Getting through winter in Central Florida

Our winter time in Central Florida is still a time to sow seeds and watch our other plants and trees. We keep a good feeding schedule with our entire site, we observe and actually have a journal in which we add data about when we planted an item, when we fertilized, and other data that we feel is important. We also note the condition of the plant and look close for any developments. This to me is a great joy to look as we often feel as caretakers of our plants and want to see if we are on the road to gardening success or if we need to get busy finding solutions!

We recently went to Quality Green Specialists Inc. in Deland and saw exactly what we felt were the twins of our current plants that we felt were struggling. Many of our trees have lost leaves and look as if they are sticks, but alas we find out about trees that are deciduous or evergreen. Deciduous simply means it sheds it leaves annually and evergreen is as it sounds.

We were very happy to see many of the same specimen we are growing in zone 9B are looking the same in zone 9A slightly north of us. Apparently pomegranate can be either  evergreen or deciduous depending on variety but we feel ours is the leave shedding deciduous variety. We also noted our blueberry and fig looked as barren as the nursery's specimens and felt relieved we have a fighting chance after the winter for growth! Note the sparse leaf coverage on each specimen which as I found out is common in the winter here in Central Florida.

Goji Berries

Persimmon (look like bare sticks!)

Pomegranate

Seed starting

As part of our resolution to document better, I am writing this post about some seeds that were started on January 6th.

One of our goals is to grow as much as we can from seed or through propagating our own plants. We are still beginners at it but getting more and more successful. We are starting seeds to fill in some of the empty spaces in our back garden. Some we have grown before (okra, eggplant, Amsterdam celery, marigolds) but the hyssop and Welsh onions are new to us.

Currently we use the Jiffy seed starting greenhouse from Home Depot. We reuse the outer part and purchase more Jiffy Strips Peat Pots. Over time the clear plastic lid has been lost so we just cover the tray with plastic wrap until the seeds sprout. One day soon we hope to have a more sophisticated set up but this works for now.

As you can see, some have already sprouted. The hyssop (shown below) and the okra are the first to sprout, just 3 days after planting.

Are you starting seeds yet? Have you started any of these plants from seed?

Seeds Planted

• Okra, Clemson Spineless
• Eggplant, Italian trio
• Welsh onions
• Hyssop
• Amsterdam celery
• Marigold - Cottage red

Gardening Resolutions for 2015

We are both into creating and reviewing our resolutions and since several of our personal resolutions have to do with gardening and sharing about gardening (to post a new blog entry each week, to keep posting on our Youtube channel, etc) we thought about making gardening specific resolutions this year. Also, when looking back at what we had accomplished last year (another ritual Holly loves to go through this time of year) we noticed that many of the accomplishments were gardening related. If you would like to see a post about our 2014 garden accomplishments, let us know in the comments.

So here are or Gardening Resolutions for 2015. We will keep you updated on our progress.

1. Document better. We want to do a better job of documenting what we are doing in the garden. We have a lovely garden journal from Moleskine but don't use it enough. Holly used to work in a research lab and kept meticulous notes about her experiments. We want to do something similar with our garden experiments.

2. More planning. When we first started our garden we read several landscape design and gardening books (Gardening Books) and wanted to plan everything out ahead of time. Well, that just seemed so daunting and we didn't really know enough about plants that grew in Florida or our particular site to make any good decisions. So the plan went out the window and we just tried stuff. Our current habit is to plant things in 2 or more places and see where it does better. We also try starting things in pots and in the ground and see how the seeds fair. We have learned a lot from these methods and so we think we can incorporate a bit of planning now.

3. Get the soil tested. Our sister got us a Soil Test Kit for Christmas last year and we have used it to understand the basics of the soil but we need to go further and get more information. We plan to visit our local extension office and see what they have to offer.

4. Automate watering. Up to now we have been hand watering everything with hoses. We like how precise this it but it does take a lot of time. In 2015 we will get our in ground sprinkler system working and tweaked to work the way we need it to. It is a simple lawn sprinkler system so we are not sure how well it will work for our beds and trees.

5. Use a rain barrel and gravity feed watering. If we are really ambitious we will get the sprinkler connected to a rain barrel as well so we can conserve water from our well.

6.  Plant with the seasons. We are new to gardening in Florida and we have gotten quite a bit wrong in the first year. We planted tomatoes too late in spring and they didn't produce due to the heat. We planted other things at totally the wrong time and lost a carambola tree to the cold. But we are learning and hope to get less wrong in 2015.

7. Better composting. We have had a haphazard compost pile for a year now and it is working pretty well but we have the feeling we could be getting much more compost if we worked at it. Building a 2 or 3 bin composting station is a big "to do" on our list.

8. Try worm composting. One way to kick our composting into high gear might be to start worm composting. We know a little about it but have to learn more and actually try putting it into practice. We have a very good source that is in Apopka called Our Vital Earth. We have met with the proprietors of Our Vital Earth and  are assured we can do as they do in their own garage, which in FL is a HOT garage!

9. Use garden bounty creatively. We are growing a lot of unusual plants and we can be so much more creative with how we use them. Take the turmeric for instance. Currently we have added it to a smoothie. That's all! There are many more ways to use fresh turmeric and it is so healthy.

10. More companion planting and permaculture. We admit to knowing very little about these concepts and yet they are so fascinating. Being in zone 9B we can (we think) grow some perennial vegetables. Scarlet runner beans and Malibar spinach are our first attempts. So what do we plant with them? What do we plant under the fruit trees so we can stop weeding? Hopefully in 2015 will get some answers.

Please let us know in the comments what resolutions you have made this year.
If our resolutions aren't enough inspiration, here are some that inspired us: Other gardening resolutions you might find interesting:

10 Gardening Resolutions for the New Year (2009)

Gardening Resolutions on Apartment Therapy

2010 New Year’s Gardening Resolutions for My Florida Garden