Happy plants

A few shots of the tomato/cabbage garden. I've been reading a bunch of books ands taking gardening classes and I think I'm doing better this year because a) we converted the beds to drip irrigation. No more soggy leaves which promotes fungal diseases, b) I prune off any leaves starting to show disease (ie: leaves with brown, tan or black spots, leaves that are curling, "crispy" leaves, leaves that are full of holes), c) I walk the garden AT LEAST every other day. I look UNDER the leaves and I hand remove pests, d) I sanitize the pruners with rubbing alcohol after pruning each plant, e) any diseased or pest-eaten leaves are taken out of the yard and placed into the regular trash (before I would just let them sit on the soil thinking, eh, they'll decay and turn into nutrients eventually. This was bad because I learned in my books that these leaves contain fungal spores which will spread to the rest of your plant(s) if not disposed of.) Sometimes I just go out there with a grocery bag to place these leaves in until I can get to the trash. E) I built a pollinator-friendly space to attract more bees, butterflies, and moths. As a result I have better pollination and production on my plants, f) I use "trench composting" right in the garden beds (tip from U of FL: add a handful of fertilizer so the breakdown process does not rob the soil of nitrogen), g) I mixed a homemade baking soda spray that I use on occasion to fight off fungus. I know this sounds like a lot of work but tomatoes have been proven to be the most disease- and pest-prone plants in FL. Plus, I find this whole process to be therapeutic. I like to be surrounded with happy plantlife! 





Did I mention I started all of my plants from seed? TLC from the start of their life journey with seedling heat mat and grow lights.... man, did they get pampered!

I recently planted beans and squash (direct sow) and they've just begun to sprout next to the new & improved trellis (wire fencing added to the wood grid.)

Amaryllis blooms!

Hello rainy season

I realize I haven't posted in a good bit. I put plants out in early March and here are some recent pics of them.

Pots - peppers, eggplant, and plumeria





Plants bought from the Garden Fair!

Bush honeysuckle - attracts butterflies



Duranta - attracts bees



Wild coffee - a Florida native plant
(No, you can't actually make coffee from it. Certain times a year it has berries. Other times, small white flowers)



The tomato/cabbage bed - whoa!
Had a small challenge (very small) with fungus but pruned the bottom affected leaves and I apply baking soda spray treatments. Now all is very well.





Mom got these for me for Christmas :)



Out front:

New, favorite hanging basket "Creeping Jew" - a gorgeous plant



Entrance bed:



Plumbagos are in bloom!



Started a few Japanese plum trees (robbed Japanese plums off of a neighbor's tree, shhhh..)



Overcoming challenges:

These bougainvillea and avocado were really hurt by the one 35 degree night we had in Feb. I pruned them way back and they are producing new foliage now:





I scrapped 2 eggplants after diagnosing them with my "What's Wrong With My Plant? (And How Do I Fix It?)" book. The issue turned out to be botrytis (aka gray mold). I scrapped them to prevent the disease from spreading to my other plants. I dont think they would have lived anyway as the bases of the stems were affected. Then I scrubbed/sanitized the pots.






I've been picking these guys off the undersides of pepper and eggplant leaves. "Beet armyworm". Look carefully. They are very small and they match the leaves.



Most wonderful boyfriend installed drip irrigation in the beds! We have also started to install microsprayers in the pots. These projects are not quite finished yet (pics later).

I have been taking and signing up for lots of gardening classes. I took:
Edible Florida
Bringing the Buzz Back
Landscape design principles for Florida
Rainbarrel and composting
(All free)

The county gave me a free rainbarrel, and with any luck I can find someone to paint it for me ;)

Here's pics of the Univ of FL hydroponics setups:





The next workshops I'm taking are Roses for FL and Creating Hypertufa Planters. It should be fun!
posted from Bloggeroid

I've also read 4 gardening books and plan to buy more!

Month by month gardening in Florida
Organic methods for vegetable gardening in Florida
What's wrong with my plant? (And how do I fix it?)
Garden planning & Garden design

Next will either be a hydroponics book or a square foot gardening book. Or vertical gardening! I can't decide! :)