Relaxing in the Central Florida Garden

March 10
Even die-hard gardeners need to take time off now and then. It's Spring Break at the college where I teach, so I'm taking time off from the day job as well. But that doesn't mean the vacation extends to Hunters Acres. No, no no! We've been busy moving the 200 New Guinea Impatiens into the back room to protect them from the cold (34 degree!) nights we've had over the last few WEEKS! This is unheard of in this area, at least for the last 16 winters that I've lived here. Then the next morning we reverse our steps and move the cold-tender New Guineas back out to the back. Then back inside for the night, outside the next morning.... You get the idea. We are totally over this winter weather. It's been a long, cold winter, but the fruit trees are mostly loving it, even though they are fruits specific to this area in that they are low-chill varieties.

The other big project has involved the seeding of several varieties of flowers, vegetables and herbs: from alyssum to zinnia (really! No Kidding!) and almost everything in between. The list includes:

• Alyssum
• Basil
• Zinnia (several colors)
• Pumpkins
• Gourds
• Cantaloupe
• Lettuces
• Morning Glory
• Moonflowers (more! since those I mentioned in February)
• Nasturtiums (these new ones are red Empress of India)
• Marigolds,
• Larkspurs (yes, more again)
• Hollyhock Summer Carnival (again, more!)
• Dalmation Delphiniums
• and the list goes on!

After all that planting on top of the 2,000 liner plants, this season promises to be a very colorful and prolific one in My Central Florida Garden.

11 Steps to Efficient Potting of Liner Plants

Feb 22 2010
Over the weekend we were able to pot up over 700 of the more than 1500 liner plants we received over the last week. I was able to pot 450 Saturday by myself in just over 3 hours as Scott was away. Here are the steps I took to make the process as efficient as possible.

1. Have sterile pots, soil, and utensils readily at hand.

2. Pre-water the liner plants in the trays before setting them into the pots; allow to drain.

3. Get growing soil onto a table that you can easily work on to scoop the soil into pots.

4. Transfer as many pot-filled trays at a time as possible to reduce “travel” time.

5. Pre-wet newly filled pots in a well-drained area.

6. Allow the pots to drain before setting them on the potting bench.

7. Use a dibble to make holes ing the soil to pop the liner plants in.

8. From the bottom holes in the liner tray, pop the plants from the tray using a small blunt tool.

9. Use one hand to pick up the plant from the tray and drop into the dibble hole as the other hand firms the soil around the previously dropped plant.

10. Label each tray with the plant name, variety, and color, e.g., Penta, Butterfly, White.

11. Transfer the finished potted plants to the plant nursery to acclimate prior to setting into the garden.

Just a few notes of things I’ve learned through experience:

· Wear gloves. I wear light weight, inexpensive latex gloves when handling plants and soils due having picked up a fungus under my nails last year from handling soils and plants ungloved (treat it with tea tree oil).
· Keep everything at a comfortable standing level. Scott put up a temporary potting bench on sawhorses to reduce bending and lifting.
· Work early in the a.m. It’s cooler and the plants are not wilted from water transpiration.
· Use a label maker to mark each tray. This is a quick and easy way to make uniform, easy-to-read labels for each tray. I always thought I could remember which tray was which; I can’t!
· Watch the newly potted plants daily. They may need water (likely) and may have a snail or slug or two; get them before they eat the tops off the new crop.

Central Florida Garden Seedlings

Feb 19 2010
Whew! What a week! The weather here in our Central Florida Garden has continued to be COLD! We’ve had frost almost every morning this week. Scott has been diligently moving our seedlings from outside to inside to make sure they don’t get Frostbite! The weather prediction for this upcoming weekend gets us (finally!) into the low 70’s with a chance of much-needed rain on Monday. We have our fingers crossed! If you want to check our weather, here’s the link to our Davis weather station Hunters Acres Weather Station that is mounted in back by the plants. It will give real-time conditions, and if you are really curious, you can scout around and pull up historical records of our temperatures, rainfall, humidity, and other stuff we think is useful and cool. It even has an alarm system that alerts us when the temperatures go below our preset target.

