With the increase in cultivated area this year (.004 of an acre, woo!), I’ve decided I’m going to weigh our harvests as they come in, see how much a backyard “farm” can actually produce.  We’re off to a great start, harvested 3 1/2 lbs of carrots yesterday!
 

Those are Hercules, Purple Dragon (still our favorite), Atomic Red and Yellowstone.  The latter two were deemed tasteless and the entire crop consigned to the compost heap.  That’s the beauty of this…you can experiment with new varieties and if you don’t like them, all you’ve lost is time.  The rejects go into the composter and make lovely soil amendments for next year.

Remember the crystal apple cucumber?  It’s gone all Plan 9 From Outer Space:  
 

I had to remove the strawberry plants from the box as they were getting covered over, and put up a side trellis so the crazed vines would leave the climbing rose alone.  Should be a good year for cucumbers.

The shoepeg corn is going strong:
 

The first round of peppers is blooming like mad:
 

The pumpkins impress even before fruiting.  Those leaves are easily dinner-plate sized:
 

Some of the tomatoes are doing magnificently, fruiting already:
 

(Carbon)
 

(Chocolate cherry)

While out front the flowers are coming along nicely.  Like this seed-grown Cape Daisy:
 

The amazing 8 foot tall hollyhocks:

The grown from seed (last year) alyssum have finally decided to thrive:
 

The Red Hot Poker is busy self-propagating and may actually grace us with blooms this year:
 

The tall strawflowers are so tall we’re having to use the multi-trunk crape myrtle to help support them.  A true embarrassment of riches:
 

The daylilies are awakening.  This is Ming Toy:
 

This is the variety we haven’t any clue about.  There are so very many peach/pinks with green/yellow eyes:
 

Finally, the piece de resistance.  Grown here in zone 9a, and blooming like there’s no tomorrow, it’s a Tall Bearded Iris (Mariposa Skies):
 

Let’s hear it for experimentation!

In a word…unfreakingbelievable.  And all we’ve utilized thusfar is worm juice (the water that filters down through the castings into the bottom of the Can O’Worms) in a 50% solution with water:
 

But as you can see, the results are impressive:
 

That is the biggest tomato bloom I have ever seen.  And this Carbon tomato is now taller than my yardstick:

The trident maple bonsai next to it spent some hours root-soaking in the solution, as did the crape myrtle bonsai:
 

Everything else in the garden also had a little taste, as well as some kelp concentrate, and (including the increase in sunlight over the past few weeks) you can now pretty much watch everything grow before your very eyes.  The galisse and green lance:

Soybeans and savoy:
 

Carrots, carrots and Fresca strawberries:
 

More and MORE carrots, and Ishikura onions:
 

Strawberries and melons:
 

Figs and pumpkins:
 

Cucumbers, strawberries and oregano:
 

Shoepeg corn:
 

Peppers and strawberries:
 

And celery, which may or may not actually get full growth now that the temperatures are in the 80s:
 

I love being a backyard “farmer.” 

I spoke complimentarily of Oakes Daylilies last week or so, regarding their policy of slipping a little something extra into orders.  Well, we received our second order from them about a week ago, and when all was said and done, we have over fifty new daylily plants, in 15 different varieties, all for a very reasonable price.  So the front bed around the massive crape myrtle is utterly full of daylilies:
 

I don’t think we’re ever going to be the kind of people who rush to spend $50 for the newest trademarked variety to come out each year (well, not without 100 acres + lottery money), but $10 to $20 per variety (2 to 8 clumps per variety) is a great price.  Plus, daylilies multiply each year, which means lots of passalongs every year!

Other things making a splash out front are these spectacularly-colored strawflowers:
 

This is one of my Addiction plants.  When I find a new color I have to snap it up.  Echinacea is another example…I’m eagerly awaiting arrival today of FOUR new colors (Fragrant Angel, Tiki Torch, Tomato Soup, and Green Envy) from the ever-delightful Plant Delights folks.  That’s in addition to plain old purpurea, Evan Saul and White Swan!

Dominating the show out front are these hollyhocks:
 

Started from seed last spring they survived the hard freezes of January, are now about eight feet tall, and littered with hand-sized fuschia blooms.  Spectacular plants.

Blooms out back include the Don Juan climber that Husband so beautifully shaped a few weeks ago:
 

As rose afficionados know, roses take a pruning as a challenge, and immediately respond (in the right season, of course) with growth/blooms.
 

The mustard is blooming:
 

As are the dill and cilantro:
 

And most amazingly, the tomatoes that were started at the end of January are growing like mad, and – wait for it – blooming:
 

That’s the Carbon tomato, which admittedly has been growing at an amazing rate since being potted up:
 

Yes, I’m measuring my tomato plant’s growth.  There are worse vices hobbies.

