Choice Morsels

The challenge today was to look over photos from last July and pick one to write about. I discovered on nearly this exact date in July 2015, I featured this photo of one of my melons growing in my garden: It's an Amy Melon, which is basically a Golden Honeydew. The outside turns bright yellow; the inside is white. Of course, I had seeds left to use again this year: Here's my 2016 Amy Melon! It's quite pretty in the late day sunlight and quite a bit plumper then last year. Because I have pests that will bore into the melon from the ground underneath, I put old cat food or tuna cans under my mine. This one is actually sitting on a large tuna can. It got too big for the cat food can, LOL. And a bonus Melon photo: My sister, Pat, who lives in Indiana, set up a whole new veggie garden space and yesterday sent me a pretty shot of two Cantelope's coming along nicely in her bed: **** So, what's growing in your neck of the woods? Thanks...

My friend, Jacqui, asked me how I manage caring for all my flower beds & garden.  There is always something that needs doing and,  in her case, she has a much larger yard with more extensive landscape she's trying to get established.  I replied, "I just focus on one project at a time." Especially in the summer Florida heat. I can't stay out all day like I could in the cool spring. I have to choose particular tasks on days I have allotted for working outside.  This past Monday, the single outdoor project of the day was hedging & shaping the large gardenia shrub out front. That took about 2 hours and I took a cool down break for 30 minutes somewhere in there. Today's single outdoor project was re-working a small section  of the back bed by thinning out the native day lilies from other locations and moving them to form a border there. I worked for about an hour, then went in for lunch. While I was inside, a summer thunderstorm suddenly popped up a...

The sky to the north was rumbling and grumbling with a promise of a summer shower while I was outside mowing today, but wasn't overhead until I finished. Still hasn't rained, though the thundering stopped. Sometimes it rains in one spot, but not in another around here. Today's Garden Pic is my melon patch! These are the most prosperous melon vines I've ever had! There's a Canary melon called "Amy Melon" in the foreground and against the far back wall and watermelon is next to the left wall between them. All this from a total 6 seeds:  2 watermelon & 4 Amy melon. The block walls, which are new this year, are proving quite helpful for keeping the vines corralled! Otherwise they'd be all over the yard!  You can see the upside down plastic milk cartons that I use for watering & fertilizing. I've had a problem with pests getting to my young Amy melons, but I read in my garden book that setting baby melons on a low, upside  dow...

It was clear enough today to mow the front yard and put down some weed & feed. (I use Scott's Turf Builder Weed & Feed for Florida ) It was the first mow of the season. Today, I thought I'd show you my new walled in veggie garden and what I've planted in it: The soil level inside is much higher to protect it from getting flooded. I'd call Florida an "aggressive gardening environment."  By that, I mean the soil here is sandy and poor; the climate is hot, humid and either too dry or too wet; the bugs are ferocious and the weeds, tenacious. Bugs & weeds are can be dealt with; it's the climate that's the biggest problem. For that, I usually turn to my favorite garden seed catalog, Park Seed for veggie seed bred for my kind of climate. Seed I ordered this year with catalog pictures: Partenon Hybrid Squash (Zucchini) Key feature for me : it pollinates & sets even in 90+ degree heat !  Also it's a bush squash,...