One last picture...

Stupid Blogger's gone all wiggy on my background, so, for the moment, something generic... 

Purple Queen

Maybe not the most exotic plant in the garden, but tough as nails and sometimes very pretty.

Rain lily

From Quick shots around the garden mid-october 2011

Flowering cactus

Usually I only get one bloom at a time, but this morning there were four... I love this cactus. I find that keeping them very pot-bound and feeding the lightly but regularly does the trick... I started this one maybe two years ago (maybe one) from a single piece of cactus from my friend, Mary.

Winter planting...

A quick note: I harvested a small patch of sweet potatoes (disappointing yield), then ripped everything else out of my large garden bed. Raked it all very deep. Carted in three or four loads of compost mix, spread it on top, and planted seeds: Rainbow Hybrid Carrots (Johnnys, pelleted); parsnips (Javelin), broccoli, cauliflower (Snow Crown), and chard. Transplanted seedlings into my front bed: cabbage (Gonzalez), broc (Blue Wind), and some other cruciferous. 

It's beautiful out. More like mid-May than the first week of October. (In Florida, that means "much cooler and the relative humidity is bearable.) Lots of yard and garden cleanup, too. I'm sweaty, smelly, and ready for a beer...

Time to sow cool-weather flowers...

I'm always a bit later than I want to be with sowing seeds. It's been a busy time, and this weekend is the first opportunity to get my winter/spring flowers into their nursery pots. Here's what I'm planting today: Alyssum, calendula, geraniums, nasturtiums, poppies (maybe), sunflowers (worth a shot-small-flowered ones, only), pansies (star of my winter garden, so easy from seed), and maybe snapdragons. I've grown snaps for so many years now that I get hundreds of volunteers popping up all winter. But if I start some short-cycle ones now, I might actually get blooms by December or so. 

I could plant petunias, too, but I hate them. So I won't. 

If I can find some stock (Matthiola) at Lowes, I'll plant those, too. I forgot to order them. They're easy to grow, and I've had some success with them in the past.

I don't bother with seeds for foxgloves and larkspur. I just by bedding plants when they finally appear at the nursery.

Oh, and my latest Burpee flower order:

32052A	MARIGOLD BOY YELLOW	2.00
36012A	COSMOS PIED PIPER RED	1.00
36392A	COSMOS SEASHELLS MIX	1.00
31518A	ALYSSUM ROSIE O'DAY	1.00
40085A	GERANIUM FLOREVER RED	1.00
49405A	CALENDULA PACIFIC BEAUTY MIX ORGANIC	1.00
33015A	PANSY ATLAS MIX	1.00
36115A	HELENIUM DAKOTA GOLD	1.00
48095A	ZINNIA RASPBERRY LEMONADE MIX	1.00
32672A	ZINNIA PINWHEEL MIX	1.00
33928A	SUNFLOWER SORAYA	1.00

adding... super sugar snap peas, too. 

Tecoma stans I grew from seed

Just marking time...

I made the error of putting my first set of seedlings in the garden too early. Hard to say what killed more--unbearable heat, sudden deluge, or bugs... I'll keep these veg (mostly cruciferous) in a protected area for another couple weeks before I trust them to Mother Earth... Right now, just tapping my foot, waiting for some cool weather, hoping it rains a bit more often, and enjoying the butterflies. This time of year, the real star in my garden is my chaya plant, the white waxy blooms of which are favorites with the winged and buzzing sorts.

Aside from my chaya, about the only thing blooming right now are:  Hamelia patens, cosmos, milkweed, dune sunflowers (Helianthus debilis), yellow lantana, jatropha, zinnia (Zahara mix), white Mexican petunia (Ruellia), and blue salvias. How about your place?

May memories...

Found on a memory stick...

I get questions...

A reader writes...

Hey Michael, my wife and I love your blog, I'm in Deland as well and I'm just now starting my new garden. I've got it tilled and I plan to get a truckload of that compost mix from Volusia Shed to amend it. Do you plant in it immediately or do you let it rest? So far I've got several small type tomatoes(my kid loves them), brandywines, some peppers, and some broccoli seeds started. Probably direct sew some pickling cukes and carrots as well. I'm also very interested to see how your onion experiment goes. I tried shallots this last spring but they didn't bulb out well, might try them again from seed this winter.

