Summer Days

I have been a busy bee with the gardens pulling out the old and putting in new.

Garden #1
Everything has been harvested. I only have a few onions I used, froze the leeks and my strawberries has been transplanted to pots. I have it covered with plastic to solarize the soil. I covered this one on Wednesday 7-18

Garden #2
This is about in the same condition as garden #1, everything has been harvested and is pulled out. I harvested the Coriander and my Stevia. I have the Stevia drying to use the leaves for sweetener. This bed was covered on Wednesday 7-4.

Garden #3
My tomato plants are growing wild and bearing fruit. I'm still waiting for some peppers and I just planted some cherry tomatoes  where the green beans used to be. I pulled out the beans, because they stopped producing green beans, I was getting white beans, really strange, so I pulled them out thought they maybe diseased. I planted Matt's Wild Cherry Tomatoes, which just sprouted through the ground.

Garden #4
I have Yukan Gold Potatoes, Carwile Virginia Peanuts, Suyo Long Cucumber and Rosa Bianca Eggplant.

My insect barriers are really getting tattered now. I want to use something stronger since I only keep the gardens covered at night, so it doesn't matter if it doesn't let the sunlight though. I'm having to pull out my organic arsenal even with the insect barriers at night. I used 1 Tbsp Neem  oil with a 1 tsp Dr Bonner's peppermint soap mixed together in half gallon of water to stop the white leaf hoppers which were getting out of hand and hopeful repel the squash bugs, which I have been squashing when seen. I crushed their eggs on the trellis and the birds are still visiting the garden, so I hope they keep the rest under control. I have my Spinosad too which I have used once and seem to take care of the couple worms I saw. The summer time is an endless bug battle! I don't like using neem too much, because it stinks and not only repeals the squash bug, but the lady bug disappear too. Happy Gardening!

Tomato Competition

I wanted to test which variety of tomato is the quickest to germinate and grow. Here are the varieties and results:

Anahu: This one germinated first, but is now being outpaced in growth by the Tropic variety.

Arkansas Traveler: This came in last in germination.

Homestead: This variety was second to last to germinate.

Tropic: This was second in germination, but is outpacing everyone else in growth.

I'm sure they will all taste good.  :)

Trellis

Watermelon Flower 2012

I first got this trellis from Garden Supply, but I'm already disappointed. It is steady and holds my cucumbers wonderfully, but it's already starting to rust and is made in China. Therefore, I got this wood trellis from Lowe's. I wish the squares were a little smaller, but it's holding my watermelon perfectly. I also have to do something with the rough ends, because it's making holes in my in my insect barrier cloth. It's made out of cedar and made in the USA. A big plus to me to be able to buy American made items.

Fire Ants

I been having trouble getting my corn started in garden #4. I can only get my peanut plants started in that garden box so far. I noticed I have quite an army of ants taking up residence in that plot. Therefore, I started googling organic ant controls. This is what I have tried so far and how well or not so well it worked:

Orange Oil: I mixed 2oz per gallon of water. This kills ants on contact. I noticed it takes multiple treatments and it works better with 1Tbsp. molasses mixed in. However, they keep packing up and moving so I know it's not penetrating deep enough in the soil. Also, do not get this on your veggies, because it will burn the plant. I couldn't get them under control and this will kill other bugs it contacts good and bad.

Boiling Water: This again kills ants on contact. However, just like the orange oil it never seems to penetrate deep enough and seems to just make them nomadic.

Cinnamon: No effect I could see.

Spinosad: Mixed four Tbsp per gallon of water and poured on mound. This took about four days to work, but got rid of all fire ants in garden #4.

Green Light Fire Ant Control w/Conserve (AKA Spinosad): This is a granular bait with Spinosad which they brand name Conserve. This got rid of all the ants in garden #2 which were scattered and I could find the mound. This also took about four days to complete it's deadly elimination.

My recommendations for knocking off fire ants are to use Spinosad mixed with water and pour the whole gallon on the mound. If you just have some scattered fire ants use the Green Light Fire Ant Control with Conserve granules. Note: this only kills fire and harvester ants. This doesn't effect any other ants.

Watermelon Hammocks

Sugar Baby Watermelon 2012

 

 

I know from the last seasons garden, when watermelon is grown on the ground it will get fungi in Central Florida. I have been making watermelon hammocks to support the watermelons on the trellis. Therefore, I got the small variety, sugar baby. I had some extra gauze, so I will see how it holds up to the weight of the watermelon. One of my favorite fruit, I can't wait till these babies are ripe and I have watermelon juice running down my elbows.

