Gardening 2022

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Cindyd said:
I haven't been gardening in terms of " seriously" very long. I'm still learning these things, plus I don't have a lot of extra time to put in with keeping up. Reading, trying new ways of growing, etc. Last year being much better harvest for what I planted motivated me to try n do more this year. Gonna get my son to clear out most of this years plants and try n start over if it's not too late. You are right, the soil sucks here, as well as all the various pests. I'm thinking to do a combination of more raised beds and containers. I had a green house built this year, so maybe I can continue on through winter months with some plants. I'm frustrated but not giving up. I am still going to make trip/s to farmers market though and get supplemented what didn't turn out in my garden for canning, freezing, etc.
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Here are a few tips for gardening in Florida that worked for me. I gardened most successfully very early spring and late fall with traditional cool weather crops such as broccoli, spinach, carrots, lettuces, greens, potatoes, peas and cabbages and such. I found I could grow things like spinach all winter.

Raised beds work best to get up out of that sand. Sand to me is a very difficult soil to grow in and I fight it even at my present location. Quick to leach nutrients, dries out easily and eats the organic matter.

As the weather heats up I had the most success growing traditional vegetables in a shade house to provide some protection from the sun. Lack of water could be a huge issue some years and water restrictions were common.

I lived around the Orlando area. Not sure where you are located in Florida. When I first moved to Florida in the late 70's there were still acres and acres of citrus in Central Florida. Today those are all housing developments.
 
I saw a you tube video that said that homemade kraft, not pasteurized, has a huge amount of vitamin c. Something like 7x more than needed. It is also great for prebiotic and probiotics.

My son and I like to take a "slurp" as he calls it, of kraft juice. I keep it in my refrigerator at all times and can small batches (5 or 6 quarts) 3 or so times per year. I keep my brother supplied to.
 
Our garden, orchard, berries and grapes are all doing fantastic this year. Although the strawberries aren't doing so good, not sure why. I'll plant new strawberry beds next year. We have to water every 3 days or so here. I could stretch that out to 5 - 7 days if necessary. I'm planing on putting in an irrigation system next spring, possibly with automatic waterers.
Last night when I finished watering I was walking between the grapes and strawberries and almost stepped on a rattlesnake. That makes 2 rattlers in 1 week that I had to kill. My wife suggested that I catch them and turn them lose somewhere else.
 
Buttoni said:
I hear they're good eating. A protein source for some in desperate times. I can remember my mother's mother talking about frying rattlesnake. Supposed to taste a lot like fried chicken.
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I've heard that too. I think the next time I kill a big rattler I'll skin it and put the meat in the freezer. I'd like to tan the skin too. I have a baby food jar filled with the rattles.
 
DirtDiva said:
Here are a few tips for gardening in Florida that worked for me. I gardened most successfully very early spring and late fall with traditional cool weather crops such as broccoli, spinach, carrots, lettuces, greens, potatoes, peas and cabbages and such. I found I could grow things like spinach all winter.

Raised beds work best to get up out of that sand. Sand to me is a very difficult soil to grow in and I fight it even at my present location. Quick to leach nutrients, dries out easily and eats the organic matter.

As the weather heats up I had the most success growing traditional vegetables in a shade house to provide some protection from the sun. Lack of water could be a huge issue some years and water restrictions were common.

I lived around the Orlando area. Not sure where you are located in Florida. When I first moved to Florida in the late 70's there were still acres and acres of citrus in Central Florida. Today those are all housing developments.
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Thank you for that advice DD!..its good to know. I grew up in ocala not far from Orlando and we had lots of citrus trees. I'm further north now. I feel silly I don't more about gardening. Shade house! Yes!
 
Robinjopo1 said:
Arctic what is the largest number of rattles (?) you have? I'm talking about the tail part.
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So far it was 13 rattles. The smallest was 3.
Last night I went out about 11.30 to shut the well pump generator off and there was a little snake on the bottom step of the front porch. It was a strange looking snake, brown in color with loose skin. Never seen one like it before.
 
Lots of pickles, cucumbers and green tomatos. Small bell peppers coming and brussel sprouts also. Watermelons and cantalopes are slow but coming and the first pumpkins is as big as a softball. Sold the ducks as Helena was not happy how much they were trampling down the flowers and crapping her green grass into brown burned grass....still have the four baby ones and will be seeing them go as soon as they are big enough to sell. The chickens are so big and almost fat, we are happy they are finally laying eggs regularly. The sunflowers are ripening and getting ready to pick for chicken food. The last two rows of potatos are starting to come up also. Happy.
 
My yellow squash and zucchini I planted a week ago are pushing through the soil. Also the wild arrugula, okra, bush beans, edible pod peas and a couple new herbs peeking through. Yesterday I planted some San Marzano mini tomato seeds for the first time. Hoping those do as well as Romas do for me from fresh seeds taken from fruit. Time will tell. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. :) Late garden is looking promising (so far).
 
