Garden Dirt Diary

December 9, 2024

Happy Week!

I’m not going to lie, I was lazy last week when it came to Our Garden.  I have no good excuse.  It gets cold. I get lazy.  LOL!  And, it was chilly every morning last week.  Not just my chilly, chilly by most people’s standards.  We were in the lower 40s when I woke up.  Burrr.  My motivation at that point hits just below zero.  LOL!

Grumpy Old Man Buc Dog loved it.  We went out more often, for shorter periods, as it warmed up.  I wandered aimlessly tugging weeds, propping up new growth with stakes, just the basics.  The vegetables look mostly great, green, bushy, and strong.  There isn’t a whole lot to do at this point.  Just the waiting.

Because I’m not so good with the waiting, I’m feeling impatient with the growth.  Usually, we have Broccoli and Tomatoes by now.  I know it’s the chilly and drier conditions this year, but knowing doesn’t make me want my fresh Tomatoes any less.  Hence, the impatience.  Growing Tropical usually means crazy out of control growth.  Slow, steady growth is for northerners.  LOL!  Dang!

Around Our Garden

The Tomato plants have reached the top of their stands.  While I’ve seen some flowers, no tiny fruits, yet.  I’m hoping they’re so small I just can’t see them.  LOL!  Yeah, hoping.  The alternative is the flowers didn’t get pollinated.  The Bees downsize their hives in the winter, and there are less of them around.  They’re still here, of course.  Or, it’s too chilly for the fruit to form.  It looks like the Florida Peach tree, blooming like crazy, is in the same boat.  Or frame of mind, as we have zero fruit I can find.  Disappointing all around.

We are getting ready to have more Turnips.  They look really nice this year, the same with the Cabbage.  There are also at least 4 Eggplants, 2 of which I’ve held off Harvesting until we’re ready to eat.  Better on the plant than rotting in the fridge.  We had so many, we just froze a big batch.  Not complaining.

So, obviously, I spent most of my garden time last week checking on the food.  Nothing like positive reinforcement to move the motivation meter.  Sadly, it just never moved very far.  LOL!

Harvest

We have finally caught the Orange thief.  Silly raccoon.  So, it’s shaking the ripe Oranges from the tree and eating 1 or 2.  It smells for the ripe ones on the ground, and eats them, leaving the rine.  If the Orange is not completely ripe, it leaves it alone entirely.  Must have really disliked the green ones.  LOL!  It’s a pretty sophisticated system for a raccoon.  I’m thinking on some scare traps.

Because we don’t want to eat sloppy seconds after a raccoon, Ew, I threw anything with the slightest scratch or puncture into compost.  We did get a few clean Oranges.  Luckily, it’s been leaving the Key Limes alone.  Few things will eat Key Limes apart from humans.  Yea!  We got a few more, but our Harvest is coming to its end.  I’m only seeing a few left on the tree.  Dang. 

Flowers

Our Red Sister Dracaenas, also called Cordyline fruticosa, are blooming out.  Since they aren’t heavy bloomers in most places, we thought it would be fun to Feature them in all their uniqueness.  They have all these tiny flowers that bloom up giant spikes.  The color is fantastic.  It has to be to compete against the Bougainvillea in Our Garden for attention, a.k.a. attracting pollinators.  We’re certainly not complaining about all the color.

The trend of out-of-season blooms is continuing, happily.  The Florida Peach tree is still going.  We got another White African Iris and the Vanda Orchid spike finally started opening flowers.  We hope they bloom again during their actual seasons.

The Philippine Violets and Desert Rose are filling the bushes out front.  It’s not a coincidence we can see them and the Buttercups from the front window.  We planted them there, and it looks amazingly flowery, even when it’s too cold for me to be outside.  Woo-Hoo!  Bunches and Bunches of flowers.  I wish I could take a decent picture of the Desert Rose.  Despite the bloom-out, it’s always in harsh sun or shade.  Dang.  So much better in person.  The other photos are lovely.  Enjoy!

December 2, 2024

Boo, Hiss!

