Airboat Ride on The Everglades

Over the weekend both my young men were at a loose end for the day. Thinks mom.......Ah ha! It must be time for an "adventure!"

Since my youngest son (17 yrs old now) is enlisting next year into the US Air Force, this mom has to make the most of these cherished family outings while both young men are still at home.

If you like natural scenery, see a previous blog of mine, regarding a previous "adventure" we went on.
Grassy Waters Preserve

So we went out to the Loxahatchee Airboat Tour/Rides, located west of Hillsboro Blvd., in Broward County, FL. USA. It was an hours ride south from where we live and frankly, I thought we'd never get there...but it was well worth it!

Our guide "Dave" was great. He would turn the boat around so everyone got an opportunity to see or photograpah a wildlife incident. Dave was a former trapper for Palm Beach County and had lots of information to share about wildlife and in particular - alligators.

Click below link for more info.
Loxahatchee Airboat Tours

Leaving the Dock

Beautiful Scenery

Wildlife Sightings Abound

This Gator Has His "Grumpy Face" On Because His Sun Snooze Was Rudely Interrupted

A Male American Alligator Sunning Himself While Casually Protecting His "Turf"

Our Young Men In Front Of The Airboat

You might wonder "why are those folks wearing jackets in Florida when it's 70F outside?" Let me tell you - for us thin-blooded Floridians 70 is pretty cold, especially with a very cool wind blowing from the West to the East.

After disembarking we visited their cool little museum which housed lots of stuffed animals including a very large alligator, an otter, a lynx, a bobcat, red squirrels (in USA?), and a raccoon whom appeared to be sleeping soundly and draped over a branch at the moment of his demise.

Ah, but was it worth the money? If you love nature = yes. If you love scenic water views = yes. If  - when the boat stops - you can appreciate the vastness of a natural area (albeit nowadays a "managed" natural area) and hearing musical bird calls, you can ditto that.

March's Yields - A Veggie Update Part 2

As a follow up to my previous blog:
March's Yields - A Veggie Update Part 1

After much consideration this is what I eventually planted in the empty raised veggie border- top left.

Back in November, when the daytime temperatures were between 75 to 79 F, I planted slips of onions and cauliflower transplants. In January I planted cabbages which are still maturing. Now it's beginning to warm up again the cauliflowers are almost done.

From the Far End, Cauliflowers, Cabbages and Onions, along with a lone Tomato.

Onions

Onions take "forever" to mature-form bulbs, I'll probably harvest them in May, I just have to be patient.......tick tock.....

Cauliflower "White Cloud"

I tied off the Cauliflowers with their own leaves - "blanching" - to keep the heads white, otherwise they discolor and seem visually unappetizing to eat. Cauliflowers have very shallow roots, they don't need a big space to thrive in....but they do like lots of water.

If you want to try Blanching......as soon as the head starts to show through the leaves, gather the outer leaves to cover the head and secure with string, twine or an elastic band.

Zone 10 you are probably too late to put Cauliflowers in even as transplants they prefer temperatures under 75 degrees F. Ditto for Cabbages.

A Blanched Cauliflower..but not quite perfect

Compare Unblanched on left with Blanched on Right

Cabbages:

Cabbages

I don't recall the type of cabbage I planted, and I'm hoping they don't all bolt at once now the weather is warming up rapidly.

Northern Florida: You might still have time regarding Cauliflower, and Cabbages.

A stray tomato seed took root in among the onions, and I didn't have the heart to pull it out. I had read that you are not supposed to plant tomatoes with onions, but so far both onions and tomato plant are thriving. Truth is the "tomato - not - supposed - to - be - growing - with - the onions" is actually doing better than the other tomatoes. When the cabbages are done, I might put Squash in this planter box.

Elsewhere in the garden I am trying to grow some strawberries. I never seem to get to them before the birds and squirrels. Currently I am nursing one litl' flower and check on it every day!

One Little Strawberry Flower

Next up: Zone 10 You Still Have Time To Get These Veggies in!

March's Yields - A Veggie Update - Part 1

Remember this?

From my previous blog: click here -  Good Grief Call Yourself A Gardener?"

What a Mess!

