spring – Hydrangeas Blue

March Garden Update

This is a quick post about what is growing in the garden in March. Realistically, I can’t keep up with my blogs, photos, work, and gardening. In summer I should have more time because I won’t be going outside.

At this time of year, I am out in the yard most mornings. There has been planting to be done and I still have a few potted plants that need to find a home in the dirt.

Pineapple

Pineapples are easy to grow here, but they take years to create a new pineapple. I had forgotten how much space they take up while growing, and planted them in a couple of my raised beds! Now there is no room for other crops.

This pineapple is finally having a baby! It will grow up out of the center and become a tiny pineapple. After – not sure how long – It can be harvested.

growing a pineapple — Baby pineapple growing!

Blueberries

I purchased this blueberry plant on a whim… without any idea about growing it, or where I would put it in my small yard. Blueberries are acid loving plants and I’ve been trying to keep it happy. About a month ago it began to get loads of white flowers and now I have tons of little blueberries – still green.

Either the raccoons will get them, or I might have a tiny crop for myself! (I’m hoping the raccoons won’t realize it’s something edible.)

Gone to Seed

I like to let some of the produce go to seed. This is mainly for the bees. For instance, the Hon Tsai flowering broccoli and the regular broccoli have pretty stalks of yellow flowers.

For a while, every morning a big black bee would come to the broccoli flowers. Other bees, like the one below, were also regulars.

I plan to grow the Hon Tsai variety next winter, just for the flowers.

bee on yellow flowers — Broccoli flowers

Hon Tsai flowering broccoli — Broccoli flowers

Roselle, Squash, Carrots and Okra

The spaghetti squash is a new crop for me to try. The seeds have come up nicely and the plants are taking off. Fingers crossed I will have my own squash supply.

The Roselle plants were begun with seeds over the winter. They got bugs and a few seedlings died. The ones that kept growing have now all been planted in the yard. If you are wondering what Roselle is, check it out here: IFAS / UF Gardening Solutions: Roselle.

spaghetti squash leaves plants growing — Spaghetti squash

Roselle hibiscus plant — Spaghetti squash

Last year I grew okra and had a hard time eating it. Bleh… yuk. I did save a pod and have now planted some of the seeds. I won’t have a lot, but I love the plants and flowers – just not the actual okra!

I’m eating carrots now… finally. They took FOREVER to grow. Scarlett Nantes and Danvers did the best for me.

Spiderwort and Other Weeds

I’ve decided to let some Spiderwort and other flowering weeds grow in the yard. The area is small, and I plan to keep it all in check. Bees really love the flowers of these “weeds” and I want to bring bees to the garden.

I’ll let them grow where they pop up as long as it’s an okay place.

purple spiderwort with bee — Spiderwort with bee

This white flowering “Bidens alba” is a particular nuisance when the seeds form. They stick to everything… my clothes, my cats, and are hard to remove. I plan to cut them down before the seeds form!

Watermelon, Cucumber and Seminole Pumpkin

Three types of watermelon have been planted, along with my much loved Seminole Pumpkin. The cucumbers are also in the ground and I am hoping to beat the moths this year.

So much more is happening in the yard, but for now that is all I have to share. There is still much work to be done, with mulching and walkways, compost and watering. It is fun work.

Anyway… I hope you are planting, or planning an upcoming garden, and I’d love to hear all about it. Happy Spring!

Keep reading…

Grow Roselle Hibiscus in the Florida Garden

This spring I have added Roselle Hibiscus to my backyard garden. A plant that loves the heat is always welcome to the yard, and this one is also full of health benefits.

by Pam 05/12/2024

Building a New Garden Path

The past winter and spring months have kept me busy in the garden. The planing, planting, weeding, and watering has been a first priority and I’ve neglected the walkways. Also, I still don’t have my own vehicle and must depend on getting rides to the yard shop. Between all that and the weather, I’ve put…

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After the long, sweltering summer, I was looking forward to planting crops for Fall and Winter. It has been fun, and definitely a learning adventure. Some crops have done very well and others are on my “maybe again” list. Most things were grown from seeds I purchased, either from The Urban Harvest, or Southern Exposure…

by Pam 03/25/2024

Back to Life, My Florida Hydrangea Looks Good

Over winter here in Florida my hydrangea shrub became a bunch of sticks. The stems lost nearly all their leaves.

