FEEDING THE SOIL

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Probably the greatest gardening obstacle that I face here in South Florida is the soil itself. My yard is composed mostly of sand with few nutrients for the plants.

The goal is to change that organically and thus give the plants a healthy place to prosper. The best answer that I can find is to make compost and add it to the areas that are to be planted. Hopefully over time this will enrich the soil and thus empower the plants.

My plan is to feed the soil and not the plants. A long term strategy to be sure but an obtainable goal. Chemical fertilizer is out and compost is in.

Living in a city it is not that easy to find material to compost. I rely heavily on what few fallen leaves and hedge clipping that I can get from my yard to fill the compost bin. When the wet season starts up again I will have lots of grass clippings to add.

In the meantime I have to scrounge up whatever is available to fuel the compost bin.

The biomass that I have now is the Avocados that have fallen in my yard.

It is a fight over them because they are a favorite here.

The Squirrels and fruit Rats want them to eat as well as do the birds and dogs. I want them for my compost.

We all seem to manage to take our share. I was chopping the Avocados up to add to the bin today.

Removing them from the lawn caused some hurt feelings with the dogs who regard them as their property.

They made sure that they got a few pieces for themselves before the bucket of chopped Avocados was dumped.

But sacrifices have to be made for the good of the order. The old coffee grounds and Avocado pieces were dumped in the bin .

I have been looking around for some free sources of compost and mulch around here. Some city's give it out free. Apparently Miramar is not one of those citys as far as I can find out.

I know that they grind the Metaleuca Trees into mulch here. It is supposed to be termite and nematode resistant. I think the city here uses it in the parks but do not share with the taxpaying residents.

In other news around the garden the plants seem to be perking up to the warmer temperatures.

Although a few are still confused as is this Christmas Cactus which is now blooming like crazy.

One of the free volunteers from the garden this Cuban Buttercup was blooming also this morning. They like the sunshine and will have blooms all summer long.

I potted up a couple of them to take up to North Florida later this month.

They will become trading capital along with some Mandevilla cuttings for some other plants that I have had on my would like to aquire list.

The Cardinal Air Plant is still evolving its bloom also. It is a Florida native that is endangered here.

It is most happy just to sit in the tree and collect rainwater.

The bloom is slowly changing color and it looks really neat right now.

As for the 2010 Challenge more of the started seeds have been planted out to the garden.

Some of the smaller sprouts are still in the yogurt cups. They are getting some sun and wind exposure to toughen them up by being set temporarily into the 5 gallon containers.

The larger plants in the containers are the Cucumbers started last month from seed.

The gray bucket contains rainwater left to warm up in the sun for when the plants get thirsty.

---Sanddune---

STUMP EVOLUTION

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It has been said that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This magnificent piece of stump art evolved from a large Mango tree in my backyard.

Back in October of 2005 I was struck with the inspiration to create this piece.

It just so happened on that very same day I was also struck with hurricane Wilma and her 120 mph winds.

That fateful day my Mango sacrificed itself to Wilma's fury and became the object of some chainsaw art.

After cutting and cutting and more

cutting I finally pooped out.

The stump has been a permanent fixture in my backyard ever since.

I cut her off level so it is also a natural table. The Y has been used to hold different plants over time . This one is a Cardinal Air plant in bloom.

My wife, not to be outdone by my artistic chainsawin' ,added the face to the stump. It can be seen in the first picture. Sort of adds that evil forest look .

Sort of creepy if you ask me but of course she didn't.

Next the figurine went on top holding the light.

Over time the bark has fell off and the weather has changed the stumps appearance.

It now hosts some form of growth like a white shelf. I say this because they are like a half plate emerging from the stump. I am not sure just what they are but can attest they are hard as a rock and make a great shelf to set your coffee cup on .

Anyway, art piece or eyesore the old stump is evolving every day into something else.

Way I see it it makes a good termite rod. Kind of like using the Principal of a lightning rod. Hope is it will draw the termites to it instead of my house.

To update the 2010 Challenge this week has been kinda slow. The temperatures dipping down into the 40's at night has slowed down my seed starts from germinating.

