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What can I start growing now?
Andrea’s Update on WHAT IS GROWING!
We have so many different things growing right now at the garden that it is silly. This is a great time to grow FOOD in south Florida. If you have access to the internet, please check out this link http://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/ that leads you to awesome information from the University of Florida and our own County Extension office. They are a wonderful resource for gardening. You can find information on what to grow when, companion planting, and pest management, annuals, perennials, herbs, tropical fruit, and so many other things.
One of the most important things about growing in Zone 10 is to know WHAT to plant when. If you don’t know you will end up with more problems than successes. I hope you have started your seedlings already, or purchased seedlings of the following plants that you can plant now; Broccoli, Brussels Sprouts, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Chinese Cabbage, Endive, Kohlrabi, Lettuces, Peppers, Pumpkins, and Tomato’s. The following items can be planted in the garden with seed: Beans, Beets, Carrots, Celery, Corn, Cucumbers, Kale Mustards, Onions (green or bunching type), Squashes, Turnips, and Watermelon.
At Gray Mockingbird right now, I am checking the plants daily for insect damage. I am not using any type of organic or other spray to control the insects because I want the garden to take care of itself. The caterpillars can do enormous damage in no time flat. I hadn’t noticed any in the past week and was curious about it when I was educated Sunday as to the why. I was alone in the garden planting and saw movement out of the corner of my eye and a little wren or chickadee was flitting in and out of all of our Heirloom tomato plants quite happily having lunch! They also eat aphids and other bugs. I will use diatomaceous earth and ground clean eggshells on the ground around plants as an OWW to keep creepy crawly insects away and help keep down ants. But that is it. When you spray even organic sprays, you can harm the beneficial insects that you need!
Keep an eye out for powdery mildew on your plants as well. Try not to let your plants be wet at night as this encourages it, and make sure they have room for air to circulate around them. A great treatment and preventative for powdery mildew is plain old milk. I use powdered milk as it is easy to store at the garden. All you do is use 1 cup of milk per gallon of water, and spray both the tops and undersides of the leaves. Do this with young plants even with no sign of mildew. It changes the PH of the leaf and the mildew cannot adhere. I use this on squash plants and cucumbers.
Remember, gardening is a dance. And your successes will provide you with food or flowers. The failures or mishaps are just part of the dance.
We have gardening and more for the 5yr old+ in your family through 4-H! Visit us on the 16th to see and hear all about the adventure. You can enroll online for 4-H: http://tinyurl.com/k6d2boq 4-H will have activities for your children at the Lake Worth Festival of Trees on Saturday, January 17th
Support those who support Gray Mockingbird! Eat at South Shore Restaurant and Clary’s. Buy produce at Don Victoria’s. Volunteers are always welcome. We’ll see you on Sunday, January 18th at 8am-11am for the breakfast and a tour! Keep up to date and friend us: www.facebook.com/GrayMockingbird Website: www.GrayMockingbird.com Contributors are Andrea Benjamin (Garden Director, and life-long gardening nut) and Brian Kirsch (Executive Director of Gray Mockingbird, Inc). | |
