We Keep Growing!

 

Today's Garden Center reports that 2013 showed a bigger increase in retail gardening sales than ever before in the last 100 years. The final tally of $34.9 Billion was up 18 %.  Other details found in the National Garden Survey had households spending an additional $73 for a total of $420 on DIY gardening last year, the largest amount in 13 years.

Demographically, over-55 year olds’ dominance of the entire lawn and garden (L&G)market intensifies. In 2001, this age group had 31 percent of the total DIY sales; now it has 46 percent. Meanwhile, retail sales to 35 to 54 year olds have declined by more than $10 billion in the same time frame. The good news is that, fueled by their interest in “Food Gardening,” 18 to 34 year olds have gained market share. As they represent 30 percent of the U.S. household population, we can only hope this gardening behavior will stay with them as they progress through life. 

About 42 percent of DIY garden spending went toward just four gardening activities: lawn care, tree care, shrub care and insect control. Admittedly, these totals include items not carried by most local garden centers (LGCs) such as machinery, mowers, even lawn food, but that’s where the public is spending. This $15+ billion business is dependent on first-time consumer success through good information as well as good prices — opportunity knocks for local garden centers. 

Eleven percent of total household spending was on “Food Gardening” (now averaging $211 per household compared to “Flower Gardening’s” $64). Does your buying focus, inventory, bench space, signage, marketing and training reflect that? A stunning one in three American households now grows some type of food each year and the popularity of TV cooking shows can only help that to grow.

Looks like gardening is helping the country grow in more than one way! 


To read the Today's Garden Center article, click here.

 

The winter red beauty of blueberries can make a dramatic statement in your garden of edible plants. In early spring, I will be moving these delicious Southern Highbush 'Sharpblue' blueberries out of their current large containers to my front border garden this spring. 

 

Blueberries are easy to grow, have few pest issues, but do require certain conditions:

1. Buy blueberry cultivars that are recommended for your area.
2. Blueberries need to have acidic pH levels of 4.0 - 5.5 for healthy    growth.
3. Blueberry plants should have at least 4 - 5 hours of sunlight and good air circulation.
4. Fertilize blueberries with 8-4-8 in April, June, August, and October.  Sunniland's Azalea + Camellia Fertilizer is an excellent fertilizer formulated for Florida's soils.
5. When your blueberries are mature, (3 - 5 years) do not be afraid to prune (top) your blueberry bushes by 1/4th, so that there are no canes that are older than three to four years old.   
6. No need to overwater, blueberries need 1" - 1.5" of water a week during the summer.  If no rainfall, provide supplemental irrigation.

Check out new Southern Highbush cultivars for Florida at the Florida Foundation Seed Producers, Inc.

University of Florida's Blueberry Gardener's Guide.

Blueberries as Ornamentals in Edible Landscaping

More University of Florida Blueberry research on cultivars

What's Blooming In Your Backyard?

Love this time of year in the garden. Flowers still blooming with summer's last heat while you can almost feel autumn approaching.

At my neighbors, blue vines are uplifting color with the polite 'Heavenly Blue' morning glory vine and the impressive Sky vine.



'Heavenly Blue' Morning Glory, Ipomoea violata



Blooms open every morning in the full sun and last several days.




Flowers open up deep blue, then deepen until purple in the afternoon.

Sky vine, 'Thunbergia laurelfolia'



Sky vines bloom in sun or partial shade.

While morning glories are subdued by the winter cold, Sky vines can get out of control so be careful where you plant them or keep them under a watchful eye. I have seen them cover a house roof in very little time.  Glad it's at the neighbor's house so I can enjoy their beautiful blue flowers.

I have periwinkles, roses, dancing ladies are just popping up, and this striking Ixora  'Maui' which loves the sun and shade under our oak tree.

 Ixoras love acidic soils, full sun to partial shade, and really do thrive on neglect. No pest problems to speak of, so easy maintenance.  Ixoras can grow to ten feet tall but doesn't need to be pruned often.  Ixoras provides the perfect tropical look to your backyard.  Ask your local garden nursery for this beautiful flowering shrub.

If you love the  jewel tones of fuschia purple, add the Florida native, Beautyberry to your yard. Callicarpa americana, is an ornamental shrub that reaches six to ten feet naturally, has small white flowers and delivers on excitement with the edible purple berries in the fall. Low maintenance, loves sun or shade.



