Peppers, Eggplants, and late Tomatoes are in cages.
My first twine is 12 inches from the soil and spaced at 10 inches after that. To allow the twine to hold onto the poles I drilled holes and inserted a 4 inch piece of dowell rod through the poles.

I spaced my rows 4 ft. apart, and 3 ft. between my plants. This would be the minimum distances I would recommend, next year I think I will go with 5 ft. and 4 ft. Spacing the rows at 4 ft. worked well until late in the season when some of my plants reached the top of my 6 ft. poles and started back down. At that point I had to do some ducking in just a couple of walkways.

The Barefoot Gardener: No, You Don't Need A Loom

The Barefoot Gardener: No, You Don't Need A Loom: "How Do I Use Florida Weave?

How Do I Use Florida Weave?

Florida Weave is without a doubt the best support method I've found for tomatoes (and a couple of other things). If you do a search, you'll find some descriptions out there, but few of them go into enough detail to do more then confuse. I hope this description is a little more thorough.

The basic idea is to make a row of tomatoes, held upright between lines of heavy twine. It's what a lot of commercial growers use, because it's fast, easy to set up and maintain, and very effective. And once you have the basic idea, it's easy even for a novice.

What you'll need is several sturdy stakes and a large ball of durable twine. I use the fenceposts commonly used for standard yard fencing, called T-posts (their cross-section gives them the name), available at any hardware store for a dollar and a half apiece; as for how many, take the number of plants in the row, divide the number in half, and add one. So for six plants, you'll need half of six (3) plus one (4) posts.

A. Space the tomatoes as you normally would; I use three feet apart, but I've known people to do it as close as 18 inches in excellent soil. Drive one stake for every two tomatoes, with stakes on the end. Angle the end stakes outward to take the weight.

B. Using heavy twine, tie a line about 8-10" above ground level on an end stake. Run the line on one side of the next two tomato plants (the front side), then to the back side of the post; take a turn around the post, and run on the front side of the next two plants. Pull it as tight as you can.

C. When you get to the end, return the opposite way: the back side of the plants, the front side of the posts. This pulls each line in toward the center, sandwiching the plants; if you don't "weave" it this way, the plants will tend to lean out more.

Run lines every 8-10" high as the plants grow, and tuck new vines in every few days. No pruning is necessary, though I tend to prune shoots below the first line of twine to keep things a little neater around ground level. As the season progresses, the twine will stretch a little, so be prepared to take up the slack in some way -- many people take a small stick and "tourniquet" the line to keep it taut.

Even if you fall behind a bit (who doesn't?) all is not lost. If the plants have grown a foot above the last line, add another line and wrestle all the growth into the top line, then start tucking farther down. The vines don't have to be inside every line, just enough of them to keep the plant from flopping around. As time goes on, you may very well run out of pole, too; just let them fold over somewhere past the top, then begin tucking them into the weave wherever they come down. You'll have a wall of foliage by season's end, but that was sort of the idea.

I haven't come upon a real deal-breaker with this method yet. It's cheap, as you can recycle posts (you can even find used ones sometimes, and save having to buy them) and all you need every season is twine; it's easy to store, since you can compost the twine and stack the posts. The plants grow up off the ground and fruit is easy to find and pick, but there's enough foliage to prevent sunscald. The most irritating thing is keeping the lines taut, but even that gets more routine with practice, and it's an occasional task, not constant.

All in all, I prefer it to the common alternatives of staking or using cages made of concrete reinforcing wire. If you have any questions, drop me a line.