Guest Post: Tom in Florida

Today's post is from a fellow gardener, currently growing in South Florida (Zone 10).  I hope to have many more just like it from readers and fellow bloggers.  Are you a gardener or Urban Homesteader?  Not sure what an Urban Homesteader is but you bake, preserve food, raise chickens or goats, garden or enjoy DIY projects?  I'm looking for your input!

Sit back, relax and enjoy.  Or if you're like me, read in between the 6 projects you have going all at one time.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I recall my mother taking some seeds from a cantelope and showing me how to plant them. We got our cantelopes, and I was hooked. I was perhaps seven or eight and since then I've have kept a vegetable garden almost every year. Because we were a military family, I've planted gardens in many climates and soil conditions, perhaps none more challenging than here in South Florida. Our first year here I went to buy tomato seedlings in June, and the woman told me I'd have a hard time with tomatoes in the summer. My first lesson in Zone 10. Now I do most of my vegetable growing starting in late fall and over the winter. I don't grow much in the summer except to keep herbs in pots on the shaded front porch through the warmest months.

Photo by Tom

I'm growing my usual line-up now. Lots of tomatoes, both full and grape sized, bell peppers, jalapenos, Swiss chard, several types of parsley, chives, rosemary, basil, and cilantro. This year I'm doing more in pots than I typically do; just seems easier to control the variables this way. My large tomatoes seem a bit off, probably because I started very late -- January -- and because it's been so warm at night, but the grape tomatoes are doing especially well. No problems with the herbs.

Photo by Tom

I'm not sure I qualify as a true organic grower but I avoid all chemicals. For one, I typically use commercially grown seedlings. I try to beef up our sandy soil with grass clippings, cow manure compost, and sometimes a bit of commercial planting soil with no additives and place it directly in the hole when planting. For fertilizer, I use only fish emulsion and fight bugs and disease with a mixture of dish soap (unscented), vegetable oil, and baking soda ( 1 tsp of each in a quart of water). I've used neem oil from time to time but find the homemade mixture to work very well.

Photo by Tom

I avoid the chemical solution to pests because I worry about eventually eating the traces that might be left behind in the food.  Because our water table is so shallow, and because our kids played in the yard when they were children, I also long ago abandoned chemicals to keep my lawn "healthy" As a result, I don't have a lawn so much as a reasonably decent looking carpet of weeds of every type. But when it's mowed, it looks from a short distance like a lawn, lol. The weed lawn also doesn't require watering and the many seeds from the weeds attract lots of birds.

Photo by Tom

If you are interested in posting what you're doing in the garden, what works for you or just a few pictures, please email   mari_backtonature@yahoo.com

If you like this post and would like to see more like it, let us know!

To receive up-to-date posts and information, "follow by email"  or "like" Mary's Heirloom Seeds on Facebook.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~