We received the liners we ordered from Raker & Sons through Jonathan at Harris Seeds who is our Raker broker. This first order consisted of 50 New Guinea Impatiens, Sonic Lilac, a 128 tray of Camelot Mixed Foxgloves, and a 128 tray of Summer Carnival Hollyhocks. We soon realized we did not have enough seedling soil to pot up these liners, so Scott headed out and picked up a few bags at the local hardware store to get us going. We potted up all the New Guinea Impatiens and the Foxgloves. We still have to do the Hollyhocks. We ordered Hollyhock liners, even though over the last few years we had good results from seeding, because last year our seeded hollyhocks totally fizzled. They may have been hit by drift from the herbicide we use to spray weeds; we just don’t really know.

Then on Tuesday Scott went to Knox Nursery in Clermont and picked up 128 Violet Phoenix Penstemons, , 280 White Butterfly Pentas, and 128 Golden Yellow Coreopsis, 280 Deep Purple Perfume Nicotiana, and 140 Rose and 140 White Camelot Foxgloves. We order through their broker, Bill Moore & Co., Inc. Marlene is great to work with.

And if that wasn’t enough liners to keep us busy, another Raker order came with 50 each of Sonic Red, Amethyst, and Burgundy New Guinea Impatiens, and 128 Queeny Purple Hollyhocks. So, today, Scott is going to the mulch yard to get a pick up truck load of soil. He has a docent training class at the Sanford Zoo on Saturday, so Guess What I’ll Be Doing All Day Saturday! Now, there is no possible way I can do all those liners in one day by myself, but I’ll give it my best try. I think we have enough flowers for now, especially considering, as I said earlier, all the seeds I’ve got started. This will certainly be a fun-work-filled growing season in our Central Florida Garden.

Feb 15 2010
Last Friday we received our first shipment of liners from Raker. The shipment included 46 Sonic Lilac New Guinea Impatiens, 128 Summer Carnivval Mixed Alcea, and 128 Camelot Mixed Hollyhocks. Whenever we have ordered from Raker (through Harris as their Broker) we have been delighted with the apparent care in packing and handling the seedlings. They arrived in a very sturdy carton via FedEx. They are well-watered so even in the event they are stuck on a warehouse platform for some time, the baby plants will not dry out. The plants are sturdy even though they are seedings that are only 1 to 2 inches tall with the exception of the New Guinea Impatiens. Those we ordered as rooted cuttings, so they were more leafed out but still about 2 inches tall uniformly.

We spent Sunday potting up the New Guineas and all the foxgloves; they currently reside in the Baby Plant Nursery pictured in previous posts. You can also see additional pictures of Hunters Acres on our website, which is currently under construction but due to go online by sometime in March. There I just set another deadline for myself! As if I didn’t have enough. But as soon as it’s online you will be able to reach it at http://huntersacresllc.com . The website will carry garden tips for our area of Central Florida, and I plan to expand to include gardening instruction for various U.S. zones as we have lived in such diverse areas as Zone 5 (upper midwest), the varied climates of Southern California through the various altitudes and those areas on sides of mountains that determine whether or not your garden will get any rain. Now we’re in a subtropical area in Central Florida that has its own sets of gardening challenges. But we keep on trying and learning, and as we do we will pass along those learnings from our Central Florida Garden.

Feb 12 2010
After the hard freeze, we had to take all the citrus fruits off the trees and find uses for them before the fruit began to deteriorate (call that spoil or rot). We juiced about 20 gallons of juice (ours are just baby trees) and froze it in quarts for future uses. The Orlando Tangelo gave us the most fruit; it is mild, sweet, not too acidic, and VERY juicy. I also made 18 jars of Marmalade, and about 4 pounds of Candied Orange Peel which we dutifully sent off to our testers across the country (read that as siblings and children from Florida to Californian and locales in between-they are spread out!). The Marmalade received rave reviews from even some who had staunchly claimed they did not like Marmalades. I used a very old and very simple recipe for it.