 
Yep, we’re all about maximizing our space here, and those shelves will be used year-round for seed starting, whether it’s tomatoes, cukes, or bonsai trees.  We’ve also removed the mondo honeysuckle from the center of the back fence:

Bet you can’t tell where it was…   We’ll be adding five new 2×8 boxes that’ll be home to corn, all manner of climbing beans with melons planted at their feet, and the occasional bonsai that needs a bit of field-growing.  
 

Pretty soon there will be little left to mow back there.  (Yay! – Husband)

We did a good bit of frost-protection during these last few hard freezes, but unfortunately most of the tropicals are brown, papery things right now.  I anticipate full recovery, but I have been known to be a raging optimist. 

My Batik iris, while a cold-loving plant, does not so much appreciate the chilly temps when trying to field blooms.  This one never fully opened, and is now in full decline. 
 

Still, it can be done!

Other highlights include the Zebrina hollyhocks:
 

The alyssum/gazania combo:
 

And the wonderfully fractal romanseco:
 

And now Husband just reminded me of the visitor we found snoozing under the honeysuckle:
 

This is a corn snake, and is very likely the same visitor we had over the summer in our pool drain.
 

Corn snakes are amazing climbers, as you can see above, and feast primarily on rodentia and anole lizards.   And they’re utterly gorgeous to boot.
 

After his glamour shots we helped him over the fence and on his way.

The pepper plants, which honestly should have technically been done by now, hung in there up to the frost.  Despite being covered the temps were just too low and they all withered.  The marconi plant hung on just long enough to give me these last 11 peppers.  *sniff*
 

Also in that bucket are a dozen Meyer lemons, the white patches are from the frost.  Note to self: next year cover the lemon and lime trees.  With Agribon.

Remember the fall corn experiment?  It was planted around the end of September to try and avoid some of the more persistent pests, and to take advantage of our long, warm fall.  The corn sprouted, grew, made ears…but we somehow completely failed to notice the huge black ant population that were so very fascinated by the stalks.  Failed to remember that ants tend aphids, and aphids secrete honeydew, and honeydew grows various forms of mildew.   We cracked open a few husks before consigning it all to the composter, and discovered this:
 

Either the cooler days of fall just aren’t good enough for corn development, or that’s a major pollination problem there.  I swear, I would like to have home-grown corn, but this is getting ridiculous.

Haven’t posted kitty pics lately, they’re busy chasing each other, eating, sleeping, puking, etc.  Here’s Hermes, who used to actually be cute:
 

Tomorrow, the starting of many flower seeds to try and fill in the frost-death gaps out front.  Whee.

This is the North box back on Dec 1:
 

And the same box 29 days later (ie. today):

The snow peas are more robust than they might appear, some of them are winding in and around the carrots, and lying down in the kailan section.  Here’s the first harvest this morning:

Of course, you’ll have to imagine about one-fifth more pods there to account for the ones I ate on the way back into the house.  *whistles innocently*
 

If you’re like me, you’ve received in the mail in the past two weeks enough seed catalogs to completely remulch some portion of your landscape.   They really go all out in the design, and the use of full-color glossy pages, don’t they?  The more effectively to tempt us, you know…I’ve already received my Seed Savers Exchange order, placed the Johnny’s Seeds order this morning, and still have Baker Creek Heirlooms and Territorial Seed Co. catalogs to get through!  

Here’s what’s on deck for winter/spring planting…

From Seed Savers Exchange:

1. Sunberry
2. Cucumber – Bushy
3. Carrot – Dragon Purple
4. Melon – Sakata’s Sweet
5. Melon – Delice de Table
6. Bean – Jacob’s Gold
7. Cucumber – Crystal Apple
8. Spinach – Monnopa
9. Carrot – Scarlet Nantes
10. Carrot – St. Valery
11. Lettuce – Red Rapids
12. Onion – Yellow Borettana (Cipollini)
13. Tomato – Federle
14. Leek – Blue Solaize
15. Carrot – Oxheart
16. Corn – Tom Thumb
17. Cucumber – Boothby’s Blonde
18. Watermelon – Blacktail Mountain

From Johnny’s Seeds:

1. Pepper – Padron (per Matt’s glowing recommendation)
2. Carrot – Atomic Red
3. Carrot – Yellowstone
4. Carrot – Kinko
5. Carrot – Hercules
6. Carrot – Purple Rain
7. Carrot – White Satin
8. Carrot – Yaya
9. Greens – Green Lance
10. Greens – Yukina Savoy
11. Greens – Red Choi
12. Lettuce – Galisse
13. Onion – Red Marble (Cipollini)
14. Peas – Premium
15. Peppers – Krimzon Lee

Argh, just look at that list.  I am just a sucker for Heirloom varieties, the unusual stuff you can’t get in grocery stores or farmer’s markets.   And if you even suggest that Thomas Jefferson once grew it at Monticello, well, hand it over, dammit.  Oops.