I've planted seeds in compost almost immediately and never had a problem... That's unexpected, but then again, it's gardening, which is always full of unexpecteds. I imagine that a lot depends on the age and other qualities of the compost, and generally speaking, if it's possible, wait a few days before planting in newly-spread topsoil. Can't hurt, right? I recommend NOT TILLING IN THE TOPSOIL! All you'll do is bring nematodes up from the sand into your amendment. Spread it a few inches deep, and plant directly in it. Again, this isn't particularly intuitive--you'd think there'd be drainage problems, or that the soil would be too rich. But that's not been my experience. Our "soil" is so well drained and so poor... I suppose it's worth trying some cukes, but you'll likely have pickleworm and foliar problems--the days are too short in fall and we the wet and humid conditions are very difficult on all the cucurbits. Best to wait until March 1 (or even earlier!) to transplant healthy seedlings. 

I've never known anyone with any success when it comes to shallots in FLA. In many respects, though, onions are the ideal household crop: In ten feet of sunny and rich row, I must have harvested 35 red onions this spring. Considering the price of red onions at the grocer's, I can't think of any crop that beats onions on economics! And here's the interesting thing: I picked the onions when I got back from my long six-week trip, so sometime at the end of June. The tops had completely dried and disappeared, but the onions themselves were in perfect conditions. I am STILL eating those onions! They're as good as the day I picked them. Heck, onions from the store go bad after a few days! I have no idea why these onions have such excellent keeping qualities, but I suspect it's because they were so thoroughly cured in the field. Anyway, those were from sets I got late in spring from Lowes. Sets are great, since you get bulbs in a matter of a few weeks, but they are unavailable until March. But I suspect I can get a couple successions of plantings using seeds. Onions are completely indifferent to the mild freezes we get... 

I try to answer all the questions I get... But sometimes I'm on the road or too busy. Sorry if you've written recently and I have missed your email. 

end of tomatoes

I was still getting a few Juliettes a day, but they were suffering from a myriad of problems, so I went ahead and ripped out all the remaining tomatoes in my beds. Being gone all summer has meant my late-summer garden is lean: Sweet potatoes, lots of yardlong beans, some cowpeas, hot peppers, one sweet pepper, lots of herbs (oregano, mint, thyme, rosemary and Mexican tarragon, basil are all doing fine) and watermelons. The latter have produced some pretty good melons lately. I've given the sweet potatoes and watermelons the run of the place.

Purchased a yard of mixed compost and peat moss from Volusia Shed and moved about half of it into my beds. I spent the rest of the day pulling weeds and doing general landscaping maintenance--lots of work around the house has piled up, and my yard is sorta embarrassing right now!

Seedlings are doing great. I fed them with a half-strength mixture of Miracle-Gro today as their growth had halted. I've also moved them into full sun. 

I saved back a couple cuttings from my Juliettes and I think they've already rooted. I'll put them back in the garden in a few weeks, after the compost cools down. When I do that, I'll plant some carrots and lettuce, and around September 1, I'll transplant the cruciferous seedlings into the garden. 

Oh, so far, so good with the red onion seeds--I'm optimistic that I'll have a row's worth to get into the garden in early September. It's hard to see why I've always waited for sets to show up at the gardening center when growing from seed seems pretty easy.

Seeds planted August 28th

In rows, all Johnnys unless otherwise:

I.

1, 2: Blue Wind broccoli

3, 4: Gonzales cabbage

5: Edible Amaranth (Evergreen)

6: India Spinach beet

II.

1, 2: Bionda chard

3, 4: Snow Crown cauliflower

5,6: Moneta beet

A week later, everything's up, though poor germination for the India Spinach beet.

I get questions...

A reader writes:

I'm curious about your plant list as I'm new to gardening. I found some planting guides from the county extension services/IFAS offices that say for central FL, in August we should plant pole beans, broccoli, sweet corn, bunching onions, pumpkin, summer squash and watermelon. You said you are about to plant lettuce, carrots, peas and onions. I have all but the carrots planned to start in September and the carrots in October. I'm in Lakeland, just a little south of you. Could the guides be too conservative or once skills are developed you can plant earlier or later than recommended? 

Those dates (I presume) are for seedlings, which require at least four weeks to get to size. So, plant seeds now and they should be ready for transplant by the beginning of September. I wouldn't direct sow anything now: While generally I prefer direct sowing, the conditions are not suitable for it. Too much violent rain, too darn hot, too much humidity, and the earth is just writhing with buggies who love to eat your seed. Better to have some control--I like a mix of half and half peat/perlite in seedling trays. Microwave the medium for a while to get it clean, then soak it well. Keep things under cover, but where they get some sun, until the seeds germinate and break the surface of the medium. Then, move to a partly-sunny, shaded & protected site, with protection from the elements. And hope for the best! So much can go so wrong so quickly this time of the year.

