Seed Experimentation

Well, I'm exhausted. I did some yard work today, and have more to do tomorrow. Now I'm tired and sore.

I noticed the other day that it appeared that my fence was leaning in where my bougainvillea is located on the back fence. So I decided it is time to work on taking it down. It can get really beautiful a couple of times a year, but it is a nightmare to maintain, and is now jeopardizing my fence.

These new loppers I bought a few months ago are pretty great.

They had no problem cutting through a thumbsized branch of bougainvillea...

And my new Kobalt handsaw had no trouble cutting through bigger branches...

I cut down probably about half of the bougainvillea, and filled up my large 65 gallon horticulture can. I'll try to work on the rest next weekend.

I've also been testing the viability of my old seed. I started by putting seeds and beans that all had a 2009 "best by" date on damp towels.

Then I rolled up the paper towels and placed them in a ziploc bag labeled with all of the seed names.

Then I checked the seeds a few days later, and I found the beans and peas were doing really well.

Then today, after about a week, I checked them again, and found nearly all of the beans had germinated.

So I decided to try some experiments, instead of just throwing away the germinated seed.

First I cleaned out one of the deck beds.

Then I planted a jalapeno and sweet red bell pepper, and a Better Bush tomato plant (which already has a couple of small tomatoes on it). And then as an experiment I took some of the Big Red Ripper Pea, Garden Bean and Royal Burgundy Bean sprouts and put them about an inch down in the soil along the back. I also put a bunch of the Brandywine tomato sprouts around the outside of the tomato cage.

We'll see how it goes, and whether any of the sprouts grow.

I also put some trellis around my new grapevine.

Earlier today, while I was at Lowe's, I came across some boxes made to sit on a deck railing. So I bought a couple. I drilled some drainage holes in the bottom (I love when I get to use power tools!)

Then I put 4 Dwarf Taylor Bush Bean seeds along the back, and 4 Dwarf Oregon Giant Snow Pea seeds across the front. We'll see how they do, and how "dwarf" they are!

I also took 2 Dwarf Taylor bean sprouts and put one on each side of the box. We'll see how they do.

Then I took the remaining sprouts and spread them around the yard. Some I pushed into the soil, and others I just tossed on top. I put some around my mahogany trees and some around my grapevine. 

And I put some sunflower sprouts around my tree stump.

So we'll see what happens with all of my sprouts and seeds. I also sprinkled some Giant Columbine seeds over some soil in my decorative pot. I'll be curious to see what happens with them as well.

I have more work to do tomorrow, and I'm exhausted just thinking about it! I still need to do some weeding, re-pot my pineapple and some strawberries, put some lettuce seed in the other deck railing box, maybe clean out the other deck planter (to try sowing some Cornflower and Wallflower), and maybe finally put my Bird of Paradise in the ground (I've had it sitting in a pot on my deck for years). Oh, and I have a new papaya tree that I need to put somewhere, but I'm not sure yet just where.

So busy day tomorrow, too!

Slowly but Surely

Well, the yard is coming along, little by little. I hired my cousin to come over and do some work around the house and yard for me. Remember behind my shed? That picture in the banner at the top of this blog? Well, this is it today...

And to the right of the shed has been so overgrown you couldn't see that there was an entrance there to go behind the shed. This is a shot from a couple of years ago, and the areas still looked like this, or worse...

While the bougainvillea is beautiful, it is nothing but thorns and a nightmare to work around, and makes entering that area behind the shed impossible. So we are working to get rid of it. This is what this area looked like after my cousin finished with it today...

And now my guava tree can finally see daylight...

My Bismark Palm can now be walked under, which will make it much easier for mowing...

And the garbage guys have their work cut out for them tomorrow.

I'm hoping that they pick up the horticulture. I didn't expect my workers to leave a huge pile of stuff like that!

The sink from behind the shed was quickly picked up, but there is still a gardening table waiting for someone to snag it up.

The deck has been cleaned up and looks like a deck again. One of these days, I need to grill out again.

So a lot has been done around here in the last week or two. And I'm exhausted, even though I'm paying someone else to do the majority of the work! What I can't figure out is what this was doing laying on my bathroom floor after they left.

How did a wasp wind up dead on the floor? All I can figure is it came in on my cousin without him even realizing it.

 I'll be interested to see what happens with the yard over time...

More veggies and other updates

I decided that for Mother's Day I would give my mother a potted okra. She likes okra, and like me has been growing a few veggies.


I am now growing an assortment of herbs, peppers, tomatoes, eggplants, cucumbers and melons.

I also noticed the other day that one of my Plumeria (Frangipan) seems to have died.



Perhaps it took a bad hit from a lawn mower or weedeater. I was told by a nursery person that these are especially sensitive to damage caused by weedeaters and bumps from mowers.

I also bought a plant at an arts and crafts show Saturday. I don't know what it's called, but it looks like a colorful version of a Hens and Chicks succulent.


I thought that it might be pretty in front of the house, where I have no hose to water potted plants.

Not bad!

Unfortunately I uncovered a carpenter ant nest when I moved a pot yesterday. Well, unfortunate for me. The lizards were all very excited! They all came running when they saw what was going on! I had three of them vying for the buffet. I learned that the adults ants must have a fierce bite, so they are avoided by the lizards. The lizards seemed to be concentrating mostly on the winged ants, and occasionally an egg.






Grody! But I found both the ant and lizard behavior fascinating!

Top 10 Annuals For Florida

Since I live in South Florida, I have a particular interest in which plants are well-suited to this special sub-tropic environment. Here is a list of the top 10 annuals for Florida, as outlined by Sunset's Florida Top 10 Garden Guide.

• Calendula, Pot Marigold (Calendula officinalis)
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Coleus (Solenostemon scutellarioides)
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Impatiens (Impatiens walleriana)
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Marigold (Tagetes)
  
• Moss Rose, Portulaca (Portulaca grandiflora)
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Pansy (Viola)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Pentas (Pentas lanceolata)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Snapdragon (Antirrhinum majus)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Torenia, Wishbone Flower (Torenia fournieri)
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
• Verbena (Verbena)
  

Quick Update

Well it is the beginning of February, and I have been in my place for almost four months now. I haven't had any time in the yard lately, and we've been dealing with really cold weather down here, so there is some frost damage to deal with. At least a lot of the weeds got zapped by the cold!

But I did want to do a quick update of how things look. The container veggies are still going well. Tomatoes are developing and eggplant is getting large. Cauliflower still need to be divided and repotted into a few more pots (too many of them in one pot).

I'm not sure, but the Sweet Yellow Pepper looks like it could have a couple of little flower buds coming on.


The pic is really blurry, but there are two little buds in the center there that may be flower buds coming in!

The seedlings are doing well. The Bibb and Romaine Lettuce and Carrots are looking good. It'll be interesting seeing if I can transplant Carrots into a pot. I think I may try to grow the lettuce in a bag of potting soil, and see how that goes-- just lay the bag down, slice it open, and plant the lettuce transplants.


Likewise the Chives, Leeks and Cilantro are going well. I have the same concerns for the Leeks as I do for the Carrots. I don't know how they will handle tranplanting.


One of my Green Beans and my Rosemary have finally sprouted. Still nothing from the other green bean. I am about to start three more green beans.


I'm wondering what this little thing on my poinsettia is? It almost looks like a flower bud coming in. Do poinsettia actually flower? I've only seen the leaves color up like flowers, but have never seen actual flowers on them.


Also I have a single rangy rose bush next to my deck, and periodically it surprises me with a sudden bloom.


Very fragrant blooms it has!

So that is my quick little update. We'll see whether I have time this weekend to do any gardening.