Author: Pam

New England native, Florida resident. Blogging about boating, beach-combing, gardening, camping, and knitting. Work for Zazzle as a designer since 2008.

The Pitfalls of House Hunting

I’ve discovered that house-hunting is not as exciting and fun as I had hoped. Between being unsure of a house that could be perfect, and losing out to someone who bid on the perfect place first, I write about my experience with buying a home.

When I bought my home in New Hampshire, I had bad credit (thanks to my ex-husband) and had to settle for the least horrible house I could afford. So when I began house-hunting in Florida I was looking forward to being able to choose a nice home. I pictured house-hunting as a fun opportunity. It didn’t really turn out that way.

Here are the problems I’ve run into.

Without a knowledgable friend or partner to lend advice, I am still on my own when it comes to discerning a good house from one that should be passed by. As is the case always, I am alone in my decisions. But not quite. My son and I are buying this house together so his thoughts had to be taken into consideration. He knows nothing about home buying and ownership, whereas I do. He is not looking at the possible problems, just the parts of the house he likes.

One house seemed really great, or should I say the land the house sat on was great. The house itself was not impressive. In fact it seemed a bit neglected. I didn’t want a house with problems, and I could foresee work. We went and looked at the place twice, and we loved the land, and location, but by the second visit, I knew I did not want to live in that house. And it was overpriced. Continue reading “The Pitfalls of House Hunting”

How to Grow Green Peppers in Florida, That’s My Question!

growing green peppers in florida
Fresh Green Garden Peppers

The title of this post leads you to believe that I will share my knowledge about how to grow green peppers in Florida. It’s not really the case, as I am really asking the question. I do hope to answer it one day.

My recent move from New Hampshire to Florida has left me garden-less. It’s horrible. My summer has been filled with moving furniture and boxes and searching for a new home. However, I can’t go for long without watching something green grow, so I bought 2 green (bell) pepper plants at Lowe’s to see if I could coax a pepper or two out of them.

Pepper plants like it warm, I know that much. I could never get them to give me a harvest in the north, so I figured they might do better where it’s warmer. So far I am not having luck. One plant has one deformed looking pepper beginning to grow. All the other flowers have fallen off. They are in pots and not in the ground, which I think is detrimental to their overall well-being. I can’t help it, I don’t have a permanent home.

So I am searching for advice about growing peppers.  My pathetic garden consists of a pot with parsley, basil and one pepper-less pepper plant.
At the Wizzley writing site where I have a number of articles published, I asked a kindly writer named Frank who gardens on an allotment in Great Britain, about growing peppers. Now, granted, his climate is nothing like a central Florida climate, but I did get some useful info from reading his page about Growing Bell Peppers. And he wrote it to help me out, which I appreciate. Adding a fertilizer high in potassium helps the fruit set, and I plan to try that next time I plant.

When I first brought my pepper and herb plants home, I put them out back under an old screen door (I live in a rental for the time being). I thought the screen might help block the sun, but I ended up moving everything over under an oak tree.  The summer sun is just too incredibly hot.  I don’t think people garden in summer here.

peppers in pots
This is it folks!

Soon I will be moving into my new house. Then we must build some raised beds and fill them with good dirt. I’m not in New England any longer. Good dirt comes from a store here. It will be another adventure in learning. Growing delicious fresh vegetables in Florida is my goal.

Yes, I lived in Florida before and I lived here for a long time.  But I spent my time raising my four kids and never had much time to grow vegetables.  I can grow flowers and shrubs like mad, but vegetables here?  That will be something new for me.

Remembering Life in New England

winter forest photography
My Backyard – Long Ago

This winter photography recently sold in my Zazzle store as a postcard. It seems fitting as a reminder of how far I’ve come. Since I am no longer living in the northeastern U.S., and back down in the humidity of Florida, this scene makes me a bit sad.  I was born in New England, and I love it there.

I took this winter photo back in 2007, and it reminds me of great hope and huge loss. After spending 27 years in the humid, bug-infested south, I was back home in New England and loving every moment of my first winter with snow in years. I took pictures every day I think. This is a scene from my back yard after a nice storm had passed. I say “nice” because it dropped a bunch of that sparkling white stuff I had been longing to play in and witness. I wanted a white Christmas, and New Hampshire nearly always cooperated in the eleven years I lived there.  I love the change of seasons and winter is part of it.  It’s a long season, but we are all in it together, and somehow get through the worst ones.

We had moved together as a family, but ultimately I ended up alone, with a son dependent upon me to provide a decent life. I couldn’t take a little boy away from his father, no matter how much that father lacked the qualities to actually be a father. So I stuck it out until my son graduated and wanted to move away. Then it was his choice. I did my part. But it wasn’t easy getting by alone in a place known for it’s costly living expenses. By the time I left my New Hampshire home, I had moved 5 times, finally settling into a little fixer-upper for my final years there.

The beautiful snow had lost it’s charm after the hellish winter of 2014-15. And my final winter had very little drama – or snow. It was okay with me.

