Bone Meal

I read that root development is enhanced by bone meal (phosphorus), so I am trying Happy Frog® Bone Meal in the garden. Another line of rain is heading this way, so it should water in tonight.  I also bought some stronger mineral phosphorus soil amendment to try at some point as well.  I'm curious to see if it shows any benefit to my carrots, but I added it to all the plants.

It has been warm and gloomy for too many days to count.  Cold weather and sunlight would be nice.

Still Crazy Hot

Tallahassee had a few record high temperatures in the 80s this week.

Brassicas continue to struggle... Broccoli is flowering. Will the cauliflower do anything?

The pansies are blooming unhappily.

Blue Mistflower

Hot Again

It's been too hot the past few months. The mature lettuce has bolted and bittered.

The same goes for the maturest Cilantro, but I have some young plants that are OK.

Another broccoli plant has formed a single sprig. Not sure what the third plant is doing. The first plant is putting out a side shoot.  They have been pretty plants.

The tatsoi is pretty but still small. Hope it does decide to grow if it ever stays cold long enough.  The container cabbages are kinda sorta starting to head.

The Nasturtiums keep blooming here and there.  All have been the same orange-red blooms so far.

Emilia

Thinking the unidentified volunteer plant in the mixed wetland pot is actually Florida Tasselflower (Emilia fosbergii). It is non-native, despite the name.

Carrots

Pulled a few of the oldest carrots to see how they are. Looking good. Will wait for more growth.



Here's the one nasturtium bloom, starting to degrade.



One bite of broccoli, all for me... (hopefully will keep growing)



A few of the stowaway plants that came with either the swamp milkweed or the cardinal flower are blue mistflowers.  That's fine, as I had thought about getting some.  They get a bit invasive (and stowaway) but I'm glad to get some for free.



I'm still trying to ID this one... I'm wondering if it's a Sonchus species as it has some similarities.  I haven't found a red-flowered species yet though.

What Weather

It's been cold and warm and just turning cold again. Lots of rain today, which is OK.  The one broccoli head is continuing to form.  The new lettuces and spinach and beets look good so far... I doubt the beets will keep it up though. 

One nasturtium is in bloom, the first one to bloom so far. It may be confused about the weather; I'm not sure.  It's a nice, deep, bright red-orange color.  Very pretty.

Still giving the carrots some time, but I might pull a few in the next week or two.

The prettiest thing in the garden so far is the container w/ the lettuce mix I transplanted. I want to eat it and also not eat it so I can continue to visually enjoy it.

Broccoli

Here it goes!

Fishy

I bought some Neptune's Harvest fish & seaweed fertilizer to try. Applied the first feeding today on almost everything in the garden (minus lettuce, spinach, tatsoi).  I'll get the spinach and tatsoi next time.  It smells like a pond full of bream out there now.  :)

I've been too busy to do much with the garden the past few weeks, but the newly planted lettuce, spinach, and beets are up. Whether or not they stay up...

The cauliflower and broccoli are doing well. I still cover the cauliflower most days so the fabric catches enough dew & rain to satisfy all watering needs.

Cauliflower with some tiny rainbow chard.

I think this broccoli plant is starting to form a head! I didn't notice at the time.

This is my best looking collard plant. Maybe it will grow more once it stays cooler...

OK for a good comparison of the raised bed vs containers... here are my two large cabbage plants in containers doing well so far, and above & below the sprinkler head are two puny raised bed cabbages. They are the same age from the same batch of transplants, watered the same, fertilized the same. The only difference I can think of is the soil.  I hate to say it, but Miracle Grow Potting Soil seems to win.  It must balance moisture retention/draining needs of the plants better, despite the "tried and true" raised bed soil recipe I saw everywhere when planning my garden.

Finally, the lettuce transplants are BEAUTIFUL, and I hope my tatsoi gets a move on.

Come on, tatsoi! Oh well, it likes cold weather.

Replant A Few

Taking advantage of a few days of drying off, I planted some more lettuce, spinach (which failed before), and beets (also failed).  I'm curious to see how the lettuce does in the raised bed vs the pallet bed.

Lettuce in the middle two squares and beets back in the square near the orange bucket.

Spinach on the far top row and then lettuces for the rest.

The BT seems to be doing the job of killing worms/caterpillars.  The kale and tatsoi seem much improved.

I've enjoyed watching the cabbages grow, and the lettuce in the container is doing well. I may harvest a bit of the lettuce soon.

 You can compare the cabbages in the containers vs the ones in the raised beds in the first picture on this post... the raised beds so far have really under-performed. The only thing I can think of is the soil.

Anoley

Anole in the cabbage.

"Not Spring" Onions

The bunching onions have been doing well in the carrot tub. I've pulled a couple for cooking already.

It's back into the 80s today, but a cold front is moving through tomorrow.

Damp

It finally rained a few inches over the weekend and into Monday. The sun finally came back out today, and temps have fallen enough to open the windows. It should dip into the 40s this weekend, too.

I applied another spray of BT on the plants on Tuesday when threat of rain was over. Think it is working.

Here's one of the Brussels sprouts.

BT

I applied BT to the plants today. Hopefully it will take care of the worms that are eating them. I tried the liquid concentrate for the first time and also did a bit more dusting w/ the powder. It's the most recommended treatment, and it is organic.

Brussels

I got a couple of Brussels sprouts plants from the online market. I am trying one in the bed and one in a large pot. Everything in pots seems to be doing better. It is different soil (mostly Miracle Grow potting mix, boringly enough), but that is the only difference I can think of. Why isn't the soil in the raised bed good when it was a recipe recommended over and over?

Bugs are eating plants here and there. Squirrels may be what decimated my speckled trout back lettuce. I wish it would turn cool and calm the bugs down a bit. 89 degrees in November... horrible.

Finally

Getting much needed rain this evening. It is still unseasonably warm, but I'll take what I can get.

The first radishes are big enough to harvest. If only I liked radishes, haha.

Well...

Our area had a 2-3 inch rain forecast for yesterday and today. It's rained about 1/10th of an inch. Pretty much on par with rain forecasting all year.

The garden is drying up from a bit of over-watering anyway.  Everything is still doing well.

Cauliflower and Rainbow Chard

Bed 1

Bed 2

Carrot and Onion Jungle

Lettuce and Broccoli

Lettuce in front, chard on right, radish and nasturtium on left, cabbage in the back

Farm Tour, etc

Farm Tour was yesterday, and I visited a few farms in the Madison area. It's always neat to see how different farms do the same thing in different ways. Some have a lot more resources/capital, but the savviness and creativity of others tend to make them pretty equal. Anyway, the lettuces and brassicas look good at all the farms right now. Cooler weather should help soon.

All my native plants are suffering from lack of water now. I am hand watering just enough to hopefully keep them alive. Rain is expected in a day or two. My area is at about a 12 inch rain deficit for the year.

The garden is doing fine so far except i think some of the spinach didn't make it, and the last two candy roaster squash vines I planted by the porch died. It was only a matter of time since they were showing signs of wilt/borers.

Violas & Pansies

I bought some violas and pansies to replace the zennias. I didn't have the heart to remove the penta yet.

Also filled one more container with a mix of more mature lettuces.

One of the broccoli seedlings I planted from seed died, so I bought a mature cilantro plant for that spot. A Thai basil plant also volunteered in a pot, so I transplanted it beside the cilantro.

Cardinal Flower

The cardinal flower is well into its bloom now.

I thinned the lettuces and round 3 carrots.  That has me caught up for now.

Lots of the greens are starting to put out tiny true leaves.