Hydrangea winter Florida January — January

After all danger of frost – around the end of February – I cut the stems back removing the old leaves. There were new leaf bud growths already forming along the stems.

hydrangea February garden Florida stems — February, after cutting back

Attempting to Propagate a New Plant

In the photos above and below I have placed a rock over a low hanging stem. I’m hoping that roots will form so I can cut this part off and plant it creating a new hydrangea plant!

Florida hydrangea garden perennial Spring — Rooting a stem

This hydrangea is growing in a nice shady location beneath a larger shrub. It seems to be happy and now I’ll just wait for the flowers.

All I’ve used for fertilizer is some bone meal and fish emulsion.

All new growth

Spring in Florida is Like Fall Only Uglier

Some people will say that Florida is one big season that just gets hotter at times. But Florida does have a Spring. It’s when the leaves fall off the trees and pollen collects as a yellow film on everything day after day. Yes, Spring is like Fall / Autumn here, in a way. It’s a duller, more annoying, version of Fall.

Florida oaks with moss branching over a road — Live Oaks – Spring

There are no colorful leaves, or crisp air to breathe, like in a real Autumn. The trees turn a brighter green with the new growth and the oaks drop those long brown things all over the cars (that don’t fit inside garages because that is where everything is stored because there are no basements). Oak leaves are small here and not like the oak leaves where I come from.

That’s about it. Other than that, new growth will appear when bushes are trimmed, but that can happen at any time of year. No use looking for tulips, forsythia, daffodils, or anything that signals Spring in many places, because those flowers don’t grow here in the jungle.

Spring Trimming of The Shrubs

A seasoned Floridian knows when to trim the shrubs. Don’t trim in winter as it will promote new growth that will freeze if the temperatures drop, which they sometimes do. Don’t trim azaleas until after they bloom in March or April. Plant new perennials well before the summer heat arrives. (Not this year. The nurseries are all closed.)

I have decided this year to try and fix up the shrubs along the front by the garage. These are hardy little things that are slow growing, so they are perfect for this area. I’m not sure of what they are, maybe some sort of ficus. I imagine they were planted when the house was built. Unfortunately, the sprinkler system didn’t reach them, and they’ve been ignored since I moved in over three years ago. I’m so sorry, but you did well enough without my help.

Now it’s time I paid attention and helped them out. I just recently cut them back a lot. The leaves were looking bad, as you can see I’m my photo. The stems had become spindly and leafless. I’m hoping that this trim will help them to fill out.

Already there is lots of new growth on the stems. I’ve added topsoil, fertilizer and mulch to this section of garden. My son bought, and installed, a little sprinkler head that sprays this garden specifically. It shouldn’t be long before this hedge is looking thick and lush.

May Vegetable Garden in My Florida Backyard

May is here and my backyard vegetable garden is off to an okay start. I’m still getting used to growing veggies in this climate, but I’m happy to have big, luscious green peppers to use already!

My garden area is very small and the plants are divided between a raised bed, fabric bags, and an old grow box. All my Florida gardening is still in the experimental stages! I’m learning, but at least I have the raised bed filled with good dirt.

This pepper plant has been around since last Spring! This amazes me. I always thought pepper plants liked the warmth, but this one survived winter. And, yes, it’s Florida, so “winter” is a dirty word here, but the temperatures were truly cold for a few days. I assumed the pepper plant would die, but it did not.

And once Spring arrived (February… hahaha) buds appeared and the peppers began to grow. I was picking them by April.

Picking green peppers this year by April

The yellow / summer squash is something that I am having trouble with. The plants (from seeds) grew nicely and then flowered and grew little squash. But then they began to pucker up and rot on the ends.

This can be caused by too much water, so I have been watering them less. Also I added some ground egg shells to the dirt because I read that a lack of calcium can be the culprit for blossom end rot.

I’ve picked two small squash so far and have had to throw many rotten ones away. The ones I ate were delicious!!! So I am hoping for more. Last year I tried to grow them also and had bugs and mold take over before I got squash to eat.

The cucumbers have just started to take off. Some are growing in fabric garden bags, and a few are planted at the edges of the raised bed.

I’m hoping for cukes to eat soon, but I’ve also read that the raccoons don’t like the feel of the fuzzy stems on cucumbers. If I have strands of cucumber vines all around my garden, will the raccoons leave my vegetables alone? Please work……

cucumber plants — Cukes in fabric bag and inside bed

For the heck of it I threw a couple pieces of old sweet potato into my mostly empty garden back in February (?). Now the vines are long and pretty. When they start to die I will dig down and see if I find potatoes. I’ve grown regular potatoes, but never sweet potatoes.

