My old home. My next home

I am pretty sure I have spoken previously about the house where I started all this gardening mayhem.

It all started with a Key Lime tree in my back yard. Then I got some banana plants, coconut trees and form there my love of tropical fruits and plants? Well, lets just say it never quit.

 

Problem is, now I don't live in a zone 9b/10 area any more.

But the other day I had the opportunity to go by my old house. As we drove by I managed to get one decent picture with my cell phone. I also talked to the neighbors who tell me that the gingers and bananas are invading their landscape. They also say that they absolutely LOVE them. I'm glad I could help. LOL. Here's the picture I snapped on the way by - with some labels.

 

I was also awed by the fact that the original palms are still there. These palm trees were started from seeds that were swiped... uh picked up around different neighborhoods in the area and include several foxtail palms, triangle palms, hurricane palms and even a teddy bear palm. The sea grapes were eagerly trying to put on some fruit. The mango had fruit, the avocado had fruit, the citrus had fruit, and if I'd have had my way I would have looked over the fence to see what all was left in the back and side yards of what I had planted. Unfortunately hubby isn't into stalking so I didn't get to see back there, but at least I know the owners are taking care of the trees that were most important to me.

The mango is now so large that you can no longer see the home at all! I LOVE it! The avocado is about 30' tall...*sigh*

On one hand it makes me sick to think all the hard work that went into making these trees live past their infancy stages was reaped by someone else. I mean we only got two crops off the mango before we sold the house. These owners will have fruit for the rest of their lives - if they want it. The avocado was still young and had only given us 5 fruits. LOL. That one wasn't so hard to part with. The citrus was a cocktail tree with tangerine, ruby red grapefruit and Meyer lemons. YUM! We could see that the Key Lime tree was doing fabulously as well. Great news for them. The citrus in our county has all but been wiped out so I'm very jealous of those 2 trees.

 

More than anything what it's really done is make me think ahead. I've spent so much time and energy focusing on the trees here at our current house and only a little on the property in Alabama. But, realistically that is where I need to concentrate more of my efforts. Alabama is where I'm going to end up homesteading long term and where I'll need mature trees in 5-10 years. Trees take that long to truly get established.

 

So I've been talking quite a bit with the hubby and we have a new plan. It's not like we are going anywhere for the next 5-10 years so we still intend to continue to grow what we can here. Meanwhile this year I'm going to aggressively start rooting new plants from what I have here that will do well there. A lot of what I have needs a good rootstock there and will need purchased as small trees, but some things like my pomegranate, persimmon, thornless blackberries and blueberries can all be grown from rooted cuttings.  I'll also need to look into which of my guavas can be grown there. I know one of them can but for the life of me I can't remember if that is my pineapple or strawberry guava? Hmmm...

 

So that is a large project i"m going to start this year and I'm hoping that I'll have transplants to take with me next year. I could be getting ahead of myself. It may take longer for the plants to get large enough/strong enough. But I figure I have enough plants around to experiment with for now.

 

Oh, and on a side note- but a very good side note? Hubby agreed to buying a REAL greenhouse for up there so I can bring my (dwarf/potted) mango tree and a few choice citrus plants when we do move up there. BONUS! There is just something about growing up down here. I don't think I can live with out fresh tropical fruits. Now? Best of both worlds. :-) I'm wondering just how big I can get him to agree to on the greenhouse before he tells me no. ;-) hehehe.

OK - I'm off to make of list of supplies i need for rooting. This is all new to me!

 

See you soon!

Barbie~

Garden Bloom overview (partial/May)

 

I splurged on one plant to see what it was all about this spring. I'm glad I did. It was a "super Roma" tomato plant, and so far, it's been SUPER! It's taken our extreme temperatures and my lack of care and spat back loads of tomatoes.

Zucchini is still going strong for now...and the potatoes are still taking turns flowering. This is the last of the taters to flower. In the back you can see the single radish I've let go to seed. This bed hasn't been productive in a year, except for radishes so I figured why not?

The apple tree is blossoming. The first blossomed failed. I wonder how the trees are doing in Alabama?

I'm so curious, and my hubby is going on a quick trip in 2 weeks. It should be early blackberry season there, too. Wondering if I can talk him into bringing back some and taking pictures of my trees...

