Gardening; Marathon Key Style

First, this is a wonderful breakfast/brunch/lunch stop in Marathon. A cozy atmosphere, free wifi, with excellent coffee and menu plus a very friendly waitstaff. 

Now, about the veggie garden... While a little mish-mash in style, this is an excellent example on how to conserve/contain organic soil in a harsh environment. Don't let the green fool you. The Keys "dirt" is every bit an empty as a desert. In fact, there is very little dirt, but limestone from an ancient reef.

This was the only compost I know of in the entire Keys, which is a shame. The bio-load is so minimal that any effort to compost would greatly improve any garden in Monroe County. While I loved seeing this one, I could not help but think of a couple of steps that would greatly improve both the look and efficacy. One - make the compost boxes out of "repurposed" wooden pallets. Four pallets, with wire mesh on the inside and several handles on the sides and maybe a loose pallet on top (to keep the critters out). This design would allow for easy movement and turn over. I also would crush the egg shells a bit more in the kitchen for faster conversion. Still, big time kudos for having the piles.

Dinner - Roasted duck, wild rice and veggies from the garden. The broccoli was so tender it was almost sweet.

I always thought that bees had to get back to the hive before sunset. This one is either drunk on the scent of nectar or too chilled to make it home.

Buds!!! on the baby Irwin (Mango).

My first attempt at vertical gardening.

Winter - The cycle of change

We had to say good bye to our beautiful Amber last Tuesday. With grief, thoughts mash up and unfold in due time. Today's contemplation is that life just keeps cycling on. Everything is in a constant state of change. As I adjust to the silence of her not following me around, I look upon the tomatoes and realize their time is short also. Another bone chilling front pushes down, dumping snow across the eastern coast, snapping the avocado branches, shredding the banana leaves and causing the tropicals to cringe, shrivel and hide. There are reports of dead pythons and iguanas throughout the area. Winter must come for spring to follow.

Miami's (South Florida) climate spins the seasons all around for Zone 11 gardeners. We are celebrating our first fresh tomato as other gardeners lament the end. The garlic that was sneaked in between the broccoli is pushing up and the Bush bean seeds that was over-sowed to empty the packet are poking out in a two leaf formation. The Key Lime is busting out in riot of flowers; it must get it into the ground. For each end of a cycle there comes the beginning of a new one.

Mother Nature keeps her balance. Ebb and flow, life and death, love and grief, attachment and surrender, full moon and no moon, the dharma wheel keeps rolling.

I miss you and love you, my sweet sweet pup.

Chinese Cabbage or is it Napa?

Well, there are several problems when one decides to run to the local mega home store to get a flat of seedlings.  The moment of impatience is rewarded with unknown varieties (tag reads one thing, what grows up is something else), weakened plants and some infestations that are new to your small part of the planet. Then there is the social conscious of all things sacrificed for mega marts. Sometimes I just need to learn the lesson again.

1) Everything is ready at once. ACK!!!! Hello, Kimchi Recipe. No, I think I might experiment with some Polish cabbage rolls - Gołąbki,  or perhaps Sauerkraut.

2) Aphids!!!!!!!!!!! What! Really? All female and born pregnant with a 20 day gestation. No Way!
Aphid - Wikipedia

Ok, lesson learned. More seed packets from Seeds of Change or Abundant Life Seed Company .

January 2010 continued

Happy Self Irrigating Planters

Pigeon Pea tree

Very late season Banana

The ohh-soo- delicious Starfruit AKA Carambola

January - Come and Gone

This is the second Calamondin tree here. The first was a graft that my grandfather gave to me long before he passed away. The Citrus @$!!#@ folks came and slayed five beautiful fruit bearing trees. I was willing to cull four. Truthfully the Grapefruit and Key Lime displayed some early signs of the Canker. However, I was willing to battle hard for the gorgeous and symptom free Calamondin. Alas, the dirty dogs waited till I left, slayed the trees, stoled the fruit, left debris and (worse of all) terrorized my 2 German Shepherds. Yes, I spoke with the local PD, who the representative from AG swore they worked in conjunction with. No, PD was in no way involved and the damage was done. No recourse was left. For the pain and grief, a stupid $200 gift card from Walmart (KACK!!!!!!!!!) to replace with non citrus. I couldn't bring myself to walk out there for a year. Mangos fell to the ground, wasted. (Sin of sins) Then, just prior to the South Florida ban being removed, I smuggled a tiny Calamondin across the Countyline from exotic and remote Volusia Co. (current land of my parents and grandma). Something felt healed. Alas, this tree struggled so. Slow to grow, beaten down by Katrina and Wilma, leaves gnarled by leaf miners, crowded out by a slightly more aggressive Starfruit, I was sure, I would need to cull the tree and give up the signature flavor of my family. Then this year, it bore its first true crop. Happy Me!!!!! Calamondin Martinis for everyone.



I'll let the photos speak for themselves. It is the most wonderful time to grow food in Miami. Almost effortless. ;-)

Regrouping in December

Whew.....it has been a long time. A quick recap of the summer production - the tomatoes were a complete failure, in ground and in SIPs, the herbs did good in the SIPs, only the hard core tropicals produced. Planted a pretty sunflower in the old soil in the Earthboxes. Will plan to do that again, next summer, as it was nice to see the multi-flowers peeking around the corner. No, for the most part, all gardening efforts were abandoned.

On the positive side, last year I made an effort to collect seeds and what a pleasant surprise to find all the little zip lock bags in great shape. So much to grow. A new idea for this year is to slip in some thai, purple and lemon basil all over the front yard to see how well they can survive/thrive in a drier environment. They all bloomed beautifully last year. How nice it would be to start making the front yard edible too.

We did get two Jackfruits for the first time this year. Will post those pictures later. The Sugar Apple (sweetsop) put out quite a few fruits. The banana continued to grow.

Fast forward to this week (and ooohhh, sooo late) the garden plot has been expanded, tilled and a fresh winter crop planted. To be fair, it was way too hot in October to put anything in the ground, much less want too. As of today, 2 types of green beans, 3 type of carrots, collards, 2 types of spinach, okra, leeks, scallion, and 2 types of peppers are officially in the ground. The Earthboxes were done about 2 weeks ago and the basil, oregano and Italian parsley have found their way into the marinera tonight.

With a new computer, new camera and a new garden....let's see how HomeGrown in Miami Springs does. Enjoy.