Kara's Garden

Borrowing from Gardening Fool, I just had to repost this link.

www.whatsonyourfood.org

This site will tell you what pesticides are commonly found on different kinds of commercially available produce. It will definitely make you think about starting a veggie garden of your own...

I checked on the parsley today, and it is even more stubby than yesterday. These guys are making short work of my little herbs. I have both the large green spotted caterpillars, which are older, and the little black ones with a white stripe.

Here they are munching on my parsley.


When these caterpillars get upset (I don't know what upsets a caterpillar really, other than bugging it... get it? Ugh, that one was bad...) they put out these little orange 'horns' and excrete a musk that smells bad. I didn't smell anything, but this guy is obviously not a happy camper...

Today I was meandering through the garden, contemplating its destruction. I was thinking about what to pull out when, and feeling a little sad. Then I saw my flat leaf parsley plant! The day before yesterday, no lie, this guy was practically a bush. I checked my curly leaf parsley, same thing!
Get out the insecticide? NO WAY. These are Black Swallowtail caterpillars!I remember seeing one a week or so ago, floating around looking kind of droopy. She must have laid her eggs! Thank goodness I haven't had time to spray the garden (not that the parsley gets much spraying)! When these guys 'grow up,' they will look like this gorgeous butterfly (this picture is from www.butterflygardeningandconservation.com). I even pulled Carl up from the couch to check out our little chewers!

In Master Gardener training, I heard that these caterpillars can decimate a parsley plant in just a few days. I thought they were exaggerating, but they weren't! This plant was huge just a few days ago.

Black swallowtails like parsley and dill for their eggs. Other butterflies use different plants, for example the Monarch will only lay eggs on milkweed plants, because that is the only thing their caterpillars will eat. I had already removed my dill because it was running to seed- I should have kept it!

Butterflies and caterpillars are sort of like the 'canary in the coal mine' when it comes to ecological conservation. They are very sensitive to small environmental changes, so environmentalists use them as an example of what can happen because of global warming, pollution, and more. I sure hope I get to see all of these babies develop into pretty butterflies!

Well, I finally decided to give this whole canning thing a try!

Down here in Zone 10b, where the summer is so hot you can fry an egg on your FACE, my poor little vegetable garden is starting to die off. Since I can't look forward to fresh jalapenos, I'm going to 'put them up' so we can use them for 'deer nuggets.' I'll post the recipe when the first deer is killed this fall!

So, I read online all about canning, and then I found the instructions right on the back of the Ball jar container. Duh. But, Ball does have a nice website that has some great recipes for pickles and things. Looks like I'll have more to do this fall when I start the next garden!

Basically (it seems), you make a recipe for canning, put it in the jar, cook the full jars according to that recipe, take them out and TA DA! Canned food! Obviously, that is the condensed version (get it? HA! Sorry, I couldn't help myself).

I went all over the web trying to find a recipe for putting up jalapenos, but to no avail. Finally I came across how to preserve peperonchinis, which seem sorta like jalapenos, so I used that recipe. It was really, really simple- 2 cups water, 2 cups vinegar, and a little salt. Cook that just below boiling point, then fill hot jars with fresh jalapenos (I sliced mine in half, or you can slit them so the liquid can get inside the pepper), pour the hot vinegar mixture over the top leaving about 1/4 inch from the top of the jar. Put the lids on, then boil the jars for 15 minutes. Remove from heat, let them stand overnight (at least) without touching them, since the heat can make the glass fragile. And there you go!

Now, my first batch came out RIDICULOUSLY hot. I mean, fall on the floor and roll around spicy. Even Carl couldn't eat them. So I packed them up and gave them to my dad as an early father's day gift (love ya, Dad!). So, if you don't want fire engine hot, REMOVE THE SEEDS before you put up hot peppers!

I've been worried about this little guy. He hasn't been very happy since I got him, and I've been watching and waiting for some sign of life from the poor guy.

If you look at this photo, you'll see the sad old leaves that are cracking and just looking generally pathetic. But, if you look a little closer, you can see the new leaves starting to come out along the tops!
The instructions that were sent with this plant said not to repot it until there was new growth. I know it is time to move it, but it was so sickly for so long that I'm afraid to move it!

