Two Moringa trees are growing in my backyard. I’m in Central Florida and the trees grow great all summer, but slow down the remainder of the year. Hurricanes, or strong wind, will knock these trees over. I had to cut mine last year because it fell over the garden. New stalks have grown and I just noticed my first “bean” or drumstick.
The Moringa is a special tree because it is a source of vitamins while providing food in the form of leaves and beans. Even the roots are edible – according to this article. I most often use only the leaves to make tea.
I let this “bean” grow and eventually when I touched it the thing pretty much fell off. It was full of seeds, and lots of ants! So, I tossed it into the yard.
Another bean is growing on the smaller Moringa tree. I do not plan to save seeds or anything. My yard is pretty full. Both Moringa trees are doing well. I love the lacy leaves that provide minimal shade. Bees, butterflies and birds have been seed at the white flowers. Even hummingbirds visit this awesome tree.
Thanks for reading. Please view some of my other garden stories in the links below.
Gathering some information about using the Moringa tree for tea and food.
The day I began this blog post I was sick. Probably that new strain of Covid got me, but here’s what I did. By the afternoon I felt well enough to pick some Moringa leaves and make tea.
When Googling “make tea from fresh Moringa leaves” everyone wants to tell you to dry the leaves and make powder. I picked some leaves, boiled water and let the leaves brew in my little teapot for ten minutes. It made a nice tasting (like boiled grass) hot drink. I hope that the goodness leached out into the water and went into my body!
So what else can I do with this tree?
The Moringa is growing well
Using the Moringa Beans, or Drumsticks
My trees are still quite small, but growing fast. One day they will produce long, hanging beans. This video shows how this family picks and processes the beans. I’m not sure that I will ever do this, but it’s nice to know about.
Seedlings and Flowers
A note about the seedlings: They may look eaten but that is how the plant begins to grow. As this naked stem popped up from the dirt, I thought maybe the leaves had been eaten off, but they actually had not begun to grow.
My smallest Moringa tree, which is only about 4 feet tall, has white buds and flowers. The bigger trees have never had flowers.
Moringa seedlingsFlowers and buds on small Moringa tree
Moringa Care
I really know nothing about the Moringa tree except what I’ve learned from watching a few videos. I’m not sure how to grow it. I planted two trees side by side in the back garden corner and completely forgot about the power lines going to my house. The tree, if not trimmed, will eventually hit the lines. So now I am trimming the trees from the top to help them bush out and not get tall. Also, in winter I noticed scratch marks and broken limbs where the raccoons have tried to climb this tree!
The bottom stems are turning yellow which many people mention. It seems to be a normal part of this tree’s growth pattern. Maybe to shed old leaves and make way for new.
Trimming
The new growth at the top is very easy to trim up. I either use the leaves for making tea, or put them into the compost areas.
That Weber box is my newest compost bin. It’s a long story but basically every time I transplant something into the ground it gets dug up by raccoons and armadillos. So I had to use my white compost barrel to hold two of my tomato seedlings. It’s not ideal, but I would love to have some tomatoes!
That means I lost the old compost bin and needed a new one. I’m still filling up the Hot Frog, but composting is a very slow process.
I Need Space
One thing I don’t have, and can’t buy, is more space. The yard area where I can plant is pretty small. It is both good and bad. I would love to live among open fields, with views and places to roam. Instead, I live on a claustrophobic piece of land in a big neighborhood. I am probably like many people.
On the other hand, I can’t manage big gardens. I don’t have a man who will do the heavy lifting and work the tractors and machinery. More garden plots are in the works and I will really get going on organizing the yard once the heat subsides. It is mid October now and we still have the AC on in the house.
Dirt and compost are also what I need. Without a vehicle, I can’t get to the yard shop when I’d like. A delivery of dirt would mean using the wheelbarrow to move it all into the back yard. I am considering doing this. My old body may not be happy, but it’s exercise. If I do just a little at a time, it could work.
Growing seeds from the Urban Harvest has been a rewarding experience. My small backyard vegetable garden is off to a great start.
This is a quick review of my experience with the Urban Harvest. This company is located on the western coast of Florida. Elise is the woman who does videos about growing vegetables in this hot Florida climate. I have linked to one of her videos below. She also has a beautiful website with information and seeds for sale. I am so happy to have found her, and very much appreciate her good advice about gardening.
I’m just getting started with my backyard vegetable garden, but so far I’m impressed with the growth from the seeds I bought.
Growing From Seed
Whenever you use seeds to begin a garden, it’s a guess as to how many seeds will actually grow. I’ve had very good luck with my seeds from The Urban Harvest. Everything has grown really well.
If you live in the St. Pete area of Florida (west coast), this company also sells living plants. See more at the Urban Harvest website.
