Fall Garden 2011 - 7/30 to 8/5

Here it is! Fall garden 2011 has begun. Very excited about this season because my neighbor has graciously allowed us the use of some of the empty lot between our houses. Can't wait to get planting!

I will be using this blog to share my trials and tribulations of gardening in SWFL with my friends and family. I also figure this is a good way to keep a garden journal. I'll be posting lots of pictures with blurbs about what's doing. So let's get started!


Here is the before photo of the spot we chose to set up the Fall garden plot in our neighbor's empty lot between our houses.



(7/28/11) We have decided to go with a sort of raised bed set up. Our soil is very sandy and filled with shell. Here the blocks are in place and cardboard/weed fabric is down. Getting the posts flush and ready to be quickcreted in. They will be double purpose: trellis as well as support for shade cloth since this area gets full sun from rise to set each day. And hurricane proof - no need to add to the projectiles flying around the neighborhood!



(7/28/11) So here's the structure and now on to the ingredients we will fill it with!



(7/29/11) We decided on using "Jungle Growth" Veggie Pro Mix, because it is basically 5 different types of compost and we had excellent success with this in the lettuce bins last season. We've talked to local gardeners as well and they are very happy with the results. This will make up 1/3 of the final soil mix. N-P-K: .22-.11-.18



(7/29/11) For the next 1/3 of our mix we went with Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss as we need a soil mix that is going to hold as much moisture as possible, but will still be light weight and friable. This stuff was SO difficult, because it is incredibly intensive to get it to the moist point where it then can be mixed into the soil. N-P-K: 3-.5-.1



(7/29/11) And here is the final 1/3 of the bulk soil mix: Vermiculite. This stuff promotes water retention in the same way that the Peat Moss does but will also help to aerate the soil and keep it from compacting. We actually took a four hour drive to get this stuff! You can also see a bag of Perlite in the picture. This will be used in the portions of the garden where I will have plants that don't need as much moisture as the rest. Perlite promotes moisture drainage and also helps aerate the soil and makes it VERY light weight.



(7/29/11) We needed to add some "good stuff" to our soil mix since the bulk of the ingredients have questionable nutrient value. Here we have some Jersey GreenSand that is a very slow acting additive: N-P-K = 0-1-6



(7/29/11) Here we have Bone Meal that will help add more nutrients to the soil - more "good stuff" that is somewhat slow acting (but not as slow as the next stuff): N-P-K = 3.5-22-0



(7/29/11) And final ingredient - more of the "good stuff" - this is Azomite and is a rock dust and will also help add some of the nutrients needed in the soil at a very slow rate: N-P-K = 0-33-0



(7/29/11) And after HOURS of mixing in a heat index of 105, we now have this! We still have some finishing touches to get it completely done, but we were fried like lobsters, sore as all get out, and ready for some dinner. So we have a soil depth of 12" and are waiting for the quickcrete to set before we move on to the next stage. So excited. Will have 4x18' of space to plant my little heart out this Fall, YAY!



(7/29/11) And here are the seeds I just started this morning (7/29). Have a very wide selection going on there. Watermelon, Cantaloupe, 8 kinds of peppers, 8 kinds of tomatoes, a few Granex onions from seed, Eggplant, Sweet Corn, and 2 kinds of lettuce. Need to find a Yukon Gold seed potato supplier. I should have started some of these about 4 weeks ago but school was hectic. I'll have even more in about a month when it cools off some more.

I decided to use the Burpee Seed Starting Ultimate Growing System that grows 72 plants. I only started with 36 though as that is all I need just now. I thought the system would work well since it is self watering from the bottom up, which is supposed to help the roots grow down toward the water as opposed to hanging out on top of the soil if you top water. I have opted not to put the dome on because it is mighty humid already here in the Florida summer and I did not think adding more humidity would be good. If I wanted more humidity I could have just started these outside, but that is just too much humidity to start seeds in. I have placed the whole contraption on my desk as it is a South facing window and will hopefully provide enough sunlight the plants will need. I will do updates as I go along.



