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---
