Baskets Full of Sweet Romaine

It must have been the wonderfully cool winter we've experienced. The lettuce planted in the fall garden in November has been producing prolifically ever since.

It's a good idea to plant what you like to eat. Simple and true.

Bright green tender leaves of organic romaine are just as pretty as a colorful flower ... aren't they?

I vote yes.

Planting two varieties... one with shades of purple along side the green not only makes the garden pretty. They make a big bowl of salad pretty, too. And pretty is important.

One January afternoon after having enjoyed several mini-harvests, I harvested every plant down to the ground. All at once. The forecast that temperatures were dropping to the mid-20's would just be too cold for these tender annuals ~~ so I thought.

That bounty gave us fresh lettuce for two weeks during those coldest wintry days.

The lettuce plants happen to be in one of the two beds that weren't run over by the construction crew.

That entire patch of hand-scissored stalks came back to life rapidly after that and it continues to give us sweet leaves of nourishment in March.

Lots of good, yummy salads filling our baskets and tummies while I've been restoring the rest of the veggie garden back to a recognizable state.

Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds~~direct sown/November 2009

Little Gem

Petite Rouge

Summer Squash for Winter Meals

Rarely is it necessary to bundle up with coats, hats, and gloves in central Florida. That's just what I did today to venture into the garden for a couple of hours.

I've been thinking lately each time I drive in and out of the driveway that I really need to take some photos of the red pentas in the front garden. Rooted from cuttings (back in July) and planted into the front lawn renovation project they are glowing brightly just in time for the new decade.

From this angle the 'baby' Giant Spider Lily Crinum augustum 'Queen Emma' is showing off her deep magenta colors and broad leaves. She was just a 'pup' separated from the mother back in July also and my has she grown.

So with threats of freezing temperatures for the next three nights I headed out to the veggie garden to cull the beans, squash, and a few tomatoes. The carrots, greens, lettuce, broccoli, and peas should be fine.

First, though, taking a walk about the garden and capturing how things are looking today... just in case it all turns wilty and mushy this week.
It was decided not to panic over the reports and threats of hard freeze warnings. But we would enjoy some sauteed squash for dinner and rejoice that our vegetable garden is producing good food in the middle of winter.

The garage became our make-shift greenhouse for all the tender cuttings rooting in 4 and 6 inch pots. They are snuggly waiting out the next few days to see what really happens. But only a few container plants were moved into the shelter of the back patio.

Including my one blooming orchid.

We're taking our chances on the rest. I think. I may change my mind tomorrow and move more plants under cover. Tomorrow night is supposed to be the worst.

I'm counting on the screening over the lanai to hold off the lowest numbers predicted.

... And the canopy of oak trees to blanket the understory and fool the frost.

Likely some of the most tender tropicals will not fare so well. We'll hope for the roots to stay warm and healthy and for a quick recovery in a few weeks when the earth warms up.

I can't be sure about the stray goldenrod that keeps reseeding and blooming since this is my first year of going through winter with it.

Tomorrow or the next day everything may look quite differently. We will let the chips fall as they may and hope for some cloud cover tonight.

Stay warm, dear gardeners! At least we don't have snow!

Someone Should Tell The Veggie Garden It's Christmastime

We've compromised a bit of veggie growing space this season for more flowering plants. Several are self-seeded. In all my plans to learn more and incorporate more of companion planting this gardener has not the heart to pull them out.

But many more were planted simply because our winter/early spring months are the only time we can grow lovely pretties like sweet alyssum and bacopa. In my garden anyway, they just don't tolerate our high humidity levels in summertime.

Other perennial varieties, Cuphea cigar plant and red pentas, flowering high over veggies like spinach and lettuce serve to shade them a bit from the intense sun. Not so much now but back when they were first seeded in October and our days were longer and hotter.

Consideration that we are embarking on the busiest time of the year is made when calculating the harvest time for a fall garden.

But somehow when it comes around to the Christmas day count-down I find myself wishing for the gift of time to be in the garden and also get all the to-do list accomplished.

Since last year at this time we've grown a bit wider. I'm speaking of the garden here, folks. What were you thinking I meant? Nevermind. Don't tell me. :-)

Actually the garden today (shown above) is three times the size of last winter's garden. Four additional beds were dug out back in the spring.

Looking back through the archives there just happened to be a photo taken the exact same day one year ago. You can see our two lonely jam-packed boxed-beds were giving their best to produce maximum results with this novice veggie gardener's help. Tomatoes, pole beans, carrots, lettuce, green beans, and radishes all vying for the same soil and nutrients.

This year that back bed is home to more flowers than veggies. I think I've learned a couple of things along the way. Only two summer squash plants as they are quite assuming in their space usage.

Since we surmised we cannot live without their tasty, tender fruits, we cut back on the number of plants rather than do without them altogether.

Lettuces, radishes, and chives thrive in our mild winter climate even better than they do in the summer garden.

Continually feeling the need to make the best use of the small side yard space I keep adding pots in the sunniest places with succession seed planting to aid in enjoying an extended harvest.

Tomatoes have been rotated to a new bed each season. In their winter home they loom tall and obtrusive in the very front curvy bed shading parsley, basil, carrots, and onions.