Seeds from Urban Harvest
Seed packets cost around $3.00 and all the packets above came from The Urban Harvest even though only two packets contain their label. Shipping was fast. I received a thank you e-mail. In my opinion, customer service is great!
My seeds arrived in April, so I only planted what could handle the summer heat. (The carrots, broccoli and Brussels sprouts will wait until Fall.)
The watermelon and okra were put directly into the ground on April 8th. Of the 12 watermelon seeds I planted, 9 came up. I have thinned them to four plants. I simply don’t have a lot of space for them. (I should have thinned them to 2!)
Watermelon plants day 34
My largest watermelon – June 4th
Okra
Almost all of the okra seeds sprouted. I transplanted a few of the seeds when thinning the rows, and I don’t suggest doing that. Those transplanted okra plants are not growing as well as the ones I left alone!
Okra
Okra flower
I’ve never grown, or eaten okra so I only planted three short rows. On May 25th I was picking some okra!
Seminole Pumpkin
On April 8th I put the pumpkin seeds into pots.
Here are the pumpkin seedlings at growing day 10.
Pumpkin seedlings – day 10
Pumpkins into ground and doing well.
Now the pumpkins have been growing in the ground since about April 29th. Today is May 12th so these two pumpkin plants are a little over a month old (photo below) from the time I first planted the seeds.
May 12th Seminole Pumpkin plants in the garden
Right now the pumpkin plants are growing upward and I hope they will trail off to the edge of the yard once they get going. I am very excited about these native Florida pumpkins! Search YouTube if you want to see how big the vines grow. They can even grow up through trees and produce hanging pumpkins!
Update on the Seminole Pumpkin: Vines are long (June 4th), but no flowers yet. Leaves are turning yellow and I don’t know why. I’ve trained the vines to follow the edge of the yard.
Seminole Pumpkins
Moringa
I was totally unfamiliar with the Moringa tree. The Urban Harvest sells Moringa seeds and I have a three growing in the yard, and one in a small pot. All seeds that were begun in pots sprouted, whereas the ones I put directly into the ground did not.
I wish I had more space and knew more about their growth habits, height and so on. This will be an experiment. Right now I have three planted and growing, but they are small.
Elise of The Urban Harvest has a few videos where she mentions growing the Moringa tree. See one here: Three Tropical Survival Foods You Must Plant in Florida. She has loads of videos that cover all kinds of things to do with Florida gardening. I’ve already learned so much.
Moringa
The Moringa trees are also growing more slowly than I expected. They look good and I guess it will take a while for them to become truly tree-like.
Garden Progress
Creating a garden from a grassy space in Florida takes some work. There are many vines and deep roots to remove from all the natural invasion from the lot next door. Then I am left with sand which must be amended for growing.
In the photo below, I have removed the grass, added compost, planted seeds and seedlings (and added more compost and fertilizer) and watered each morning. From here I will add mulch to conserve moisture and keep the ground cooler. Summer is nearly here and it is already too hot after 9:00am for me to do much gardening.
I ordered a second batch of seeds from The Urban Harvest and will definitely buy more at a later date. I highly recommend this helpful place if you are a Florida vegetable gardener.
My garden before the mulch
All plants are organic, and she promotes sustainable and eco friendly gardening practices. Again, how to find information:
I’m getting to know about the Moringa tree, which is also known as the miracle tree because of its many health benefits. It should thrive in my yard and I just planted some seeds.
Just a few days ago I knew nothing about the Moringa Tree. After watching some videos about planting for central Florida, I decided the Moringa had to be added to my yard.
I’ve been discouraged by trying to grow vegetables here in Florida, and finally I realized that I need to plant differently. The Moringa contains lots of good healthy stuff and the leaves can be eaten right off the tree. I need it!
During my YouTube search, I came across the Urban Harvest channel. The woman in charge – Elise Pickett – lives on the west coast of Florida and has turned her yard into a beautiful food forest. (See the link to her channel below).
One of the plants she raved about was the Moringa tree. I can’t find that video right now because she has soooo many… and I still need to watch most of them. I’m in zone 9B and my research finds that the Moringa can grow in zones 8-10.
Seven Moringa seeds came in the packet
I planted them as is into three pots – one per pot. I also planted two seeds right in the ground, out in the side of the yard.
Later, when I came in to cool off, I found this video about how to plant the seeds. The gentleman suggests taking the outer layer off… Oh well, I’ll see what happens.
Planting Moringa seeds
The first Moringa seedling appeared ten days after planting. None of the others have sprouted yet. I also put one seed into the new coconut coir to see if it germinates faster.
I ordered some seed packets from the Urban Harvest and got the seeds within a couple of days. It is April, which is leading us into the hotter months here. Not much likes to grow during summer, so I may wait to plant most of my seeds until Fall.
Hydrangeas Blue 