Zone 9 Garden in December

Pics below are of the garden gate I built plus Bibb Lettuce, Turnips. Cauliflower,  Cabbage, Broccoli, Malibar Spinach, and Swiss Chard in various stages.

Sweet potato harvesting

Ground Orchid

Just playing with photo editor. I love funky colors!

Spring Bounty

This Spring is the best harvest I have ever had.  The Fortex Pole beans and the Black Cherry Tomatoes have been exceptional in taste and production.

Purple yard long Asparagus Beans

Purple yard long Asparagus Bean measured and compared to a banana for size

Fortex green Beans, Black Cherry Tomatoes, Better Bush Tomatoes

Fortex green Beans, Purple Yard Long Beans, Black Cherry Tomatoes, Better Bush Tomatoes

Terrestrial Orchid

Camelia in January

Camelia Bloomed in Early January 2012

A perfect and warm fall had many plants blooming early, incliding my Camelia

Cauliflower Heaven

Cauliflower crop this fall was perfect

Jeremy Harvesting Cauliflower

Diane is making Cauliflower Soup.  Yum yum.

Lemon Tree is Loaded

Don't know why, but our lemon tree has more lemons this year than ever.  I wonder if other folks are having the same experience.  Our tree has Meyer lemons, but also some branches grew out below the graft a long time ago and half of the tree is lemons from the root stock.  They are good, but the skin is thicker than the Meyer Lemons.

Fall 2011

Tarragon is taking over the world.  Lemon Grass in the background

Cabbage is beautiful.  Small Stonehead variety in the foreground, with a traditional hybrid in back

Left to Righ: Majesty Red Letuce, Butter Crunch Bibb lettuce and Imperator carrots

Cauliflower and Kale to the right

Carrots on the left and Haikuri Turnips on the right...All desperately in need of weeding...to many mosquitoes this year to keep up with it.

Overgrown tomato plants in need of care.  Not pretty.

Cashew Tree Seedlings

My Great and Thoughtful friend Patty Sent me two cashew tree seedlings from her aunt's yard down around Miami. Very Tropical -  I know they are not supposed to survive our Central Florida winters but I have them in the greenhouse and they should be fine for a year or so.  Really excited.  Here are some pics:

And here is what they will bear some day.  The fruit is called a Cashew Apple and is sweet.  The nut is hanging below

I went on a Clam Farming Expedition - Watch the movie!

Click here to watch the slide show/movie of clam farming at Cedar Key

kitchen squash

Everything is up

After getting a late start for the fall at least everything is germinating well.  I was actually cleaning out my left over seed packages.  This coming spring I will need to have everything new.

Finally got my fall garden in

2011-2012 fall garden
 imperator carrots
butter crunch and majesty lettuce
stone head cabbage
 hybrid cabbage
 red Kale
 Cauliflower
Haikuri Turnips
Tomatoes – Heatwave and Rustic

Taking a Break

Summer has been hot and sultry.  I have been taking a break from gardening and allowing the weeds to rule for awhile.  Almost ready to dig it all up and plant a fall crop that I should have planted 2 weeks ago.  Instead I have been remodeling our old shed and turning it into an office, sitting area, guestroom.

Tomatoes Seeds starting in summer for Sept. Planting

I bought a variety called Heatwave Hybrid from Burpees.  The package says it will produce even if temps are 96 degrees.  Everyone knows how our heat devastates tomatoes.  This should be interesting.

I bought a variety called Heatwave Hybrid from Burpees.  The package says it will produce even if temps are 96 degrees.  Everyone knows how our heat devastates tomatoes.  This should be interesting.

Gulf Fritillary Butterfly loves to lay eggs in my Passion Vine

Carrot Thinning is Brutal....But Necessary

Okay, I admit it.  I hate to thin carrots, turnips, beets, lettuce...you name it.  Every time I have to pull up a plant it just hurts.  Other years I have done what I needed to do.  This year something happened inside of me and I could not bring myself to thin them.  I talked myself into believing that they would have enough room.  I knew better.  So what happened?  A bumper crop of "baby carrots".  Not bad, but not really what I was after.