May29

Florida Raised Bed Gardening- Spring Planting!

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Sometimes it’s fun to try something new.
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This year, in addition to having two raised beds, this gardener is growing tomatoes in a circle.
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In the center is a partially buried five gallon bucket with compost in it and holes drilled in the bottom. As water is added to the top, it filters down though the compost, watering and feeding simultaneously. Compost is so good for the plants and is so easy to make!
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The beds are getting fresh soil, and one if them is gridded in classic square foot gardening style.

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The grid is new this spring, and it really looks organized and neat.

The pepper plants you see in two of the squares were overwintered and are already producing peppers! It really is worthwhile to try to keep pepper plants alive over our mild North Florida winters, as they will produce in early spring that way.

Pepper plants started from seed in the spring typically struggle along through the summer, then produce lots of peppers in the fall. I picked bagfuls last year and froze peppers for later.

Raised beds produce quite well and require little space. If you’re interested in gardening in Florida, you can start anytime!

Summer is coming and it is a good time to plant some of the heat lovers like basil, okra, eggplant, sweet potatoes, and black-eyed peas.

If you’re interested in starting your own sweet potato slips for growing, I have a tutorial here.

Also, did you know that sweet potato leaves are edible? More on that in this post.

I’ll post more on what you can be doing now in the North Florida garden in my upcoming June To-Do List. Enjoy those fresh veggies! Hopefully it will be BLT season soon for you!

May23

Santa Rosa Farmers Market

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I was so excited to hear news of a farmers market opening in Santa Rosa County! If you’re looking for a place to get some fresh veggies, the Santa Rosa Farmers Market is now open for business. I went last Saturday to its first market and enjoyed looking at the different selections.

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I saw a variety of local produce: zucchini, yellow squash, cucumbers, snap peas, potatoes, kale, fennel, and even a few early tomatoes. There was quite a few jams offered, as well as pickles, homemade bread, and I even saw some Tabasco pepper plants for sale.
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There was a nice selection of squash, great for kicking off grilling season.

The market is from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Saturdays at the Pace Athletic and Recreation Association complex. The address is 3537 Limbaugh Lane.

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I just love farmer’s markets, don’t you?

May21

May To-Do List

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I have some before and after pictures for you this month. The dollar weed was winning, so it was time to use a tiller and reclaim the garden.

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I planted my bean seeds expecting warmth, and we were disappointed. We ended up tilling much of it and replanting. My husband made those neat arches, and hopefully we’ll have lots of tasty cucumbers from them.

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Even if they don’t produce much, they still look cool. 🙂

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The shed bed had become overgrown with bolting mustard. I had some garlic almost ready to harvest, but I decided to just pull it up and make a fresh start. One of the bulbs made it inside and was discovered in an unlikely place-more on that later.

I had 3 blueberry bushes languishing by the back fence. That’s my wonderful husband there transplanting them. Really this garden renovation would not have been possible without him.

He was so sweet to help me. When I mentioned that blueberries like acidic soil, he carefully layered pine straw and coffee grounds in their new home. Awww… what a guy!

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Here’s some veggies that I harvested before the tilling: green and wax beans, carrots, turnips, and  a forgotten radish.

My to-do list:

  1. Till gardens.
  2. Plant more green beans, basil, okra, bell peppers, and southern peas.
  3. Mulch cucumbers with compost.
  4. Transplant eggplants.

 

How’s your garden?

 

May12

Plant Seeds Before It Rains!

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Who’s that crazy lady out there planting seeds?

Yep, that was me. It’s supposed to rain this afternoon, so I was out there trying to get them planted.

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I’d much rather have God water my garden, saves money!

It has been pretty hot recently, so these seeds should be up pretty quickly.

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I was also excited to pick the first cucumbers of the season- soon it will be time to make homemade pickles!

We’ve been working on the garden quite a bit lately; pictures and an update are coming soon!

May11

This Is Why You Check Your Pockets

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I couldn’t figure out why my laundry room smelled like garlic.

Then I opened the dryer.image

Suddenly I realized that I must’ve stuffed a bulb of garlic in my pocket while harvesting my crop last weekend.

Some people check their pockets for errant pens or loose change; I guess I need to start checking mine for garlic.

So… you just might be a gardener if you have to check your laundry’s pockets for garlic.

What’s the strangest item to go through your laundry?

May8

First Green Beans of the Year!

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I love being able to make this statement in the evening: “I’m going outside to harvest some vegetables for dinner.” The fact that I can  just step outside to get ingredients for dinner is wonderful.

Last night a quick stir fry was on the menu. I love making stir fries; they are so versatile and it’s a delicious way to make good use of fresh produce.

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Fresh green beans, wax beans, mustard greens, and garlic chives were such tasty additions to dinner.

