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.

Here’s to You, the Woman Gardener

woman gardener

Here’s to you, the woman gardener, but only if you do it ALL on your own.  It doesn’t count if you have a hubby who builds the raised beds for you, or lugs the soil to refurbish the beds.  It doesn’t count if he lifts the heavy stuff or does the weeding.  This post is for the women like me, who do everything, from the planning,  buying and planting, to bug control, watering, picking, cooking and preserving on their own.

garden shed

I wonder how many of us there are out there.  I’ve read, and followed, plenty of blogs written about gardening.  Men and women both like to write and share photos of their gardening endeavors, but I can’t remember ever reading a blog by a single woman who does it all.  Maybe that is because single women don’t ordinarily like to advertise their aloneness on the internet.  And I am not alone, just when it comes to gardening!

I know you are out there, and I know what it takes to try to find the time to do it all.  I work full time, and am raising a son, and if I want to eat fresh vegetables from my backyard, I have to find the time to grow the crops too.  As gardeners well know, the planting is the easy part.  

Getting the soil ready comes first.  I’ve always wanted to have a nice compost pile, but my yard is small, with lots of shade, and I really don’t have the extra time to tend to it anyway.  So each year I order a truck full of loam and use the wheelbarrow to move it to the gardens.  It’s a lengthy process.  I’m not all that young any more, and I’m also not as healthy as I’d like to be (due to a form of kidney disease that is hereditary).  I can’t go out and work all day in the yard.  My body won’t let me. I also have to find the time to do the mowing and general yard maintenance.

backyard gardening
Backyard Gardening

One Day at a Time

So I begin working as early as possible as the growing season approaches here in New England.  I want to have things ready for June planting.  Often I will grow a few pea vines first, but I’m not good at making stakes to hold them up.  This is where a guy’s help would really come in handy.  My staking attempts usually mean the produce will fall over eventually.  Being alone means I have to be more resourceful.  I plant climbing vegetables next to the deck so the vines can use the railing to climb.

backyard garden sitting area
A Quiet Rustic Sitting Area

I enjoy reading all types of garden blogs, and women who have help are just luckier.  They tend to get the easier jobs that go along with growing, once the heavy lifting parts are in place.  And “their” gardens tend to be quite large in size, amazingly so.    

How do they afford such a huge yard?  They are not the sole income source of the household.  How do they cope with all the maintenance?  Someone else does the “manly” chores.  Two people can accomplish more than one.  

It doesn’t mean us single gals can’t have something nice.  We just have to do the work of two people.  I know all about that struggle.

Here’s to you!

Soon I will have help when I live near my son. He can help build the raised beds and deliver the garden dirt. When something is too heavy for me to lift, I can ask for his help. But even if I had to do it all alone until the day I simply couldn’t, I would keep gardening.

You know what I mean.

woman gardener
Heres to you, the Woman Gardener

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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.