Hydrangeas Blue

Tropical and Common Plants That Are Loving My Florida Room

Now that I live in Florida, I can grow some beautiful tropical plants in my sunroom.

plant in orange pot — Variegated Leaf Plant

In my new house there is a porch which is a little odd. Someone visited and called it a “Florida Room” which reminded me that there are such things. However my porch is not the traditional type that is on a corner or out back. My Florida Room is situated between the dining area and the back bedroom. Only one wall contains screens. It is not enclosed and will get very hot (or cold) depending on the weather outside. More sun comes in during the winter months than will in summer, which is perfect.

It’s also not very big, considering we have a bar height table and chairs in the center, a chest freezer in the corner, and a long wooden table from my northern home along one wall. Amidst all this I have added some new tropical plants to the few I dragged with me from New Hampshire. (By the way, the New Hampshire born plants are loving all this sun and warmth!)

Some of these plants are new to me and some I am familiar with because I have grown them before. In Florida, only certain plants can take the full sunshine. It can be deadly to others by burning the leaves. Light (doesn’t mean direct sun) and warm conditions are what most of these need.

To be honest, growing plants in Florida is fairly easy. It’s almost greenhouse conditions year round. Keeping plants alive was nearly impossible in my New Hampshire home. They had hardly any sunshine and no warmth since I couldn’t afford to keep my house warm. I would set the plants near the wood stove to warm them up! And it was a very dry climate, which didn’t help either.

But I love to have plants inside. They clean the air and add a homey feel, in my opinion.

One of the plants I brought with me is this corn plant. It was not doing well, but has really begun growing like crazy in my Florida room. It’s happy now! It’s hard to see, but there are two stalks growing here in this one pot.

The Corn Plant (as I call it) is easy to grow but it likes sun and warmth. This one can take the full sun for part of the day. Water when the pot feel light weight.

One of the new plants I have is a Ponytail palm. This was purchased in a small pot but I replanted it in a larger, cheap black pot. I had a nice ponytail palm a long time ago. I took it with me when I moved to New England and it died, of course. It was wishful thinking that a tropical plant would survive in a freezing cold climate, but I’d had it a long time and it was really big.
So I am growing one again for old times sake. They are easy to grow. Water when lifting the pot feels light.

This next picture is my rubber plant. I love the unique look of this one. Those big, purple, rubbery leaves are so fun. I’ve grown them before and they can get quite large. They are shade tolerant and don’t like direct sunlight, as far as I know. But I’ve seen this type growing outside in a front yard here in Florida (in the sun) and it looks nice and healthy. My landlady up north had a big one in her front window! I was amazed when I saw it. So I guess up north they will need more sun to stay warm.

For now, this one is small enough that I can take it outside when it needs water and spray the leaves too.

The Peace Lily is also called a “spath” which is short for spathiphyllum. This plant will grow well in a dark corner, but it can take some light too. The leaves will turn obviously toward any light, so it will have to be turned to grow upright and look nice. When the leaves begin to droop it’s time for water!

I take this one outside and spray it down when I fill the pot with water, but don’t leave it out in the sun! This is a plant that will stay bright green without any sun. Mine has a couple of white flowers, and hopefully it will get more. It was recently re-potted.

peace lily spathiphyllum spath — Indoor Peace Lily

The pothos ivy, which is a common hanging plant, loves the warm and humid porch area. My hanging basket broke, so I had to put the pothos in the plant stand. It works out well because I can move the whole thing out the door and give it plenty of water outside when needed. Most plants like to have their leaves sprayed, which gives them a good cleaning.

I also have some succulents scattered around the house and two orchids. I have managed to kill some beautiful succulents by overwatering. Certain types can’t be watered very often. If you are tempted to water them, set them someplace out of the way. It’s best if you can forget about them for a while! Believe me, you must be strong and NOT WATER THEM. Some succulents only need water every few MONTHS.
More on growing succulents in my next post.

The Garden in March, One Month Later

screen-shot-2017-03-02-at-9-27-07-am — My Garden, March 2nd

Last month I began to plant my little garden in my Florida backyard. Because the raised bed was not filled with dirt, I used black fabric pots.

I began with crops that were more suited to cooler weather, like peas and lettuce.