Beautyberry, Callicarpa americana

Burpee has the heirloom 'Heavenly Blue' morning glory seeds, Top Tropical nursery has the Sky vine, and check out the Florida Association of Native Nurseries,  or on Twitter: @FANN, for nurseries that sell beautyberries.

Teresa Watkins is a garden expert, landscape designer, and the host of her own gardening radio show, In Your Backyard, heard every week at 1pm EST on Tuesdays at www.My790am.com.  

Basil Spots

With my mindset lately, when I saw the subject line on Chris's (a loyal listener of In Your Backyard heard on My790am.com) email, I thought to myself, "Oh no, Chris has melanoma..."  Thankfully, Chris does not but his basil isn't feeling well lately.

Here's his question: 

I planed sweet basil (from __________ )  about 3 weeks ago.  Looks like I am doing good, but I noticed some brown spots.  The soil was amended some with compost and ______________ soil for vegetables and flowers. The plant did stress/droop within the first week of initial planting, bounced back up after watering but is doing good now.  Watering is done by hand now at the base of the plant.
 Are the brown spots normal?  Due to fungus? Nutrition deficiency?
 
Thanks, Chris

Chris, good question and the photograph helps answer the question.  Your basil definitely is suffering from Colletotrichum disease.  The disease is identified by the black spots, black haloed rings, and black stems. It occurs when there is a combination of high humidity, lack of air circulation, and the plants are watered often. You will want to get rid of the basil plants that are affected and plant another herb or plant in that location.

When you use plant with soil amendments, especially ones that hold water well, gardeners can overwater plants.  Always check the soil before watering to ensure that you really do need to water.  Never water the soil if the ground is wet, cool, or damp.  Twice a week watering should be enough for amended garden beds in full sun.   Space plants far enough apart that they have plenty of air circulation. 

Thanks for writing Chris!
Teresa

 

Groveland Volunteers Produce Community Vegetable Garden

UPDATE:

Check out Teresa's an in-depth article on Edilble Landscaping featured in Green Builder magazine on "Edible Landscaping 02" pages 31 - 37.

UPDATE:

Growing a Community - continuation of a Community Garden in Groveland.

"This is a new experience for me. Just to see these grow from the ground  --- it touches the soul."  

David Allen is speaking. He's talking about the community garden in Groveland's historically African-American community located south of State Road 50 and east of State Road 33. Allen is the younger of the two men who have taken on the daily care of the garden. His mentor and partner-in-gardening is Willy Dykes, who lives directly across the street from the South Street vegetable garden. As Dykes says of his gardening efforts, "It just makes me feel so good that I'm helping others and myself. They see things growing, big pretty greens, and they ask 'whose greens are these' and I tell them they're yours."  

Dykes estimates that 30 families in the community partake in the harvest from the garden: sweet potatoes, okra, peppers, Georgia collards ("the best," according to Dykes), scallions, Vidalia onions, kale, tomatoes, cucumbers, rosemary, and spaghetti squash...  

Support for the garden is high in the community in which it is located, as evidenced by the fact that at the February CRA meeting, at which the spring planting was approved, an estimated 40 people from the community, many of them young people, came to the meeting as a show of support. As Allen said at the time, "They volunteered to come out tonight and show you that this is a real community." Speaking in a recent interview, he added "There is so much respect for that garden, it blows my mind." As Marie Damato says, "the community garden as been a community-wide effort."

See more pictures here.

October 1, 2011

Q. What do you get when a Community Redevelopment Agency joins together with volunteers?

A. A wonderful neighborhood vegetable garden.

City Councilwoman Evelyn Wilson came up with the idea of redeveloping a grassy park area into a community vegetable garden during a Community Redevelopment Agency (CRA) meeting two years ago.  Finding encouragement from fellow Trilogy residents, Marie Damato and Dr. Linda Jacobsen, Wilson went to the City of Groveland to secure a grant. Along with partners B and H Consultants, Inc,  Zion Lutheran Church,  Thrinvent Financial, Wildflowers of Trilogy Garden Club, Wilson was able to get the city's urban project financed in 2010.

Dr. Jacobsen noted how she was organized finances for the community gardens:

"... along with other members of Zion Lutheran Church, we were able to obtain funding from Lake-Sumter Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans for the 2010 planting. "

They were able to purchase plants, soil, raised beds, landscape timber, and hoses with the monies. The food, water, and other items needed were provided by Dina Sweatt and the city of Groveland.

