Quick garden update!

I made the wall facing the garden into a trellis wall! It was soooooo easy and also affordable! Once I completed the wall I planted several raspberry and grape plants and even a Marionberry! Here's some pics:

The items we used to create this was PVC pipes and connectors, white plastic trellis purchased from the Po ;), and zip-ties to hold it all together. I dug a hole for the pipes and the trellis to ensure they remain firmly in place. The plants are really enjoying the trellis and I am enjoying the additional space for plants added to my garden, especially for long term plants like grapes - which can live for 20-30 years! 

Garden Box and Containers Update

Here is the garden box as of today! I am happy these are finally planted. I had to cut multiple branches off of the cherry tomato plant because it was getting out of control and shading all of the other plants. I also planted Floradade tomatoes in the yard. These tomatoes were developed by the University of Florida to be extremely heat tolerant and disease resistant. I am excited to see how they do in our natural sandy soil. 

My Jersey asparagus has already sprouted after being planted last week! I have two sprouts. These are three year old roots.

My Luffa Gourd Plants! I put these in a hanging basket for the back porch.

 Garlic and Dutch Yellow Shallots:

 Broccoli (kind of looking sad):

 Sweet Onions:

Lemon/Key Lime and Orange Tree:

DIY Tipi/Teepee Garden + Garden Update

We have officially finished the walk-in Tipi garden! Well, we still a few minor adjustments to make, but for the most part it is complete. Here is how it all went down...

First we prepped the desired site by loosening the soil and removing the grass. I chose the area on the left side of the screened in porch, and also near a hose, for the garden site.

Next, we dug the holes needed for the garden beds.

Then we laid the landscape fabric in order to prevent weed growth.

After filling the beds with dirt and spreading mulch throughout the walkways, we prepared the tipis. For this we used wood, chicken wire, metal poles, zip ties, and a staple gun.

I then added some bulbs I had from the front yard garden and planted white marigold and purple zinnia seeds.

Here is the look of the garden as of now:

I used some left over stained pallet and fabric paint to make the markers for my vegetables. I recommend practicing first before painting on your final product. I did not, as can be witnessed with my markers. We then cut the markers with a table saw.

How cute are peas? They are my favorite plant so far. Just look at those tendrils!

The black beans are called Cherokee Trail of Tears. These beans have an amazing history and were carried by the Cherokee Tribe on that harrowing walk. Learn more here and here. I also have red bush beans and the Italian Rose beans are quite the lookers. I also have peas, slicing cucumbers, and a pickle cucumber hybrid.

I have hot peppers that include Hungarian Wax, Chili, Cayenne, and Poblano.
I am also waiting on the plant form of red and green Jalapenos, called Biker Billy Hybrid. These were some that my husband killed =|

 Here are the Sweet Peppers, Zucchini, Summer Squash, and Eggplants.

I also have 20+ strawberry plants, Loganberry, and I am super excited about the Seedless Concord Grapes.

I will update soon on my container gardening progress.

Happy gardening!

Hello All!

Welcome to my blog! My name is Stephanie, I am 27 years old, and I reside in sunny southwest Florida. I live on a mere quarter acre and I am a beginner gardener and avid crafter. I am also a full time student with a BA in less than a year! Woohoo!

My husband and I purchased our first home last year and have had a blast crafting, decorating, and now gardening. I plan to share all of these experiences with you in hopes that we can be some inspiration. By being novices at most everything, we will undoubtedly be the collective guinea pig so that everyone may learn from our mistakes. We would also love feedback and suggestions from you so that you may inspire us in return.

                                     

Okay, I am literally in the beginning stages of gardening. I have purchased seeds from Burpee, Gurneys, and The Seed Kingdom. I started planting my seeds in January (we have an early season in Florida) and I have done one large planting each month since (it’s March now). When we first purchased our home we had several citrus trees in our backyard. I say this past tense because I had to make the heartbreaking decision to remove them. They were extremely misplaced by being right next to our screened in back porch and also under the shade of our live oak trees in the backyard so that they never received proper sun and became diseased. However, I replaced these trees in proper areas with new, already blossoming trees from HD. I immediately purchased a key lime lemon tree combo but we took too long to replant this tree and the lemon tree ended up taking over the key lime tree and in turn, it became our back porch lemon tree – or should I say the cats lemon tree.

Sookie (right) allowing Doja (left) in her lemon tree barrel.
They think they are cute ;)

So, for Florida Arbor Day this year we planted a new key lime and lemon tree in addition to a new orange tree. They are doing extremely well and are even blossoming a bit too much for their sizes. We added supports until they can become more established.

My husband is an amazing woodworker and made me a four-tier garden bed on wheels to put on our patio. He was originally going to make me an additional one, but instead we decided to go all the way. So, we will instead be building raised beds on the other side of our back porch. I am super excited about this project and I will post the transformation as it happens. In the meantime, I will update you on the seedlings that I currently have and the others that are still germinating.
I originally wanted to purchase Cow Pots but my local garden center only had Jiffy Strips, which I felt were fine with Organic Miracle Gro. I knew that I had to have biodegradable pots for the seedlings that were supposed to be directly planted and to avoid the stress caused by replanting for the other plants. I labeled each pot and also dated them so that I had an exact time frame for each plant because germination lengths vary. Here are the original few which have grown exponentially.

I left town for four days to visit family in Louisville and my husband managed to kill 50% of the seedlings so he ordered me the plant form of most of them :P ! From this situation, we can see who will be taking care of the plants and who will not be touching them again ;)

 

My garden bed only contains one cherry tomato plant that was purchased as a baby a little over a month ago and has grown so full and fast that it gives me hope for the rest of my plants once it is time for them to be planted.

Here is the plant as of today:

As you can see from a previous photo I planted garlic cloves from a head that was in my refrigerator into a regular kitchen bowl as an experiment and they took off. I now have them planted into their permanent container:

My original five cloves have grown so much that I have had to trim the leaves which I used in a recipe and they were quite delicious. The other five cloves I planted a few weeks ago are already sprouting. I used advice found on the internet and planted the largest cloves from the head. I plan to replant cloves from the head I will receive from this planting and continue this process indefinitely.
Another plant I planted from kitchen scraps were my onions, which I planted in my front yard garden bed a few months ago as an experiment. It has produced about five bulbs. For my onions in my container, I planted them from seeds. However, I think I will use the kitchen scrap method again next time since I did not even really attend to them and they grew so well.

My husbands plant massacre can really be witnessed with these onions.

As you can tell by now, I am also attempting container gardening.
Here is the list of the plants I plan on growing:
Luffa Gourds, Eggplants, Summer Squash, Zucchinis, Peas, Green Beans, Black Beans, Red Beans, Slicing Cucumbers, Pickle Cucumbers, Various Hot Peppers, Asparagus, Sweet Potatoes, Potatoes, Container Corn, Porterhouse Tomatoes, Floridade Tomatoes, Carrots, Pak Choi, Spinach, Mesculin Mix, Lettuce, Broccoli, Kale, Loganberries, Strawberries, and Grapes. Yeah, I may have bitten off more than I can chew. For the asparagus I ordered two year old Jersey Knight and for the Grapes I ordered one year old seedless Concord. I plan on doing a couple crafting projects, especially for my herbs – which is another extremely long list. I will update you as everything happens which will be quite a bit within the next two weeks. Wish us luck!