Garden Dirt Diary
September 30, 2024
So Long, Helene
Luckily, we didn’t get directly hit by Hurricane Helene, but we did get the bands. Our hearts go out to those who did. We’ve had our turns, and it sucks. The bands are bad enough, wind damage can be severe, and there’s much to clean up around Our Garden. The big stuff, like picking the Corn, Bougainvillea, Star Jasmine, and Candlestick Tree, all on the ground is done.
I spent most of Sunday morning before the game fixing the Schefflera tunnel, flapping about. Boo. Hiss. And, the battered, broken leaves are still coming down. In fact, it feels very much like Fall. Well, except the 90 degree temperatures with matching humidity in the 90s. LOL!
The Corn laying over on its sides in the beds was the hardest for me. Ahhh! I just planted those. Worse yet, when the storm was over, not only was the Corn down, it also had worms. Ew! Caterpillar, munchers, if I’m being totally honest, but still. Yuck! So, all that was mucho work, and we’re hoping it recovers. Fingers crossed. Dang. My Son and Hannah took My Mom and I out for Peddies and Brunch on Sat. So, it wasn’t all bad.
Around Our Garden
I’m actually glad we weren’t further along with the Fall/Winter planting. We always fight the Sept storm/planting battle. Sadly, the time of year we need starter plants and seeds to go into the ground is our most active, storm wise. Boo. Hiss. So, we’re pretty used to it. All the big seeds I had in the ground sprouted and are doing just fine. I held off on the starter plants, and I will hopefully have those in the ground this week. Woo-Hoo! Grow. Grow. Grow.
I will admit freely I’m a little happy about the leaves. Not the way it came about, there is severe leaf damage to the South American Tree, but I need the Brown for the compost piles. It never hurts having the extra leaf mulch in the beds before Winter and our drought season. I’m collecting piles for use now and later. For more on Composting try How to Compost at Home.
Harvest
Hurricane Helene Harvested about 20 Oranges, early. I mentioned we got a few last week, and it’s really a wait and see. However, zest is usually good as long as you don’t wait too long to shave it off. The outside of Oranges that don’t ripen turn hard and brown, like hard leather or plastic. Obviously, useless for zest at that point, so you have to pay attention and call it at some point before the outside hardens. LOL!
While I didn’t take an Eggplant this week, I could have. The plant is gaining more developing fruit everyday, and we’re super excited. Eggplant! Eggplant! We did get a few Key Limes. I was very glad almost all the fruit stayed on the tree in the storm. We already have many in the fridge, and I still haven’t done the prep for freezing. Dang.
Before the storm, I Harvested the 2 ripe Dragon Fruit. Yum. I was afraid the storm would rot them. Instead, we got 2 small fruits. The other 2 weren’t quite ready and rotted. It really isn’t their time.
Flowers
The Zinnias fared very well in the storm, mostly. Or perhaps, we have so many there were only some that had to be cut for a vase. They are doing nicely. But it was the Dahlias, opening gloriously right after the storm, being Featured this week. We’ve been waiting for them. Since our single petal Dahlias grew all last summer, we planted some rhizomes at the beginning of the summer. These, I believe, should have been a Fall flower. Hopefully, they will keep going.
While we purchased 8 Dahlia rhizome balls, we received, maybe 4, and lots of loose rhizomes. I planted everything, and we got 4 plants. 3 have bloomed so far, and we’re waiting to see if the last one is a different color. We’ve got hot pink, pale purple/white, and white so far. It’s very exciting.
More Bromeliads bloomed. Not quite a full round, but numerous plants. They are so lovely. There were more Yellow Daylilies, out of season, and so many White Dendrobiums. I try to take a pic of the fence, all the time, where they bloom like mad, and the pics never quite do them justice. Not like the Pink Bulbs who never seem to take a bad photo, I know people like that. LOL! Enjoy!
September 23, 2024
Howdy Autumnal Equinox!
To us, it’s a busy, exciting time of year as we drop new planties in the ground for the Fall/Winter crop. And, that’s exactly what we’ve been doing. We’re watching the storm out in the Gulf, and tentatively dropping plants. It’s also the time of year we start losing the light. Days grow noticeably shorter, nights chiller.
While I’ve known many people who get excited by the thought of cooler weather, few celebrate the dying of the light. I’ve become rather amused in recent years listening to people claim they are going to somehow reclaim daylight. As if we have the ability to trick the sun simply with creative clock use. Ha!Ha! People need their dreams, I suppose.
