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And here are my new babies for the backyard: bok choy, hot and sweet peppers, red-veined sorrels, green French sorrels, oregano, Flora-Dade tomato, Zinnia, celosia, blanket flowers, and calendula.

Everything is in.

But I have to spread some whole cinnamon sticks around these plants. The neighbor’s cat has already dug up and spoiled tomato, lettuce, and tiny saplings of tung ho.

Even though two beds are almost broken, I still have two beds to grow more food. I also have some good soil to get started. The only thing I need to work out is how to keep cats and iguanas out. I have some chicken wire lying around in the garage. I need to borrow tools to set it up one of the weekends.

I think Amrita the Mango Tree is still not well. Not too many flowers this year. Going to wait another few weeks before I get her some fertilizer.

Here is the plan for bringing more greenery for native and local friends, like bees, butterflies, and birds in the backyard. Plant native ground covers sunshine mimosa and frog fruit.

As usual, the challenge is going to be finding a nursery nearby. So far, the closest nursery is in Sarasota, a 3-hour drive from home. I need to go plant hunting over the weekend in local nurseries first. Not all of them have updated websites reflecting their current stock.

Dormant (late fall-winter) and flourishing (spring-summer-early fall) stages of sunshine mimosa in my garden.

I love it in the dormant state, too.

Hmpf! Because of rain and work, I couldn't shop for cinnamon sticks in bulk. But today, I am going to make time for it. The cat has again dug up. This time, she went for bokchoy and pepper plants.

Cinnamon kept cat away last night. Phew.

I have a lot of old seeds and multiple varieties of seeds for the same things. For example, I have four varieties of Nasturtium and some five-six types of marigold. This year’s goal is to use all of the old seeds. If they grow, awesome. If not, no problem.

That's why I planted some of those seeds today.

Today, I planted seeds of nasturtiums, blanket flowers, red amaranth, green amaranth, and tinda (an Indian variety of squash).

I am also growing something only because one of my friends misses her food in China. I can't grow everything, so I am starting with growing her favorite green tung ho. Once they are ready, I plan to send them to her. I love doing this! I want to grow friends’ favorite food and flowers. I used to ask people, but nobody ever took it seriously. So, this time, I am happy because somebody genuinely shared something with me.

Preparing ginger and turmeric for planting later in the evening. Both are store bought. Turmeric took a long time to sprout.

I was watching this video about burying kitchen scraps in the garden. I have been doing this for the last year. https://youtu.be/yQFB9M2UdK0?si=GakCpf--Nrnu5aMQ

But this guy also buried dead birds that were part of his farm. I don’t have birds, but I have a lot of bird feathers that birds drop. Today, I learned that there is something called feather meal fertilizer made using feathers. In a nutshell, organic matter seems to work well for the soil.

Having good seeds is not enough. The game changer is to build your soil. Let it breathe, grow, and develop its underground community (mycorrhizal fungi).

Red containers have ginger and turmeric. Black grow bags have potato eyes. It’s been years since I have grown potatoes. So I don’t know how successful I am going to be.

In desperation, insanity, or just for fun, I spread old wildflower seeds on this bed. :) In another few weeks, we will see what happens here. Either it will be a huge success or a colossal failure. Either way, I won't have it another way. This is my experiment bed this year. It has poor soil and minimum plant food, but many old branches are in the base.

Tung Ho seedlings are doing well so far.

#TIL that, like tomatoes, potatoes are also determinate or indeterminate types. Whether you need to hill them depends on the type of potato. I am trying to grow enough potatoes to last six months. This is very timely information.

I have to change my strategy now. I got potato seeds for the first time. The plan is to grow them and save some seeds for the next season. If I do it right, I might not have to buy potato seeds again.

This is a five month old video of us discussing birds and berries. The reason I leave the berries on tree is they are good source of nutrition for birds in winter. Even today, this tree with dried berries and almost bald branches attract most number of birds. Beautyberry is a native plant. Needs no attention. Happy on its own.

I am going to be shameless and ask people for their neglected and forgotten containers in their gardens. I will at least grow something in them. :) I will share the harvest for sure. I have given away many containers just like that to people many times. I think it won’t be wrong to ask. Right? I am only looking to save on my costs.

When I was struggling with postpartum depression (PPD), I bought a lot of grow bags and soil. My garden and strength training literally saved my life. Anyway, today, when I was cleaning the garage, behind a box, I found three more grow bags. So, now I have three grow bags and four more reclaimed containers. This makes me happy because I can plant more turmeric and ginger tomorrow. Next week, I will have more containers for growing potatoes. This feels so good!!

Because I won't be able to use all the raised beds this year, all I can think about is how to get more containers, grow bags, and what not to grow more food. To be honest, I love being single-minded and trying to grow more food and flowers again. Last year was really tough. It is time to bounce back.

I ordered more soil, compost, and slow-release fertilizer. This year, another project is slowly building soil health in other parts of the backyard. It will take time, but I am patient. In another year or so, more colors will be around my home. More places to rest, more food, build home for birds. That's the vision.

