Finally returning to gardening

After an unusually cold winter (which probably isn't done yet), we're finally ready to start gardening again. Will has been involved with a great school garden project and he's really taken an interest in it. We're starting this year with our Earth Box. We love them and think they're great - although my last couple crops have been terrible out of them (probably the gardeners fault, not the plants).

This year, I bought two tomato plants to go in it - a Big Boy and an Early Girl. I specifically bought them so it would be a boy for the boy and a girl for the girl.

Here is the empty Earth Box. It has a new PVC pipe because Tebow ate the last one.


The kids with their plants.


Will planting his little tomato. He really just wants to water it every day with the pvc pipe, but I forgot to take a picture of him doing that.


And, the finished project. We put it right on the porch so that we have to walk by it every time we come out the door. That should help the gardener (me) out some.


And, yes, that is a big fertilizer buggy in the background in case you were wondering. It's in the midst of repair for the farm, but should soon be headed back to the barn. I think it's a little big for my garden.

Fall is (sorta) here...time for the veggie garden!

Fall has finally arrived in Florida (kinda). Temps have been in the high to mid 80s all week. And, the humidity is still brutal...but I've never known a day in Florida when the humidity hasn't been brutal.

Anyway, we finally got around to putting the fall vegetable garden in the ground. I'm a little late in getting started this year, so we planted mostly store-grown seedlings and not as many seeds as we have in the past. It's actually helped me a lot. In the past, I have a tendency to "overplant" my seeds (and not by just a little) and then I have trouble thinning them. Having seedlings really limited what I put in the ground. And because I didn't grow my own, I didn't have 10 million seedlings of any one thing.

My garden helpers were out in force with us.

Run Tebow, Run! Throw a jump pass! ... Wait are we watching Florida football or the lab puppy? I forget - they both barrel ahead at full force.


Will directing Kaity in the fine art of turning up soil.


And, actually helped himself. We turned everything up first and then added a couple bags of new potting soil to refresh and fill in the beds.


Will's really getting into this vegetable gardening thing. But, it's only cause he can use tools like shovels. What a boy.


Kaity planting the pepper seedling. She's trying to clip off the plastic part of the pot like I was doing and is a little frustrated that I keep interrupting her to take pictures.


Any guesses on the next garden task? How about irrigation? Until then, John will water by hand. He's a better farmer than I am and actually remembers to water. Oh, and here are the finished beds. Vegetable gardens look so much better with flowers in them, don't you agree?


This bed has a straight neck squash plant which I'm going to try to trellis, lettuce, collards, and mums. The rows behind the bed have more collards and broccoli (I ran out of room in the beds. Remember what I was telling you about overplanting?)


This bed has three varieties of tomatoes, two varieties of peppers, a few lettuce and some mum. John's watering in the squash (butternut and acorn) and pole bean seeds which are planted behind this bed.


Until we're able to put up a real fence around the garden, we had to make do with an invisible fence for the dogs. They love the garden, upturned soil, and easy claim to veggies. I'm not having any of that this year.

Service Gardening

My 4-H club has been given a great opportunity - installing and maintaining a butterfly garden at a local library! My kids are so excited. They love the butterflies and the opportunity to do something for the community. We'll be able to teach our kids about giving back to the community and helping out where you can. This will be a long-term service project for the club. They'll be responsible for maintaining for a long time to come.

I went to visit the library and sketched an outline of what the garden looks like. We're also working with our county horticulture agent, Ms. Wendy.


Here are the plants we'll be asking for donations for.

Nectar Plants
--Fire bush
--Milkweed
--Gaillardia
--Coreopsis
--Mist Flower
--Porterweed
--Tropical Sage
--Snow Square Stem
--Fire Spike
--Pentas
--Mexican Sunflowers
--Zinnias

Host Plants
--Passion vine
--Parsely
--Milkweed
--Cassia
--Wild Cherry Tree
--Wild Lime or Citrus Tree

I'll keep you updated on the progress of the garden and the learning that my club kids are getting.

Gardening Through Books

As I've been researching secret gardens, I came across a neat article by the National Gardening Association - Planting a Love for Literature. I really like some of the ideas mentioned in this article. I've already used the JMG Literature in the Garden curriculum (which by the way is some of the best curriculum I've seen so far), but that's more on a book by book basis with small activities. I like the idea of reading the Beatrix Potter books and then getting my kids to help in the vegetable garden. Especially since we just got a couple 4-H rabbits. I could see them identifying with the characters in the book also. Peter Rabbit is one of my all time favorite characters and I hope to be able to pass on that love to them.

Container Gardening with Kids

We had our first 4-H meeting of the year this week and invited Tom Wichman to be the guest speaker. He's our state Master Gardener coordinator and always does great presentations with the kids. We did container gardening with dianthus flowers. It was great - the project was easy and the kids got to take home something that was ready to go. If you've got kids at home, container gardening is an easy and immediate project.

Tom's giving an overview of plants here.














One of our older members was a big help showing the younger ones how to plant.














All the kids with their finished container gardens.














Originally, we had wanted to do pineapple plant containers with the kids. Normally, we go to the local grocery store and ask the produce manager to save the tops of the pineapples they cut up. Unfortunately, Dole no longer ships pineapples with tops on them. We tried two other grocery stores, but guess who supplies their pineapples? Dole. So, I guess this means no more pineapple containers for all the classes and 4-H groups who do this. I am going to write a letter to Dole and ask them if there is anyway we can get pineapple tops another way. Kids love this project and it would be a shame to never be able to do it again.

Welcome to Garden Living!

Welcome to the Garden Living blog. I'll be posting my thoughts about gardens and outdoor living here, as well as, recommendations from University of Florida horticulture experts.

I've also recently moved to our family farm. So, I'm working on turning a cow pasture into a wonderful, outdoor garden living space. I'll keep you updated on my progress and welcome any comments, thoughts, and recommendations you may have.

I hope you enjoy the blog and give a little thought to living in your garden space. Happy gardening!
Emily