Pomegranates are doing well this season. I can't wait for them. It takes SOOO long for them to ripen. It nearly hurts to wait so long!

I've got grapes on the vine, too! Not as many as last year, but that is my fault, and it's OK. I knew better with my choice of plants but I just had to have the Concord grapes because I love them so much. They are worth it. Delectable little jewels that they are. 

There is so much more just since the 10 days that I took these pictures. The mulberries are blooming again... Joy? The cantaloupe, watermelon, cucumbers, string beans, Lima beans, all going like gang busters right now. 

The weather is changing daily again. I know that everyone has been talking about how weird the weather is, but well and truly I've never in my lifetime seen 50's in the middle of May, and yet this morning that is what I awoke to. Absolutely amazing.  

Oh, did I mention I fixed a sprinkler head that my hubby tried to fix for the last year? He even replaced the entire head and that didn't work. It was the pipe that was stripped causing the sprinkler head to sit wrong. It just took a little finesse and a lot of muscle and determination to get it right. I do get the feeling at some point in the future we'll have to re-do the entire line section there, but for now it's working again, and I'm rubbing it in that a woman fixed what the man could not.

:-)

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 5.13.13

It's Monday again. This time it comes directly after Mother's Day weekend. I hope that you have a lovely weekend. I know I did. I didn't just have Mother's Day. I had Mother's weekend. :-)

But, as for the harvest. It was fairly meager pickings this week. I actually harvested more than I care to admit because a rather large amount got eaten in the garden. I pulled the pea vines and well, any peas got eaten while I was there. We had a few cool days so there were more than I care to admit. But the vines were well and truly shot and our hot weather is upon us and not relenting so I knew the vines had no hope. I also ate about a half pound of blueberries. I now have 5 pounds in the freezer, so a decent amount for the year. Not enough for our large family, but a good start!

As for what I can actually attest to?

Zucchini made a major come back this week. This one in the picture is only one of 10 that we ate. I grilled a few, but this wasn't out favorite this week. Our favorite is oven roasted with grape seed oil, mozzarella  garlic, spices and tomato..oh - YUM. Even picky teenager eats it like it's going out of style.  We try to take major advantage of it this time of year because it doesn't last long. I have two very strong plants right now but the bugs have come out this week and that means the plants (not just the zucchini) are going to be suffering soon.

I knocked the tomato off the vine but it is nearly ripe now. I also took one that was starting to blush and ripened it with a banana. That was the one we used for the zucchini oven roast. The snap peas are still giving and looking O.K. The vines are hanging tough for now. Not producing well, but still just enough to save their booties.

The blueberries are just giving  the bare minimum they can now. The mocking birds found the fruit this week and I got dive bombed by 3 of the suckers Saturday. I may have to invest in a pellet gun. Wonder if Mockingbird stew is any good? Kidding...sort of.

 

I'll be back to give details of my weekend later. For now- I'd better get back to work.

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~

 

A day at the 'Pet Spa'

I'm off on one of those posts that get me side tracked.

 

See I was working on one of those BIG projects that I've been talking about the last few weeks.

Sneak preview alert:

Ah - just a blank slate for now. This WAS the kids playroom just a few short weeks ago!

 

 But, I got to the point where I was cleaning the carpets, and one of the kids came in. The tears were falling and through the hiccuping and sobbing I managed to make out that her doggie needed a bath.

 

Now, I have to warn you. This is no ordinary dog. It's stuffed. It's also not of a size that I could just toss into the washing machine and call it a day. Besides. She sleeps with this dog, she eats with this dog. This dog is a part of our family and... well - Have you ever seen what happens to the animals you toss into the wash? I mean there are desperate times and all but this animal? There was NO WAY it was going into the machine!

 

So,  in a brilliant Mom move (I mean, Hey, I've had that title now for almost 15 years it's time I earned it, right?) I dropped what I was doing and we had a Pet Spa day. We brushed those tears off her little cherub face. Stuffed a cookie in her mouth and quickly proclaimed this as the Pet Spa rather than my newest project room. Hey, whatever works for the moment. So. I ran and grabbed a laundry basket to be the 'tub' and a blow dryer. I already had the rest of what I needed...

