MY ORGANIC SANDPIT

Seems like a fine day to update the news from my backyard garden adventure commonly referred to as my organic sandpit. It is typical April weather for South Florida with the wind gusting to 25 knots. It is a sure sigh that Summer is fast approaching here.

Another sure sign is the return of the bugs to the garden. As the weather gets hotter the bugs show up in greater numbers ready to chow down on the plants.

Some newly arrived bug has been chowing down on my Bougainvillea.

Whatever it is it comes out at night to eat. I am going to spray the plants with Neem oil as a natural bug control. It doesn't kill the bugs right away but makes them stop eating over time.

This week my Momma Yellow Shrimp plant was put out to pasture. It was growing to large for the pot that I had grown it in. It is a Justicia Lutea for those so inclined.

It was given it's own spot in the sandpit where it can grow to it's hearts content. Of course it was given a wire cage to protect it from my dogs.

These are pretty common tropical plants here and will grow into a large shrub if the conditions are right.

This baby Shrimp is getting it's first flowers. It was propagated from a cutting taken from the above Momma Shrimp back in November of 09.

Best of all the price was right for my organic sandpit garden. Free!

And there is breaking news from the shade tree ring of death. Apparently the stick Swamp Mimosa tree is making a comeback. Best I can figure is it saw me giving it the evil eye and figured it had better do something before it became a folk art rustic Tomato stake.

In the last two weeks it has exploded with new growth. Maybe all it needed after all was an attitude adjustment.

Here is a picture of the new growth emerging from the top of the main stick.

I have no idea if the Swamp Mimosa goes through a dormant period but it is now highly motivated and coming back strong.

This is a prime example of one of my South Florida gardening rules in action.

The rule is, if it looks completely dead give it 30 days. It doesn't always work but sometimes it does.

And some new arrivals into my organic sandpit garden.

This guy is a bloom from the Grampa Ott Morning Glory.

The rich color of the bloom is outstanding . This plant is starting to cover the stump now and has had several blooms already.

It is a heirloom plant grown from seed. Hopefully the stump will be filled with the royal blue and purple flowers from this plant.

And an update on the Neem tree seeds that were started on April 2nd. Out of four seeds started I have one seed that has germinated so far.

These seeds are hard to germinate as they must be fresh. I am going to start five more seeds of the Neem and hope for another plant out of the group. I may have waited to long for the planting of the other seed.

Hopefully I will be able to keep this plant going and it will mature into a great tree. But experimenting with the exotic is part of the fun of gardening.

---Sanddune--

THE PERFECT TREE

Awhile back I was struck with the notion of placing a shade tree in the backyard. The summer sun is so intense out there and my old sun diffuser a huge Mango tree fell victim to hurricane Wilma back in 2005.

With the idea percolating in the back of my mind last May I was able to obtain a Mimosa tree to plant. It came from a tidal swamp up in Jacksonville, Florida.

I'm not really sure what kind it is so I just settled for calling it a swamp Mimosa.

I brought the small Mimosa back home and planted it out in the sunny spot that I concluded a shade tree was needed. It was in kinda sad shape when I planted it from the trip and the heat in the truck. The Mimosa looked hopeful and was perking up when one of my dogs started pulling it out of the ground and running around with it in his teeth. I replanted it for about the third time and constructed a fence circle around it to deter the mutt.

As the summer progressed the Mimosa was growing taller and sending out new leave shoots. It was looking fine then suddenly started getting eaten by some unknown insect.

This is a picture of the Swamp Mimosa back in September before the insects munched out on it.

Today the Mimosa looks like a bare five foot pole.

So keeping with my garden rule not to compost any plant until waiting 30 days to see if it will come back I left the stick sit .

A week or so ago when weeding under some hedges I found a small tree growing. I pulled it out then figured maybe this tree was the answer. It is a native and seemed to be growing well under the bushes. I have no idea what kind of tree this is but I planted it in the tree circle with the Mimosa stick.

Well it didn't take too long to figure out why this new tree was growing so well under the bush. Apparently it can't stand the sun especially the intense sun my backyard gets.

What a wimp. This shade loving Bush Tree is toast or resembles it closely if you look at the color.

Here is what the plant looks like now a week later.

After careful review of my new shade tree selections and how they have failed to deliver inside the tree ring I have renamed this circle the shade tree ring of death.

Anyway back to the story-- It struck me that something drastic was in order to get a tree that is tough enough to survive the broiling sun and hungry insects.

So after some careful research I think I have the tree selected that I want to grow here .

It had to meet the following criteria:

1- Withstand the blistering direct South Florida Sun.

2- Grow in sandy nutrient deficient soil.

3- Be drought tolerant.

4- Provide filtered shade.

5- Be something different than every other tree around here.

What I have decided upon is growing a Neem tree from seed.

This tree meets all of my criteria and is really super cool. The seeds that I ordered last week and got today had to be shipped from Zanzibar through a U.S. dealer.

Bet you don't know where Zanzibar is. I didn't-- but it is in the United Republic of Tanzania. Still don't know where it is do you?

Ha Ha. I told you the tree had to be different. I mean how exotic is that, a Neem tree from East Africa.

The benefits from the Neem tree are too numerous to list but here is a link if anyone is interested. It is fascinating reading.

http://www.discoverneem.com/neem-tree.html

The experiment starts today as I just started four seeds.

If they grow this might end my search for the perfect tree. I'm even considering tempting fate and planting one of them in the shade tree ring of death if they come up.

---SANDDUNE--

SCAVENGED PLANTS FOR THE GARDEN

We took a trip up to Jacksonville Florida over the Mothers Day weekend to visit relatives. It was a great opportunity to go plant scavenging in that my sister inlaw lives on the edge of a tidal marsh of the St Johns river. The back of her property is woods and swamp and is like finding a wild plant store but the price is only your labor to retrieve them while surviving the attacking bugs. This trip I was able to bring back a small Mimosa tree that I am trying to nurse back to health from the heat and shock of being dug up.

I also found what I have only heard called a Butterfly Bush and was able to get it for the yard.

We had one several years ago and liked watching the multicolor flowers as well as the butterflys it attracts. I have heard a lot of folks think this bush is a pest but I always liked it. It gives off a distinct smell that some folks don't like but I am glad that I stumbled across this guy for my garden . The last scavenged plant I have no idea what it is but it grows into a large bush with white flower clusters on the ends of the branches . It got severly dehydrated before I could get it dug up and in a pot so at this point it is a question if it will come back. But to grow here in South Florida you must be tough to handle the summer heat and humidity. Only a few more days will tell if this swamp plant will revive. It was good to get back as my plants went without water for four days in the brutal heat. I found that almost everything was dehydrated except for the Bell Pepper plants which appear to like being baked in the heat. I planted them out on May 1st as small sprouts and have these two left the third a Thai Hot Pepper fell victim to some type of insect who devoured the new sprout at the ground. It is hard not to resort back to spraying poison when the bugs kill your plants. I am trying to stay with my goal of using organic methods and more research seems to be in order to find a solution to the insects without breaking out the old sprayer and insecticide to combat them. The good news beside my new additions from up north is that my Mandevilla vine produced its first bloom of the summer today. I had cut it way back to about six inches tall in December and the vine is now almost nine feet tall growing up a vertical piece of rebar steel I had concreted in the ground as a growing stake. I plan on taking some cuttings from this vine and starting some new Mandevilla's from it. The garden for now is endeavering to persevere in the heat untill the

rainy season can get here and give us all some relief. ...sanddune....

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