UPDATE:  The final selections have been made from Territorial Seed Co. and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds:

From Territorial:

1. Bean – Black Pearl Edamame
2. Pepper – Italian Sweet
3. Bean – Misono Green Edamame
4. Tomato – Orange Paruche
5. Pepper – Whitney

From Baker Creek:

1. Onion – Tokyo Long White Bunching
2. Onion - Bianca di Maggio (yes, another Cipollini)
3. Pea – Sugar Ann
4. Tomato – Striped Roman
5. Tomato – Carbon
6. Watermelon – Chilean Black Seeded
7. Watermelon – Gold Baby

And that’s IT, dammit!

Yeah, right…because I forgot about Heirloomseeds.com, Victory Heirlooms, Amishland Heirlooms and Seeds of Change!  I’m DOOOMED!

Happy New Year to all!

Friday evening, spurred on by as rude a design client as I think I’ve ever had, I started de-weeding the areas for the new beds.  (The “before” is here…just scroll on down a bit.)  Saturday afternoon (after a deuced exciting soccer game, which we lost a heartbreaking 1-0) I continued with the bed prep whilst the Husband built the actual boxes.  

Today was the back-breaking day, with the dirt and mulch hauling.  Here’s the new culinary herb planter box 10′x2′:
 

And the new medicinal herb box, also 10′x2′:
 

Yes, I was too bloody tired at this point to walk over there for a closer shot.

Here’s the new terraced area linking the herb boxes and the new 8′x4′ box bordering the outside patio:
 

The stone border will eventually surround the enclosure but that’s how many rocks we had sitting in the driveway today.  

A better view of the North box, and the kick-ass stone support Husband put in to prevent erosion until the “grass” makes it back up the hill:
 

This is the West box, also 8′x4′:
 

Yes, I did put my aloe plant in the ground there.  Yes, it’ll be fine.

This is a little table we scored at Target last night for less than 15 bucks:
 

It will, of course, primarily serve as a platform to hold my seed packets, garden journal and camera.  Oh, and maybe drinks, once the weather returns to human-normal.

The new pitcher plants arrived yesterday, and were all potted up during the festivities this afternoon:
 

The Tarnok there on the left is the one we’ve had the longest (about 6 months I think) and it is getting to be a good size, but do notice how much larger the rubra is right out of the shipping container….at half the price of the Tarnok!  We purchased all these new carnivores from Hirts, through Amazon.com.  Highly, highly recommend them, both in price and in plant quality.

Another benefit to the reorganization going on out back is finally getting the Meyer lemon tree in the ground:
 

The only downside is you now take your own life into your hands going out that back door.  Stray not from the path, traveller, or you’ll be pierced by (in the words of our children) eat-your-soul-out thorns.

To top off an excellent, albeit tiring and stinkifying, day, the first fig from our dwarf tree was deemed ripe enough to sample:
 

It probably wasn’t completely ripe yet but it was delicious nonetheless, mild and sweet.  Must dig up fig recipes, stat!

Oh, and a round of applause, please, for the Awesome Husband.

We took the red rice bean plants out of Box #4, amended the soil with fresh compost, peat and manure, then planted Golden Bantam corn: 
 

The sun’s path through the sky during the day is lower now, and the house casts a big unfortunate shadow over about half the box…the half the box where the corn has yet to sprout.  The Romanesco has sprouted just fine in the same area in Box #3 so I may have to just plant more of that in the shady part of Box #4: 

Gardening is fun, isn’t it?  Stupid sun.

The cucumbers are sailing along, despite pests o’plenty.  We’ve blooms and tiny cukes all over the Parisian Pickling cuke, and the Pearl Hybrid and Lemon cuke seedlings have put out their first little grabby tendrils:
 

The peppers continue to bloom, though I do see the fruit getting smaller as things cool off a bit:

I just can’t yank out the plants while they’re still in bloom.  I’m clearly not ruthless enough to be a true farmer.

The Fresca strawberries were moved from a strawberry pot (*spit*) to Box #1 after the Yellow Pear tomato was murdered by hornworms…only nobody ever told me not to plant strawberries where tomatoes had just grown, and they’ve been puny ever since.  So, have to find a new home for them so we can actually have berries this year, dangit!
 

