Beginner Gardening: Seed starting with grow lights, 0 by starsplitter7

starsplitter7 wrote:
I think we are always on watering restrictions as far as I know. But sometimes they are more serious about enforcement, and right now is one of those times. Florida is very much a desert environment, and if there wasn't water on both sides, probably would be a full blown desert -- look at the other states at or near the same latitude -- Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, southern California, not to mention northern Mexico. :) Last year the drought in Georgia made it worse, because the rivers flow from Georgia to Florida. Florida needs many tropical storms to recover. (Really we need a few good hurricanes, but, of course, not the damage they cause, just the rain.) We are 15+ feet low in our aquifer. The lack of water also causes more sinkholes. Since Florida is generally limestone, held up by the water in the aquifer, remove the water, and the limestone falls due to the weight of the earth and frequently houses.

The state is a tinderbox right now, and we'll be lucky if we make it to the rainy season (summer) without some major forest fires. It is worse this year, because the hard winter freezes killed more vegetation and so there's more stuff to burn that usual.

To give you an idea of the watering restrictions. We are allowed to water once a week on a certain day (mine is Tuesday) in the morning before 8 AM or after 6 PM. Next week, Tampa voted to restrict all sprinklers. No one is allowed to use sprinklers on any day at any time (unless you put in sod, then once a week for a month). You may hand water with a hose on your watering day only. They says this saves 8 million gallons a day for drinking water. I have no problem with this ban, because it is critical that we have water to drink. Maybe people with stop planting non native plants that require too much water.

Below is a picture of some of our native vegetation growing wild with a bit of frost damage this year. If was fruiting like mad probably thinking it was going to die. :)