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How to Apply Diatomaceous Earth without Hurting Bees​



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Can diatomaceous earth harm bees the way it harms other insects? We get this important question a lot. The short answer is yes; it can harm them. But it doesn't have to. It is possible to apply diatomaceous earth for pest control and not affect the bees.

As you might already know, DE is effective on insects because of their exoskeletons. DE scratches off and absorbs the waxy, oily coating on an insect's exoskeleton, which eventually leads to death by dehydration. DE can have this effect on bees too; however, bees have at least one advantage–possibly two–that protect them from the effects of DE.
The first and most obvious advantage bees have is that they are flying insects. For DE to take effect, an insect has to crawl through it. Because bees are mainly airborne, they are far less likely to come into contact with DE than other pests, such as ants, cockroaches, and bed bugs. So applying on soil, concrete, and other areas level to the ground shouldn't be a problem. It's also good to apply to plants as long as you follow these precautions:
  • Don't apply DE on blossoms or on foliage immediately surrounding them.
  • Only apply on the stems and leaves of plants if you don't see bees crawling on them.
  • If bees start crawling on the stems and leaves of a plant you have already applied DE on, spray it off with water.
  • Apply early in the morning or late in the evening when bees are less active. This will help bees avoid contact with clouds of DE dust that may puff up as you apply…

https://www.diatomaceousearth.com/b...apply-diatomaceous-earth-without-hurting-bees
 
Any other year, the storm we just had would have wrecked my gardens. The t-post and wire trellises are great. The tomatoes were able to sway in the wind, but none broke. The pole beans are still standing tall.

I am very pleased. I did have one t- post that wasn't anchored deep enough fall over a few inches. This can be easily fixed.
 
Buttoni said:
Googling brought me to this article with photos. Are your brown spots like these? They offer some possible causes: Brown Spots on peppers
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Yes. Thats exactly what they look like. The wife thought they were sun spots. So I guess next year we'll be putting up sun shades over the bell pepper plants.
All of our lettuce was eaten by rabbits. I'll get some traps out today for them.
 
Robinjopo1 said:
My husband and I were talking (shock) and I said that as a farmer, I should not plant seedless watermelons since I seed save and there is nothing to save.

How do they reproduce fruits and veggies that are seedless?
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No one has answered the question? I bought a watermelon with seeds to have some to save.
 
Robinjopo1 said:
I ordered an elderberry, a moringa, and a lemon tree/bush.
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What size/height is the moringa tree you ordered, Robin? Where did you order from? I so want to grow one. Have tried 3 times now with no success. I successfully got 5 seeds to germinate one spring and got the plants up to 1'-1½' tall. But the minute I planted all 5 out into the ground in my front yard, they started going downhill, stopped adding new growth & slowly died off. Not sure if it was the soil content (a wee bit of clay in that patch), or I was too rough with them during transplant or if maybe I didn't acclimate them to the full sun slowly enough. Every attempt to germinate since has been unsuccesful. Think my vendor sold me some bum seeds actually. I keep trying periodically though, hoping to germinate some again.
Moringa 1 month.jpg
 
I've tried pluots. I like them, but not all that different from their source fruits. I like regular plums & apricots better for their more intense flavors. As I recall, they were larger than most plums and apricots.

I personally prefer a quality (sweet and not mealy) nectarine to peaches, plums, apricots or pluots. JMO there. That's what I'm planting this year. No annoying fuzzy skin like peaches and apricots. They have the added advantage of being easier to seed, slice, and they also hold hold up a little better to handling bruising while peeling/slicing in preperation for canning/freezing is the end goal.
 
Buttoni said:
What size/height is the moringa tree you ordered, Robin? Where did you order from? I so want to grow one. Have tried 3 times now with no success. I successfully got 5 seeds to germinate one spring and got the plants up to 1'-1½' tall. But the minute I planted all 5 out into the ground in my front yard, they started going downhill, stopped adding new growth & slowly died off. Not sure if it was the soil content (a wee bit of clay in that patch), or I was too rough with them during transplant or if maybe I didn't acclimate them to the full sun slowly enough. Every attempt to germinate since has been unsuccesful. Think my vendor sold me some bum seeds actually. I keep trying periodically though, hoping to germinate some again.
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You aren't going to believe this, but I got all of them from a vendor through Walmart. I'll let you know how big/small they are when they arrive next week.
 
Arcticdude said:
Yes. Thats exactly what they look like. The wife thought they were sun spots. So I guess next year we'll be putting up sun shades over the bell pepper plants.
All of our lettuce was eaten by rabbits. I'll get some traps out today for them.
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Here are some more photos of sun scalding on peppers. I hope it's just sun scalding: Hot and sunny days promote sunscald in peppers and other vegetables

Another possibility could be anthracnose (fungal disease) which also causes brown spots. Here are some photos of that on peppers: Anthracnose of Pepper | NC State Extension Publications
 
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