Parsley, basil, and oregano are planted throughout the garden. I usually buy starter plants in tiny 2" pots for .99 once the veggie seeds come up. That way I can make the most of the usable space by filling in with herbs every place a spot of soil might be peeking through.

Two rows of Bush Lake green beans is sure to give us our fresh bean 'fix' we are so dependent on.

Nasturtiums are mingled in everywhere. And with my permission trail over the boundaries and occasionally through a patch of beans or collard greens.

Speaking of mingling... the pretty deep purple peppers make a nice accent among all the green foliage.

Right along with preparing for all the Christmas festivities and fun it is the veggie garden that draws us outside these last few weeks of the year. Once there, it is easy to stay.

Certainly we didn't put in all that labor and love in October and November without some efforts in December as well.

The harvest today is reason enough to inspire us onward with our endeavors. Christmas dinner is looking fresher every day.

Happy Christmas blessings and days leading up to a very Merry Christmas to one and all! Meems

The Joys of Fall Vegetable Gardening

It's kind of hard to know at this point what the end result will be in the fall veggie garden. The challenges have been numerous.

"So," you say, "that's nothing new in any garden."

"True," I say.

Only this season it feels as though just when we thought we got some things right ... one more adverse element was on our heels to challenge our tenacity.

I just keep telling myself "every ounce of diligence is worth it ~~ not to have to purchase days-old green beans from the market." The voice in my head that keeps me steady through it all reminds me how very invigorating it is to pick from the vine and sauté in the skillet for a delightful yummy freshness of which there is no replica.

We are happy to say we've been doing just that lately.

Maybe it's my tummy afterall and not my head that rules with such determination. *grin*

The summer squash is very happy we have finally dropped to temperatures yielding decent growing conditions.

After waiting until the last possible (planting calendar) date for our zone the lettuces, spinach, carrots, collards, beans, squash, broccoli, radishes, tomatoes (started earlier in the patio) and onions were seeded. What followed were four interminably, sweltering October weeks of unseasonably high temps. Day and night.

Those little seeds were begging for mercy but gave their best by popping out of the ground anyway. Bedraggled and stunted there was something else going on they were having to overcome.

Somehow the armadillos, I've always had to deal with in the rest of the garden, found a way into the fenced-off veggie garden. What they discovered by rooting their ghastly snouts into all that luscious soil was a gold mine of big fat earthworms. Ahhh... midnight delicacies easily supplying these night creatures with full tummies.

We managed to trap (and release into some woodlands) one of them. There are more and we are relentless in our pursuit to capture as many as we can. Some temporary fencing has been erected around each raised bed; too costly, but sometimes you have to pay for peace of mind.

As the heat and animal activity took its toll it was clear some re-seeding was necessary. Most of the onions, carrots, lettuce, spinach, and broccoli just didn't have a chance given the elements against them. It was kind of comical to see the radishes moved from one side of their hill to the other. Well, I wasn't really laughing... but to an onlooker it might have been comical.

The cool weather (re-seeded) veggies will probably still produce and maybe even better now that we have finally slipped into some cooler temps at night. There is possibly an up-side to all this trickery that goes into producing edibles.

The few tomato plants that survived the unintended additional tilling by the varmints are now producing some fruit.

The poor collard greens must be super-tough to withstand all the nose-nudging they've endured over the weeks. I've tucked and re-tucked their roots back into the ground as they were shifted around.

Last year I waited until spring to plant nasturtiums. This year I'm getting a head start as I think they'll be happier longer in this milder season. Flowers soon... hopefully.

In the meantime, the blue porterweed, the cosmos, alyssum, bacopa, pentas, black and blue salvia, salvia coccinea and ...

maple leaf hibiscus draw in the butterflies, bees, and flying critters of all kinds to keep everything balanced.

This time of year is so much easier to garden ... once we get through all those pesky troubles, that is. I'm pretty sure it's all going to be uphill from now on. *grin*

Happy Autumn! I sure hope your garden is bringing you lots of smiles, Meems

More on Soil Prep

There isn't a lot of time between when the spring garden expires and the fall garden calls out to be planted with those first seeds.

When it's time to get busy with a new season of planting like it has been the last few weeks for the fall garden, the concentration becomes soil preparation.

Taking the time and energy to create the foundation to the garden is every ounce as important as choosing seeds/plants for growing. When done correctly the rewards are always greater than the effort put out.

Mr. Meems and I have been in and out of town so much lately it has taken a diligent effort to work around the planting calendar. I'm a little behind on planting a few of those early seeds but it will all work out ... I have confidence in our Florida weather.

My sweet niece shoveled up some bags (from her horse farm) of a fabulous mixture of well-aged horse manure and shavings. With my best helper always willing and handy we broke up the clumps and mixed it in with another mixture of rich mushroom compost puchased at a North Florida nursery.

It was then layered on top of the new soil that had been added a few weeks ago. Then my little 'water bug' happily gave it a good dousing to settle it in. We had a great rain following our project, too. So perfect!

Sometimes I wonder if I don't get just as excited about this part of gardening as I do the actual planting!

There is something so inspiring about amending soil.

What is that? All that beautiful earthy material!

The smell. The feel. The appearance. The prospects. The promise of life it nurtures.