Hold off on adding liquid fertilizer until the seedlings have their first "true leaves."

In the fall, I would not plant any melons/cucurbits at this time, even in Lakeland: October and November are wet, cloudy and humid... perfect conditions for molds/fungi. Just not worth it when it comes to pumpkins, etc. Same holds true for pole beans: They can certainly be grown, but they are prone to rust and take up a lot of room that would be better used growing other things.

My gardening friend Christine started her carrots mid-August, direct sown, last year. By September, they were already a few inches tall. I'm going to give it a shot this year, using seed tapes from Johnnys.

Generally speaking, it's crucially important to get crops in as early as possible. Better to have to replant than to get things started even a week or two late.

A week or two in the fall can mean a month's difference in harvesting schedule: You want plants as large as possible before it gets cold and growth slows down. I've sown broccoli a couple weeks apart, and gotten crops from the early seeds before Christmas, but had to wait until February for the seeds sown later. 

Back in the game...

Since May 11, I've spent a total of twelve nights here in DeLand. On the road... Now, I'm back. Florida welcomed me with a might storm last night: at least four inches of rain, likely closer to six, in a short time. I've never seen the flooding so bad.

The garden looks pretty shabby now--hot days, abundant but irregular rainfall, fungi and bugs have taken their toll. The Juliette tomatoes are still producing pretty well--two plants have produced an abundance of pear-shaped cherries, more really than the family could eat. I got back into town and, after one week of no one picking them, I managed to get about a pound of fruit. For whatever reason, presumably skin thickness (though I don't detect it), these tomatoes are pretty resistant to stinkbugs. The only thing that eats them is us and the birds.

Let's see... my grapes are ripening. I opened one of my pomegranates today: Typical Florida fruit. Pale, but acceptable. Persimmons are ripening. Sweet potatoes have the run of the place. Beans are producing scantily because of our warm nights. Basil is hanging in there, but it cannot cope with these conditions... Herbs in pots (thyme, oregano, rosemary, mint) are doing OK and will get rejuvenated when the hot weather breaks in six weeks or so.

August first is my traditional seeding day for the cool season--brassicas and carrots, the former sown in jiffy pots and the latter directly sown. I'll try to get some lettuce and chard started (including that Indian chard I bought recently from Evergreen), but I've always had trouble getting those crops started when it's so warm. Here's my Johnnys order... I'm going to give growing onions from seeds a shot this year--last year I had to wait until early spring to get appropriate sets, and while I had a very nice crop, I would prefer to get them in earlier.

Gosh, I wish Johnnys shipping weren't so dear!

Blue Wind (F1)-Packet Vegetables > Broccoli > Hybrid

Snow Crown (F1)-Packet Vegetables > Cauliflower > White

Super Sugar Snap-Packet Vegetables > Peas > Snap

Gonzales (F1)-Packet Vegetables > Cabbage > Early Green

Desert Sunrise (F1)-Packet Vegetables > Onions > Hard Storage > Red

Moneta (Monogerm) (F1)-Packet Vegetables > Beets > Round Red

Sugarsnax 54 (F1) (Pelleted)-Packet Vegetables > Carrots > Main Crop

Mokum (F1) (Pelleted)-Packet Vegetables > Carrots > Early

Rainbow (Pelleted)-Packet Vegetables > Carrots > Colored

Bionda di Lyon-Packet Vegetables > Quick Hoops™ crops > Quick Hoops™ crops for Zone 8 and above

my Evergreen Seeds order

I'm in the mood to try something new in my summer garden... I've grown Amaranth, which is really tasty and a breeze. It's been a long time since I've grown Malabar Spinach. And I'm intrigued by the description of the India Spinach Beet, which claims that it's a popular hot-weather crop in India, which shares some of our meteorological conditions, so, it's surely worth a try. Oh, and the squash sounded like fun. I love hybrids. 

• Edible Amaranth, Tender    41501         1   1.85
• Malabar Spinach, Green     28001         1   2.10
• Edible Amaranth, All Red:  58301         1   1.85
• Calabash, Hybrid Lattoo:   64401         1   2.20
• Japanese Turnip, Hybrid    54501         1   2.20
• India Spinach Beet: India  57901         1   1.95

adding... 