One dirty dog.

Clearly you can see why the child was distraught. This would be the child with OCD, ADD, and just a touch of ME. LOL.

I had my 'PET Cleaner" (cut off the car part of carpet cleaner and watered it WAAAAY down by 80%)

I simply sprayed the stains on each appendage and then vacuumed them off. Some of the set in stains had to be sprayed and vacuumed more than once, but ALL of the stains came off. Even the marker! Of course this Mama is not dumb. This house only has washable marker around anyway. But after sitting around for so long I would have thought that the marker would not have come off or would have left some staining, but NOPE!

After Vacuuming we brushed and blow dried the pup, giving it the full beauty spa treatment. Luckily my kiddo has no idea about painting doggie toenails or the whole bandanna thing that the real groomers do at their shops. I'm not sure if i could have found a bandanna around the house. Maybe a boa would have done?

At the end of it all the whole process only took about 1/2 hour and my kiddo and her pup were reunited. Of course this Doggie has her own pups and they were happy to see each other as well. I told you that it was part of the family.

But there is something I learned from this experience that I will use over and over again. It's SO MUCH EASIER to do it this way! The animal is cleaner and not all beaten up. The child is less traumatized and she truly enjoyed helping me in the process, too. Besides now I don't have fluff falling out or a tail that needs reattached, an eye falling off or any of the other assorted injuries that happen to these animals in the washer. Of course there are times that a washing machine would be the only way the animal could be saved. After all kids get sick - but for the animals that are just loved a little too much, what a great solution. I'll never go back to the old way again!

So hopefully if you, like me had never heard of anyone vacuuming their stuffed animals clean - now you have! Spread the word because it's too easy to ignore.

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 5.6.13

Monday - Already? You've got to be kidding me! This weekend went SO fast!

I worked on a project for the chickens. I forgot to take pictures while I was working because i was by myself, but now that it is almost finished I have to go back and take photos. It's worth it. I turned the door around to their pen. I always hated the door leading to their run. I still do, but I hate it a little less now. LOL.At least I can OPEN the door now. See, it used to open in, and the little chooks always seemed to toss all the shavings wood chips and anything else they could find right in the path of the door. I fixed that! It did impede on their space a little, but there is only 3 of them and they do have a good sized run for just a couple of them. I have a few other things up my sleeve for them this summer, too. Just a couple things to help in the way of boredom and keeping them occupied during our seasonal rains. :-)

Ah, but that isn't why you are here is it? It's not just Monday... it's HARVEST MONDAY! Of course! This weeks harvests included the first potatoes and zucchini of the year. I threw those on the grill with some pork chops Friday night. I love it when a meal comes almost entirely from the garden, and ALL local. :-)

Also harvested more carrots, another cauliflower. This one topped out at a decent 2lbs 9oz. a few strawberries a pound of blueberries (not all pictured) and ... well... Oh yeah! One H.O.T. radish. I'm guessing that the weather is just getting too warm for them now.

The zucchini are full bore now. I've got a good 6 on the 2 bushes/vines? Hmm... Anyway We'll be swimming in them the next couple weeks which is good. They tend to only last a few weeks now as we get into May and June so we will be sure to take advantage while we can!

The potatoes I pulled up are the ones that are planted around the blueberry bushes. I didn't like the idea of leaving them to grow to full size under the blueberries and damaging the bushes roots. I knew the longer I let them grow the more likely I'd have a hard time digging them out and end up hurting the bushes. Since they flowered almost 3 weeks ago I've been keeping a close eye on them. Turned out to be the perfect time to pull this little bush we each got a small potato perfectly proportioned for us!

I would love to show off to you my first blackberries of the season as well, but my lovely daughter decided that she wanted to pick me a bouquet of flowers... (Can you see where this is going?) Just so you know when you cut a blackberry flower it only last a few hours in a vase. Also, just so you know it's REALLY hard not to cry when you realize just  WHAT the flowers are that your well intending child handed you with a smile on her face. 'Happy Mother's Day' she says. Happy Mother's Day, indeed. What a gem she is. Every. Single. Bud. And from the thornless canes no less. LMBO.

