We are coming from here http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/930295/ . Three months have passed since we arrived in Florida, and the seeds I planted are beginning to provide some new color in the gardens.
Some blooms from my Florida gardens 2
I picked several tomatoes this morning. It looks like something else is enjoying my tomatoes as well..........
The geraniums are about to pop......
You do realize that this is just cruel! lol
Louise: We just talked to Earl at Okeechobee he said it feels like it going to snow there. Sounds like Florida has turned into a Northern State. Hope you don't get any of the cold front.
John
Kathleen and Sherrie - I beg for your forgiveness. LOL! Believe me, I do feel guilty whenever I hear about the horrible winter so many are having, but many of my buddies said they needed some color to make it through to spring. I show each bloom with very mixed feelings....really.
John - We walked along the River earlier this evening and it was pretty breezy and chilly. We just brought in some of the plants.....again. LOL (It takes a lot of nerve to complain here, ya know.)
I LOVE the bright colors of zinnias. So glad you are getting to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Nice gardening, Louise! Today was the closing on the FL house---kind of sad, but if I can persuade DH to stay at our son's home for a few weeks, maybe I'll get to visit our friends!
Thank you, Jan! I hope you'll be back in your garden before you know it!!
Marilyn - I do hope you get to do that!
Dam cold here. We just started some seeds using Aerogardens and I am going to start some Petunias tomorrow. Did some last Year and kept them going all summer in the house. We have grown lettuce, Herbs, tomatoes and other flowers in the Aerogardens. This year will try some other stuff. Seed starting last year worked good on some but not so good on others. I think I got things to wet. Will try misting them until germination this year, then turn on the water system.
Any ways having fun in spite of the snow and cold. Good to look at photos on the post of blooming flowers.
John
Photo taken in our garden 2007
Your garden looks great, Louise.
Can't believe it has been 3 months already.
Zinnias are my new favorites. They are always dependable.
What do you all do about powdery mildew on them? Do you grow resistant varieties? If so, what are they?
mine don't get mildew until the end of the summer... then I just yank them out
DonniBrook those Zinneas remind me to plant some here in about three months.
Whats at your toms? catapillers?
Ok, I just need to ask (out of being too curious) who watches your garden(s) when you are in one place and not the other? If you need someone to watch them in the summer, may I sign up for an internship? lol
How can you do that, Thom, when you are going to be sooooo busy with your own gardening? LOL But, it is a good thought.
OK--move over! I 'm moving in! Can't take the Tundra anymore! LOL!
Oh boy real tomatoes in Feb. , how lucky you are, I am so envious of that, yum. Well we are having a big one day heat wave here, low 40s, so it won't be too long before we can have salads and fresh tomatoes again. Hoping this next storm snows mostly on the fishes and we can start melting some of this snow up here. I do enjoy your pics and the reminder that it is a shorter distance to go now than we have already traveled towards spring. :)
I don't know, but to get out of this ice/snow/freezing wind crapola, I'll do just about anything, where there is a will there is a way. lol.
John - what a pretty picture of your colorful garden!! What is an Aerogarden???
Cyndie - thank you! I, too, am amazed that we're already halfway through the winter here! That should truly be good news for those of you up there!! Just hang on!!!
Jan - the Benary's Giant mixture and the Oklahoma Formula Mix are two zinnias that have low susceptibility to powdery mildew. I get them from Johnny's Seeds in Maine. My zinnias in NH had some at the end of the fall last year. I'm going to bring some of the seeds from Johnny's to plant in NH this summer.
JoAnn - I'm not sure what got my tomato, but I suspect caterpillers. While I was down and out with vertigo last week, Hank did the watering of the tomatoes for me, and they look pretty sad. Because they are in the pots in the trellis planter, they need a thorough soaking every morning. They didn't get it. LOL I'm not going to plant them in pots next year unless the pots are more like planter liners with more soil. I actually had to prune off the tallest stems with some blooms on them to keep them from wilting by the end of the day.
Thom - I have some wonderful neighbors who help with watering during the month of May to bridge to the rainy season. I had paid our lawn service guys extra to do it, but the neighbors were not to be deterred! LOL We pay one neighbor to keep an eye on things here, but 2 others stepped up too, so we had some very kind help. They all wanted the front to look "lived in" during the summer. The back area around the patio and the sunroom looked like a jungle when we got here. We have a plan to prune everything WAY back right before we leave for the summer and hope things won't take over and cover up some of the plants that need sun.
I will add you to group if you can stand Florida in the summer. LOL (I can't take the heat!)