Around Our Garden
While I wish everything from the nursery was lovingly placed in the soil outside and the big seeds were all nestled snugly in the dirt last week, I didn’t get that far. With the Hurricane churning out in the Gulf, it was probably for the best. Regardless, I kept finding myself reburying borders and cleaning up messes, and that’s never fun. No fun.
It’s not that I didn’t get anything done. For instance, Cucumbers seeds and a whole bed of starter Leeks are in the ground. But the raccoon was very active, it even popped off the head of a Giant Zinnia. For no other reason than I touched it. I know because it was in the middle of the ‘Many-Zinnia-Bushes,’ and it didn’t touch any of the other flowers or the plants. Neither did I. The flower is in a glass of water for our enjoyment. Blah! It does look cool.
Harvest
Oranges. We got Oranges last week, about half a dozen, over the week. It’s not even close to their Jan. Harvest date. While some do fall off early due to bugs, some split open, and occasionally there is a knock off, these seemed fine. None were fully ripe. So, we have them in the window. We’ll see.
The Key Lime tree dropped over a dozen Limes last week. We have so many. I still need to do the prep for a freeze. Dang. We also need to take another Coconut or 2. It just takes some work to open them, and I’ve been lazy about doing it. Maybe the winds from the storm will knock some down. Then, I’ll have to open them. It requires some work. Oh, yeah, I already said that. LOL!
I also noticed a couple of Dragon Fruit ripening up on the cactus. They are in a sheltered place with less rain. It’s very exciting. We usually have to wait until the end of rainy season.
Flowers
The new round of Giant Zinnias are Magical, as big and full as roses. So, of course, we’re Featuring them this week. We’ve been surprised by how big the plants got, forming what look like bushes of Zinnias. In case you’re wondering, yes, I have a new baby round already sprouted and growing. BIG GRIN. Try How to Grow Wildflowers in Your Yard for pretty blooms.
For no other reason than they wanted to, we started getting Yellow Day Lilies, completely out of season. We also got a 4th round of Flaming Torch Bromeliads, just lovely. And, not 1 but 2 major rounds of Dragon Fruit Blooms last week. There are few things as amazing as waking up to flowers the size of your head, everywhere. It’s crazy. Check out How to Grow Dragon Fruit for more info. Enjoy!
September 16, 2024
It’s Time!
Yup, it’s that time, and we couldn’t be more excited. Fall planting has finally arrived. Yesterday, Sept. 15, signals the opening of our Fall planting. Woo-Hoo! While it is indeed extra work, some of the plants and seeds dropped in the ground over the next couple of weeks will feed us almost all year. And, that is something to be excited about.
So, last week was mostly about making sure all the beds were ready for plants. Freshly turned, enriched, and ready to grow. The more difficult mostly ‘weed-free’ status is harder to obtain. It’s taken a few months to get there, but I’m feeling better about it. My Mom is still wallowing in My Nemesis weed infesting her orchids. She’s pretty sure it’s a permanent state, despite me telling her otherwise. We’ll get there.
If you are lucky enough to live somewhere with a Fall/Winter planting season or you just want to prep your beds to sit all winter, try How to Prepare Your Garden for Spring for some more information.
Around Our Garden
Besides making all our veggie and fruit planting beds nutrient rich and loose, I hauled 2 carts of Yard Sand up from the back last week, and yes, super sore. Sand is so heavy. We’re still fighting the erosion from Hurricane Ian around the giant South American Tree, and it needed more dirt. I’ve been at it for a while. Filling and compacting in layers assures no air pockets around the roots. I’m not going to lie, a couple of loads at a time is manageable. I’d probably not be able to move the next day if I did too many more. LOL!
My nephew Dawson also came over to help fix the fence in the back. You might recall our neighbors knocked some of it over when they illegally cleared and filled our other neighbors’ lot last year. Dang. It isn’t like they are stand-up people. They were clearing someone else’s lot and filling it with trash. So . . . We are so thankful Dawson had some extra time to come over and assist. Pushing those heavy posts back upright and manhandling the top braces and fencing are a little bit above my muscle level. Dang. Thank you, Dawson!
Harvest
We got an Eggplant. LOL! It wasn’t big. I took it before the raccoon found it. Still battling the yard infiltration, and the raccoon hasn’t found the Eggplant, yet. It’s the same plant that produced all last year. It died back a bit during the summer and flowered with no fruit. Now, at 2 years old, it has started to bush out, and 1 of the flowers was pollinated. It appears it’s going to produce for another year, and I’m amazed. Most veggies are 1 season and done. Absolutely deserves a Woo-Hoo!