And then my son and I put in the raised garden bed......
click here -  October Yields - A Veggie Preview

Putting the finishing touches on the raised veggie bed

Close up March 2013:

From the opposite direction:

What did I plant in there? Stay tuned for my Veggie Update - Part 2.
If I can do this, you can too!

Our New Adopted Family Member - LuLu

Lens Wide Open

 
Discoveries are made in a close up scrutiny of ordinary photos.

It's surprising what the camera reveals.

Life clings and thrives wherever it can.








Life supports life.....

Tiny, unassuming flowers exhibit astonishing detail and beauty in their design.

Click on below photo for more detail - a convention of pale, little aliens perhaps? Nanoo, Nanoo...

Vibrant color and detail abound in the often overlooked.

Shortleaf Blazingstar

Note the 'orchid' like flower in the top white flower in the photo on right.

A teeny-tiny spider guards its little slice of Aster territory closely (I didn't notice the spider until I uploaded the photos).

Miniature cypress leaves spring forth from pods.








Don't you just love nature?

October Yields - A Veggie Preview

Hello South Florida!! Finally cooler days! Two weeks ago it was 88-90 F during the day, and now we are looking happily at anywhere from 73-81 F - Makes all the difference to getting out there and getting grubby  - but not too sweaty - in the garden. It's worth mentioning that in my gardening journal last year I was noting by October 3rd, low 80sF during the day at low 70sF at night.

The Bell Peppers are thriving with lots of buds and maturing peppers. I have both in large pots, and they've had several good waterings with very diluted epsom salts and a few big dollops of fish emulsion. Peppers were bought as transplants a month or so ago from a nursery and they are already producing, so I'm very happy about that. 

Whitefly infestation was prevalent for a while, but I prevailed with daily brushing the affected leaves with Diatomaceous earth powder.

We now have three raised vegetable beds installed. The first has Broccoli (front of box), Blue Lake Pole Beans (middle netting trellis) and Eggplants (back of box supported with tomato cages). There are some Marigolds (tagetes) in there, the flowers of which I feed to my conures. All thriving with all the rainfall we've been getting. The Broccoli I am anticipating harvesting for Thanksgiving Dinner.

I have yet to decide what to put in the empty box since it's still cooking. I lined the bottom with a thick covering of cardboard boxes and newspapers, then topped it off with garden soil, bonemeal, home-made compost etc. I sprinkled about 2lbs of regular white sugar in with that mix, because apparently sugar kills nematodes. The third box is on the right out of view finder range. It's loaded with different varieties of tomatoes. Cherokee, Brandywine, Heatwave and Lemon Boy. (Heatwave not doing well).

Ichiban Eggplant with Blue Lake Pole Beans

Blue Lake Pole Beans

We're harvesting the runners and eggplants. My bean yield isn't tremendous, but then only my husband and I eat them. I top and tail the beans, cut them in half and lightly boil them, they have a nice flavor with a little crunch to them. I yield about 4-5 a day.

Here's something to watch out for. I noticed that the flower production on the Eggplant had stopped, and whole lotta chewing was going on. The chewing may be flea beetles, or lubber grasshoppers and the bud drop due to lack of water. A closer examination of the leaves showed they had been folded over. Opening the leaf revealed what I think is a baby hornworm. I picked the folded leaves off and put them in the bird feeder. Other gardeners suggest using reflective mulch under eggplants to deter flea beetles. I used some old CD's instead, and I bet you could use aluminum foil too.

While I was trawling the web for insect identification I came across this great website.
Click here:
A Great Website with tips for Growing Eggplant

Disappointingly the Early Girl tomato I was so enthralled with, only produced one little wormy tomato and then the whole plant wilted and died. An examination of the roots showed no nematode damage. Maybe it was still too hot out. I'll give this variety of tomato one more shot, before I write it off -- after all -- ripe tomatoes in November would be nice to have.

Cuke flowers

The Burpless Cuke on the left (big leaves) shares a pot with Cherry Belle Radishes. The Cuke is now about 3 feet high and already producing fruit. Someone recommended putting onions skin in the pot to deter Cuke borers. I have done this and can report that - so far, so good.

