GROWING TIRODS IN FLORIDA

After careful consideration I have come to the conclusion that the thing that has grown the most over the Summer months here at the Sandpit is Tirods. Now that September is here looking around the garden it is full up with Tirods.

What is a Tirods you ask. Well it is defined in the Sandpit slang dictionary as Things I Really Oughta Do Someday. And my garden after the summer is full of them!

Unfortunately here the Summer heat and Tropical humidity make a great excuse for goofing off when it comes to garden maintenance. During such times staying in the air conditioning and thinking up more Tirods seems a prudent choice.

Now that it is September and the temperatures are moderating a bit it is time to get back to work whittling down the list of Tirods compiled over the summer.

They say that if you do something everyday for thirty days it becomes a habit. Who are they you ask . I have no idea who they are but back to the point. August had 31 days in it and I was able to consistently goof off for the whole month. That means that I am one day over the habit limit. Goofing off has become a habit to me now so to break my new addiction will undoubtedly be painful. It's always something.

Anyway back to more pleasant things. There is some exciting news from the Sandpit. My Swampbush specimen has bloomed. I abducted this bush back in May of 09 from a tidal swamp in North Florida along the St Johns River. I have no clue as to what it is but I remember some of the mature bushes in the swamp had white flowers.

It was an experiment to see if the Swampbush would grow in my eco system here. Apparently it has adapted and survived to the climate change and has set it's blooms.

It is a good looking Swampbush as far as Swampbushes go and it appeals to me. So there!

And on the America Beautyberry front my two grown from seed plants have berries and they are actually turning purple like they are supposed to.

I got the seeds from a gardener up in Tampa or thereabouts from an seed exchange by mail.

Now I know that the American Beautyberry is just a kind of Mulberry bush which lots of folks consider pests. But I like it and planted in the Sandpit bird corner the two bushes look good.

The birds like it also as I saw a Mockingbird getting some of the berrys and trying them out. The Mockingbird usually prefers my Lantana plant berrys with the occasional Everglades Tomato on the side. But now he has a choice of berrys for lunch .

As for my 2010 Summer favorite I have to give the award this year to the Ruella plants. These guys never fail to be amazing with their Summertime blooms.

I have two containers of the plants that I keep by my back porch. They will be covered in purple blooms each morning which drop off every afternoon around 3 pm. The next day they start over again full of new blooms for the day.

During the Summer these plants really work overtime to put on a new show everyday.

I think that they are also called Mexican dropflower plants or Mexican Petunias.

And to wrap it up I couldn't resist adding this guys picture. He is making a picture perfect three point landing on the Mexican Sunflower that would make any pilot proud. Check out that landing flair. Now that's what I call technique.!

And that's the fresh poop from the pit. Here's hoping that you too don't find Your garden overgrown with Tirods from over the Summer.

--SANDDUNE--

LATE JUNE RAMBLINGS

With the summer heat bearing down it seemed like a fine time to work in the shade.

I have been eyeballing this area beside my shed for some time . It is under my Avocado tree and stays in the shade most all day or at least heavily filtered light.

I use it to stick some of my heat stressed plants in containers here sometimes to recover when they got too much sun.

So this week the shade area got transformed into a small bed for some of my shade plants to have a new home and not require so much Summer care.

Here is the finished bed into which went some shade loving Bromeliads and their divided pups.

The short fence is there to keep the dogs from running around the corner by way of over the plant bed.

The Passion Vine that I let grow up my back porch awning is really going wild.

It has reached the awning top and grown sideways to the house in two directions . This vine is at least 12 feet long.

It has produced Passion Flowers which last for one day before falling off the vine.

We had ten Passion Flowers in bloom at the same time this last week.

It is really neat to watch and this is the first time this vine has bloomed here for me. It is a volunteer that started itself from a vine around the corner.

The vine will be safe until the first hurricane gets close to the sandpit when I will have to cut it out to close the awning.

In the meantime it is producing an abundance of flowers and has numerous butterflys on it throughout the day.

We also gave the Bird area a rearranging. This corner I save for the birds and have planted protective bushes to encourage them .

There is Orange Jasmine shrubs in the far back and a large Cassia bush to the right of the bird feeder.

These bushes give them a lot of hiding places which birds seem to like.

