Gandree

Here in Florida, our temperatures are hanging around 95 everyday this week.  The humidity isn’t as bad as it could be.  I think it was 65 the last time I looked but we haven’t had any rain to speak of either.  Even with mulch, my plants are feeling the heat.  The last bunch of beans I planted made pretty tops and even put little beans on but they didn’t amount to much.  I pulled them out this morning and replaced them with some scotch bonnet peppers, basil and rosemary plants that had been... Read Full Story

I came across this video of a unique outdoor garden in Liverpool. I can’t imagine the hours of work that have gone into making it but you can tell it is a labor of love. Now, if it were mine, there would be a few outdoor garden statues or figurines to brighten it up in the off season but that’s how I see the world. :0) This man really has done an outstanding job of creating a master garden plot.  Bear in mind that he lives in a much different climate than my zone 9 but the mechanics of what... Read Full Story

When we started our garden this year, we were in the process of moving and my son’s wife was very pregnant with her third child.  Florida gets hot much sooner than comfortable.  We had to get things planted and sort out the problems as they arose.  You know how it is, if you wait until things are perfect, you never get your garden planted. So far, we have had some wonderful yellow squash, zucchini, green beans and cucumbers but our beautiful plants have been invaded by a vine virus and bugs... Read Full Story

I have had a lot of trouble with aphids in my yellow squash plants.  There are  several preparations I can spray them with but haven’t been very good at spraying them more than once or twice and in organic gardening, consistency is important.  Suddenly, we are finding some squash that have a hard yellow appearance.  They are tough and inedible, more like gourds than squash. A Google search took me to the Organic gardening forums where someone called “Farmhound” posted this,” Squash vine... Read Full Story

It is so tempting to blog about the successful parts of my garden and leave out the less attractive parts.  The problem with that is I have some friends who are just starting on their garden adventure.  They need encouragement and advice about what works and what didn’t.  To that end, I’ll show my best and worst and let you look over my shoulder as I figure out what I am going to do next. In my last post, I mentioned adding mulch to my garden.  As it turns out, I didn’t... Read Full Story

Starting a new garden is a little intimidating.  It helps to remember that you can always change things.  We have decided to look at this as our “practice” year.  Our dirt isn’t much more than sugar sand.  It’s very dry and takes quite a bit of work just to get it ready to plant but even with the difficult moving process we have been wading through, we are able to make some headway.  Working in the garden gives us time to spend outdoors with the children.  We are taking the yard in sections... Read Full Story

In the spirit of gardening on a budget, Proven Winners is giving away a free Gardener’s Idea Book.  I don’t know how good it is, but the price is right.  I ordered mine today.  If you are interested, you can order your free book here. For my regular readers, this post is the start of one of my new categories called Garden Bargains.   It’s nice when you don’t have to budget for those garden accents we all love but many of us don’t have that luxury.  When I come across something especially... Read Full Story

If you follow my blog at all, you know that I haven’t spent much time updating it over the past year.  I guess you could say I’ve had a few storms to contend with and this took a back seat to dealing with them.  Part of my dilemma with this site is whether to stick with purely garden statue posts, or let it develop into other areas of interest.  I even thought about starting a new blog on my current garden and let this one sit idle.  The long and the short of it is that while statues and... Read Full Story

Here we are in the middle of a hot, muggy Florida Summer.  When it rains, I have to mow and when it doesn’t, I water.  The rest of the time, I seek the air conditioning.  It’s not the time of year that I take on new ambitious garden plans.  I’ll save that for Fall when the sun isn’t quite so hot and the mosquitoes have died down. Many you must be seeking the air conditioning too because I have noticed more people visiting my blog.  For all of you new visitors, welcome.  I hope you will make... Read Full Story

If your thermometer looks like Spring is dragging it’s feet, I have good news.  This morning I took a little walk and saw many signs that Spring is about to burst forth and if it’s here, it will be coming there soon.    I always love it when I see the first robins of Spring. Being migratory, they don’t stay in Florida but often stop here on their way further north.  This morning a whole flock of them were bouncing around as I made my way around the neighborhood.  What a welcome sight as our... Read Full Story