Ah, well. I suppose it wouldn't be gardening without trials and tribulations, now would it?

 

OH! Guess what else weird just happened? My blueberries REbloomed! Check it!

How Weird it this? I talked to a local blueberry farmer about it and more than half of his crop re-bloomed as well. He thinks it is because of the really late weird frost/freeze we had a few weeks ago. We had another weird cool spell just Saturday night - it actually got down to 59*. For us in May... that is just freaky. The blooms this time aren't as pretty and I'll assume they won't be as large of fruit, but so far on the bushes that have re-bloomed I have about half again as much fruit. That is good because I didn't get as much fruit this year because we didn't get but about 40 chill hours total. The bush in the picture is only a second year cutting so the fruit wont be kept. It's too small to support it yet. Next spring I'll allow it a small crop.

I'm rambling now. Off to work.

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~ 

 

 

Sale? Oh, YES!!!

It's THAT time of year again!

 

I tend to forget that this happens right around Mother's Day.

 

 

To me, the timing couldn't be better. What other way do I have to guilt my Honey into buying me MORE plants - Plus they are all in one place at one time. What could be better!?

 

So, if you are finding yourself anywhere in the area I suggest that you make the time to get there. You know I'll be there! Now I've just got to figure out WHERE exactly I could fit anything else.

 

So far form this this sale I have brought home pineapple guava, strawberry guava, Pom Wonderful, dwarf pom, persimmon, apples, figs, grumichama, barbados cherry and surinam cherry. What will this year bring?

 

See you soon!

Barbie~

Redo?

Is it Groundhogs day or something? I swear it's Monday and not Tuesday.

Yesterday I was so busy I nearly forgot Harvest Monday and it seemed more like Friday than any other day. Now today here it feels like Monday. Go figure. My week is all whopper jogged.

I just wanted to report that I have gone insane. That is all.

What do you mean you already knew that?

PTHTHTH! :-P

Small garden update...

Remember these beans that were mislabeled?

 

Yep. Well, it turns out it didn't matter that they were not labeled right. I should have eaten them instead of planting them. They never sprouted. Not a single one. Figures. I got suckered. Just wish I could remember which seed company it was.

:-(

 

 

It rained and it poured and it thundered last night. The kids came running into our bed and snuggled up. I just don't get that. I sleep so well through the storms. Why do kids freak out? Why does our calmness not carry over to them? It never seemed to bother them until last year. Now it guarantees a sleep less night rather than a sleep filled night.

 

But the rain - oh so glorious. It mostly stopped for our long commute. If it hadn't I wouldn't have been so happy about having so much of the wet stuff. It does tend to bring out the crazy in the local drivers. Being Floridians you'd think most of us see it daily, but apparently not. *snicker*

 

Things are coming together for the 'Game Cleaning Station' that will be prepared on the Property in Alabama. So far we have the electrical wire, a new stainless utility sink and a stainless prep table. Unfortunately the work is the hard part. That starts in a few weeks and will be spread out between this next trip and 4th of July.

Wish my honey luck!

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~

Harvest Monday 4.29.13

I can't believe I almost missed it!

 

It's Harvest Monday y'all! ;-) I don't know where all my pictures went this week. I only have 2 to show you. But one of them is mighty impressive. Well, at least to me anyway.

 

My shelling peas? They are blooming profusely because our nights are still cool. Problem is our days are now hitting 90* regularly and they just don't like that. At all. So they are past there prime. Taste is down, toughness is up... I'm thinking I'll have to pull the vines soon. Problem is those darn blossoms make it hard to just yank the vines. LOL. Must do it soon. I know that the peas they are producing are inferior and all I'm doing is creating a mess. Something else could be growing there. Good bye peas. See you again in 7 months. *sigh* The snap peas aren't far behind. :-(

One harvest this week:

Oh, yep. That reminds me. The strawberries are still hanging around. They seem to be shrinking these days. I'm also still getting a handful of blueberries each day. I'm having a hard time measuring them though. Only a few make it into the house... It's like the Bermuda triangle out there. Somewhere between the bushes, the garden and the house. *Poof* they just fall off the radar. The mulberries are still coming by the buckets, but I stopped picking them. I hate them right now. I despise the suckers. I...OK I love the tree, I just don't like it right now.