Not many nutrients lost in storage; they went right  from the garden to the cutting board. Don’t you just love fresh ingredients from the garden?

What have you made from your garden lately?

May6

I Just Can’t Help Myself

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Some women can’t be trusted to walk past a shoe display without buying. I can’t be trusted to walk past a seed display safely.

“I’ll just look, ” I tell myself, “maybe they have some of those colorful carrots that I’ve seen advertised.”

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Suddenly I find myself clutching a handful of seed packets like a kid with a fistful of forbidden candy, justifying myself.

I really have struggled with cauliflower, maybe it’s the variety?

Oh yes, there’s those colorful carrots- won’t they be fun?! Imagine the looks on people’s faces when I bring those out for a snack!

Swiss chard, well, I always see it growing so large and luxurious in my gardening books, maybe it’s time to grow a colorful variety like everybody else.

Kohlrabi, doesn’t it look fun? Like a UFO? No, I don’t have an obsession with UFOs, despite the fact that I also grow UFO squash. 🙂

Broccoli, now that is a vegetable that I would like to succeed in growing. With a name like ‘Sun King,’ it’s bound to do well for me here in Florida. I’m sick of growing broccoli florets.

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Oh boy, gotta have some of those flowers.

Won’t these look great together this fall? I saw a snapdragon/pansy combo that I really liked. Think of all the money I’ll save by growing these from seed!!

I can put them in the flower bed by the front porch, fill the flower bed out back once the summer flowers have been cut back, maybe put some in the garden too, Oh how about some pots of them on the front and back porches…

I don’t know who I think is going to do all this, but it is so fun to plan. 😀

NOTE: These are all fall crops and will not be started until late summer or early fall. By then, seed displays will be gone, despite the fact that THIS IS FLORIDA, PEOPLE, WE CAN GARDEN ALL. THE. TIME. so please leave out the displays!!

Ahem. Anyway, I think I am set for the fall. Unless… maybe I should buy some sugar snap peas, just in case the feed store doesn’t get any in stock???

Hey, at least gardening is a relatively cheap hobby. Productive too. I could collect stamps. At least I can eat my hobby.

If I save seeds from the non-hybrids, I’ll save even more!

Any others out there who need to be restrained when going by a seed display?

May2

How to turn 10¢ into $54

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Patience is not one of  my stronger virtues. The saying, “Haste makes waste” haunts me frequently.

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Sweet William

However, I have managed to grow a biennial (Sweet William) from seed! A biennial flower does not bloom until its second year, so you can imagine the patience that I needed to grow such a plant.

It has been exciting to see the different blooms appear.

Growing Sweet William from Seed

Plants of blooming size sell for $5.99 at a local nursery. I estimate that I have about 9 plants about that size, so I essentially turned about 10¢ into $54! Ka-ching! I love saving money in the garden, and starting your own plants from seed is a fabulous way to do that.

Sweet William

Sweet William

Last spring I wrote a tutorial on the basics of starting seeds. One of the seeds that were featured were these Sweet William plants in seedling form. Since I wasn’t picky about variety, the inexpensive 20¢ seeds suited me just fine. So far they have been beautiful and long-lasting blooms; they have given me a great return on my investment of time and money.

Have you ever started your own plants from seed? What type of seed has saved you the most money?

Apr28

Dear Crock-Pot: What Have You Done for Me Lately?

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My Crock-Pot is probably the closest that I will ever get to a personal chef. I love to throw some ingredients in it, set it, then come back to a completely finished meal. Yesterday my Crock-Pot is saved me hours of babysitting a stock pot.

Homemade Stock in a Crock-Pot

Homemade Stock in a Crock-Pot

In this batch is some rotisserie chicken bones, carrrot peelings, and fresh herbs from the garden. At the top are thyme clippings, then garlic chives, then parsley at the bottom. You may also recognize green onions on the left. You can read more about how to make stock in a previous post.

I love to have homemade stock in the freezer. It makes a rich base for soups, and I have cubes of it in my freezer to add flavor to sauteed veggies.

Do you love your Crock-Pot? What has it done for you lately?

Apr22

How Do You Store Scraps For Compost?

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l can think of very few recycling systems that are as efficient as composting. Composting takes scraps that would otherwise be thrown away and converts them to a valuable ( and free!) garden soil amendment.

To store scraps throughout the day, I like to keep a covered plastic container next to my sink for fruit and vegetable scraps, egg shells, coffee grounds, and other compostables. Using a covered container keeps me from smelling the onion ends and is more aesthetically pleasing.

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There are some decorative compost buckets out there, but with my system I get a few more uses out of a plastic container that will be trashed anyway.

When it gets yucky, I just toss it and use something else!

What do you use to store your scraps for compost? I’d love to hear about it in the comments to this post or on my page on Facebook!

For more composting tips, you can read my post Coffee to Compost, Literally!