All the tomatoes (Mr. Stripey, Hawaiian Pineapple, Roma and Isis Candy) are blooming, giving me hope for fresh tomatoes through at least Thanksgiving:
 

The carrots are going like crazy.  That’s Purple carrots in the pot outside the box, then Parisier Markets, first crop in the middle of the box, second crop at the far left end of the box:
 

Have to pluck out the occasional interloper in that bed, they seem to love whatever the carrots are putting back into the soil:
 

Sprouted another round of Lime basil after the first was nommed by the Girlchild’s cat:
 

Speaking of herbs, I’ve altered the plan for the new boxes somewhat.  There were originally only going to be two new boxes, lining two sides of the outdoor patio, each double the height of the original boxes (24″ instead of 12″).  In the inevitable delay in getting them constructed (soccer, rain, football…you know, important stuff!), I had some time to think…and plot…and plan…and now we’re going to put two 12″ tall, 8′x4′ boxes around the patio and put two 12″ tall, 10′x2′ boxes behind the pool enclosure, where the Very Disappointing butterfly bushes currently reside.  As you can see, keeping beds weed free here in Florida is a Herculean task, and raised beds are pretty much a necessity:
 

The two 10′ beds will go on either side of the Scentimental rose there in the center, and will just encompass the bleeding heart vines on either side.  The butterfly bushes are coming out, yes…they became drought-struck after the summer rains stopped, despite being planted months and months ago, and having plenty of time to get established:
 

And they’re just too spindly for actual screening, not that we need it with this awesome display on our back fence, which effectively raises it from a 6′ fence to around 9′:

How cute is that composter, I ask you?  (Built by the Husband completely from scratch, thankyew.)  It is ROCKING at its job, too…we took everything out last weekend and gave it a thorough turning, and the whole load is going to be *perfect* by the time we need it for spring amendment.

Anyway, back to the “speaking of herbs…”  I’ve always been interested in herbs and herbology, so these back two boxes will be Le Grande Herbe Experimente.   (See how I made everything look important by adding that extra “e”?  I’m SMRT that way.)  So, going into that area will be, in no particular order:

1. Black cumin
2. Roman chamomile
3. Cilantro
4. Elecampane
5. Feverfew
6. Hyssop
7. Marshmallow
8. Motherwort
9. Spilanthes
10. St. John’s Wort
11. Self-Heal
12. Agricultural mustard (for both soil amendment and seed harvest)

In box #1, we have a flourishing Parisian Pickling cucumber, a few struggling Fresca strawberries (what, too hot still?), and a newly planted Lemon cuke:
 

In box #2, we have a bumper crop of Parisier Market carrots, a newly sprouted Pearl cuke, and five new rows (on the left there) of Parisier Market carrots:
 

That used to be the home of the Hawaiian Pineapple tomato, but after the Yellow Pear tomato was slaughtered (MURDERED, I SAY!!) by hornworms, I emergency evac-ed it to a large pot inside the pool enclosure. None of the tomatoes are particularly happy right now, though, all with small curly leaves.  I haven’t had time to devote to figuring out their particular issue, though I suspect it is nutrient-related.

In box #3, the peppers continue, though a little lackadaisically.  The Thai Hot pepper is covered in new blooms, so we’ll see if this is a last gasp for them:
 

Today I also planted two Romanesco cauliflower seeds, and will add more as the peppers retire.  And I freely admit, to you all, here and now, that I am growing the Romanesco as much to photograph it as I am to actually eat it. 

In box #4, we took out the faithful, and extraordinarily productive red rice beans (into the composter, of course!) added some fresh soil, compost and manure, and planted two offset rows of Golden Bantam corn:
 

Harvest for this variety is in 83 days, which will put it on the table right before Christmas.  This is as much experiment as anything else, to see if we can get a good harvest of corn outside the rainy season.  We also hope the sodding cornworms will be less in evidence in this drier weather, but stand ready with Worm Death^TM should that prove otherwise.  I want fresh corn, from my own garden, dammit!

Other crops in progress include Purple Haze carrots:
 

Napoli carrots:
 

Seems kind of bare, eh?  Someone…who shall remain nameless, since he’s the one who will be building my new planter boxes for me…stepped on the edge of this pot while harvesting red rice beans the other day and tipped out almost the entire crop of carrots.  The seedlings were rescued and moved to a different pot, and new seeds started in the original pot:
 

Next to the rescue pot are Ishikura bunching onions, shallots (woo!) and Carentan leeks.  I am having ABYSMAL luck with leeks this year…do they prefer cooler weather or something?

Still to come on the planting agenda are:

• Cebolla yellow onions
• More strawberries
• Ground cherries
• More carrots (Purple Haze, Parisier Market and Napoli)
• More shallots and Carentan leeks
• Raddichio
• Butterhead lettuce
• Tennis Ball lettuce
• Celery
• Spinach