The Perfect Day except for the blood suckers

11-10-2019

A perfect day in South Florida except for the mosquitoes. They are never going away.

Aside from making a hanger for my Epiphyllum, I did quite a bit of repotting.

The Bromeliad was blooming in the tree.

The Patchouli is now in a large pot and I am hoping for loads of leaves to dry. Perhaps I am a 60's kind of girl but I love the smell.

The questionable light yellow elongated pepper is sweet with a tiny bit. I almost ate the whole thing before I remembered I needed it for the egg salad. That is the problem with the initial stages of a garden, you eat everything before you get it in the house.

I discovered that dill and thyme to not like each other. The dill started wilting and I got it away from the thyme fast. I sure hope the lemon thyme doesn't have that effect on lettuce but I am going to be careful where I put all thymes. They were in separate pots!

I am looking for a Silas Woods Sapodilla. It is an everbearing dwarf sapodilla. I am beginning to note my spell checker doesn't have many tropical fruits in it.

George cut a lot of the tropical cherry tree to open up more sunlight for the fruit trees. They will happy tomorrow when the sun shines on them. Now I have to rearrange all the pots.

It was a productive afternoon.

I strung the yarn for the homemade tomato cages. The little spider was upset because her web had to go but I promised her an even better frame for a web. I think I delivered.

I have to admit, this is one of the best lettuces I have ever grow even if it did lose all its siblings. One day it will make a lovely salad with the peanut flowers.

For those of you with Loquat Trees, I am pretty sure this one is blooming.

I got a Burro's Tail at the Mount's sale. Normally I would have killed most of it by now....I know, it's only been a week but I am fast.... but I think it likes where is it. They have plenty more in the nursery for sale. 

And here we have two  victims of the Lowes garden department I am nursing back to health

It is amazing the offerings I  make to  the local bees to get them into my garden. I have three wild hives at the shop and barely a single bee two blocks away at home. Do I need to give them a van ride over here? A map? Come on Ladies, I have flowers!

Have a great night folks.

Lose your tags....

If Florida were like today year round, we would have build a wall at the border. It is a glorious day.

If you are like me, the squirrels take your plant tags. For some reason I can never remember epiphyllum. What's that huge plant...errr. giant cactus that I can never get to bloom. You have no idea how well I can grow those things but so far,  I have never managed to bloom one because the temperatures don't get low enough, BUT THE NAME.

The squirrel, as usual, is the culprit. He bit through the nylon hanging basket cord so I had to replace it with metal ones today. The metal ones are UGLY and they have 4 wires instead of the three I use on the pot. So, I use pony beads to cover the wires but I still have one wire left and I am too superstitious to cut it off so I usually hang something from it.

Last night I was at Michaels, which is not the place to get pony beads, and they had 2 packages of alphabet beads on clearance. For 2 bucks, I can't go wrong. I will use them and today, I had a use. I had to go to JoAnn's to get nice jeweled plastic pony beads cheap.

I looked at the extra wire hanging out and package of alphabet beads and it all came together. I will not be forgetting Epiphyllum again.

And if I do, I can just read the wire.

Cool Front

I got up early and watered the outside front as a cool front was coming through with rain. Since the soil in South Florida is 100% sand, rain will take a swift trip through  to the aquifer if the sand isn't wet when the rain comes. So, here I stand, hand watering the swale as a thunderstorm looms on the horizon. Now the neighbors are certain I am crazy.
By mid afternoon the rain arrived and the plants celebrated. Tomorrow will be dry and gardening will happen in cooler weather. I actually went shopping tonight and didn't come home dripping  sweat.  It seemed like  a miracle.
The Loquat tree I bought is definitely blooming. There will be fruit! We shall see how good the cultivar Xmas is.
I got some of those landscaping peanut plants discounted at Lowes. Now I wish I had bought them all. They do not produce peanuts but do multiply via underground runners slowly. However, the flowers are edible. I am hooked on those little yellow flowers. They taste a bit like smoked almonds.
Another couple of little tomatoes ripened yesterday. WOW, are they good and of course, they are the one plant without a tag from the nursery! I did so much transplanting yesterday that I now need more soil.
My African Violet leaves have produced babies! I had to buy tiny pots at JoAnn's Craft Store to repot them. Yikes, they are expensive. Now  for  a tip. When you buy a violet, take a couple of leaves for propagation just in case the mother plant decides to die on you. I wish I had done that with my last two minis. I lost my favorite one. Of the two, it was the happiest, healthiest. Then one morning, it was dead and the other one is still hanging in there. You never know  with them.

