We planted this orange bromeliad 5 years ago. It started to produce pups, we called it baby bromeliad, 2 years later. And then more babies and grand babies showed up one after another. Now we have 11 bromeliad plants. The way to separate pups from main bromeliad is to cut as low as possible to the base using a sharp knife. The orange Bromeliad add beautiful color to our back yard, along with filling in some area so passersby can enjoy.
Before Hurricane Erma in Sep. 2017, we decided to secure only one tree — papaya tree. We really did not want to lose that tree with so many papayas. Well, we were lucky. After the hurricane, the papaya tree was standing tall even though we lost many of the banana trees along with lots of branches from the live oak trees. Now, 5 months after Hurricane Erma, we picked the largest papaya we have ever grown with a measure weight of 5 lbs 10.4 oz. There are still many more on the tree that will be ripening over the next month. Looks like we may need some help eating! We did save some seeds from a couple picked earlier in Feb. and will be growing trees from those seeds. Let’s see if we are able to duplicate the success.
It seems to be a fact that a home gardener in Florida seems to be able to grow vegetable all year long. Now I seem to have accomplished the same thing as long time residents in that I planted 2 little eggplants plants last June which continue to produce. There are close to 2 dozen eggplants (mad apples) on the branches now after 8 months. Around the first of this year, we had already harvested close to that same number and possible more! We must have given away or cooked or earlier harvest. Let us say that it seems like the eggplant plant loves a cold snap every now and then which, seems to cause the flower to produce what else but a MAD-APPLE.
Now our Broccoli was planted after the first of the year because they seem to like cool weather (the leaves burn up when it is too hot). They have been very happy as long as the temperature does not drop to below 20 degree F, which in Florida no one can remember the last time that happened. When we harvest the broccoli head, we leave a little broccoli heard and then we are able to harvest more from the same plant at some future date.
During Florida hot summer, when all other vegetable is suffering from the heat eggplant plant is one of very few that seems to continue growing. Now, after Hurricane Matthew the eggplant plant is growing better along with increasing the number of eggplants produced. The photo below is the third eggplants we harvested. It weights over a pound (1.12 #). We once again made eggplant parmesan from it, and it was mouth watering!
There are at least 6 additional little eggplants so called Mad Apples on the plant as of today with a high potential of making it onto the dinner table.
Hurricane Matthew, Category 4, moved parallel to Florida coast on Thursday, October 6, 2016. It passed us in Port St Lucie perhaps around midnight. The impact to us was minimal. We did not lose power, we did however lose both Internet and local broadcast channels for 2 days, and additionally we lost some fruit trees. Even though the impact was minimal, it still took several days for us to clean up the yard. Hopefully we will continue with only cleanup and loss of fruit trees in the future in this hurricane prone state!
Three Sandhill Cranes visited our back yard. The cranes have grey – reddish skin and red patch on their heads. They were walking along the property line looking for their favorite food under the tree, in the grass etc. More information: http://myfwc.com/wildlifehabitats/profiles/birds/cranes/sandhill-crane/
The peafowl was another guest that showed up also looking for food. Looks like our yard is going to the birds.
Our summer vegetable garden is continues producing. We have been harvesting Okra, 4 to 10 each day from raised garden for the past months. Then, we finally got our first eggplant. It weights over a pound (1.13 #). We used it for our favorite dish, eggplant parmesan. This was by far so much better tasting than what we generally purchase at the local store. The plant itself continues to grow with plenty of potential to produce more but for some reason we seem to be waiting longer than one could expect.
It is a challenge to grow vegetable in the heat of the Florida summer, it is simply too hot and too much rain for many plants. We started growing okra, eggplant, pepper and celery. Those vegetable seem to be able to take the heat better than broccoli and the other leafy green. So far, we have been able to pick some okra each day.
Health Benefits of Okra: http://www.curejoy.com/content/okra-the-wonder-vegetable-22-the-amazing-health-benefits-of-okra/
We placed some potatoes that had many eyes and seemed to be getting real soft into our composite bin at backyard for the purpose of making good soil and providing the worms something to eat. Then, as time passed, they started to grow leaves and big roots in the composite bin. We transplanted what was growing into a make shift flower pot added soil and water for a couple of months. What you see in the picture is what we harvested potatoes first time from our garden. Looks like we will try this again with potatoes that seem to be going soft and maybe we will harvest enough to sell @ the green market.
We finally got good broccoli growing in the raised garden after a warmer than normal fall. We know by trial and error that broccoli plants do not like summer like weather. The raised garden seems to have the advantage of being weed free, along with not being washed out by heavy rains. I might also add that with the mix of soil and the fact we had the PH checked, we seem to have a much better growing potential than just placing plants in an open garden and hoping for the best.