Thursday, July 28, 2011
June 28th
We harvested a whole lot of basil, took cuttings of Malabar Spinach and transplanted them next to the surinam spinach. Fertilized the Moringa tree. And the Seminole pumpkin have begun flowering like mad.
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Summer Blooms
First admission, I have never gardened through a Florida summer. I never took an agriculture course during the summer and for the past three years which is really when I have been seriously gardening I left the swampy sunshine state for New York, Alaska or Guatemala. So this summer I was both excited and nervous about the long the days of June, July and August. I heard the tales of swarming pests and diseases, of flowers dropping, of roots gnarled and twisted by nematodes and the general inhospitably of our summers.
At the DFG (Downtown Farmers Garden) we have fared the summer fairly well thus far. No swarming pests or devastating diseases. Stem borers got the squash and zucchini but one champion zucchini managed to keep going and gave us 4 zucchini with giant hole in its stem. There was some strange foliage damage a couple of weeks ago but the mysteries behind that will have to wait for another post. The heat stopped the tomatoes from producing but not before a good harvest (we had planted Roma San Marzano tomatoes) and the volunteer mustard greens by the compost pile finally wilted but otherwise we have been left relatively unscathed. In fact instead of summer doom the garden seems lush with life, and more specifically the life we want. The pigeon pea which reseeded itself is tall strong and beginning to bloom, and is joined by the turmeric flowers and a sole daily lilly hiding in the avocado tree. Eggplant now free from tomatoes are soaking up the sun and looking great, our Jackson Wonder bush beans, butter beans, lima beans whatever you want to call them are still fruiting and all the herbs seem just content. Not to mention the more nontraditional crops like the Malabar Spinach, Okinawa Spinach and Seminole Pumpkin which are growing at a staggering place. And today we planted Black Seeded Callaloo and Yard-Long Beans which I also expect to thrive.
So halfway through the summer in downtown Gainesville we've got summer blooms instead of summer blues.
Pigeon Pea Blossoms
Turmeric Flowers
Hiding Day Lilly
Laura planting Yard-Long or Asparagus Beans
Stem borer damage on our hero zucchini
At the DFG (Downtown Farmers Garden) we have fared the summer fairly well thus far. No swarming pests or devastating diseases. Stem borers got the squash and zucchini but one champion zucchini managed to keep going and gave us 4 zucchini with giant hole in its stem. There was some strange foliage damage a couple of weeks ago but the mysteries behind that will have to wait for another post. The heat stopped the tomatoes from producing but not before a good harvest (we had planted Roma San Marzano tomatoes) and the volunteer mustard greens by the compost pile finally wilted but otherwise we have been left relatively unscathed. In fact instead of summer doom the garden seems lush with life, and more specifically the life we want. The pigeon pea which reseeded itself is tall strong and beginning to bloom, and is joined by the turmeric flowers and a sole daily lilly hiding in the avocado tree. Eggplant now free from tomatoes are soaking up the sun and looking great, our Jackson Wonder bush beans, butter beans, lima beans whatever you want to call them are still fruiting and all the herbs seem just content. Not to mention the more nontraditional crops like the Malabar Spinach, Okinawa Spinach and Seminole Pumpkin which are growing at a staggering place. And today we planted Black Seeded Callaloo and Yard-Long Beans which I also expect to thrive.
So halfway through the summer in downtown Gainesville we've got summer blooms instead of summer blues.
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