I cut a water bottle in half, punch a hole in the lid with a wire cutter and poke a wick through it. The top half is filled with seed starter mix and dampened, The bottom half is filled with water to  wick water the top half. Into the top I insert  2 leaves from  the mother plant. It can take months but this is what you get, two tiny plants. I will not remove the  mother leaf but transplant the whole thing into a tiny pot with a wick and a reservoir. AV like to be wick watered because they hate to get too dry or have wet leaves.

Calabaza

Calabaza will be coming as soon as I sprout the plentiful seeds. It isn't as flavorful as American winter squash to us humans but in the cat world it is a epicurean delight.
Fud is homemade cat food. Yelling Fud will bring cats from the far reaches of the Cathood. Fresh chicken is quite the lure but lately we have learned that calabaza, which is a West Indian pumpkin bearing little resemblance to an American pumpkin, is a real favorite edging out cooked carrots. It is Cucurbita moschata. Is is not a favorite of the Mamma, as it is tough and hard to dice and peel. But they can tell it from American winter squash which are a so-so veggie in the Cathood.
Calabazas are vines though one bush type has been seen.

Welcome to the equator, I'm sure it has moved.

11-06-2019

I don't know which is wilting faster, me or the plants. It is 81F, feels like 87F with 71% humidity. I didn't go out earlier because it was 87F feels like 95F and I figured I would pass out. That was 11 AM. It is almost 6 and almost dark. Welcome to SoFl.

The lettuce, collards and mustard are falling over. They cannot take the heat. I know how they feel. After an entire day of rain yesterday, many plants are drying out. The weather has never been this hot. I think we will have to move planting the cool season crops to December or my living room under lights. The cabbage and Brussels sprouts are holding there own.

We were at the farm stand on Saturday and they had some Georgia Brussels Sprouts. They were tiny because of the heat. Please tell us again how there is no Global Warming. I have no idea how anyone who gardens or farms could say that with a straight face. If it would just cool down a tad, I could get the repotting done and a new garden bed in. I have no hope for that. I have a splitting headache from the heat. I was outside less than a half an hour doing really light work.

I did harvest the first tiny tomato, several of the Loco Peppers, a couple of Key Limes, and a couple of jalapenos or sweet peppers. I will know later tonight. I have flowers on all the tomatoes and most of the peppers. The Mums cannot take the heat and are dying off. The mint is struggling. As long as I douse the oregano with plenty of water, it is great. Even the Sun impatiens are having a hard time of it. A couple of cacti have asked to return to the desert where it is cooler. The true tropical trees like a Mammy Sapote, Loquat, Sapadillo, avocado etc are happy. The weather is equatorial. The citrus are not happy.

The squirrels found the avocados and all we got were 5 of them and a bunch of seeds on the ground. Oh well, plenty to share and I have not been getting out with the desired peanuts early enough. This weekend, more tree trimming is on the agenda. We have to get more light to the little citrus trees. I am sure you will get a picture of the trash pile on Monday.

You can expect higher prices for fresh veggies around Thanksgiving to kick in because Florida is too hot for bumper crops and CA is burning.

Good Growing.

Remember, true resistance is growing your own food.

The Day After Plant-a-Palooza

I know there are plants screaming for attention outside but I am still beat from walking 20 or more miles yesterday. That is probably an exaggeration but you can tell my hips and legs that. I am not arguing with them. Senior citizen gardening is a slow process, about as slow as plants grow.
My sole achievement for the morning is another waterer and look what Dollar Tree  got in: huge clear glass drops!

Thank you blogger for automatically saving everything in draft mode because this tired Druid shut the whole browser down trying to close the photo program.
Perhaps someone should tell those plants it is for their own good they are temporarily on their own.

Allspice, Bay leaves and the Mangoes

George picked up an Allspice tree. I admit to knowing nothing about it so read this article:
https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/edible/herbs/allspice-pimenta/allspice-for-cooking.htm

I had no real idea what it was and you pirate fans are going to find it interesting.
George thought he was going to use the leaves but apparently, you use the fruit.
www.plantinstructions.com/plants/how-to-grow-allspice-pimenta/

Well, well.... we have a lot of surprises with this one.

I also got a Bay Laurel tree which you can keep small and even grow it in a pot. It is very slow growing. It is one of the oldest trees in cultivation. This website has all the information you could want:
https://gardenerspath.com/plants/herbs/bay-laurel/

I also got to see a dwarf and semi-dwarf mango tree. The dwarf was the cutest little thing but it had an attitude. The semi-dwarf was more laid back. I am convinced I want a couple. Unfortunately they are expensive so they will have to wait.

