Earth Shattering Gardening: April 2014

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Corks and Caladiums Celebrate Nehrling Gardens

Do you love caladiums? Do you love wine? Then May 9th is the special day for a sunset stroll on the historic Nehrling Gardens for Corks and Caladiums. This special event will feature live music, silent auction, and Mother's Day gifts.

This is just the event to attend if you've never been to the Nehrling Gardens. Henry Nehrling is known as the "patron saint of Florida gardens" having researched and introduced over 3,000 unknown and rare plant and tree species to Florida as well as Florida's native plants to the nation.
The Nehrling Gardens have had such historical celebrities as Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Edison, and famed horticulturists David Fairchild, creator of the Fairchild Botanical Gardens, and Liberty Hyde Bailey visit Dr. Nehrling to see his incredible collection of tropical plants.

Caladiums are one of my favorite plants for Florida shade. I can't wait to see all the different cultivars. Join me on May 9th, 5:30pm to 8:30pm in Gotha. Tickets are $50 per person. You must be 21 to attend.

Thursday, April 24, 2014

Growing Organically Is Looking Up!

The Living Towers Farm

As you drive down the hill to the Living Towers Farm, turning a wooded corner, you don't know quite what to expect. Seeing the greenhouse was the logical assumption for growing vegetables and herbs organically, but what was unexpected was walking into the screened nursery and realizing it's a small world! Looking down the towering rows, I felt like I had been transported to EPCOT, Disney's Experimental Prototype Community of Tommorrow! At EPCOT you can take the boat tour, Living with The Land, and see hydroponic vegetables, fruit trees, herbs, and flowers growing up to the sky, symbiotic aquaponic farming, where fish and plants live harmoniously. There's a good explanation for the similarity: the creator of the vertical towers, Tim Blank, was head horticulturist and researcher at EPCOT's The Land for 12 years.

Hydroponic Boat tour, The Land, EPCOT 2013

At the Living Towers Farm, over 5,000 plants grow in a 2,200 square foot prototype of futuristic food production where everyone will be able to harvest enough food to feed their family, even in a small space.

The product for growing vegetables, herbs, and flowers is a tall, expandable, cylinder with a 20 gallon reservoir that pumps mineral-infused water over the plant roots on a time schedule that is set by the owner. Starting off with seedlings, this oxygen-rich process will boost the growing time for the vegetables and herbs so that within weeks you have fully mature plants ready to harvest. Powerful side benefits of no weeding, tilling, kneeling, or sweaty-dirty clothing, as well as knowing where your food comes from and how it's been grown are attractive to those wanting a more health-conscious diet. Living Tower's Tower Garden TM 's motto is "the world's first plug and play vertical garden."

Living Towers Introduction.with Dr. Jan Young, ND, CBE

One complete Tower Garden TM can be purchased for $525, or in payments of $45 a month. The entire kit includes:

(1) Tower Garden vertical aeroponic garden tower
Seeds for growing gourmet lettuce, cherry tomatoes, beefsteak tomatoes, basil, and cucumber
Seed starter enviro-dome
20 rock wool seed starter cubes and net pots
Pump, timer and drain tube
Tower Tonic Mineral Blend plant food (1 qt each)
pH test kit and 1 bottle each of pH+ and pH-
Measuring cup

You have your choice of seedlings when you visit their online store.

I think my husband would love to have two Tower Gardens for his birthday! Have a look at the harvest-ready Tower Gardens TM vegetables and herbs that you could be eating tonight at your table.