Get Ready for Spring

Can you get ready for spring now? Yes! I know you are antsy to get the spring weather here so you can get in the garden and dig. To help you take the edge off that frustration with the weather, here is a list of things you can do now to get ready for spring. Hope this helps!!

Dare We Think About Spring?

I know you folks in the North country are not seeing signs of spring buried under all the snow...What a tough winter. (Of course my son-in-law loves it since he picks up extra cash with his snow plowing service.)

In Florida we have had a ton of rain, but the yards are beginning to green up....the weeds are loving it. We still are not reaching the normal average high temps, but low 60's are acceptable. Still cool nights in the 30' and 40's.

My DH started white, red and yellow onions. He planted them in the garden and will dig them up to take north with us for our Michigan garden. He also started green, red, purple, yellow and chocolate pepper plants in packs. (If only we could grow chocolate in our garden!!)

Although the weather may not look like spring will come, it will! Have you been looking at seed catalogues and drawing out your new and improved garden for the winter?? Time to plan and dream.

Cold Resistant Crops in the Florida Garden

Sorry I haven't posted much on the Florida garden lately. That's because the cold, freezing nights are taking a toll on the garden. We have definitely learned to grow ONLY cold resistant crops. All the beans were bit, but we did manage to get twelve Jade green beans before they were completely done in. No beans next year.

We are amazed at how well the lettuce holds up. Of course my DH covers the garden on those cold nights. Usually Florida doesn't have the hard freezes lasting five hours or more. But not true this year! The lettuces have taken the freeze and actually are growing very well and producing tasty greens. We have romaine, Mighty Joe, Devil's Tongue, and a red bibb that are providing delicious salads for us.

Onions and radishes are producing. The beets are not growing very fast as you can imagine, but big enough to pull and eat. We have also enjoyed cabbage, cauliflower and broccoli...all cole crops and hardy in cold temps.

Our winter garden is not a bust this year, but we have learned only cold resistant crops are suitable for Florida winter gardens in our area.

Time to Plan Your Garden

These long winter days are the perfect time to plan your garden. Time to dream about the possibilities of your spring plantings and summer and fall harvests. You will leaf through all kinds of seed catalogs, check out vegetable gardening books, and click on gardening websites to get new and fresh ideas and crop information. Dave's Garden has helpful information in a guide to gardening by mail, mail order gardening, garden books, and catalogs.

Dream on. Gardener's know that the next garden will be the best garden they ever planted!

Frosty Florida

We've had several nights of frost and freezing temperatures. The blankets, sheets, and towels have been put to good use and are doing their job of keeping our veggies from freezing. I am amazed at the resilience of the lettuce and those young pea plants. We have had hard freezes which the weatherman defines as more than 3 hours of temps between 27 and 32 degrees. (Just a note: plastic should not be used to protect plants from freezing temperatures.)

We have given up planting tomatoes and peppers in our Florida garden. This winter is the prime reason. Oh yes, we are trying beans, green, yellow, purple, this year. Believe me they are covered with the thickest blanket we have and so far only some leaves are damaged. I still see blossoms on the stems. Of course we have a lot of winter to go here.

We are about 40 miles north of Tampa, not exactly a tropical climate here compared to southern Florida and the Keys. But we do enjoy not scooping snow, driving on ice, or blasts of blizzards. So I will refrain from whining about the freezing temps anymore and rejoice in the fact that we have beat Mother Nature's cold temps---so far.

Freezing Temperatures in Florida

Brrrrr----------freezing temperatures and winter storms are all over the country this week. Even here in sunny Florida. (I am sure the Florida Chamber of Commerce doesn't want this word to get out..LOL) The next several nights are going to be in the 20's...a hard freeze warning for our area.

Our vegetable plants are cold hardy, but we have covered our cold weather garden. With these kinds of temperatures and for so many hours each night, we don't want to take a chance on losing the plants.

Tonight my DH has rigged up a tent over the garden and added a lamp under the covers to help generate heat. We hope this will keep away the chills.

I'll update you for the results later.

Season's Greetings

Season's Greetings to One and All!

I never imagined that our home-grown cabbage and a pot of red poinsettias would be sitting on the table together as we enter the holiday season in December. My husband's dream has been to garden twelve months out of the year. This year I can say he has done that! The veggies in the bowl are from our Florida garden--spinach, cabbage, lettuces, kohlrabi, and broccoli. What a delight to have our own vegetables in the winter. Not only does it save money on the grocery bill, but it also provides fresh, healthy meals for us.

I am trying more recipes again and will give you a report on the results. I am planning to take the recipes from the blog, add some more favorites, and put them in a free recipe book to share with readers. Now if only I can figure out how to do that!! It will be in ebook format so you can print whichever recipe you want to try and there will be no postage to pay to get it to you. Do you have a favorite garden vegetable recipe you would like to share with the readers? You are welcome to send it along to include in the ebook.

Wishing for you all the true gifts of the season--hope, joy, love, and peace.

Thanksgiving Dinner 2010

We thoroughly enjoyed ourThanksgiving dinner 2010 with our neighbors and their family. We traveled to Lake Tarpon, Anderson Park, near Tarpon Springs, FL on a gorgeous warm day. This was a Chamber of Commerce day because Florida's sun was shining, the air a comfy 82 degrees, and the flora and fauna were in high display.

Lucky are we there are so many great cooks in this family for they brought a variety of tasty dishes. Of course, I shared the bounty from our garden--three kinds of lettuces, green onions, and radishes in a salad full of veggies, raisins, cheese. We had smoked turkey, roast turkey, ham, and smoked venison and lots of pies. Deeee-licious!

Friendly, curious ducks swam by on several occasions while a couple of small alligators lounged in the waters. I think they had their eyes on the pet dogs on shore, not the turkey feast, but too lazy to come close.
It was a delightful, memorable day. Thank you Bartons!