I couldn't help but think that if my houseplant group had been set down there they would have gone crazy. Most of them are dragging plants into the house because of frost and snow. They have never seen their houseplants in their natural form.
I stayed away from the begonia booth but the African Violets caught me. I came home with 4, 2 mini trailers and 2 standards. Now I just have to clear the plant shelf off and take the seedlings outside.
It is amazing how work multiplies.

The Everglades Tomato - the wild one.

Now that I have my Everglades Tomato, I am learning more and more about them.
For instance, they are not the normal tomato we grow but a wild variety from Ecuador and Peru.
They are used in hybridizing because of their disease tolerance.
And I had better make them one big bed because they grow to 12 feet or more.
http://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/charlotteco/2019/06/25/tiny-but-tough-the-everglades-tomato/

Everglades Tomato for Backyard Vegetable Gardens | Birds & Blooms

Everglades Tomato for Backyard Vegetable Gardens | Birds & Blooms: This grape-sized tomato is so easy to grow, it's a perfect fit for beginner backyard vegetable gardens. It even tolerates heat, humidity, and heavy rain!

Too Close for Comfort, I almost bought an ornamental tree.

It's called Colville's Glory.

It was one of the first things I spied as we turned the corner. It was impossible to miss.

It took my breath away and then I got closer and closer.

That bloom is almost a foot long. The bees were going crazy over them. My dreams of a Jacaranda have been trounced by this beauty. If only I had a place for an ornamental tree, this would be the baby. Perhaps .... nah....I am stuck where I am.

This was a tempting second but it had no name on it.

It is an American Hophornbean.

Home!

I survived the Mount's sale, barely. Geesh, that place is big. I got most of the plants I was looking for except the Bell Carambola. I was successful in getting an Everglades tomato, 3 of them in the pot, 2 patchouli plants, several other herbs, a loquat but not exactly my preferred variety. I had a close encounter of almost buying an ornamental tree. If I ever get the picture function on the computer to work again or am able share anything to Facebook, I will get you a picture. It was beautiful.
Now I need some rest before taking care of the plants.

Once again..........

Half way through the day, I can no longer post to Facebook, so please  subscribe to this blog. It is the only way to hear from me. Carts are packed. Space in van is secured. Sandwiches are bought and ready. Cold Coffee is ready. Clothes are set out. Gas tank is full. Boxes are waiting in van. I think I have everything including money. On my list is Everglades tomatoes, tropical coleus that is edible, Logan tree and any herbs we can find.....Now to sleep.

Ouch, they are bombing me.

10-30-2019

I have to admit, not much got done in the garden but I definitely feel on the mend and the plants are happy. Oddly, they are still drying out from the two day drenching. I know my potting soil isn't too heavy so I can only conclude the lack of wind is keeping them damp because it sure can't be the humidity.

I almost had a woodpecker on my head as I was late with the cup of peanuts. Unlike the squirrel, I am sure those talons are sharp. I know that beak is!

As it was, someone and I don't know if it was fur or feather, hit me in the head with a palm seed. Ouch.

I do have a halfway decent plan for the garden layout in mind. I tend to be more spontaneous and drop pots where ever I think they will thrive. The result is one day I can't get to the plants. You can't have that with veggies if you are planning on eating them.

10-29-2019 in the Garden with Raccoons

10-29-2019

I didn't have much energy in me today. The mosquitoes are out in force and temps are in the 80's, feels like 89 which can be explained by the sweat falling off me. Back up in the 88-89's tomorrow. This is not Fall.

The plants are still recovering from a two day rain so I didn't have to do much watering except fill the veggie's self waterers.

George announced last night the old raccoon had brought her babies over to visit. That is code for “you had better come out and assess the damage. Aside from a few pots knocked down, I didn't discover what they really did until tonight. Less than 10 feet from their personal water bowl, they bit into one of the new waterers. Mama raccoon must have gotten them because normally they would have ruined all of them. So tomorrow I will be figuring out how to patch it.

I hope I am feeling better tomorrow because George moved a bunch of tools and now I need to do the fine clearing for a few more square feet of garden space and if I find the hardware, put a mulcher together.

We also got the cages put up for all the tomatoes except I have to string them tomorrow. It never ends when you have little money and have to make things.

10-28-2019 The Sun is Shining

Much of gardening is invisible though labor intensive. You can't see from this picture that George's hardhat saved him from a concussion and probably a dozen or more stitches, but it did. This is getting more sunlight to the garden in these winter months. The lucky nut tree had to be trimmed and they will have to be cut down eventually. The tropical cherry provides enough shade for a dozen other trees. I need this sunlit area for my veggies.