This summer, the year-old community vegetable garden needed revitalization and a sustainable plan.

I designed the vegetable gardens to ensure successful maintenance and long-term future growth.  City staff and Smithwell, Inc. employees helped to remove the older landscape timbers, build the raised beds and prepare the overgrown gardens from the previous year.  Seeds and many of the plants were purchased through Thrivevent. Volunteers from the Thrivevent Financial for Lutherans, Zion Lutheran Church, the Wildflowers of Trilogy Garden Club, along with elected officials Mayor Mike Radzik, Vice-Mayor Jim Gearheart, District 3 Councilman Tim Loucks, CRA member Dina Sweatt, and former Councilman James Smith, helped to install the raised beds and mulched paths and then plant the vegetables that Groveland children grew from seed. HollyLou the clown, pumpkin decorating, making plant markers, and an inflatable bounce house entertained the children (and the Garden Club members). 

Vegetables and herbs planted included late summer and cool seasonal crops.  Cabbage, corn, collards, eggplant, green beans, lettuce, different kinds of peppers, okra, onions, rosemary, snow peas, spinach, and varieties of tomatoes, like Beefsteak, Cherokee Purple, and Super Sweet 100's. Cleome and salvia were used in the raised beds to fill in around the herbs. Fruit trees will be planted in the corner of the garden. A Kadota fig tree, Ficus carica, provided by Wendel Martinkovic, of Wendel's Farm & Nursery in Lake Panasoffkee, was planted. Wendel also donated the flowers and many of the vegetables from his permaculture nursery.  Assistance with mulch and garden soil were supplied by Reliable Peat of Leesburg.

Dr. Jacobsen said a huge grateful credit goes to Janet Shira of B and H Consultants, Inc for keeping all the diverse groups working cohesively together throughout the urban project.  More BIG thank-you's to all the volunteers and partners, those who helped on other days preparing the gardens, and today's planting day, including 8 year old Mollie Robinshaw, Master Gardener Barb Schroeder, Louise Willim, and Gigi Klemash from Thrivent Financial.

November events to celebrate the Community Vegetable Garden will include a Harvest Day and Picnic. The garden will be planted twice a year with spring and fall vegetables.  Future needs of the garden include arbors, fencing, irrigation system, signage, and fruit such as blackberries, apple, olive, peach, and pear trees.  If you would like to contribute assistance for this neighborhood project, please contact Janet Shira with B and H Consultants, Inc. in Clermont.

Preliminary Concept

Before and after photographs of the David Blanks Park Community Vegetable Garden.



Groveland Community Vegetable Garden

More great photos from Planting Day.

Read past Earth Shattering Gardening posts on vegetable gardens.

Edible Landscapes: So Good You Could Eat Them Right Up

The latest trend in landscaping is to create landscapes that sustain us. Instead of buying all of our fruits and vegetables from a grocery, we are now being encouraged to grow our own food in our own backyards.  Growing your own food in times of war is not a new trend. The first wartime gardens were created in the 16th century.

"Carrets are good to be eaten with salt fish. Therefore sowe Carrets in your Gardens, and humbly praise God for them, as for a singular and great blessing; so thus much for the use and benefit had in the commonwealth by Carrets. Admiot if it should please God that any City or towne should be besieged with the Enemy, what better provision for the greatest number of people can bee, then every garden to be sufficiently planted with Carrets."
~ Richard Gardiner - 1597

During the 19th and 20th century in the United States, community gardens brought people together.  Victory gardens were a patriotic must during World War I and II. Even in urban cities, children and adults harvested everything from artichokes to zucchini year round from their yards.

How can you create your own edible landscape that will help put food on your table but is also attractive?

Assess your site for the correct gardening zone and growing conditions. Select a site that will get full sun, and good drainage. If you are creating an entire landscape for harvesting, an efficient irrigation system is required. Add soil amendments if your yard has sand or soils that don't percolate well.  Your local county extension office can help you determine what type of soil you have and if there is a need for additional amendments.