My little red pepper plant is growing lots of peppers and I’ve already used a couple red ones. They are very hot. I really wanted jalapeños but there were no plants when I was shopping. I dislike having to buy all my plants at the Home Depot, but there are no farm stands around.

chili red hot peppers — Chili red hot peppers

I found a couple of parsley worms on my fennel. Dill plants were nowhere to be found, so I settled for fennel, which I have never grown. Ladybugs and apparently parsley worms enjoy it and I’ve been chopping it up to add to food I cook.

parsley worm on fennel — Parsley worm on fennel

One tomato plant has 8 green tomatoes and the other has 6. I’m counting them to make sure the raccoons are not stealing any during the night. I’ll bring the plants inside if raccoons begin bothering them.

My little Navel orange tree lost a lot of it’s small fruit, but a few oranges are still growing.

navel oranges growing — A few oranges are growing on the new Navel Orange tree

The eggplant is still not giving me any eggplants, but it’s a good home for ladybugs. I’ve seen them in many forms (eggs, larvae, and beetle) crawling on the leaves. The aphid problem is no longer a problem. I can’t find a single aphid on anything! Don’t you love those ladybugs?

The weather will continue to get hotter and I may have to stop gardening within a month or so. I’ll see what lives and what doesn’t and go from there.

Memories of April in New Hampshire

Every now and then I look back at my life in New Hampshire through the many photos I took while living there.
Since Spring is upon us (in Florida it’s hard to tell) I decided to share some April photography and memories.

In April the forsythia begins to bloom and the bright yellow flowers are a wonderful sight after a dull and colorless winter. I had planted a forsythia bush up near the road in my front yard in New Hampshire. I thought it was far enough back from the road to survive the snow-plowing in winter, but I was wrong. This big branch was broken off so I cut it and brought it inside to enjoy the flowers.

cat drinks out of forsythia water — Skittle, being Skittle

Skittle, the cat enjoys drinking water from all sorts of places. And once she discovered the vase of water holding the branch, she just had to partake!

The Lenton Rose will be full of flowers by April. It blooms before the snow is gone. I really enjoyed this little flowering bush.

Screen Shot 2017-04-20 at 4.47.28 PM — Lenton Rose

The coreopsis is popping through the ground and so are the thick red stems of the peony. I love peonies. They remind me of my grandmother, so I had a lot of them planted in my yard in the north. I had white, red, and pink. One of the reds was more like an open flower, but I can’t recall the name of it.

Screen Shot 2017-04-20 at 4.44.37 PM — Peony

And of course the hydrangeas were coming to life. It’s always thrilling to check out the gardens in Spring. Each day more green is showing and it was always fun to watch the progress as the perennials came back to their beautiful showy state.

Screen Shot 2017-04-20 at 4.44.59 PM — Hydrangea in Spring

The first photo is my house taken about three months before I moved. I couldn’t afford to live in New England, but it’s where my heart is.
I miss it and always will.

My Perennial Shade Garden

Pictures of my shade garden perennials.

My front yard has an upward sloping hill with tall hardwood trees. Once the leaves pop out in May most of my front yard is in constant shade. I love trees, and they are beautiful, but planting and growing anything beneath them is difficult.

I prefer to invest in perennials, since I am on a tight budget. Impatiens are the only annual I plant and they like the shade. Usually I can find cheap, multiple impatiens seedlings in tiny containers. It takes time to get them all planted, but once they are in the ground they grow nicely. My recent favorite is the variety with red and white striped flowers.

It took me one full summer to clear out beneath the trees. The following year I added astilbe, hosta, and bleeding heart perennials. Digging the ground where there are many tree roots is tough. I added some new loam at the base of the hill which helped with planting.

Honestly, the astilbe is my least favorite. It’s spindly and small, but I’ll see how it does this year. I don’t know much about it, but it’s not full and pretty like in the pictures I’ve seen. My guess is that the dirt is not suitable.

The Hosta plants always come back and fill out a bit more each summer. I’m happy to find that they are all growing. This past winter was a very bad one, and a few of my perennials seem to have died. I had a big Pampas Grass plant that is totally gone. Glad I got this picture last summer.

My favorite shade garden perennial is probably the bleeding heart. It seems so fragile. The bright green stems are soft and break easily. The little heart-shaped flowers dangle from thin branches and seem so delicate. Yet it survives the winter and is always one of the first plants to push up in spring.

Usually my lenton rose plants bloom first, but this year one of them took a long time to grow. Like I mentioned, the winter was especially hard.