Seeds like both warmth and moisture to germinate. Being outside the cold air has put them on hold for a time.

In the meantime I was able to repot several plants that had been propagated from cuttings back in November of 2009.

This one is a Yellow Shrimp plant that is now big enough to go outside on it's own.

As the weather warms up this plant should really take off.

These Purple Bougainvillea Were also repotted and set out in the sun.

They were made from cuttings from last November also.

Guess this is a good time to just pull weeds this week and wait for the temperatures to get a little more stable.

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SIMPLE STUFF

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It's a good time this week to catch up on some of the things I had been planning to do one day. The simple stuff seems to be the easiest to put off for another day. I have made a firm resolution to work on my list which is fast becoming a book.

Of course the most important comes first which is to fix my wife's broken planter.

She knocked it over and it broke into pieces while we were taking in plants before the big freeze .

Of course if I can fix it back together again I gain plus points.

Some weird contortions and Elmers glue later it is back in one piece sort of.

A few of the pieces didn't fit and others were missing but it pretty much fit together. Good at least for effort points and if you don't look real close almost perfect, gulp.

Plus points are real important in a relationship as any husband will attest to. You bank them for the time you do something stupid at which time you have to cash out. The goal is not getting rich with plus points which is impossible. Breaking even is the best you can hope to do.

Anyway that's done and the points are in the bank. I showed it to her late after dark in the dim light and she acted duly impressed as is her unwritten obligation in the deal because she was the one who broke it. Simple relationship 101.

Getting back to the list I dug up this here Blanket flower plant from out of the garden.

I had planted it there after sprouting it from seed this last summer. I found an old plastic pot and added some wire to it to make this hanging basket.

This way the Blanket flower plant gets the full sun and I get to use some of the pots cluttering up my shed. It is a perennial plant that will not bloom the first year from seed. Hopefully it might bloom this fall.

I have never grown this plant here but I did see one in bloom a while back in L.A. California and thought it looked cool. Here it the picture of the bloom on the one I saw growing in a garden bed in L.A..

It looked like a huge Daisy. I figured if it grows there it will probably do well here. It is susposed to like full sun and little water from what I have read about the plant.

Figured in the hanging basket I could watch it better from my porch. Right now the plant looks like some type of limp lettuce leaves but I have great expectations for it.

After all this list shorten' seemed like a good time to see what there was to see from the rest of the garden.



I found one of my Cardinal Air plants sprouting a bloom spike.

These plants are native Florida Bromeliads. This particular type is endangered in Florida now.

It is really cool to see it blooming or about to bloom anyway. This means it will soon be reproducing by pups after the bloom is done.

And lastly I noticed that my creamsicle geranium is sharing some more of it's roselike blooms.

Well I figure thats a good start on the list anyway.

And it fit in my 2010 challenge by using the resources that I have on hand. Besides that I made points by doing it!
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ENDANGERED NATIVE FLORIDA BROMELIAD

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This Bromeliad is a Florida native. It is one of 16 Bromeliads native to my state and one of the 10 considered threatened or endangered.

His name is Tillandsia Fasiculata also known as the Cardinal Air plant.

He is an epiphytic plant which is a fancy word meaning he likes to grow on other plants. He is not a parasite and gets nourishment from the air and water he collects in the central tank formed by his leaves. He attaches to other plants only to hold on and anchor himself.

He flowers with the red spikes with violet tips seen in the above picture.

The Cardinal Air plant is able to withstand long dry periods. It will have a smaller plant and brighter flower in the full sun or a larger plant in the shade.

Like most Bromeliads it has pups as can be seen in this picture as the light green offshoots.

It is beneficial to the Florida ecosystem as many small animals and insects use its tank or the stored water as a source to drink and hide in.

This plant was started from a parent plant I found growing in a Cedar tree in my front yard several years back.

It is endangered by the Mexican Bromeliad Weevil which had wiped out quite a lot of native Bromelaids here in Florida.

It is also endangered by dwindling habitat and illegal collecting.

I think where ever you live it is good policy to propagate the native species of your area. They might not be as pretty or flashy as some other plants but they sure deserve your consideration.

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