Miracle fruit, as I said in my previous post, is a small red berry that, after eating it, will make anything else you eat taste sweet for 15 minutes to an hour. It will take this little guy another year before it will produce any berries, but I feel much better about it now that the new leaves are coming out!

While I'm not so sure these guys will survive the summer, right now I have a rather humongous pumpkin growing along the back of my rocks. I planted the vines along the edge of the garden, thinking I would train them to grow along the rocks. I planted 4 vines, thinned out two, and this is what is left over. I can't imagine what it would look like if I hadn't pulled the others out! Right now, the vine wraps all the way around the entire tomato bed. Can you see the pumpkin hiding under the leaves here?

Our friend, Jethro, doesn't understand why we're growing yellow pumpkins. After looking around online, I discovered that most pumpkins are yellow this time of year. They won't become orange until August. Here is a closer photo of the pumpkin.

This month, I will be applying a nice fertilizer to the vine, as well as a fungicide to keep the pumpkins from getting icky. I am concerned about insects, so I'll keep up a little Sevin dust application here and there, as well as some Bt to keep them away.

Somehow in the last few weeks, we have become Banana connoisseurs.

It all began at a garage sale. A very sweet couple had a banana tree for sale that they 'thought' was actually a plantain. It was only $5, so we scooped that baby up and brought it home.

Later that morning we saw a sign for a plant sale and were drawn in. There we found a banana tree for $18 that was called an Ice Cream Banana. Well, with a name like that... home it came.

Last week, Carl went to BJ's and stumbled across this lovely red banana tree for a mere $10. Who could walk away from that deal? This one is currently my favorite. I love the variegated, or multi-colored, leaves. A friend of ours also has a red banana tree, and she says hers produces small, red fruit! She did warn me, though, that it wasn't as tasty as a regular banana, but I've read rave reviews online. Red bananas are mostly grown as foilage plants because of their beautiful leaves.

In keeping with our current theme, Carl and I have decided that a banana grove would look great out in the front pasture. We're going to collect as many varieties as we can find. Right now, though, they are all tucked in next to the water spicket along the fence line, because it leaks and it will keep the bananas nice and moist.

Bananas need a moist and highly fertile soil in order to grow. They cannot withstand freezing temperatures (looks like we need some more extra sheets this winter!). In South Florida, they will require fertilizing 4-6 times a year (3-1-6 is reccommended here) and regular pruning.

All that hard work means we can have more banana bread, though, like the loaves I baked on Monday! A very simple recipe I found online here:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
2. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

This is a great recipe- I made enough banana bread for the whole neighborhood, and everyone has raved about it!

Ok, I'll admit it. I haven't been as good about cleaning the weeds out of my beds the last few weeks. I've been busy, the garden is almost ready to go to bed for the summer and I just haven't made it a priority.

Last week, I pulled the cherry and roma tomato vines out, because they were producing fruit that baked before it could ripen. I thought I had picked up all of the little dropped tomatoes, but when I took a closer look...

I pulled the peas out as well, because they had dried up. I took a closer look there...

Looks like they're all ready for the fall!

I have been trying to get my hands on some mulberries ever since I read about them in Matt's blog (www.watchmyfoodgrow.com).

There are two main varieties I have heard about in Florida- the red mulberry tree and black mulberry tree. I, of course, was too excited when I got the cuttings to ask which kind I was getting! According to many sources, however, both will produce nice fruits which can either be eaten right off the tree, made into jam or jelly, or even mulberry wine!

I was lucky enough to get my hands on 3 large cuttings- two thin and one nice and thick. I trimmed the leaves from the cuttings, and re-cut the ends to expose good wood, then dipped the ends into Miracle Grow rooting hormone. Then I filled a bucket with a little water and stuck the ends in, and put the bucket in a shady spot away from the dog and much foot traffic.

This kind of propagation is called cutting (yes, it's very creative) and can be used on many kinds of plants, usually 'succulents,' or plants that have soft wood. I have also taken a cutting from the IFAS Extension Office of an evergreen frangipani.