Phoebe - "Tundra" LOL. Just talked to my son in the Tundra and he cooked out on his grill today....It sounds like he had some of Pat's weather!! Pat, glad you find hope for an early spring in my meager little gardens! LOL
The plants grow in water, rather than dirt, using "NASA-tested" aeroponic technology. They claim things will grow five times faster, but you're tied to their seedpod kits. That means you're limited to growing what they offer, but perhaps there is a way to hack your own pod.
We're curious if it would work to grow some herbs and fresh veggies in the winter. Anyone a fan?
Available here for $150.00
Aha! Very interesting, Mona.......and very pricey too!
Good Morning; http://www.aerogrow.com/ There are several Aero gardens and you can start your own seed.
John
I do it the old fashion way since I have 11 south facing window some really big ones so I just use flats with domes and they do just fine
Thanks, Louise, for the info.
Yes you can grow herbs and fresh veggies anytime. Master gardener kits allow you to grow your own seeds. http://www.aerogrow.com/
John
I miss the fresh tomatoes & strawberries of FL right now---DH said he'll never stay with son & 3 GK who are up at 6am--no guest room--only a pullout in the office---and a big, slobbery dog to boot! Also we got our check from the sale yesterday---$14,000 LESS than we paid for it----Going nowhere this winter, & maybe next!
Oh, No, Robindog......that's terrible! Possible silver lining.....you can at least take that loss on your income tax, spread over a few years perhaps? That's not much consolation though, is it?
I'm very sorry you won't be able to come down. This is the worst market I've seen here now. Ugh.
Ouch! Sorry to hear that, Robin.
This economy grrrrr.
Dh might be laid off LONG Term
DH - Kids
Son #1 - Son cut in hours and wife took pay cut, going in debt monthly
Son #2 - Girlfriend totally laid off and prego (no insurance) etc
Son #3 - fine
Daughter - Cut in hours and husband laid off.
Wife - looking for a job, when there is NONE.
Wow - sorry to hear that, Sherrie. Things can't turn around fast enough. Got my pellets delivered yesterday and the driver told me they went from 100 to 35 people at Christmas time. The remaining ones took a 7% pay cut.
Sherrie - I'm so sorry to hear this. It's so hard to remain positive when every day brings something more for you to deal with. There was a piece on the news here a couple nights ago about the MacMansions being a thing of the past (at last!) and people choosing to build or buy smaller homes. Duh! Also, it noted that one thing people were seeking was some yard so they could begin learning to raise some of their own food. I guess we're ahead of the game and setting some trends!! LOL Maybe you should start a business going around and advising people on where to locate their garden and what to grow in it. Then you could sell them your seedlings from your greenhouse!
Can anyone relate to this? We went to Home Depot today to buy some mulch and some bags of garden soil so I can plant the spinach seeds I ordered from Johnny's Seeds (along with a few other seeds, of course. LOL) There were no plants on the shopping list - just the basics. BUT........while Hank was in the store proper (as opposed to the garden center) getting some fire starter logs, I meandered over to the vegetables. There was one little pack of broccoli plants left, so my mind started spinning when I saw that the harvest date was only 45 days. "Aha....I could pull out my current plants and snip off the side shoots for tonight's dinner. ......hmmmmm.........yeah, I've gotta go for it." So.......I planted 9 new broccoli plants this afternoon (with a freeze expected tonight) and filled my new "low " pots with soil and planted my spinach seeds today. Both the spinach and the broccoli like the cold temps, so now all I have to do is cook up my broccoli side shoots for dinner tonight!! Anyone else ever find it impossible to walk out of a garden center without buying something green?? LOL
As of today, I have 4 new pots of green beans going (2 bush, 2 pole), 9 new broccoli plants, 3 almost-dead tomato plants with tomatoes on them, 3 still-healthy tomato plants that are in the ground, 3 pots of mesculin greens, 1 new pot of spinach for greens. Time to take a break here. LOL
Yep, I can. Yum - broccoli for dinner tonight.
Jan - I thought I might have a few kindred spirits out there. LOL
Leave empty-handed? Why?
it is not possible to walk in a garden center and leave with your wallet intack, I usually have to get something even if it only one pack of seed lol hahhaha
"O" NO Louise you have PLANTITICE. It's a disease that all gardeners get sooner or later, there is no known cure and it keeps happening over and over again. It is very similar to SEEDITICE, GARDENITICE and COMPOSTITICE.
They never go away and you never know when a outbreak will occur.
Best thing you can do is hope that you don't have an outbreak of all of them at once, because if you do that means that you have "horticulturalitice".
John