The bush in front of the feeder is an American Beauty berry that I started from seed two years ago.

It is almost chest high now and will produce clusters of berries that the birds eat from the stems. I think it is related to the Mulberry tree.

Anyway the birds have more cover and seem to like it . There are two Northern Mockingbirds and a Loggerhead Shrike that hang out here eating bugs every afternoon. Free bug control for the organic garden.

And speaking on bugs here is one of my Spider lilies that has bloomed this week.

For some reason I find this plant fascinating .

It is just able to display a subtle simple beauty that appeals to me.

And as far as the home made bug repellent for the vegetables I have started mixing up the ingredients for the folk brew.

The first step was to get a bar of Ivory soap. It is supposed to be soap not detergent although I really don't know the difference or why it would matter. But it might so we got the soap bar.

Now this has to be whittled down into slivers and put into a container with a bit of water so the bar will melt into a liquid slurry.

Done and done for step one. Going to let the Ivory slurry percolate a few days and shake the container every time I go by it to mix the soap well.

More on the mixtures progress next time.

--Sanddune--

CURRENT CONDITIONS

-----------------CLICK PICTURE TO ENLARGE IT ------------------

Time to check out the garden and make sure everything is progressing.

My reward for making my morning rounds is a handful of Everglades Tomatos. These guys are cherry type and all have grown up by reseeding themselves. I just try to somewhat direct their growth by staking them up with some Bamboo sticks and string. They pretty much take care of themselves after that. They provide plenty of the small bite size tomatoes that I gladly share with my resident Mockingbird. We both like them right off of the bush. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

My container tomatos are getting pretty big now and I am keeping my fingers crossed. I have always had bad luck growing main season tomatos but It looks good to maybe producing a few.

The plant itself is looking kind of rough but it fell over several times, 5 gallon container and all ,in some strong winds last week.

The Tomato fruit look good and healthy to me. After all this is a educational experience figuring out how to water correctly in the containers to keep the plants healthy. I have yet to develop that gardening eye when it comes to watering them but I am learning slowly. On the skill level of Tomato growing I am still a rookie.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The American Beautyberry bush is still slowly inching its way upward. This guy is one of two growing from seeds.

This plant and his sister are for the birds to eat the Berry's when it grows up. They are by my bird feeder and hopefully will be part of the bird habitat one day soon.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And last but not least is the Desert Rose. It stopped blooming for the past month but is now rested up and blooming again.

The way I figure it if my Christmas Cactus blooms don't open by Christmas Day at least this guy will take up the slack .

-----------------------sanddune----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MORNING COFFEE

My favorite place to enjoy my morning coffee is sitting on my own back porch. I can relax and enjoy the view of my backyard garden while trying to pick out what is new or has changed. It is a great place to mull over future projects or just watch the wildlife. I think that is really the secret zen that makes gardening addictive.

You can garden at home without having to go anywhere and enjoy the peace, quiet, and beauty of nature.

Having your own garden gives you a sense of pride in your gardening successes and humility in your gardening failures.

Gardening is a last frontier that the government hasn't figured out how to tax yet. There is no entry fee and you can stay as long as you like.

I am always rewarded with something new like this Morning Glory bloom from a plant that reseeded itself.

Or the help of fellow gardeners who will share their knowledge
to help you succeed. They have discovered the secret also.

This young fellow is an American Beautyberry sprouted from seed. I traded some of my excess seeds for the beautyberry seeds with a fellow gardener up around Tampa,Florida. I am hoping to grow this guy and one other beside my bird feeder to attract the birds to its Berry's.


Besides the plants the different birds put on a show for free. They like the security of the nearby bushes as well as the free hand out from the feeder. While the birds here are not as colorful as in other places they provide entertainment.

The doves in the picture are the most prominent but others hang out throughout the day.

There are now four bluejays that stay close by now. They are chasing each other around most of the time. As well as a whacked out Mockingbird that sings late at night. It is amazing to watch him preform his acrobatics chasing and catching bugs in midair.

I am trying to incorporate in my garden a bird friendly habitat because they add so much to the Gestalt. Enough rambling time for a second cup of coffee.--------sanddune-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE- DON'T BE SHY. COMMENTS ARE ALWAYS WELCOME AND APPRECIATED. AFTER ALL I CAN USE ALL THE HELP I CAN GET.