When deciding on what fruits and vegetables to grow, create multiple areas of interest with height, depth, and dimension.  Consider how tall and wide your shrubs and trees will get.  It will be important that your plant material does not have to compete with other plants for nutrition and water, so proper spacing is important. Select plants for every growing season throughout the year.  Remember, that some fruit trees and shrubs are deciduous during the winter, so you could plant evergreen shrubs, perennials, or fill in the area with annuals for color and a look of fullness.

I wrote an in-depth article on Edible Landscaping for Green Builder magazine on "Edible Landscaping 02" pages 31 - 37.

Spring budding and blooms.

African Blue Basil - pollinator.

'Anna' Apple blossom

More 'Anna' blossoms

'Sharp' Blueberries

Espaliered 'Sunraycer' Nectarines

First peach of the season.

Newly installed 'Tropic Beauty' peach tree.

'Tropic Beauty' peach blossoms

Espaliered 'Gulf Blaze' Plum

Cabbages and roses at neighboring yard.

Cordylines and Crotons Galore

Scouting for awesome plants at the booths at the Leu Gardens plant sale, I met Mark Peter, grower-owner of Peters Croton Nursery in Fort Pierce, Florida.  He had a magnificent display of cordylines and crotons.

Colorful foliage is a great way to bring light to a shady corner. Cordylines and crotons cover the color spectrum with splashes of whites, creams, and pinks, to red, yellow, orange, and black frilly, elliptical, or piecrusted foliage.  Used in the Florida landscape frequently, both types of plants are often seen painfully in full sun conditions during the harsh hot summers, but cordylines and crotons thrive better and need less water when they get bright morning light but afternoon shade.

Do you know your cordyline or croton's cultivar name?  Their botanical names are cordyline fruticosa and codiaeum variegatum. When I worked in nurseries, I was just used to seeing and hearing Mamay crotons on labels or from the box store order sheet.  But there are several hundred named cultivars of crotons and cordylines.

My favorite cultivars out of Mark Peter's available product?  The creamy white and yellow or pink foliage varieties. I have never seen them for sale in the garden centers.  I do love to use the Picasso's Paintbrush and Zanzibars planted in chimeras representing a blazing fire.  Very nice accent for warm Spanish-themed outdoor rooms.

Both ornamental shrubs need partial sun or shade, moist, rich soils - do not let them dry out, even in winter - and can be fertilized on a monthly (or as fertilizer label recommends)  basis with slow release fertilizer.  They are tropical plants suited best for Zone 10 - 11 but can be grown in Zone 9A and 9B if protected in temperatures below 50 degrees.  Above Zone 9, plants should be grown indoors or in a greenhouse.

Take a look at these fancy plants:



Cordylines and Crotons

More links:

Croton Production and Use - UF/IFAS

The Croton Society

Floridata - Codiaeum variegatum

Leu Gardens Plant Sale Spectacular

The annual spring plant sale at Leu Gardens, in Orlando, never fails to be spectacular.  We went with wagon in hand looking for a plant we couldn't live without.  Hundreds of people were there, scooping up plants as fast as they could because if you blinked, someone might buy the plant you were looking at.  On sale were tropical fruit trees, ferns,  succulents, roses, herbs, orchids, flowering tropical and subtropical shrubs and trees, and many more types of plants.

We were able to get nice international variety of herbs:  African blue basil, French thyme, Spanish lavender, dill fenneleaf, pennyroyal, lemon-scented thyme, chives, extra triple curled parsley, and Foresteri rosemary ,that I'm going to add to flowering containers, while Tony found 'Window Box Roma' tomatoes, cubanelles, serrano 'del Sol', and banana peppers for his raised vegetable beds.

I was going to be stalwart and not buy anything else, but I eventually succumbed to getting Kangaroo Paws, Macropidia fulginosa,  an unusual Australian  xeric native in full bloom and a lovely  'Green Velvet' Alocasia, Alocasia frydeck. 

Kangaroo Paws

My determination to not buy any more plants was easy to keep under control through most of my search until I came to the Orlando Area Rose Historical Society's booth.  Antique roses are great to grow in Florida with very low maintenance, no pest - no disease issues. Depending on the variety, they can bloom over and over again all year round.  Reading the sign's descriptions, one caught my eye:  "Heavily fragrant, long-lasting pink cabbage roses." I fell for the 'Duchesse de Babrant' tea rose.  Into the wagon it went with my other terrestrial indulgences.