Not much else got done. Another mustard died but I think I may have found the problem. Upon removing it, I found a peanut shell. That creates two suspects: blue jays and squirrel. I have a feeling my little buddy the squirrel is the guilty party. We have to talk. The petunias didn't make it through two days of rain although I am trying to save one of them. Oh well, Lowes had already tried to kill them. Perhaps tomorrow we can get some planting done now that there is more sun.

By some miracle, with all the cutting, nothing was harmed though one tomato was bent.

The tomato in a cage. As you can see, I needed more sun here.

Raccoon watering dish. It saves hoses!

Each veggie has its own personal drip waterer. 

The Oregano on the top of the tower is getting gigantic. The big plant on the right tower is a Romaine lettuce which is threatening to go to seed. It is just too darned hot for October. Yes, I have ornamentals like cannas, ferns, and mums mixed into the garden.

10-27-2019

I am losing the plantlets that are in the pots with the strawberry offsets leading me to believe the offsets emit some sort of a poison that kills plants around them. Tomorrow, they come out of those pockets in the Tower.
I think it is way too hot for the Florida mustard as I am losing a lot of them. One is growing really big.
I don't know if it is normal but the Brussels sprouts leaves are all cupping, every plant, no matter where. It's kind of pretty. The cabbage are definitely working on heading. Everything else  is growing well.
It was supposed to be sunny most of the day but it was still really wet out there with about 300% humidity. Okay, I may have overstated that by a few points, one or two. That makes the upper 80's unbearable. Tomorrow I have to get to work out there if it kills me. I have lettuce to plant and thyme to repot. Then again, it may rain all day......

Update on FAcebook

I still cannot post anything to any of my pages or homepage. It appears to be widespread and getting worse. I have 12 messages pending from Facebook and when I got to my page where you get the messages, it says I don't have the right to access to the page. Yes, I have complained about each instance. I have even complained to Farmville. Oddly, the one place I can post is the Ask The Dirt Farmer. It is the only place.
And then it gets worse. I am co moderator on a number of groups with George. Someone posted something FB said was against their standards in a group of several hundred people over 7 days ago. They removed the post and just now notified George of it. He can't dispute or access the removed post because it is over 7 days old. They are threatening to close the entire group down if it happens again. They refuse to allow him to place the offending party on approval only for posts. He has to either kick the person out or snooze them for 30 days. No one knows what the person posted.
Now I have a notice on my page that I am not posting. Really.... I wonder why.
Things I hear but can't verify. Farmville players using the standard template to share items from Farmville have been put in FB jail and at least one person sharing trees was kicked off FB and just now got permission to open another account. They lost everything from their page and game. All of this is over "violating community standards".
The odd thing about all of this is the timing. Who do you think met with tRump, came back and authorized a massive update that started this whole thing? I'll let you research that one.
The odd thing is the whole problem revolves around "community standards",
Dare I say, this is the end my friend, the end.....
Keep watching in odd places because I have been preparing for this for a long time. Eventually I will migrate everything to a commercial web page that can't be censored.

10-26-2019....back to rain....

10-26-2019

Another rainy day in the Tropical Druid Garden.

Thus, you work indoors on what you can until there is a break. If you read any gardening book, at some point they are going to say if you let water get on the leaves you invite fungus, mildew and mold. Unless you want to put an umbrella over every plant or grow everything in a greenhouse, you can't keep the water off the plants when it rains but there are a few things you can do if you have to water which is a necessity in the dry season. Normally in SoFl, the dry season just happens to be the growing season. That is another of Mother Nature's jokes but it really does serve a purpose. Abundant water would cause the native plants to grow to enormous sizes and they can't support that kind of growth in the overheated days of summer when the rainy season hits. The soil here is called sand and it can't support that kind of growth, either, so your plant would simply fall over. All conditions would be off.

Now you have three choices for your garden, drip irrigation which I have not had the courage to try though I have two kits bought on sale and soaker hoses. The problem with both systems is our well water is high in iron, sulfur and calcium which will clog the drip irrigation system and coat the soaker hose clogging it.

That brings us to number three, my favorite and what I was working on today. At Harbor Freight I get a cheap bag of 6 drip irrigation stakes that hold a liter bottle for under 5.00 and a tube of gasket maker in clear. At the local dollar type store I get a bag of glass drops for, well, a dollar. At Michaels I have found Washi tape 5 for a dollar in narrow in the front bins. Then I recover the liter bottles that the fizzy water comes in from BJ's.

ALERT.... SHE IS CRAFTING AGAIN.

