Gardening!

[Ryan]

Exciting Holly

I get excited when things finally sprout at home , My other half just looks at me weirdly

[dcwolcott]

I know what you mean.  It's so exciting to see something sprout after waiting for it! 

[Holly]

Lol they are already 3-4 inches tall, I told hubby I must have magic beans lol.

[Ryan]

Im going to try and get one of the beds ready to put a few things in for winter.

Holly what did you plant this winter ?  I do get frost here so need ideas that are frost friendly

[Holly]

We did broccoli and carrots. Tried peas but it didn't work out. I heard cabbage cauliflower and kale do well in winter....
Let me know what you decide!

[Ryan]

Hows is your veggie garden coming along Holly ?

[Holly]

Good on tomatoes and green beans. Squash and zucchini didn't do good with new dirt. To much mulch so were having to add nitrogen. Its been a long process figuring it out. But better now.

[Ryan]

Do you get frosts at all ?  My Zucchinis failed miserably the first two years and I think it was because I planted them too early, they really dont like the cooler weather at all, including morning frosts or a drops in temp. 

[clara cain]

I Love to veggie garden! This year I have a 40 x 60 area set aside to garden in, so far have Cukes, Zukes summer squash, green beans tomatos, okra, of many different varieties planted, Have even been harvesting already!

Who else gardens?

GARDENING IN FLORIDA I live about fifty miles south of Diane and it is very difficult to garden in South Florida.  We had beautiful gardens in Missouri 30 years ago and never had any success here in Ft Myers.  In the fall of 2016,  my husband and my school boy that works for us made raised beds of concrete blocks and filled them with composted horse manure aged 8 years.  My first plants melted with the humidity turned black and died.  When Home Depot  starts selling plants is not necessarily time to start a garden in Florida.  November my plants took off and started growing.  We had great eggplants, collard greens (my hens love them my husband does not), onions, peas, peppers, blue berries, figs, turnips, and peppers.  Tomatoes got too tall and bushy and the worms eat them up--same with corn. Zuchini and cucumbers, melons are very very difficult and always get the wilt even with resistant varieties.  Pineapples do well.  Tobacco we raised one year and now it is too hot hot hot for anything.   I still have sweet potatoe vines and sugarcane is coming along.   I have a coffee tree --it needs shade.  I also experimented with exotic fruit  trees/bushes last year---gogi berries, barbadoes cherries, guavas, etc.  and we raise coconut trees from coconuts.  I have a veery small dragon fruit plant I got from my Vietamese neighbor.  Oh , yes and we are starting bananas

[Ryan]

Clara I am very jealous of your continuous hot weather , I would love to grow some of the things you do. Pineapples and bananas and coconuts would be amazing. We get a very hot summer here but unfortunately our winters are freezing (Its 9 am and currently 7 degrees Celsius).

Do you have any tips or is there anything you add to your soil ? I didnt plant anything last year but come sept / Oct this year , I plan to put in a variety of things.

[clara cain]

NO, I DID NOT ADD ANY MIRACLE GROW OR ANYTHING.  KEEP IN MIND THE COMPOST WAS ALSO    PINE   SHREDDED BEDDING AS WELL AS HORSE MANURE    WHAT PART OF AUSTRALIA ARE U IN?   HOW COLD IS THAT TEMPERATURE U SAID.  USUALLY OUR WINTERS ARE VERY MODERATE AND DRY. I DID NOT EVEN SHEET MY HORSES THIS WINTER.   wE NOW HAVE A BIG RAIN EVENT COMING OFF yUCITAN MEXICO WHICH HAS BROKEN OUR DROUGHT AND STARTED hURRICANE SEASON.   THE HEAT NOW WILL GET INTOLERABLE WITH HORRIBLE HUMIDITY.  I KEPT MY HORSES IN ALL DAY.  I DO NOT WANT SCRATCHES OR RAIN ROT. WINTER IS GARDENING SEASON HERE.  HOW MANY ACRES DO U HAVE?   I HAVE 5.

[Ryan]

Im at the bottom of Australia , I Live south of Melbourne on the "Mornington peninsula"  Our warmer nights during winter are around 41 Fahrenheit but it does get a lot colder than that. Im close to beaches so it doesnt snow.

I dont rug my little ones , but my 2 x TBs are rugged like Eskimos , I  am on just under 11 acres.

hopefully hurricane season is nice to you, I would be happy with the rain but not the winds, hate wind....

[clara cain]

OH AND i FORGOT, THE COMPOST IS SANDY AS OUR SOIL IS SAND UNLESS IT HAS ORGANIC MATTER IN IT.  I WILL HAVE TO LOOK UP WHERE U LIVE.  oH, AND WE DO HAVE ALLIGATORS , HAVE NOT HAD ANY ON MY MINI RANCH YET. LUCKY AND LUCKY FOR THEM BECAUSE MY HUSBAND WOULD KILL THEM. 

[Ryan]

Yeah NO THANKS , you can have the alligators , im  now happy with the worlds deadliest snakes 



 

[dcwolcott]

I'm not sure Ryan.  I think I dislike snakes more than the alligators.  At least the alligators are easy to shoot -- and they are big enough not to hide under the bushes you walk by.  I think I'll take an alligator over the worlds deadliest snakes!  Yikes!