(7/29/11) And here are some of the seeds to come! Southern pea, 2 kinds of English peas, cucumbers, fennel, Lima bean, A snap pole bean and 2 bush snap bean types, Cauliflower, radish and basil. Waiting for my broccoli to come in the mail. Need to start those now for transplant real soon. And there are also some sunflowers and an insectary flower mix to attract the "good bugs". Had some dragonflies and a bee today and we hardly EVER see bees so I am soooo excited!

I did a lot of research on seeds this past four months or so. We had a hard time in the Spring season - lots of disease, poor germination and a whole lot of bleh basically. I made the mistake of following the gardening rules I had grown up with - in the North - and learned the hard way that you just can't do that here in South Florida. The planting seasons are totally reversed and you get a ton more time, two seasons a year in fact, and the heat and bugs and disease that accumulate with all that extra time make gardening here a real challenge. But with some serious help from the University of Florida and my County Extension Office, I have found the latin names of the vegetables I wish to grow that are supposed to succeed here. What this all means - I could not just walk in to Lowes or Home Depot and buy my seeds off their pretty little racks or even buy transplants from them. I had to find seed savers and seed exchanges that carried the specific types I was looking for. It took some searching but I lucked out and found all of what I needed and the bonus - the majority are organic and heirloom. Some of the tomatoes and peppers from the Fort Myers Tomato Growers Supply Company do not appear to be as organic or even grown in this country. But, we LOVE tomatoes and we love Mexican tomatoes when we head South for our vacations, so we'll see how it goes!



(7/29/11) Almost forgot the soaker hoses. A must have for SWFL gardening unless you want to get up at 5:00am to water the garden (which I do NOT). If we water any later, the plants will fry. If we water in the afternoon/evening, we are begging for all sorts of mildew diseases from the water sitting around overnight. And if we water overhead, we are inviting all the "bad" bugs and a ton of other leaf diseases and wilts. So the solution is soaker hoses on a timer. These are just laid in the bed for now and will get better arrangement tomorrow but we needed to do a test run and keep that peat moist so we ran them for a bit.



(7/30/11) We only had half of a day today since we went on a trek to find clean straw this morning and also visited a bamboo farm looking for stakes and maybe a clump. We came home with an empty truck though. Turns out 50ft high bamboo clumps didn't sit well with my Mom, the place did not harvest any of their own bamboo stands, and due to a combined drought and flood scenario out West - there was no sterile straw to be found. I didn't want to use any random hay or straw as I am trying NOT to have to weed too much, and adding the random stuff to a hopefully perfect growing bed would just be asking for a TON of them. Seemed very counter productive, so I am going to go with a local alternative - pine needles or pine "straw." On the hunt for those tomorrow.

We still decided to try to get the bed as close to finished as we could while VERY sunburned. Needed to do some of the finer details. Like adding the shade cloth, adding the plant markers, placing the hose, adding one of the trellises and bringing in some of the native plants I picked up at a local native plant sale last week. Want to start getting those pollinators lured in!

So here is what we had at the end of the day... doing a great job of shading the grass there... gonna need more shade cloth!



With all the markers in and the soaker hoses in place it looks like a mini grave yard. Hope that's not an omen!



(7/31/11) Went on the hunt for pine straw today with great success and also picked up some more shade cloth. So here it is, all complete and waiting for the transplants! And more flowers to attract the pollinators. They'll go around the edges in pots.



(7/31/11) You can kind of see the pine straw here. Multiple benefits: reduce water loss in the top 3" from our intense heat, reduces soil compaction from rain, evenly distributes the rain by acting as a filter, reduces fruit and veggie rot if any try to sit on the ground, acts as a temperature moderator, and most important - keeps the grit off lettuce and spinach leaves by preventing splashing of the soil onto the plants. Will need makeshift collars around plant stems to prevent the pine from resting on them and creating root rot. Better than straw or hay or barks because it stays in place with rain and high winds. The pine needles are slow to break down, but as they do, they will actually add a very little bit to the soil: N-P-K = .46-.12-.03



(7/31/11) Flaps down providing shade. Filtered sunlight still gets through as you can see in the difference of the shading in the grass. You can tell where the cinder blocks are shading and where the cloth is. When I walk past the side with the flaps, I'm told that you can still clearly see my shadow in the bed.