Make certain the holes are there in the stakes because I got a bag with no holes. The water is not coming out without holes. I used my dremel tool to fix that. The problem I have had with the bottles is they are too loose in the holder most of the time and fall over and out. So, since Washi tape is the right thickness and stretches, I find a double loop around the bottle neck makes it nice and tight in the holder. I remove the label from the bottle and use the gasket maker to attach the glass drops in a pattern to the bottle. I let it dry over night. Warning here, they with slide and fall off so do one side at a time. Then everyday with the hose on jet, I fill the bottles, drop them in the stake and no water on my leaves.

Deploying the made ones into the veggie pots was today's achievement. I also snipped the support line from the mother strawberry to its baby because it was killing its fruit. One thing you must always consider with a plant, it has limited energy. If it puts out runners, then you get no fruit. The fruit is a seed and the runner is a baby plant. It chooses one or the other.

If it puts out leaves at the base and sides like a grape, it is not going to grow from the top. You will have a bush. So in the case of the grape vine, leave a single leaf on each side growth and cut the rest off as it is just sapping strength from your vine. At least that is what the experts in wine country say. Now if I can just find a seed in those witches' finger grapes I will be happy. This is kind of like dead heading roses to get one large flower instead of a cluster of small flowers.

Which brings me to suckers on tomatoes. I firmly believe in cutting them off and rooting them. You then have a long season of tomato plants. I have left them on and the indeterminate varieties do not seem to lose any production capability but the determinate ones, may. It all depends on the variety.

10-25-2019....Those pepper can be HOT!

10-25-2019

It has been raining sporadically since last night and still I found a passed out impatiens. Fortunately they recover quickly. Just to give you an idea of how it is down here, I went into Publix for some of those special grapes and it was sunny and hot. I came out to a drenched parking lot and it was again, sunny and hot. No wonder the plants are confused.

I lost another mustard which leads me to believe they just can't take the heat. It is in the high 80's and low 90's every day. I must admit to being puzzled as to how some of the tomatoes are setting fruit. I did buy a tray of red Romaine lettuce. The red leaf veggies tend to take more heat than the pale green ones. If it doesn't need to set a head, it takes more heat.

All the peppers are going crazy, growing and setting peppers but you have to remember, peppers are perennials. Yes, even those regular bell peppers are perennial in hot climates with no frost. My Big Bertha is celebrating her second birthday. I almost lost her to mealybugs but she threw them off. Plants are capable of defending themselves and even communicating with nearby plants. Not a mealybug was found on any other pepper so they upped their chemical defenses, too. I have to pick some of the Loco Peppers. They are a cute little lavender round pepper which I bet they will make you sorry you tried to eat them. Although cute, the breeders say they are as hot as a cayenne pepper and not very tasty. We shall see. It seems all ornamental peppers are really hot they have little flavor. They are hottest when red rather than lavender. I have Scotch Bonnets in case anyone is suicidal. They have a heat rating of 80,000 to 400,000 Scoville units or very hot. It is one of the hottest peppers in the world. I will cage it as soon as it starts bearing because we all know George is going to accidentally pop one in his mouth like he did the habanero pepper.

Yes, I got my “witches finger” grapes and they are delicious. They aren't calling them that but Publix has them for 1.99 a pound. I got two bags. It is the best grape you can find. So far, not a seed.

The rain and heat is keeping me from working like I would like to. Danged diabetes and its messing with your internal thermostat. We can actually overheat and start sweating so badly, we dehydrate, sort of like the impatiens.

We are Migrating from Facebook

The Tropical Druid will be featured on Blogger rather than Facebook simply because due to their technical issues, I am unable to access the entire page to make updates.
For those who are unfamiliar with this page, we are Druids, transplanted to the Sub-Tropics. I have spent most of my life in South Florida and the Caribbean. That means most temperate plants, or those commonly found in spell books, are a mystery to me and I wouldn't know them if I fell face first into them. So, early in my workings I started looking for easily available tropical substitutes which lead me on a lifelong study of botany and gardening.
Then came Global Warming and some of you are joining me in Zone 10 without moving an inch. That doesn't mean things haven't changed here. We seldom if ever see frost. It has been in the 90's here and it is the end of October! My mustard starts are falling over dead. Everyone lost all their cabbage, broccoli and cool weather crops last year so I moved planting from September to October and now it looks like November.
And then there are the questions like, can I use Cuban Oregano in spells calling for Oregano because the plant is six foot tall and needs trimming? What is Cuban Oregano??? Well, it's not oregano.
So we will be looking at these things in the coming months as I post the happenings in my yard and garden and continue to battle the iguanas for my garden.