gardening

Gardening – Southwest Florida Style

My garden is doing so-so. I’m not sure what happened to my carrots – the original ones never came up, the ones I replanted never came up, and now it’s getting too hot for them. I’ll try again towards the end of summer.

My honeydews and watermelons are growing like crazy! If all the watermelons actually make it, we are going to be eating watermelon with all our meals!

Look at that beautiful watermelon!

Hopefully this honeydew makes it. Something keeps munching them. I put a plastic lid under it to help protect it.

Another watermelon! We easily have 8 – we’re going to be eating and sharing a lot if they all make it!

My cantaloupes, not so much. I’ve replanted a couple of them to see if they do any better.

I’ve also replanted a couple gourds as the originals got munched by rabbits. I planted some marigolds near by in hopes of keeping the rabbits away.

Poor dead gourd…it got munched!

Hopefully the rabbits leave these alone!

I also planted some peppers, beans, and catnip. We’ll see how they do. I think my biggest problem is that things need to be watered a lot here in Florida! I’m not so good at remembering to do that…good thing the rainy season is coming soon.

How is your garden growing?

Gardening – Southwest Florida Style

I’m trying my garden again this year. In mid-March (while those of you in the North were still digging out of that white stuff), I cleared a space behind our shed.

Hubby built a frame for me and I filled it with garden soil and manure.

The kids and I love melons – honeydew, cantaloupes, watermelons -so we planted them all. The cantaloupes aren’t here (they can mix with honeydews and the results aren’t very tasty). Here we have honeydews, watermelons, gourds, and carrots (which aren’t doing so well).

The watermelons are taking over! I have to keep steering them towards the poor gourds.
We were so excited to find a little, bitty watermelon…

… and a little honeydew too!

I’m hoping my carrots recover. If not, I’ll replant them. I’m also hoping to get some peas and beans in along the shed wall. I’ll put something up for them to climb. I’d also love to try growing asparagus, garlic, onions, cucumbers, peppers, plus some herbs.

What about you? Do you have a garden?

To Grow a Pineapple

In August, we decided to try growing a pineapple tree from a store bought pineapple.

First, grasp the leaves (carefully!) and twist them off.

Carefully pull the leaves off up about one inch.

As you pull them off, you’ll notice some roots that have been growing.

Fill a pot with your favorite potting soil and make a small hole and set the pineapple top in there.

Gently put the soil around it, but don’t pack it down too hard. The plant will not be very stable so don’t move the pot around too much.

Water it (like the little watering can? That’s what happens when you have kids). Put it in a sunny spot and keep it watered. In a couple weeks it will be rooted and a little stabler in the pot.

For three months it did nothing, except loose most of it’s leaves. We were beginning to think that it was dead. We moved it outside where it would get lots of sun and some rain. Then, just last week we noticed it had sprouted!

You can see the dead leaves (and a rock) on the original plant and then the new plant sprouting up beside it.
Of course it will take 3-4 years before it’s mature enough to bear fruit and then it will only bear one fruit at a time! Have you ever tried to grow a pineapple tree? Did it bear fruit?

Honeydews and Gardening

So, I haven’t mentioned my honeydews in a while…it seems that they need water to grow. Who knew?

I put plastic lids under the melons to keep the from rotting and to keep slugs away.

This one might recover. *fingers crossed*

This one is looking pretty dead.

This one looks great and of course it didn’t flower so there are no melons.

Honeydews need the summer heat and humidity so I’ll try them again in a few months. Never fear, I’ve moved on to my winter gardening idea. We recently got a new recycling can so I’m turning my old ones into raised beds. The one with the marigold has peppers planted and the other one has parsley on one side. I’m planning to put lettuce in the other half. I also plan to water them a little more regularly.

To Grow A Honeydew – Melons??

I went out to check on my honeydew plants yesterday and was excited to find what I think are three itty-bitty melons! Some critter has been happily munching on the leaves though so hopefully it leaves the little melons alone!