Garden Supplies – Page 6 – Hydrangeas Blue

Making the Raised Garden Bed

I’ve been in my new house for a couple of months now. We’ve made headway, but after spending money for a new HVAC system and a new dishwasher, money is getting tight.

I’ve been keeping an eye on the yard, and the position of the sun, to figure out the best spots for my raised garden beds. Because Florida soil is mostly sand, dumping good, organic soil into a box may be the best way to begin a garden.

The other day, spur of the moment, my son went out and bought some pine wood and made this raised garden bed! He read some “how to’s” online and then bought everything and put it together (with the help of his younger brother). I think it’s great! It’s made of pine boards and is about 18 inches high. (See this raised bed, full of dirt and plants, in May 2018)

pine wood raised bed — Raised Garden Bed

Getting dirt into the bed may be a challenge. We have a sprinkler system and a drainage area around the front of the house. It’s a bit like a dry moat which won’t allow for a vehicle to drive over. My son can fill his truck with garden dirt but it will have to be shoveled into a wheelbarrow and dumped into the raised bed. (Read my solution to this problem on this post.)

My parsley and lettuce in the small box is doing well. If I had a bigger garden this time of year (December) I would be planting peas, onions, spinach and kale. Hopefully by next year this garden bed will be ready.

I use my beautiful parsley daily by adding it to my omelets, homemade salsa, soups, stews, pizza, spaghetti sauce and meatloaf – to name a few. It adds such fabulous flavor and is good for the kidneys, in moderation.

It was one of my favorite things to grow in New Hampshire, as it lasted right into the first snowfall. I used to have deer come into my yard and nose through the snow to find it!! Beautiful…..! I didn’t mind sharing.

deer in winter — This little deer is searching for leftover parsley, and anything green and good, in my former backyard in New Hampshire.

At the end of the growing season I would store parsley by drying or freezing – Read how I do it.

I have noticed, since I moved back to Florida, that there are no seeds, and few decent vegetable seedlings, to be found in the stores. I managed to save this parsley from a neglected Home Depot shelf in August. It looked pathetic, but I know how resilient parsley is, and sure enough it grew in nicely. There is plenty, even though I pick many branches every day!

The lettuce was a recent purchase and it didn’t look too good either, but it seems to be doing well in this recent cool weather we’ve had. I’ve even used a few leaves to add to a sandwich. I prefer buttercrunch or the variety lettuce, but I’ll look for seeds next year.

Apparently this is not the time of year to buy seedlings and seeds. In early spring I will most likely have more luck. For now, I will fill my fabric pots, which I used with much success up north, and grow a few things in there. I found a nearby garden center which I must visit soon.

Fall Vegetable Planting in Florida, What Can I Plant?

garden vegetables — Nothing Beats Fresh Grown Veggies

I’ve been browsing my new Florida Gardening book and finally came upon a page that really tells me all I need to know for now. It is entitled “Cool Season Vegetables” with planting times – specifically for north, south or central Florida regions.

I will live on the edge of zone 9a and 9b of the cold hardiness zone map. What that means is that my area often gets frosts and sometimes freezes during December, January and February. Temperatures can get down into the 20’s. When that happens I will have to protect my crops. I can remember covering my outdoor shrubs and plants that were sensitive to cold when I lived in Florida before. I saved up old sheets and blankets and would cover them over night. Usually temperatures climb nicely during the day, but overnight it can be downright cold!

Anyway, the cool season vegetable planting list contains a lot of vegetables I love to grow.

Growing vegetables in Florida is new to me. I’m used to having everything pulled up from my gardens by the beginning of October, with the exception of some herbs, parsley and kale. It’s not a time for beginning to plant anything in New England. The fall season in the northeast is a time to enjoy the foliage and try not to think about what is coming.

I am delighted to find that many of my favorite veggies can be grown in the upcoming months. On the planting list for October onward, I see that I can plant carrots, celery, kale, lettuce, onions, parsley, peas and potatoes, to name a few. A couple of surprises on the list include strawberries and rhubarb! The rhubarb can be planted at any time of year, but I didn’t even know I would be able to grow it in the south! And I always thought strawberries were summer fruit.

Also most herbs can be planted this time of year. Of course I searched for parsley first thing and was astounded when it wasn’t listed in the “herb” section. After freaking out a bit, I found it listed under cool-season vegetables. I always thought parsley was a herb, so I researched it and found that it is considered a herb, a spice and a vegetable. Wow, I didn’t know that.

When I first moved down to Florida in June, I went out and bought two green pepper plants. They grew one funny-looking pepper and then began to die. I still have one of the plants and it’s beginning to grow new peppers. (See it in the black pot in my photo.) I am hoping it may still produce a pepper or two for me.

Now that I see the lists of all these vegetables, I am wishing I had a bigger yard. I haven’t moved into my new home yet, but the lot is normal size. I’ll have to figure out how to best utilize the space for my gardens. (Update: I plant in a raised bed.) This gardening research will give me a good idea of what to do once the garden beds are ready.

Maybe I will continue to do some container gardening in the meantime.

Florida Gardening Tips Month by Month This Book is Just What I Need

florida gardening book — Tom MacCubbin has a lot of gardening books.

I’m learning to garden in Florida and reading this informational book by Tom MacCubbin. The month by month gardening tips are a great help for someone just starting out gardening in this tropical climate. Even though I haven’t moved into my new home yet, I’m getting prepared and beginning to learn what crops to grow in a Florida winter. I need a list of cool season vegetables.

I used to cut articles written by this author from the newspaper years ago. I ended up with a stack of little papers to sift through whenever I needed to find some information on growing plants in my Florida yard. He always had such good advice, and he appeared on television occasionally too, as I recall. That was many years ago, when I first lived in Florida in the early 1980’s. So moving back to the south meant I had to re-learn southern ways of gardening.

It was thrilling to find a book written by someone I trust for gardening information. So far, I’ve only read a bit, but once I plan the planting space, I will have a good idea of what will grow in the winter months. I’d also like to start a compost heap, or buy a compost bin since the soil will need amending constantly. Gardens in Florida don’t get to rest really.

I have read about hydrangeas, and the only fact I must remember here is that they tend to dry out quickly and will need lots of water. They will bloom in July, like in the north, and then can be deadheaded. I like to watch the flowers dry on the stem, but I wonder if the humidity here means that won’t work so well? I’ll have to see what happens.

Other than a few quick mentions, the Month by Month book doesn’t mention much about hydrangeas.

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.

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.

I Will Never Get The Tech

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

I 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

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”

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!