I’ll never live in New England again, short of winning the lottery. I have some pictures left that remind me of the great hope in my heart when I moved there. The opportunity to spend time in such a beautiful place one last time, is what I will be thankful for. And I’ll visit when I can. But I may never see such a beautiful winter scene in person again. Nor will I walk in the deep snow and enjoy the silence of snowy woods. But I did it once. And that was good.

I Will Never Get The Tech

It’s tough trying to fit into this world so full of technology.

Screen Shot 2016-07-15 at 4.21.37 PMI saw a t-shirt once that said, “I repel technology” and I need to have it and wear it every single day.

The only reason I know anything at all, like making links, organizing blogs, uploading images, and all that EASY stuff, is because life forced me into working online.   Everyone seems to have born with technology knowledge that I just can’t seem to grasp.  And when I do understand it, it feels alien to me.  Unnatural.  Like I am trying to live in a world where I do not belong.

This morning I posted a blog on my SeashellsbyMillhill blog, and then I began thinking about upgrading.  From there, I viewed the themes, including premium themes.  After a while I decided on one called Gridiculous Pro.  It looked so nice, something I could personalize with my photos and stories.  BUT… I bought it and began to try to customize and had trouble.  The changes didn’t show while I was making them, the colors gave me trouble, and all in all I just didn’t think it was worth the trouble AND money.  Fortunately WordPress lets you cancel a purchase within a certain amount of time.

The real problem is that I know so little and have to rely on the easy customization.  I can’t do CSS – don’t even ask me what that is.  Some sort of code, that would probably make my site look marvelous.

So I wasted time figuring out which theme I wanted, then wasted time fiddling around trying to make it look nice.   Once I cancelled my upgrade order, my site reverted to the old theme… except it wasn’t the same old theme.  So I had to re-do my “old” theme to make it viewable.  Now the whole thing looks completely different, but I guess it’s okay.  And change is good now and then.

Getting Ready to Grow Veggies in Florida

gardening
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I’m not there yet, but soon I will be learning to grow veggies in Florida.  I’m quite aware of the central Florida climate, as I lived there for over twenty years.  I didn’t have much time to grow my own vegetables but I plan to do a lot of that once I move back.

I’m wondering how well certain things will grow, and if there is no point in even trying to grow crops that prefer it cool.  I have a good, informative gardening book, but it doesn’t say too much about choosing crops for Florida.

So I searched for Florida vegetable gardening blogs.  A well-written blog can be better than a book.  Personal experience with local gardening can be extremely helpful.  I’m coming across a lot of blogs that prefer to show off their tropical shrubbery and well-manicured landscapes and fancy backyards, but have little in the way of helpful information about choosing and growing vegetables.

I think there are a couple of reasons for this.   Continue reading “Getting Ready to Grow Veggies in Florida”

Time to Say Good-Bye to My Hydrangeas

hydrangea last summer
Blue Hydrangea Summer 2015

Before they even flower this year, I will have to say good-bye to my hydrangeas. I may be lucky enough to see the buds form, but I will be gone by July when the flowers open.

As is so predictable with my nomadic lifestyle, I am moving on after living in my house for five years. It’s a record really. Since I moved north in 2005, it’s the longest I’ve lived in of any of the places I’ve tentatively called “home”.

I’ve added a number of hydrangea plants to the small yard over the years, and they are all doing pretty well. Little green shoots are just beginning to appear, but once the weather warms up the plants will grow quickly. Not quickly enough for me to enjoy the big white-to-green flowers of the Limelight variety, or to see the Pinky Winky’s white blooms change to pink. And I wonder if the Endless Summer blue variety will have more flowers this year than last.

After the winter months of 2015, my perennials seemed to suffer. Some plants never came back, and the ones that did, seemed to be less wonderful than usual. But this winter was so mild, I am thinking that the hydrangeas will have lots of blooms. I especially hope that the blue flowers will be prolific.   Last year I had a few small flowers at the base of the bush (see the photo).  Of course, I will never know. I’ll be far away in the deep south, beginning a new garden in a new place.

I feel like Johnny Appleseed, except my name would be something else related to planting and moving on. I can’t think of a good name. Pam the traveling gardener, or maybe Root-less, is more appropriate.

dsc07551So the yard I’ve worked to make into a beautiful place will now be passed on to new home-owners.  I have no idea if they are gardeners, or if they will walk around enjoying the flowers that bloom in their new yard.  I hope so.

I doubt they will realize the work it took to create the beauty they will see, but I do hope they will enjoy it.  The peace and quiet I knew of sitting in the shade of the big oak out front, watching the clouds drift past the rooftop, while my cats explore in the grass nearby, is something I will miss greatly.

I’ve known some of the most peaceful times of my life just sitting alone in this yard, drinking a glass of wine, and appreciating what I have.  I always knew it wouldn’t last, because that is how it is.  Because I know that, I appreciate it all the more.

Soon this blog will be filled with the gardening adventures of my southern life.  I never grew many vegetables when I lived in Florida before, but this time I plan to figure it out.  And I am familiar with growing many tropical plants.  I can’t wait to have camellias, hibiscus, crepe myrtle and jasmine growing in my new place.  I may even try to grow hydrangeas!

So stay tuned.  Once the move is done…… I’ll be back.

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