Garden Pictures May 2013

Plants that need to be put in the ground.  Globe Basil, Chinese Lantern, Rose of Sharon, Artichokes, Eggplants, Purslane, Crocous and Stevia.

Corn and swiss chard look awful.  Sweet potato vines look great.  Behind, in the bag to the left, potatoes dying of.  

At least the flower beds are looking good.

Another pretty flower bed.

Yarden bed newly planted.  Look closely and you'll see one seed is just peeking through the soil.

Closeup of the lone seedling.

I don't know what I've done to my key lime tree.  :(

Calamondins

Calamondin tree full of little fruits.

At least sweet potatoes like the hot sun.

The beans don't seem to like the sun much, except for the lush field peas at the top right.

Onions looking bad.  Probably too hot for them. They are still small so I don't want to pull them yet.

The Moringa tree is in full bloom and is covered with seed pods.

A tiny cantaloupe.

Burgundy okra plants are small but producing.

Bean teepee is finally starting to fill out a bit.

Bigger cantaloupe netting, getting closer to harvest.

How to Tell When Your Homegrown Cantaloupes are Ripe

The first of my cantaloupes appears to be coming up on harvest, but I was not sure exactly how to tell when it will be ready.  I found this very useful youtube video and wanted to share it.  Enjoy!

Planted Rocky Ford Green Flesh Melons Today

I haven't been able to find much information on when to plant "honeydew" melons in zone 9b, but did find the chart below so I risked it and planted 5 seeds of my Non-GMO Rocky Ford Green Flesh Melon today in the yarden, in the space I pulled kale plants from recently.  I watered them in and hope they sprout in the 10 - 20 day germination time printed on the packet. Note, this is not where I got my seeds, but they had the best online picture so I'm using it.

85-95 days to mature. 5.5 inches x 4.5-5 inch diameter, 2.5-3 lbs, heavy netted, slightly ribbed good rust resistance, good for shipping and home gardens.

Planted wildflowers, mimosa and veggies

I got tired of seeing one of my yarden beds sitting empty so I planted seeds of swiss chard, watermelon and zucchini.  I know it's not exactly the right time to plant these, but am giving it a shot anyway since the weather has been strange this year.

I also planted a pack of perennial flowers and a couple mimosa seeds in the space I cleared of grass near the road since the sunflowers I transplanted there all died.

Oh!  I almost forgot I planted Cowhorn and Lee okra in the okra bed along with the burgundy okra.  This is not a good representation for the front bed, but gives me an idea what's where when standing in the street looking at the bed.

Potato Harvest

After a complete potato failure last year I decided to give them another chance this year.  I planted 2 lbs of Yukon Gold seed potatoes into 5 separate grow bags and have fully harvested 4 of the 5 bags.  To date, my teeny tiny potato harvest weighs in at 2 lbs 9.8 oz.  UGH.  I'd have made better use of the soil, time and space if I'd have planted something else instead.  I guess potatoes will have to be crossed off the list for a crop to grow in my immediate future.  Maybe I'll try again in a couple years cause to me it just is not worth it (for now).  I will mention that these were the best tasting potatoes my family has ever had.  That's a bonus I guess.

EcoScraps Challenge

The Ikea pots I planted Eggplant and Basil in on 3/21/13 are not doing so well.  The plants are small and stunted, and a bit on the yellow side, which to me indicates overwatering (even though I'm not watering them often at all).

Today I received a delivery of EcoScraps products I won from a facebook contest they held. I decided to put it to the challenge.  I repotted one of the sickly eggplant and basil pots using the EcoScraps Potting Mix, and watered it in well.  I added a very light layer of mulch on top, since these pots get full blaring afternoon Florida sun!

I will take weekly pictures of the (hopeful) progress and let you know my thoughts as the weeks go by.

EcoScraps Compost Mix, All Purpose Plant Food, Liquid compost and Potting Mix

Sad little eggplants and basil.  One month old exactly and barely hanging onto life.

Closeup of the near death experience happening here.

Removed soil builder, filled with EcoScraps Potting Mix, replanted and watered in the seedlings.

Added a light layer of mulch to help retain moisture.

I also added, per the instructions, 1 TBSP of the all purpose plant food to two of my Artichoke plants in pots today.

City of St Petersburg Soil Builder Review

I recently purchased 6 cubic yards of St Petersburg's Soil Builder.  I was so excited to get it, as it's the most affordable solution for bulk soil available locally, so I am sad to report that I don't care for it at all.  It holds a TON of water, which isn't a bad thing here in Florida, but there was a huge adjustment period and I lost many, many plants due to overwatering because the top 2" to 3" are completely dry, while deeper down it is a soggy mess, which makes it nearly impossible to balance seed germination and crop irrigation successfully.  Where I've used it strictly to grow crops I find the plants are stunted and all the leaves die off.  The Soil Builder gets compacted easily.  But the absolute worst thing about it is it is FULL OF GLASS SHARDS.  While I feel the soil builder is a decent solution for some projects, for example laying sod, I hate to report that if I had it to do over I would NOT purchase it for my garden.   Now I have to basically start over to create a loose loam in my garden beds.  *sigh*