Surprisingly, some had never heard of Candied Orange Peel before and were understandably hesitant to try it, but they did try it. And to rave reviews to boot! Early feedback was that the “testers” thought it would be bitter and too chewy. But I had done my homework. I found another recipe several, several years old that included instructions on how to soak it prior to cooking to pull out much of the bitterness for which the peel’s pith is so well known.

Then, just to keep things fun, I dipped the Candied Orange Peels in 3 different candy coatings. Of course I used the obligatory Milk Chocolate, and the obvious Dark Bittersweet Chocolate. But the real surprise and ultimate star of the show was – TA-DA – BUTTERSCOTCH! I was hesitant to even try Butterscotch as a coating, but once I tried it, I was hooked. I included this unusual combination in the goodie packages sent to the testers, and to my great relief, the Butterscotch-Dipped Candied Orange Peel was a unanimous and resounding success straight from My Central Florida Garden. Now I know I can’t take ALL the credit for the fabulous results of the orange products. The real star of all this creating in the kitchen is the Orlando Tangelo with its beautiful bright orange skin and wonderful mild flavor.

More Garden Area Wanted!

Feb 10 2010
Been looking at seed and plant liner catalogs lately and wishing that I had more areas where I could grow more sun-tolerant plants. Pine trees 30-40 feet tall cast a high shade that’s mostly a bright shade, but it is shade nonetheless. Delphiniums, Azaleas, Foxgloves, and even Gerbera Daisies love the bright shade, but Snapdragons, Marigolds, and Zinnias do not. The latter group wants to soak up as much of the Central Florida sunshine as possible. Also the sunshine helps these mid-to-late summer bloomers to dry after our almost daily afternoon rains which are a result of the East and West sea breezes colliding and causing the afternoon thunderstorms for which the area is so famous and aptly named “The Lightning Capital” of the country.

The vegetables like the sun, but want a break from the heat of the sun, so I’ve been experimenting with cheesecloth shades and moving test pots to different areas to see how they tolerate the varying degrees of shade I have in various areas under the trees.

But I still would like more area to plant and grow more and more stock. I LOVE cut flowers in the house, and I love giving cut flowers to friends and neighbors. I just wish I had more of them all the time as well as those fresh green beans, bell peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, and herbs. I’ll keep reading the catalogs and dreaming of the new and old varieties that will be included next season in My Central Florida Garden.

Central Florida Garden Moonflowers & Nasturtiums

Feb 8 2010
Finally took a few pictures of my seed starting nurseries that contain the Nasturiums and Moonflowers for the upcoming Spring flower season. Here they are for you to see. I’ve been just a bit under the weather, so these little sprouts are larger than I normally let them get in this environment. I’ll be getting them into likely 3” pots this evening after I get home from work. I was stunned to see the leaf on the Moonflower already. I really hope it’s not too late for some of these to be transplanted. I found in the past that when I leave the sprouts too long on the paper toweling their root punches through the paper towel and gets tangled in the towelling fiber making it tough to remove the delicate root without causing bruising, or worse, breaking of the root! These seeds were started on paper napkins which don’t have such strong fibers, so maybe with a bit of extra, extra care, I’ll be able to successfully move them from these little incubators to their pots. But once I get them into the planting medium intact, they reward me with growth that seems to just take off. The growth rate really is amazing once these little sprouts “realize” they have everything they need to grow in My Central Florida Garden.