India Spinach Beet is a fast growing vegetable, native to Indian hot and raining summer weather. Leaves are smooth, tender and uniformly green. First cutting can be done in 25 to 30 days after sowing and subsequent cuttings can be harvested in 15-20 days. Instead of the cutting method, some people like to harvest by picking outter leaves for eating, while the plant continues to produce more new inner leaves. This vegetable is strongly resistant to heat and is one of the most popular greens during hot summer in India and Southern Asia.

Responding to some questions in the comments...

kelly: 

"How do you battle stink bugs? We barely get a tomato from our plants because the stink bugs beat us to them?"

For whatever reason, I haven't had much of a problem with them this year, though in years past they've been a nuisance. It's very important to pick your tomatoes before they are too ripe--I usually try to pick them right after they've blushed, or maybe the next day. They ripen up just fine on the countertop, no discernible difference in flavor. You can also control the population with a pair of needle-nose pliers and a quick hand. The problem is that the bugs seem most active during the hottest part of the day, which makes the whole affair unpleasant on several levels.

Debbie:

This is my first year for home gardening and it's been very exciting. However, my squash and cucumbers have fallen victim to pickleworms!! I wanted to ask if you were successful with bagging your plants to resolve the problem? Do you bag the entire plant or just the blossoms/fruits? Thanks so much!

I've had great success in the past, but I was away from home during the initial invasion of pickleworms and now the cukes have stopped setting fruit, so this year, no chance to try it. In the past the biggest obstacle has been heavy rains that would ruin the bags... I wish we had that problem right now!

Shreela:

I hope that trombone squash comes up! I saw it in a youtube and loved how the slices are almost uniform when using just the neck, AND no seeds from the neck either! Never heard of those limas either, are the beans actually black

The tromboncino is really tasty, too! One fruit weighs at least a pound, and there are no seeds to speak of anywhere in the body. Oh, and the limas: These are a passalong plant, supposedly a hybrid of Willow Leaf limas and another black lima. There's a whole story about a dying agronomist in Tennessee... anyway, I found them when I was rooting through my bag of bean seeds and thought I'd give them a try. It's a bit late to plant limas, but they'll still produce.

quickly...

Before dashing to the office, I planted:

• Perilla
• Basil (Genoa... I couldn't find a more heat tolerant one in my seeds)
• A bunch of Trombone squash seeds (from 2007... I'll be mildly surprised if any germinate.)
• Mississippi Silver cowpeas
• Black Jungle limas

No room in the garden for peanuts. I'm continuing to plant sweet potato slips as they come available from my "stock." Now... Off the salt mine!

A note on green beans: Late-spring crop

Most people I know here in Florida plant two bean crops--one for the fall (mid-August plant date) and another for spring (first warm week plant date). I don't usually bother with the fall beans.

Typically by June, the spring bean crop has burned out. I've always wondered if the vines decline because of heat/humidity/pests, or if the vines decline because, well, annuals die after a season. So, this year, about May 1, I planted a second crop to test: a short row of Rattlesnake Beans (Southern Exposure, known heat resistance).

When I returned on Saturday after a month away, I found that my early-spring crop was dead or nearly so, with only a few vines producing the typical misshapen and stringy beans I've learned to expect for this time of year. The May-planted Rattlesnakes, though, are growing vigorously, full of blossoms and perfect, mottled, narrow, tender beans. We'll see how long they continue to produce, but it seems that it's possible to extend the green bean season for at least a few weeks into mid-June or later. Since the Rattlesnakes are saved seeds, and beans are generally a low-hassle crop, the cost and trouble are almost surely worth it.

My Willow-Leaf limas, planted a week or so later than the Rattlesnakes, are blooming and vigorous. Strangely, my yardlongs seems puny. They haven't started to run or bloom. I need to throw some cowpeas in the ground where the declining pole beans are planted. Maybe I'll grow some extra limas, too.

Man, it's HOT out there. I'm "lucky" to be suffering from some serious jet lag. I was up at 3am this morning, and cleaning up the garden before sunrise.

I noticed the bee hive has gone crazy with the new super. I counted more than 60 bees a minute exiting the hive at dawn--a steady stream.

A few other mumblings and reminders, while I'm sitting here: Cucumbers are basically done. The ones that are setting are generally beset by the #(*&##%* pickleworm. I need to tear them out. Sweet potatoes are only now beginning to run. I need to plant peanuts. Peppers seem to be slow this year--lots of fruit on them, but the heat will probably limit the fruit size. I need to get some basil seeds. I harvested a bunch of large, sweet red onions. I'd all but forgotten they were there. Tops were all dead, but the onions themselves look good.