Frangipani's are outside my area of expertise because a) they don't grow in Tallahassee, where I am from and b) they don't make food. Also called a plumeria, frangipanis are native to Central America, Mexico, Venezuela and southern India. They are really pretty trees with large dark green leaves and various colored flowers. The evergreen Frangipani I have will eventually become a medium sized tree with pure white flowers.

Some of you have such dirty minds...

Here are the latest pictures of my honeydew and cantaloupe melons!

The honeydew is actually doing well, despite the heat and recent lack of attention (I'm battling the pickleworms right now). It has put on about an inch in diameter in the last week! I planted this guy for Carl. I hope we can get at least one large fruit out of the vine!

And here is one of the two cantaloupe melons we have growing. The vine looks terrible, but I think it's just busy making fruit. You can see the netting on this one- for some reason it isn't coming all the way around. I'm going to wait it out and see if it's any good! These haven't put on as much size as the honeydew, but I have my fingers crossed!

My soil is super alkaline. Like, baking soda alkaline. It's a wonder my poor plants have survived this long!

Veggies need soil with a pH of between 5 and 7, closer to 5. That level allows the needed micro nutrients (manganese, copper, iron, etc.) to enter the plants and help them produce. If your level is far above or below this range, your plants are going to have trouble getting these essentials. In Florida we have generally high pH levels because of the amount of limestone in our soils.

My soil? Almost a 9.

What can I do? Well, according to many sources, not much. The most common application is elemental sulfur, which will change the pH, but over time. Another suggestion was sphagnum peat moss, but since my level is so high, it would take a lot of peat.

A home remedy suggested to me was adding used coffee grounds to the garden. I don't drink coffee, so I ran down to the local Starbucks and was delighted to find they will package up used coffee grounds for you free of charge! So, I have sprinkled grounds into the tomato and bean beds to see how they respond, and I coated the ground around my blueberries. I hope it makes them happy!

As this is my first real 'outdoor' garden planted in real live dirt (and not pots or indoors) I am faced with my first summer garden plan. In zone 10b, many vegetables and fruits take one look at the summer sun and slowly turn to a pile of compost. Tomatoes that thrive in February and November take one look at June and turn their leaves in surrender.

Some plants will survive the heat. I'm not afraid for my citrus or tropical fruit trees- they will hold on just fine. I understand there are some veggies that will make it as well- okra, corn and sweet potatoes are a few. Some hot pepper varieties thrive in the sun, too.

I think what I will do is pull all of the plants (!) from both the bean and tomato beds once I have harvested all I can, then turn the soil and put in some green manure. I'll keep the center bed for corn, okra, and sweet potatoes.

What is green manure? It is a crop planted just to turn into the soil and allow to decompose and fortify the soil. Funnily enough, sunflowers (as mentioned in my post yesterday) are a recommended green manure crop for summer! I have also had suggestions of cow peas and aeschynomene (photo at right), another legume crop.

What do you think? Do you think sunflowers are a good green manure crop? Take the poll and let me know what to plant!

I was always curious, somewhere in the back of my mind, of where sunflower seeds come from. I mean, to look at them- there's no fruit, and the sunflower heads are so big that it looks like it would only produce one big seed! Where do those little baseball game snack packs come from?

As I said in my previous post, sunflowers are actually lots of little flowers working together. The large sunflower itself is a composite flower, made of lots of little florets. The little florets inside the head are called disc florets, and they produce the sunflower seeds.

So, if this is true, I should be able to snack on my own sunflower heads, right? Tree Farm Bob said just to wait until they start to wilt, then rub the inside of the heads and the yellow florets would fall off, showing the seeds.

Once again, Tree Farm Bob is right! Here is a small flower, and you can see the black seeds showing through.

I had one large flower head, and I actually picked it a little earlier and let it dry in the barn for a few days (to protect it from the birds). Not sure if it made a difference in the number of seeds though- this flower came from a stalk with only one head, the other was one with multiple flowers. The stalks with multiples produce smaller flowers that (in my experience) don't last quite as long as the ones with one big flower. Most of the seed pods were fully formed on this one, but some were too small.

However, as you can see, after picking the sunflower clean, I have enough seeds for a nice snack! I don't think I'm going to eat these though. I'm going to dry the seeds out, then plant them. Imagine how many seeds I will have in my first crop! Now, if I can only get Carl to stop mowing behind the lake...