North Side Lettuce, South Side Cucumber

Jericho Lettuce

Marketmore76 Cucumbers

2012

 

I found I should have grew my cucumbers on the south side of my garden and the lettuce on the north side. My Jericho lettuce is starting to look wilted by days end. Lucky it recovers in the coolness of the night. I been cutting it in the morning, so not to stress the plant overly much. A note for next year to flip flop the garden, so the cucumbers shaded the lettuce more from the heat.

Yummy! Harvesting

Red Russian
Kale 2012

Everything is growing like weeds now, including the weeds. :) Getting an abundance of lettuce, cucumbers, kale, cabbage and even baby watermelons started. I made some zuppa toscana soup which was so delicious. I found the recipe on Allrecipes and I replaced spinach for my kale straight out of the garden. Life doesn't get any better!

Garden #3

Tomato Seedling 2012

My tomatoes are finally breaking ground, just getting there first true leaves. However, my snap beans are already a six inches tall! I planted six different varieties of tomato plants, but I forgot to mark them. Ugh...rookie mistake. I'm sure I will enjoy them all the same. :)

Workers and their wages

Blackbird 2012

I seemed to have picked up some industrious bug eating workers. I catch a glimpse of the feathered busy bodies on occasion peaking under leaves and mulch. The price for their work is strawberries. I guess I can share for all the diligent work they accomplish.

Biological Warfare

Red Russian Kale Spring 2012

I noticed in garden #4 when I was burying the Ollas that I had too many grubs languishing about in the dirt. I annihilated all of them that I found, but was worried about the mass numbers I was finding. I decided to obtain an organic solution to help with my eradication. I did some research and chose to try some beneficial nematodes. I bought mine at Gardener's Supply called Grub-Guard. I was disappointed to find the cold pack to keep them alive had melted. I checked the water after I put them in and I saw some didn't make it, other were swimming happily about in the water. I hope enough survived to make a serious dent in the grub population. If not, the battle will be on again soon!

Harvest Time

Jericho Lettuce Spring 2012

I'm getting loads of Jericho and Buttercrunch lettuce. The cabbage is getting close and the cucumbers are growing wild and flowering! I noticed my calendar was off on the harvest times. I read that the harvest time is from when the seedling shows the first true leaves and not when it is planted. Therefore, I have added a couple of weeks to my harvest times. Happy gardening!

Frost - Replant

I took a chance planting my cucumbers, water melon and squash early and lost. I ended up replanting all three crops, because of the frost. It's still early and I'm taking a chance again. I hope the warm weather is here to stay. Strangely enough I lost my broccoli too, but my strawberry plant was not bothered at all.

Starting Indoor Seedlings

Indoor Seedlings

I started my indoor seedlings for transplant later outside. I started my Kale, Cauliflower and Peppers in Cow Pots. This month is going by fast, so I have to finish my Ollas for garden #3 and #4. My cucumbers, squash and water melon are already popping up in garden #2. I have to get some PVC pipe to start covering it at night to stop cutworms from invading. Garden #1 is really going good now. I can't wait till I can harvest some of the veggies. Yum!!

Prepping Garden #2

Garden #2 Feb 2012

I got the garden #2 prepared for the season. I put in the ollas, mixed in starter fertilizer and green sand with the organic soil my hubby got at Lowes. On my Garden Plans tab you can see a picture of my plan for this garden. I planted the following so far:
Sugar Baby WATERMELON
Marketmore 76 CUCUMBER
Yellow Crookneck SQUASH, SUMMER - A little too early, opps..
Jericho LETTUCE, ROMAINE

Battle - Game On!

Cabbage Plant Carnage Jan 2012

I have an unknown pest prowling my garden at night. The picture to your left is the carnage left of my defenseless cabbage plant. Cover the children eyes from the horror of that picture. This dirty rascal is also feasting on some of my seedlings. It ate the tops off my onion plants down to an inch above the soil, only left me two of my four tomato plants, bypassed my carrot tops and just left the cabbage plant in shambles. I went out multiple times last night to catch the scoundle in the act, but all I found was more missing seedlings and no trace of the perpetrator. He didn't know though I had sprayed the plants at dusk with an organic insecticide called Spinosad. Who's got the last laugh now! Unfortunately, since I don't know what is eating everything I hope it works. I had my Dad check the remains of the cabbage plant and he feels it maybe a mammal I'm after, something like a mouse. Therefore tonight I set out mouse traps, one snappy the other is a glue trap. I've checked twice tonight and the glue trap has caught german cockroachs only, but I have no further damage. Let's see what tomorrow brings....