Another unique find was a bamboo obelisk that folded up easily.  Tony was adamant that the $15 cost was a bargain for all the details, material, and labor involved in making it.  We'll use it to allow our beans to grow up.  

Unusual plants and finds were the 'Mammalaria plumosa' and Episcia  cupreata 'Pink Brocade' hanging baskets, terrariums with fluttering butterfly devices, pvc bird garden accents and wrought iron plant holders.

Great start to our spring garden.



Episcia cupreata 'Pink Brocade'




Mamallaria plumosa



www.huntcountryiron.com

All three wrought iron pot holders are connected at bottom.

PVC Pelican and heron garden art

Leu Gardens Plant Sale Vendors

Winter Loving Strawberries

Strawberries, Fragaria × ananassa, are one of my favorite berries. I love strawberries with angel food cake and whipped cream, strawberry jam cookies, and strawberry ice cream. Strawberries are also one of the easiest fruits to grow in your garden.

Florida has three seasons, autumn, winter, and spring to grow delicious strawberries. They need temperatures between 50 and 80 degrees and shorter daytime conditions. Raised beds are best so that the crowns of the strawberry plant are kept well-drained. The soil pH for good growth should be between 5.5 and 6.8, but will tolerate acidity levels 5.0 through 7.0. Ensure your strawberries have adequate fertilizer by digging a balanced N-P-K into the soil before planting. Then using a slow-release fertilizer once a month. Water one to two times a week in the winter and two to three times depending on the temperatures in the spring.

Protect strawberries with frost blankets when temperatures go below 32 degrees. Recommended varieties for Florida include 'Caramosa', 'Sweet Charlie', and 'Festival.' I found beauiful white flowered 'Camarosa' and hot pink flowers  "Lipstick" at my local nursery.  Lipstick strawberries have long runners spreading to five feet if allowed, and can make a lovely groundcover for edible landscaping.  Strawberries can be used in containers, window boxes, and in rock gardens.

Pest issues include fungus, spider mites, and nematodes. Check leaves for any pest issues before you buy your plants. Using rich organic soils will reduce nematode populations.  Apply a proactive fungicide if you think your plants may be susceptible.  Check labels before using any pesticides or fungicides for use on strawberries.

Camarosa strawberries

Lipstick Strawberries

More Links:

Growing Strawberries in the Florida Home Garden.

Growing Strawberries Hydroponically

Fragraria 'Lipstick' Strawberries

Would you like to read more on Edible Landscaping? Check out my in-depth article on Edilble Landscaping for Green Builder magazine on "Edible Landscaping 02" pages 31 - 37.

Vegetable Garden Planted

Well, its done!  Our front yard, in the unused portion of our driveway, is now home to our vegetable gardening.  Due to the large oaks and "North Carolina" themed landscape in the backyard, the front and side yard is one of our sunniest locations.

We used a pre-cut cedar raised bed product from Home Depot. At approximately $80, the raised beds were reasonably priced factoring saving time, labor, and cost versus buying the materials and sacrificing to the wood gods. We also reused our cleaned aluminum tubs and rectangular plastic containers from springtime.

We checked last season's low-volume irrigation, changing out the emitter heads for good distribution uniformity.

What are we expecting to harvest from our edible landscaping?

First bed:

• Pasillo Bajio Chile Peppers
• Cow Horn Peppers
• NuMex Joe E Parker Peppers
• Cubanelle Peppers
• Ancho/Poblano Peppers

Second bed:

• Supersweet 100 Cherry Tomatoes
• Cherokee Purple Tomatoes
• Beefsteak Tomatoes
• Aunt Ruby's German Green Tomatoes
• Grape Tomatoes (saved from the grocery bought tomatoes)

How many tomatoes does it take?  Check out how you measure your fresh tomatoes for your cooking recipes.

First Tub:

• Gourmet Baby Greens Mesclun Lettuce
• Bibb Lettuce

Second Tub:

• Bloomsdale Spinach
• Red Malabar Spinach

Rectangle container:

• Onions
• Leeks

We only used half or less of the seed packets so we will save the seeds in dry envelopes and place them in our refrigerator to keep for spring.  As the plants emerge, we will thin them out and place some in containers for our children and the neighborhood, and keep some for our table.

We have to wait about ten days to see any green shoots! Will be taking photos from sprouting through harvesting.  Let us know how your vegetable gardening is doing.  We'll post your photos.