Our fruit drawer is almost full with Key Limes. Since we currently have a moratorium on sweets in our house as dieting is happening, I’m going to freeze some of the juice and zest to use later. We’ve also had some random Oranges fall, 3 intact, so far. While too young to eat, the outside will turn orange and can be used for zest. My Mom hit the Coleslaw with some last night. Yum.
Flowers
We’re featuring the Buttercup from last week. The new bush is covered in flowers. My Mom and I disagreed on which was the better pic. She didn’t like the pictures with shadows, but I thought the shadows gave it more dimension. I loaded them, so I won. LOL! Well, there’s that. I’m planning to cover a whole area in Buttercup shrubs for her. It requires some major thought as these things throw sprouting seeds everywhere, but the shiny golden petals are a joy. We like more joy. I just need to figure out how to contain it.
It was hard not to feature the new round of Zinnias. They came in big and beautiful last week. Dawson even commented on how many. LOL! It’s a good thing since all the older ones are dead. Big Lip. But, the 1st Dahlia bush flowered-out, and we’re waiting for the buds to open on the 2nd one. We also got a Flaming Torch Bromeliad flower here and there last week. I thought they were mostly done. Nope. Yesterday, I noticed round 4 coming up. We should have more pics next week. Yea! Enjoy!
September 9, 2024
It’s Wet Out There?
While it seems like we’re missing a bit of rain water this summer, we actually set a record for the wettest season since they began keeping records in 1902. We average 29.47 inches for the summer months, normally. But this year, we’ve gotten 43.87 inches, and we’ve still got 2 months of rainy season left. Oh My!
So then, why do I feel like we’re missing rain? I don’t know, it isn’t dry out there, but it isn’t overly wet either which is normal this time of year. We usually go to bed with everything wet outside, and I’m spending many mornings pulling overly wet mulch off the bottoms of the plants. Fighting some fungi and molds. Not so this year. And, I’m absolutely not complaining. Our rain comes earlier in the day, and it means much less work for me. Woo-Hoo!
Around Our Garden
Everything is looking so lush and green and happy, in fact, so much so that it meant extra trimming. The very squared-off Schefflera hedgerows by the back door, or garden entrance depending on how you look at it (LOL!), had gotten very puffy. Not only do they block the door, all puffy, it starts getting difficult to see out of the lanai. As pretty as puffy and lush and green is, you want to be able to see out the lanai into our very pretty garden.
I’m actually partial to using the hedge trimmer. It looks like a sawfish and cuts with ease. Schefflera makes a great ground cover leaf, a sort of natural mulch. Spreading it over paths green, to dry and turn brown in the sun, helps keep the weeds down. Any help in that arena is a blessing. For more on caring for Schefflera, How to Grow Schefflera Outside. Or try How to Create A Tunnel Through Your Vegetation for some fun.
Harvest
Key Limes and a Coconut. No, we did not eat them together. The Key Limes are slowly being added to my drinks. Yum. The Coconut was shucked and My Mom used it to make Homemade frosting for her husband’s German Chocolate Birthday Cake. Yeah, their B-Days are a week apart. They’re normally on vacation.
The Corn, planted the week before last, is looking quite lovely at 10 days old. All but 2 seeds sprouted. I’ve replanted those. Fingers crossed. They’re about 4 to 6 inches and looking quite healthy. We planted 2 different varieties of Sweet Corn. The normal Peaches & Cream which grows well here, and an all yellow type that I got in a variety pack of seeds. They actually sent 3 separate types of Corn in the pack. So, I thought I’d try some different ones. Always good to have a couple of types you know grow in your area.
Flowers
We’re Featuring the White Dendrobium Orchids from last week. We love these things. My Mom has so many, everywhere. They hang in the trees, along the fences, and they bloom most of the year. Just lovely. Her old growth plants were purchased for her wedding 28 years ago. They’re almost as old as Our Garden, and they just keep producing babies. Oh, Darn. LOL!
We had a massive Dragon Fruit Bloom on Saturday. We get 1 or 2 really big ones each year. Now, when I say big, I mean covered. We get lots of flowers every week, but these blooms are crazy. We even went out to take pics at night. I also got a fun pic of a Green Sweat Bee in one of the Purple Water Lilies. And, while we didn’t get a full 3rd round of Bromeliad Blooms, we are getting a few single blooms. Yea! Enjoy!