Well, Skittle the cat decided to sleep in the bed of peas, so now only one stalk is growing as the others were a bit crushed. It was just the right spot for a nap in the sun. No worries Skittle, I’ll eat 2 peas and be happy.

screen-shot-2017-03-02-at-9-32-17-am — Skittle in the Peas

I also planted potatoes and they are growing like mad. I followed the directions from a blog I read and began by only filling the bags part way. Then I have added dirt as the tops grew. And boy did they grow! Course I’ll have to wait and see what’s happening down inside the bags, but hopefully I’ll have some little red potatoes to eat one day.

screen-shot-2017-03-02-at-12-02-59-pm — Growing potatoes

I also just planted cucumber seeds and I see today that they are popping through the soil. It only took 2 days for that to happen!

My two pepper plants are doing well, and one is blooming like mad. This may be the year I am able to grow peppers. They like heat, and yesterday it was 88 degrees, so there ya go.

I have more cardboard to put down in the bottom of the wood enclosure to keep the grass from growing up through. Newspaper would work for that too. Eventually I will empty the dirt out of my pots and fill the enclosure. But first…. I may try to dig up the grass beneath the enclosure.

I always thought I would just set up the wooden bed and fill it with dirt and I’m ready to plant. Now I have read at EarthEasy that I should dig down a ways to loosen the ground so roots can go down into the dirt beneath the bed. This makes sense, as some vegetables do have long roots, but I didn’t think they needed that much space.

It got me wondering what the roots of vegetables look like, and which ones need the most depth to grow well.

screen-shot-2017-03-02-at-12-01-09-pm — Bib lettuce and carrots

The Bib lettuce needed to be thinned and the carrots were planted using paper strips. I had never used carrot seed tape before, and I bought it by accident. The old method of mixing seeds with sand when sowing small seeds works fine. I still had to thin the seedlings, even when I used the tape.

screen-shot-2017-03-02-at-12-01-31-pm — March Tomatoes!

I can honestly say I have never had tomatoes growing in my yard in March! In fact compared to gardening in New Hampshire, growth here seems to be accelerated.

Every time I visit the garden section I keep an eye out for hydrangeas. I haven’t seen any for sale.

Florida Gardening in February Cool Weather Crop Planting

I am new to this Florida vegetable growing thing, but today I decided to plant some cool weather crops. Because my “garden” is made up of soil-filled fabric bags, I don’t have much space for planting. But I will do what I can. I’ve only lived here for a few months, so garden building is an ongoing process.

My son made me a raised garden bed a few weeks ago. Because I had used fabric pots when gardening in New Hampshire, I filled what I had with organic soil and placed them inside the wooden frame.

Today I looked through my Florida Gardening book to see which crops could be planted in February. Cool weather crops are still cool weather crops, no matter where I live. But down here in the south, winter is the cool time instead of early spring and fall.

So I bought some seeds and today I planted carrots, potatoes, and bib lettuce. The carrots came in seed tape form, which I had never used. The potatoes came from my kitchen. I’ve been eating lettuce from the backyard but it’s getting old and tasting bitter, so I need a new batch.

Now potatoes are easy to grow, but I can never remember exactly how to do it. I should buy “seed potatoes” but I only have what came from the store. So I’m growing them. On the website Rodale’s Organic Life, I found an interesting paragraph about growing potatoes in a bag, like I am doing.

He says to put just a little soil in the bottom and then plant the potatoes. Cover with 3 inches of soil, and continually cover the growing potatoes with soil until the bag is full. I cut the sprouting potatoes I have, and put them near the bottom of my largest pot and covered them with organic soil. As they grow I guess I will cover them, leaving just a bit showing. I never grew potatoes this way, so it’s an experiment.

black fabric pots — 7 Gallon Grow Pots Filled with Organic Soil

The pots I purchased are 7-Gallon size. I believe the ones I have from before must be 10-Gallon. The 7-Gallon bags have handles which is very handy if you plan to move your pots around.

Update: I used these pots for a year or two but discovered that they are too hot to use in Florida. They are great for a northern climate though.

At the time I bought them, other sizes were also available. The 7-Gallon size was a little small for me, but it’s manageable when filled with dirt. Plants grow really well in this type of pot because air can get through to the roots from all sides, whereas in a plastic pot it cannot.

For more information about planting crops in your US Zone, I’ve come across this informative article at Porch.com: Gardening 101: Choosing the Right Plants for Your Zone.

Spring Home Fixes For the Handy Woman, Part 2, Replacing a Screen

Here I will continue with my handy-woman Spring fixes list. If you missed the first article, you can read it here.