Row Covering For Garden Pests

Garden Row Cover Jan 2012

My little seedlings are growing taller and stronger by the day. However, it's a big bad world out there for the little ones, cutworms, melon worms, all kinds of hungry mouths trying to devourer their delicate leaves and stems. It's my job to protect them, so I can devourer their fruit. :) Last year I had melon worms by the bus load and they are a nasty bunch. I squished more then my fair share of those green freeloaders. I want to protect this crop from harm, so I'm using the safest organic garden practice to avoid these garden scumbags. I bought Agribon+ AG-15 row cover from Johnny's Selected Seeds. I have my crops cover for now until they start to bloom, then I will uncover them during the day for the bees and cover them at night when the moths come out to play and lay their dirty eggs with their no good young'uns. However, this doesn't protect from everyone, more on that later....

Getting New Garden Beds Ready

New Garden Beds Jan 2012

My husband built three more 4x8 garden beds today out of 2x8 cedar wood. Together we put weed block and cypress mulch around the garden to keep weeds to a minimum. I found an organic weed killer that works: Natural Weed Control if some do still try to grow in the garden. I wish I could find a local place that carries horticultural vinegar, because I would make my own weed killer. I noticed with the Ollas, it helps with the weeds since the only water in the garden is around them. I'm creating a separate tab on this blog dedicated to my experiences using Ollas if anyone is interested. I have recycled paper  weed block that will go in the garden squares for weeds. This week we will be filling them with soil and horse manure from my diligent working horses. :) I also added a tab with my garden schedule of seed planting and estimated harvesting dates. I hope everyone enjoyed the beautiful weather today.

Seedlings Starting to Grow

Garden January 2012

This is a picture of my garden. I started the following seeds on January 2nd:
Carrots - Danvers 126
Broccoli - Premium Crop - Hybrid
Lettace - Buttercrunch
Cabbage - Early Flat Dutch
Onion - Granex - Hybrid
Leek - American Flag - Broad London
Super Snow White tomatoes ( I got these free with my order with TomatoFest). It too early for tomatoes, but these are suppose to like it cooler, so I though I better get them in the ground quick.

Some of these were a little late in planting, so we will see how it goes. The ones in the front are Bonnie Hybrid I won at a Garden Workshop at Lake County Extension office. I put the hay over the top of the seeds because we got frost. This seemed to help, because all the seedlings are growing through the hay now. I gave them all a foliage feeding with Dr Earth 3-3-3 Liquid Solution Fertilizer today. I will be building another box for my other seeds I have already. I'm going to be starting some of them like tomatoes and pepper in Cow Pots on an APS Seedstarter and I got Organic Seedstarting Mix from Garden Supply. If your wondering about the flower pots in the garden they are my homemade ollas for irrigation.The following website is where I found how to build your own Olla with unglazed clay pots you can get at Lowes or Home Depot, Olla Irrigation. I used them last year and like how they worked although you have to make sure the plant is close to the clay pot. I bought bigger pots (8in vs 6in) for the next box, because last year I was filling up these twice a week. I want to add a gravity feed system to make it like a drip system, but using more nature materials in the ground.Happy Gardening!

Garden Schedule

My garden schedule link: Garden Schedule. I will see how these date work for me this year. I got some of the dates from Tom MacCubbins book Month-by-Month Gardening in Florida. I also used the seasonal planting chart from Crispy Farms site at http://crispyfarms.shutterfly.com/products.

Open Pollinated Seeds

I'm going to try some open pollinated seeds this time. I got the following seeds for my Spring/Summer garden from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange:
Red Russian KALE 
Sugar Baby WATERMELON
Marketmore 76 CUCUMBER
Yellow Crookneck SQUASH, SUMMER
Early Snowball Cauliflower 
Jericho LETTUCE, ROMAINE
California Wonder PEPPER, BELL (SWEET)
Carwile's Virginia PEANUT

I already have some Silver Queen corn seeds, but I'm going to try Texas Honey next time.

Starting My Gardening Journal

This is a journal of my experiences starting my organic garden in Central Florida. I helped my Grandfather when I was a child with our organic garden. This started my love for gardening. Unfortunately, working, getting ahead and moving around and limited time stopped me from gardening for too long. I'm still working, but ready to spend my free time to get back with Mother Earth. I've forgotten many things, so I feel I'm starting from scratch. I love trying new techniques and new varieties in the garden. Please feel free to comment and enjoy the trials I will encounter. :)