PERSISTENCE PAYS

Way back last early summer I picked up a pack of Burpee Nasturtium seeds. I figured to use them to fill a hanging basket whose previous occupant had keeled over. The seed pack instructions had in bold letters "blooms in Summer".

Being a newcomer to Nasturtium I sprouted the basket with the Jewel Mix Nasturtium seeds. The sprouted just fine and looked OK right up until we got some of those 100 degree temperature Summer days around the Sandpit. The Nasturtium's then proceeded to keel over in record time. Here is the picture of the fried Nasturtium plant from August of last year.

I put this picture up on the blog back then and got some gentle feedback in the comments from my fellow gardeners who actually have experience with the Nasturtium. The consensus seemed to be, reading between the lines of the comments , that only morons plant Nasturtiums in Florida in the Summertime heat. You grow them here in the winter months.

So taking the advice of Epictetus back from Around 100 AD who wrote, "We have two ears and one mouth so we can listen twice as much as we speak". The advice of present day experienced gardeners. As well as the advice of Winston Churchill who stated, "never,never,never ,never give up"it became clear that the best course of action was to try again in the cooler months.

That's what I did replanting the seeds in late November in the hanging basket once again. Here are the results now in this picture.

The Nasturtium plants are growing strong in the cooler weather. They even have started blooming orange and yellow flowers.

So my observations and on hand experiments conclude that Nasturtiums grow best in cool weather [ Seem like I have heard that from somewhere before but I forget just where, gulp ].

Anyway, I know that being able to grow a Nasturtium plant will not go down in history as some monumental accomplishment. But it is to me because it has taken me since last July to do it. But look at the results,way cool, yes?

As for the seed pack claiming the Nasturtium plants bloom in Summer I think that I figured that out. The Burpee Seed Co. is located in Warminster,PA. There Summer temps are my Winter temps. I think that a disclaimer on their seed pack , [Grows here in PA in Summer] seems appropriate.

Regardless, once again victory has been snatched from the jaws of defeat with a little help from my friends.

Here are the comments from my fellow gardeners back in August. Quite a funny lesson in tact and no they did not use the word Moron once in print although I'm sure it did cross their minds :-]

http://sofloridagardening-sanddune.blogspot.com/2010/08/whats-up-with-nash.html

---SANDDUNE--

WHAT'S UP WITH THE NASH

Back in June I picked up some Nashturtium seeds with the idea of making a hanging basket . I had two kinds both from Burpee Seeds. One was a dwarf bush type supposed to produce assorted color flowers called Jewel mix. The other was a vining type supposed to grow 6 to 7 feet with cream color flowers called Milkmaid.

The idea was to plant several of each type in the hanging basket. The dwarf one producing color in the top of the basket while the vining type would cascade down the sides.

After they all sprouted and seemed to be well this is the results now. It's not what I envisioned and I am beginning to get the idea that Nashturtiums might not like the hot, humid summer weather they were exposed to .

This was my first experience with the Nash's but I have plenty more seeds to restart the hanging basket. Any advice ?

And speaking of seed stuff here is the result of the Sunflowers that I planted at the start of summer to shade some Squash plants.

These Sunflowers are all Ferry-Morse seeds called Mammoth. They were planted at the same time directly in the ground. The big one is up over eight feet tall .

It has a huge seed head the size of a dinner plate.

This guy lives up to the Mammoth name and should provide lots of Sunflower seeds to be added to the bird feeder. I am not sure why some of the plants were so much smaller than this huge one in that they all came from the same seed pack. Oh well , just another South Florida Plant mystery.

And even more seed stuff. I ordered some Thai Red Papaya seeds to start in my new fenced garden bed. Along with the Papaya seeds ordered from Baker creek heirloom seed company they sent along a free pack of Watermelon seed as a gift.

I planted some of both at the same time about a month ago.

After returning yesterday from a two week out of town assignment here are the results I found from the seeds.

The Papaya seeds never sprouted. However the free Watermelon seeds are growing like wild. This large vine is two Watermelon plants.

The free Watermelon seeds are Black Diamond Yellow Belly Strain.

They have lots of flowers on them and when I was pulling the vines out of the fence found a baby melon starting.

So it would seem that the old adage is true, The best things in life are free!

As for the Nashturtiums and the Papaya plants it is back to the drawing board.

How are your Nashturtiums faring in the Florida summer heat?

---SANDDUNE---

DAY 100 ALREADY

That's right today is the 100th day of 2010 and the 100th day of the 2010 challenge. The year is going pretty fast but the transformation of the garden to organic and permaculture methods is shaping up one small step at a time.

Really it makes me feel good not to have to rely on chemical fertilizer and pesticides to grow the garden. There are plenty of natural solutions to many of the plant issues and it is kind of fun to learn and experiment to see if they work. It has certainly made me think before I plant something .

Anyway I am not out to change the world just my little piece of it.

Here is some parts of my backyard garden garden and how it is coming along.

This is the bird corner. It has plenty of cover for the birds to hide in and is a great place just to sit and watch the birds from my back porch. The wildlife put on a free show all day long and add a lot to the gestalt of a garden.

The bulbs in bloom are Amaryllis's. They are over 60 years old handed down from several generations. They bloom every spring right on schedule each year and kind of signal the approach of the rain season and hotter weather.

The Doves like to hang out on the power lines over the bird area and chew the fat.

To my Northern friends, " chew the fat" is Southern for hanging around talking about nothing in particular.

Every once in awhile the Doves will get into a savage fight over the pecking order for who gets to get on the feeder in what order. After being witness to some of their brawls makes me wonder how they became the bird of peace symbol.

Over to the old Mango stump I figured to dress it up some.

I planted this Nasturtium from seed in one of the cricks of the stump figuring it will add some color. I'm hoping that it will get big before the summer heat cooks it. And even if the sun does cook it the leaves and flowers are edible. How's that for a permaculture plant. If it starts looking bad you just eat it!

At the base of the stump I put the Grampa Ott Morning Glory of course started from seed. It is a heirloom type of Morning Glory dating back generations. It is starting to cover parts of the stump and I am anticipating some spectacular blooms from this plant.

Speaking of salad here is the update on some of the Cucumber seeds that I started a while back.

They are flowering and the baby Cucs are visible right behind the flower.

Won't be long for the Cucs will be Cucin'.

Add some of the Nasturtium leaves and Everglades Tomato's and a fresh garden salad is in the makin'.

Back on the permaculture front this here is my latest planting bed. It is a custom job that I made from 4x4x8 posts . It got a coat of concrete stain that was sitting in the shed for color. The fence is a dog barrier to keep my mutts from trampling the plants in the bed.

This bed is for Comfrey plants. They will be used for making Comfrey Tea to feed the vegetables. The Comfrey is also medicinal for use as a poultice on sprains and cuts.

I was able to get six root cuttings of Blocking 14 cultivar of Russian Comfrey.

This type can be harvested like four times a year for the leaves. It grows quickly and produces a lot of biomass.

This Comfrey is growing already three days after planting a bare root slice.

These Comfrey plants will serve as to make a bio dynamic tea for the garden plants. Also the leaves are for the compost pile as a starter.

To learn more about organic gardening is one of my 2010 challenge goals. I have to thank African Aussie for the Comfrey idea. She mentioned the plant in her blog which led to me researching it and deciding to try it out.

That's the poop for day 100 of the challenge.

---Sanddune--