When I lived in the northeastern United States the spring season couldn’t come soon enough. Watching all that snow melt away meant the flowers would be growing soon and the sun would be up higher and longer. It also meant the Black Flies would keep me indoors throughout the month of May. I’d prefer to be outside getting my gardens ready, but once the weather warms up it’s a good time to clean the windows, and clean the screens too if they need it. If screens can easily be removed, take them outside on a nice warm day and spray them with the hose.

Some window and door screens may need to be replaced. If you have naughty cats that like to climb up the screen door (yes), or generally tear at them for no good reason (yes again).

Go to the local hardware store and buy some animal strength screen, (or regular screen if you have good kitties, or no kitties), and a roll of spline. Spline is that black stuff that holds the screen in the frame. Also a spline tool which will be needed to hold the new screen in place once the old stuff is removed. To get the old screen out, you will need a screwdriver.

I have done this, but with help from my son. It may be tough to do alone. But after watching this You Tube video, I’ll bet you can do it alone if you have to. This is not a super expensive fix, but it will take a little time and effort. First you must take the door off the hinge, or the window screen out of the window. Pay attention to how you do that so putting it back will be easy.

FYI, when I replaced my back door screen with animal strength screen my naughty cat would climb up to the TOP OF THE DOOR using the screen, and it didn’t damage the screen at all…. It’s totally worth it. The screen is darker than normal screen, but I didn’t mind it at all.

When the weather warms up it’s a good time to get some indoor painting done. With my daughter’s help I painted my bedroom, bathroom, stairs and hallway. My next article is about painting a whole room, or doing some touch ups.

Growing Bell Peppers

I would love to say that this is a photo of my bell pepper plants, but sadly my peppers never grown well. It’s a quest I’ve had for many years now – to grown a decent bunch of peppers.

I’ve read about growing them. I’ve tried to pay attention and fertilize them as needed, with not much luck. I might get one or two funny looking peppers a season but that is it! Now I live in a different climate, where it’s much warmer, which I think peppers like. Maybe my pepper growing luck will change.

I’ve read that the nutrients peppers need are nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. For that I can use a 20-20-20 fertilizer. Once the flowers show, add additional nitrogen. For that I can use Ammonium sulfate or 21-0-0 blend.

Bone meal is something I have used in the past when planting my flowers and vegetables. The calcium in bone meal is especially good for developing a strong root system, which is why I usually mix it into the hole when planting almost everything. The “Maximum Yield” site has a very good article about Bone Meal Basics, which I found very enlightening.
Green peppers have their own special flavor and I use them in salads, sandwiches and omelets. Red Bell Peppers are sweeter, and are delicious when mixed into chicken salad or sliced to eat raw with a healthy dip. From what I understand, green peppers will eventually turn red if they are not picked.
Eating a variety of brightly colored fruit and vegetables gives us optimum health, and picking it from the yard is as fresh as you can get. One day I WILL eat my own yummy peppers… maybe this season.

(Image credits: Find all these wonderful photos at Pixabay.com)

A Little Salad From My Backyard Winter Garden

Just made myself a salad with ingredients from my (very) small backyard garden. In fact it’s really just a few pots with lettuce, parsley and scallions / green onions. I added some flaxseed meal and a side of potato salad, but the greens came from the yard!

When there is fresh food growing just outside the door, it’s hard to choose NOT to eat it. After all, it took work to plant it and care for it, so why not enjoy it as often as possible? Plus I am lucky enough to still have food growing in January! I am in Florida now, and I have to constantly remind myself that it IS winter…. in other places.

Floridians believe it is winter here. When the temps plummet to 60 degrees they put on their heavy hoodies, tied tightly around their heads as they head out to walk the dogs. What? I wave to them as I stand there in my capris and t-shirt and then I turn and laugh. My blood will thin out again too, and one day I will think 60 is cold… I guess. For now, the icy cold of a January day in New Hampshire is still fresh in my mind.

Back to garden talk. I know that planting season is coming soon down here in Florida, and I am stressing a bit because my raised bed is not filled with dirt. BUT, a friend made a suggestion, which I may do because it seems easier than trying to buy a load of dirt and move it into the container. I also have a sprinkler system to worry about crushing. If I decide to try the “new way of gardening” I’ll share it in a soon-to-come post.

For now I am enjoying my greens. I can’t wait for the citrus (lemons and limes) to grow. Fresh lemonade would go well with this meal!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!

Thank you for sharing!