The Year I Began The Gardens

In 2016 my son and I bought a house in Florida near the east coast. It is a modest home with a small yard. At the time, on both sides we had natural habitats in uncleared lots.

Here’s a photo of the backyard that was posted on the listing, and then nearly 7 years later.

Our house sits lengthwise with the garage at the front, so this “backyard” area in the photos is really on the southern side of the house.

This photo from 2018 shows the big banana trees and elephant ear plants in the back corner. Also the yard is mostly grass and not weeds. You can see the hibiscus planted near the house.

Our back corner of the yard looks a bit more open thanks to the numerous hurricanes that have come through since we moved in. The tall pine was taken down when a new house was built.

In 2023 I decided to create some gardens and began digging up the grass. I’d been container gardening, but I’ve always believed that plants do better in the ground.

I bought a rototiller and had my son till up a patch of ground. I removed the grass and some pieces of cement that were buried and began to get the dirt ready for growing vegetables.

I have a Hot Frog tumbling composter which I’d been using for about a year to make compost.

When my watermelon, peppers, okra, pumpkin, and eggplant began growing so well, I expanded to another smaller garden next to the shed. Because it was June, and summer is tough for growing vegetables in Florida, I planted cucumbers (Suyo Long), one tomato plant, and more okra (the rest of the seeds from the packet).

This is also where I planted the blueberry bush I bought at the Farmer’s Market on a whim.

Gardening is an ongoing experiment. There is always something to do and / or see while walking through the garden. Each morning I pull weeds until the mosquitoes find me.

I’m keeping track of what grows well in this summer heat, and am already thinking about Fall planting.

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