Larkspurs in Central Florida Gardens

Larkspur, it seems, does not like to be transplanted. That’s something I just read. It’s a really great flower for back-of-border areas as it is a tall-grower. Here in Central Florida, the bright-white sun will fade out all but the MOST vibrant colors in the flower beds, but I have that high, bright shade cast by the tall pines, so maybe I’ll get away with the English cottage garden look, during the spring anyway. Larkspurs are called the “annual Delphinium” and are used frequently by florists in arrangements when they need a tall spiky flower.

Now, as I mentioned a few days back, I had planted some Larkspur seeds in one of my start trays, but given this new information of them not liking to be moved, I’m going to try just scratching the surface soil in one of the areas that will get only very, very late afternoon sun and has a fairly rich and is just lightly moist. IF some of the seeds happen to germinate in the seed starters (I use old trays we received plant liners in and put in my own sterile seed starting mix), I’ll get them into the garden in a special test spot so I can easily keep tabs on which Larkspurs do better: the seeds sown directly on the scratched-up soil, or the seeds germinated in the liner trays and then planted in the garden. More to come on this little test, I’m sure.

Seedlings to the Garden

Even the rain we received over the last handful of days has not been able to green up the landscape in and around My Central Florida Garden. Some weather experts claim that we just experienced the coldest winter the area has had in the last 30 years. I don’t know if that’s true. I’ve been here only 16 years myself. Being a transplant here from northern Illinois, I still think the winters here are great! But my citrus and tender perennials like geraniums, ferns, and such don’t think these frosts and a few hours’ worth of hard freezes are so great.

I am looking forward to getting out this weekend and getting my baby plants (that were started from seed a few months back) into the ground. This includes Sweet Peas, Carnations, Foxgloves, and Rudbeckias. I did flake out and buy some blooming Pansy and Dianthus plants just so I didn’t have to work SO hard for some color. The instant gratification is worth it sometimes to get that shot of color NOW in My Central Florida Garden.

Early Spring In My Central Florida Garden

I dutifully checked the Moonflower and Nasturtium seeds I set on damp paper towels in re-used plastic cartons that were from some grocery store bakery goods. I love finding second, third, or more, uses for things that are routinely discarded. The plastic cartons are perfect “little greenhouses,” and I’ve used them, or egg cartons, or carryout containers over the last several years to sprout seeds. It actually saves time and money because by sprouting seeds first where I can see them on damp paper towels, I then use space, pots, and soil only for those seeds that are viable. If a seed does not sprout, then, of course, I don’t use a pot or soil for that seed. But if I were seeding directly into pots, then I’d be using a pot and soil for not only the viable seeds, but also the non-viable seeds – because until they sprout, or fail to sprout, I cannot know the difference!
However, when I see the first showing of a sprout from a seed, I carefully transfer the baby sprout from its little greenhouse to its own small pot containing moist (not wet) sterile planting soil (sterile in an attempt to derail damping off fungus), using fat tweezers and being a gentle as possible. I tamp the soil ever so gently so the emerging sprout gets the full benefit of soil contact as though the seed has always been in a natural germinating environment. And I’ve had some amazing results from this process. Not on every type of seed, mind you, but results good enough to keep me at it. What a great way to start spring early even here in My Central Florida Garden!

January Spring - YES, in Central Florida Gardens

January 31 is Spring???? It is if you’re in Central Florida. In spite of the rain (all day today!) in the Sunshine State, the air is swirling with Spring-like auras. We had a really, really cold winter. We may have lost the Lemon tree and the Dancy Tangerine tree, but the apple, peach, and nectarine trees are all loving the cool days even though they are all specially-bred to fruit with low-chill hours for Central Floridians who just cannot and will not give up trying to grow these normally Northern fruits.
What was fun, though, was that I seeded 150 delphiniums (30 Magic Fountains and 120 Pacific Giants), 23 Mixed Larkspur, 2 seed packs of Moonflower, and 1 seed pack of Nasturtium.
As you can tell, there is no lack of warm weather optimism here. Now if I could just get my Sweet Pea and Carnation seedlings (started some time before Christmas) into the ground, they would be so-o-o happy!