Not only is the long weekend over, it’s cold.  Boo, Hiss!  So, yeah, I’m going to be complaining about it for months.  LOL!  It is wwwaaayyyy too early for cold, here.  That is not looking good for us.  We’re still in recovery mode from storms, trees are doing awesome, but still, recovering.  Cold is death to plants in our area especially if they are struggling or unhealthy.  They’re mostly tropicals and die in freezes.  Dang.

Since the norm is 2 cold snaps and we’re on #2 (the 1st week of Dec, Blah!), I don’t believe we are going to miss a freeze, possibly 2.  Today, when I’m done here, we’ll be bringing the Vanda Orchids into sheltered areas.  They hate any cold, and one of them has a flower spike, completely out of season.  That indicates distress, and we don’t want to lose one of the 1st Orchids My Mom and I purchased.  The Marie Shelby Gardens, where we got it, closed.  There will be no replacements.

Don’t worry, we know what to do.  Most of the old growth has been here before and survived.  Luckily, we’re only going down into the lower 40s this week.  If we were going lower, we’d be pulling out the plant covers and sheets.  It’s some work, but the alternative is losing planties.  Boo, Hiss, we don’t want that.  

Around Our Garden

Water, Water, Water, it is so dry.  Dry and cold.  While the last storm brought a whole day of rain, it hasn’t rained since, and the forecast is dry, dry, dry for the next couple of weeks.  Dang.  We could really use the rain.  So, I’m dragging around the hose and reviving the planties.  So fun.  The heavy tire-like material makes our hose feel like it weighs a ton, but it’s the only one that survives the weather.  Trade-offs.

There was plenty of weeding, last week, of course.  And, we played a round of Find the Dragon Fruits before Thanksgiving dinner when Our Family was out checking Our Garden.  They’re the exact same color as the Bougainvillea, on full-color display, currently, and super difficult to find.  My Son was not happy, one was out of my reach.  He hates touching anywhere near the Bougainvillea.  What a frowny boy, but he was the one that grew so tall.

We also started the long process of raising the ceiling back up under the Cage Match.  The tunnel was fine, but the area connecting the Cage Match to the repurposed giant satellite dish, a sort-of gazebo for garden supplies, fell in Hurricane Milton.  It’s about 18 inches too low for me to walk under.  Dang.  There is lots of ducking. Luckily, no crawling. That would be so much worse.

So, I’m trimming and reweaving, one yard clippings trash can at a time.  Because the Dragon Fruit Cactus is so heavy, it holds much less than one would want.  There’s a weight limit per can.  So, it’s going to take a bit. The other clippings can is filled, and I can’t take it out to the curb. There is no composting Dragon Fruit Cactus or Bougainvillea. Too Pokey, and the Dragon Fruit Cactus will root in the cans. Dang.

Harvest

We pulled 9 Dragon Fruits from the Cactus.  There might be more.  We’re still looking.  LOL!  I really expected more.  With all the late season storms, each followed by about a week of dry, it should have been the perfect amount of water for fruit.  They obviously didn’t like something.  We got flowers, pollen, and bees.  Few fruits for the amount of Cactus we have or the number of blooms.  9 is still a big haul for something grown just for the flowers.

We have several large Turnips, but I pulled the giant one for Thanksgiving, as expected.  It blended into the mashed potatoes beautifully.  Yum.  There were also some Green Beans and Key Limes.  The Orange tree is either done dropping early fruit or the raccoon is eating them.  None came in last week, but there is still a mess of them on the tree, oranging out.  I’m going to say Christmas Mimosas are a go.  Woo-Hoo!

Flowers

We couldn’t help it, the Bougainvillea is being Featured as it was undeniable last week.  Every week has been prettier than the last.  It’s amazing.  We’ve also had a number of Out of Season blooms.  A lovely White African Iris, just one, decided to show.  The Florida Peach tree is dotted with little pink blooms.  So, yeah, the super bloom fertilizer I added a couple of weeks ago did its job, but I don’t think any peaches are developing.  It was a long shot.  You might recall I added the fertilizer because it started blooming itself, out of season.  Dang.  You can bring the flowers to your trees, but it doesn’t ensure fruit.  Double Dang.