Don't skimp on the water with Cukes, they go downhill very quickly if the soil isn't kept moist. I should be able to harvest the Cherry Belle radishes soon.

In the meantime I'll just enjoy the Monarch butterflies that, along with the Giant Swallowtails, have returned en-masse, looking no doubt for the butterfly garden I have so carelessly neglected over our hot, humid and weedy summer.

Good Grief! Call Yourself A Gardener?

Well as it turns out... actually yes....

The story goes like this. In the 1850’s one of my distant ancestors left County Wicklow, Ireland and arrived in Pembrokeshire, South Wales, where he was hired as a groundsman on a large estate with formal gardens. He was called thereafter ‘Gardener Davies.’ (probably working alongside 'Gardener Williams,' 'Gardener Llewellyn,' etc., well you get the point).

I’m quite sure ‘Gardener’ would not have let the estate under his shared charge slide into the disarray that my yard is in. I mean seriously.. was I asleep or in a trance or something? Those darn fairies.

Left photo showcases a simply delightful collection of weeds the area  of which used to be part of my seasonal tomato patch.

You can see that my shovel means business, it’s practically quivering with indignation.....

4 hours and two gallons of water later (me not the garden). I think I might have shed a 1lb or two, or maybe gained it, water is heavy after all. 

Let me tell you there was a BIG spider in there carrying around her egg sack on her abdomen. But hey, at least I had a platoon of lizards helpfully picking out the roaches and bugs as I unearthed them. I mean thank goodness for that, I though I was going to have to eat them myself. 

Afterwards with raised bed installed

I only left a Milkweed plant standing - because it’s part of my - ahem - butterfly garden........Oh I’m sorry, wait a minute I can’t remember where that is now.

Some kind of butterfly garden that is!

Oh there it is......

....... I know, I know, I’m just disgusted with myself. I'll go put a burlap sack over my head or something.

I have a lot of work to do.

Butterfly Garden 2010-2011

Above: Here’s my butterfly garden two years ago - taken from opposite direction. Complete with puddling bowl for the Monarch butterflies, who apparently forgot their water wings, since there was no takers for puddling.

All that digging and weed pulling quite wore me out, but then I had an Alfred Hitchcock moment.....no not Psyco silly....

One by one some visitors silently arrived..........

Creeping Closer

American Black Vultures. They eventually totaled about 6 in number. The branch they are sitting on is about 15-20 feet off the ground to give you an idea of how big they are.

"Now look guys, when I said earlier that I was "dying of thirst", it was you know a figure of speech, I didn't really mean to suggest that I was, you know, dying or anything....let's be reasonable about this......"

Pine Tree Magic

Over the years we have lost quite a few of our Pine Trees. When we moved in here 11 years ago we counted out 100 pine trees. Then the Hurricanes of 2003-2004 took out a fair number followed by a nuisance pine beetle that bores holes into the trees and then the tree sickens and dies. Unfortunately this leaves tree stumps all over the yard which take forever to rot away and pose a real hazard when we are riding the mower.

While I am out and about weeding I am always coming across tiny pine seedlings that are invariably growing too close to the house. So over a number of years I have scooped the little guys out and started growing them in pots.

It took me years to figure out: (1) Out of the whole garden for some bizarre reason they will only grow in pots in this partially shaded spot, where they share space with large birds of paradise  (2) They do not like to be watered regularly (3) No fertilizer (4) I have to be sure to incorporate into their pot plenty of the original soil they were found growing in (5) Remove the weeds growing in their pot, but damage the tap root and they're done for (6) They die every time I try to move them from a small pot to a bigger one (7) I can however transplant them safely to their new, permanent growing space when they are approximately 5 inches high.

The top photo is a healthy transplant - about 14" high and a year old now. The bottom photo is about 6" high and just recently transplanted from its pot. They thrive with the pine mulch around them. It's much the same as if they were growing in a hardwood forest.

To hide the old stumps left behind, I have found that if I dig out enough of the rotting stump, I can wiggle the new transplant right in there. Their strong tap root will go through the wood left behind by the old tree and they really take off then.

It will take them a few more years to get to this height (below).

But eventually - give or take 10-15 years - we will have this to look forward to.......