(7/31/11) And here is one of the panels up for when I need to access each area. And for when the intense afternoon sun lessens as we get into our cooler (70s lol) season.

We've already had a red ant problem and there are not even any plants in the plot yet! So, my Mom went ahead and treated around the bed with stuff that has successfully worked on the lawn for years now. We didn't want to treat in the bed. We figure that if we create a barrier they do not want to cross then that should protect the bed without having to actually add anything to it - seems to be working so far!!



(8/1/11) So my seedlings have started to pop and I am concerned about them getting leggy. I do not think they are getting enough light. And man do I NOT want to buy a ridiculous lighting system that is pre-made. Just don't have the funds for it with the huge wave of expenses we suffered in our business this past week... off to Home Depot to see what I can do for cheap.

Woo hoo! Not a bad use of a $25 home depot gift card. Now if it works, we'll be golden. No need for a hundred plus dollar grow light system if you are crafty!



(8/2/11) Crap! They are still going leggy on me... maybe if I just get the light centered perhaps????



(8/4/11) Argh! Still not working, still need more light. Who knew growing seeds indoors could be so darn difficult!?! Curse you people who "just throw them in a pot on the windowsill and BAM you have a seedling 4 weeks later"

Oh NO! and what is THIS - crap, crap, crap... it looks like the start of damping off, stupid fungus!!! So I have to scoop out one of the sweet corn pods since it looks like it's too much and will kill those seedlings eventually anyway. Need to reduce moisture and dry these guys out a bit. Guess that self-watering system was not so great after all, but maybe it was because I did not put all 72 pods on the matt, hmmmm. And I need to increase air circulation... soooo let's see, what to do, what to do...

Well this off course :) Wrapped some foil around some paper bags to cause the light to reflect in on the plants again - should double what they are getting... in theory. And added a small fan to the set up to see if that will help dry the surface and kill off the fungus. I also cut some of the leggier plants, since I had put a few seeds in each pod.



(Later that same day) It seems to be working!! The plants are finally standing up straight and not reaching toward the window or too hard for the fluorescent. YAY, finally figured out the right setup... for my desk at least!!!!!!



(8/4/11) Planted out my first seeds today. Put down some McCaslan Snap Pole Beans, some Fordhook 242 Bush Lima Beans, and some Mississippi Silver Southern Bush Peas (Black Eyed Peas).

I am trying out the whole "collaring" technique I learned about through UF. Supposedly if you put a collar around the seedling area on your brassica crops then that will prevent slugs and a few other "bad bugs" from getting to the plants when they are young. You can then remove the collar before the plants get too big for it, but are able to withstand a bit of chewing when they are older. I had not decided on the type of "collar" I would use but I get a lot of boxes in so I figured I'd give one of those a shot on the pole beans and see what happens before I actually need them on the brassicas when they go in the bed at the end of this month and in September.



I opted not to collar the pea and bush beans to see how the pine needles would work out with rain and watering. They should stay in place, so we will see. Now you know because I actually planted something out - the storm formerly named Emily is going to reform on the other side of Cuba and smack the crap out of us, right? Would totally be my luck. But I guess a good early test run to see how the plot will fare in a storm and how long it will take us to get all the shade cloth pulled down, so we can add that time to our normal storm preparedness timing we know we normally need.



(8/5/11) Still signs of damping off - very early stages. Only had the fan on them and took their moisture away for a day so far, hoping they come around. May have to plant a new flat :(
Gonna try an actual sterile seed starting mix next time and probably not go with the whole bottom watering all the time deal. Gonna be a trial and error thing, just like the lighting... sigh.





This guy is just getting his first true leave, too :( Well at least I have more time in the season if I need to start this all over again.