Spiders don't need any help from me. :) I found it at the Jasmine plant this morning.

This morning’s 15-minute break was spent planting French marigold seeds in many tomato and pepper containers.

Then, this corner already has some wildflower seedlings that I threw two and a half weeks ago. I have randomly mixed seeds of French marigold, echinacea, salvia blue, chamomile, and anise hyssop in the leftover space.

All of these seeds are 4 to 2 years old. I don’t know how viable at this point. It’s going to be fun if these old seeds pop up. Imagine the riot of color in this 4x4 bed.
#Gardening #BackyardGarden #ChaosGardening

I know there are too many of them in a bag. But, just look at them. They are happy. This new soil+compost+warm castings combo is giving me great results in other containers, too.

Finally, gingers are popping! It took them 15-17 days to appear. I'm sharing this in case you are looking for numbers. The weather has been between 65 and 78 degrees Fahrenheit, and it's getting warmer slowly. I guess because gingers are tropical, they want more heat.

The Moringa tree is growing faster than the mulberry tree. This one was not a risk. I was confident about cutting down the tree. I had to do it for two reasons. First, it was difficult for me to harvest all the fruits and leaves because the tree was 10-20 feet tall. Second, it was attracting iguanas, especially the young ones. And I hate them! They don't contribute anything. They are so destructive.

I mixed soil from a lot of old grow bags and containers for this bed. I'm not surprised that some new basil babies are here. I will see which one it is. Will separate them in a few days and let them grow. I had three varieties of basil last season.

Not bad. It took one month from seed to harvest. I am sending these to Arlington tomorrow morning for my friend, along with some bokchoy, parsley, and basil. Next season, I will grow them in a bigger quantity so that there is enough for all of us.

Edited: Added a photo of the seeds packet.

If you are in a cold place, you have much time to start this and harvest. For us in South Florida, time is almost over because of the heat.

A single peanut ended up in potting soil or mushroom compost. Now, I have a peanut plant growing in a container. I'm looking forward to seeing what happens next.

Tungho, bokchoy, parsley, garlic chive, basil, and oregano reached in good condition to Arlington. :) My friend sent me a pic of the greens. :)

Now I am even more inspired to grow for my friends. This is my love language.

Jasmine and Curry Patta have taken over the bench. The only reason I don't want to move it is that it looks cute.

They are doing so well because they share the soil with sunshine mimosa, which is a nitrogen fixer.
#Gardening #BackyardGarden #GrowYourOwn #OrganicGardening #Zone10B #SouthFlorida

My first Cosmo!!!!!!

I found a gumbo limbo plant. I wonder which bird brought these seeds. There are no squirrels around. Yet.

It is the season to pick up dried and spent marigolds from the plants and spread seeds wherever possible. More flowers never hurt.

Getting closer to eating my fav childhood summer dinner. Tinde ki subzi, phulke, kale namak ki lassi.

These are tinda (Indian squash) flowers.

I missed including some other flowers. Some of the flowers in the garden. I included squash and tomato flowers too.

:( I can’t delay putting a fence around raised beds anymore. I planted a whole bed of veggies. Everything is gone. Cats, iguanas, and squirrels are interested in digging and eating seedlings. It’s not that they will go hungry, especially my mortal enemies, the iguanas. Arrgh!!! I am left with three or four bokchoy, but who knows how long they will last, too.

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it today! I had to remove the diseased guava tree from here. I kept putting kitchen scraps in the empty land. Of course, now that spring is here, weeds are also taking over. However, see this? These are guava plants!!!! Apparently, I left a root or two. There are so many of them here. I love it!!! Let me try transplanting them to other parts of the gardens over the weekend.

The fragrance is overpowering, but the view is priceless!

Beeeeeeeeeeeeee

This pepper plant was not doing well, even with good soil and fertilizer. I planted amaranth in the bag. Now, the little girl and the amaranth plant are all grown up. I will chop off the amaranth and cook it today. I will leave some leaves so that they keep supporting the pepper plant.

It’s not an intended genius move. I did it because I wanted to experiment.

@cratedigger It’s a Vego Garden metal raised bed.

@crinolinerobot The Florida cats seem to be immune to that smell because this bed is right next to the mandarin tree which is full of flowers - divine orange smell! Cats don't like the smell of cinnamon. All my grow bags have cinnamon sticks in them and they never touch them.

@threeforks Do you think using the leftover fiberglass patio screen mesh would work? I have some.

@squaremoon Can you and a pic? I can’t visualize it.

@Twocrows, I planted a few with tomatoes. The containers with amaranth and tomatoes together are doing much better than the tomatoes without amaranth growing. I have amaranth growing with potatoes and ginger, too. I won't know the result until I harvest them.

Hope this helps.

@threeforks We have a lot of gumbo limbo trees here. I love them! They are stunning. Sunlight filtering through the canopy is one of my favorite things to experience.

@squaremoon I could not have stated it better. Love it when it happens.