 

BUT! The cauliflower beast has been harvested. I have harvested a few small (normal for me) heads as seen in the above picture. They usually get to be you know- 3" or so but not this one!

This one weighed in at 4lbs 7oz! WAHOOO!!! I made a cauliflower pizza dough... well I should restate that. I TRIED to make a cauliflower pizza dough. It didn't turn out very well so I scrapped it off the pan turned it over and baked the crap out of it and made it into crackers instead... AWESOME flavor. Oh MAN... <3 serious cauly love here. 1/3 of it will be mashed cheesy cauliflower (like mashed potatoes) and the last third is destined for butter and salt and pepper and steaming.

 

YUM.

 

I've been spending a lot of time int he pool and even went out to the beach this weekend. It was relaxing and Oh so nice to get away even if only for a single day. Now it's back to the grind!

 

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~

Earth Day...

So, Earth Day came and went. The kids brought home a slash pine. We planted it. The HOA will love that, I'm sure.

 

The next day I was wandering around and there was a bag of pine trees (cedar? spruce?) sitting in a TRASH BAG y'all!

Check it! Here they are when I got them home:

 

I just couldn't let that happen. No way. No how. It's not so much that I'm crunchy, or super green. I mean, I AM green, but I'm not like over the top green. KWIM? But to throw away trees? Nope, not on my watch.

 

So I diverted my trip home to stop by the BOX store. I grabbed a couple bags of soil. A bunch of pots...

 

I don't get home until 6:30 or 7pm mind you, so I sat outside until the mosquitoes carried us away...

 

 

hehe... I told her I'd still use those pictures of her trying not to get her picture taken. LOL.

 

Anyway - I did stay out until dark and I did sustain a few bites. The end result was...

 

30 potted trees waiting for the next trip to Alabama. We also planted about 20 of them at the other house here. Then we called up everyone we knew around the neighborhood and handed them out. :-) All in all we saved about 70 trees. Works for me!

 

Now, To hit up Google to try to get an ID on them. It may be a while before I can get a good ID, but at least I can get a better idea of what to expect.

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~

FREE! You move it.

HA! If you could. You are welcome to it.

FREE Mulberry tree. YOU move it! Ever bearing. ALWAYS gives plenty of fruit. You'll get sick of it. (Trust me) Excellent for feeding chickens and birds if you have a flock. Will attract squirrels, wild birds, butterflies, other assorted critters. Will also attract people that are curious and/or want to steal your berries. Don't worry. You will have plenty to spare.

HEALTHY tree. Can't keep the stupid thing in check no matter how much you trim it back.Fruit in zone 9 from Feb - May or June and then from Aug - Dec. Prepare to be inundated.

Great for the compost (from cutting back, the fruit tastes fine)

 

Drawbacks include:

Kids like to get mulberry juice on their clothes - it STAINS

(See pic of my fingers after picking them and moving on to blueberries)

It also makes the birds who eat the mulberries - well, their poop turns mulberry colored, too!

Lovely, right? You should see my fence!

And last but not least, The fruit, if you should tire of picking a few cups every.single.day. for months on end? Well. the birds and critters can't keep up with it, so it winds up on the ground

It stains the sand in the sand box pink... well that is kind of cool, but see the first complaint about the kids clothes. It also gets all into the mulch where it is impossible to pick up. That means we are stepping all over it. Guess what THAT means? It means we are inevitably staining up shoes and/or rugs as we traipse back into the house.

 

So you see I am kicking myself in the head for putting in this lovely tree. It gives me fruit, for which I am thankful for - for about 6 weeks. Then I am annoyed. It makes me wonder what I could replace it with. That tree does offer me a LOT of privacy for the window that it is in front of. I just wish I had planted it somewhere else in the yard. :-( 

 

Another case for making absolutely sure that you are putting the right plant int he right place. This plant is NOT in the right place. If it had been place in the back with the other fruit trees, or int he front yard along the fence it wouldn't be on my nerves. Instead I fight with it and the kids lose their playground for a few months a year. Not fair to them.

 

So- FREE mulberry tree! Come And Get IT!

 

See you soon!

 

Barbie~