Both the Laelia and White Dendrobium Orchids look fantastic, catching the light with their multiple blooms.  It makes for a lovely walk.  We still have Zinnias, Glorious Daisies, and Indian Blanket Flowers.  The chill seems to be extending the blooms rather than killing them, and we couldn’t be happier.  Enjoy!

November 25, 2024

Happy Thanksgiving!

Gobble, gobble!  What’s better than a Holiday celebrating the spirit of giving thanks?  It’s literally the OG of the Being Mindful movement.  LOL!  A whole day for celebrating our blessings with loved ones, or friends, new-old, it doesn’t matter.  

Ours usually includes a bit of a crowd.  I’m not going to lie, gathering to share food is My Family’s idea of fun.  Cooking for each other is a competitive sport when you have all brothers.  Add football, and you have the mecca of holidays at our house.  LOL!  There’s food and naps.

While I did contribute a super fun 3D centerpiece turkey out of cookie, it’s like a foot and half tall, there wasn’t much coming out of Our Garden for the meal.  Dang.  With the repeated storms, the veggies usually ready for harvest, were not.  The pickings were thin, and I spent a bit more time pre-cooking.

Around Our Garden

It was mostly about the weeding last week.  It’s unclear whether the broken remains of Tropical Storm Sara or the cold front blasting through on Wed caused the full day of light rain, but we were hoping for a bit more.  All the weeds loved it, however, and grew like crazy.  Yea.  So, we were pulling them out of everywhere.  So fun.

The following 40 degree mornings were not welcome at all.  Burrr.  What?  We live in a Tropical growing zone, on purpose.  It’s November.  We’re lucky if we get into the 70s in November.  Even wearing gardening gloves doesn’t make my hands work in that kind of cold.  It messes up our whole schedule.  Dang.  But you can weed at any time, even during breaks.  So, you focus on what you can.

Harvest

The answer is, yes, we Harvested the Hurricane Corn.  Okay, that’s not an actual variety.  The Corn lived through being skirted by 2 storms, down but not completely out.  I hope you can see the pic of it.  My Mom calls it Frankenstein Corn.  This is what happens when Corn doesn’t get fully pollinated, or barely gets pollinated.  With the exception of 1 half cob, they were all sparsely polka dotted with perfect kernels.  Stupid early tassels.  No Corn for Thanksgiving.  That was the unreached goal.  Dang.

We will be having Sweet Potato mousse made with ones I Harvested a couple of weeks ago, sadly supplemented, as the Harvest was tiny.  We will be taking a large Turnip for the mashed potatoes, but I’ve left it in the ground during the cold snap.  It should be ready.

A Coconut came down in the touch of wind last week, but it appears to be rotten.  Since the JawSaw isn’t working, it’s becoming quite the ordeal to get into them.  There were also both Key Limes and Oranges.  No surprise, just pleased.  There are still quite a few Oranges on the tree ripening up nicely.  We should have juice for Christmas.  I was hoping that would happen.  Woo-Hoo!  

Flowers

Since we identified the new Laelia Orchid variety, it got the Feature.  Its blasts of bright purple are jazzing up the Orchid fences and trellises.  They’re hard to miss, drawing the eye.  We like that in a flower.  So pretty catching the light.  There’s a whole big bunch next to the path, and I’m thankful every morning My Mom placed them there.

The Laelias have to be spectacular to compete with the Bougainvillea going crazy.  All the new growth not only turns the bushes into color, the paths benefit as well.  The only downside is, crazy growth eventually means trimming, and it’s the pokest thing in Our Garden.  Good thing I own rose gloves.  Check out How to Grow Bougainvillea Outside for more.     

The biggest surprise continues to be the Florida Peach Tree Blossoms, completely out of season.  When it started, we encouraged, but we never expected numerous blooms.  The cold snap is working in our favor, and I love the pretty little blooms.  The peaches are even better, small sweet wonders.  Yum.  I’m afraid to hope at this point.  Enjoy!