'Thar She Blows!

Inbound cold front; more brrrrrssss - not forecasted to freeze ----- yet.

Total of 3" of rain in the gauge this week - after several nice warm days the plants are singing and dancing.  And tonight the warm weather plants are tucked into their blankies.

Yesterday hubs and I were checking out spots to plant the Mutabalis rose.  We noticed that the broccoli and collards planted in part shade under the oaks are more than double the size of those planted out in the salad bar.  Seems in this case that part sun + lots peat moss + lots pine fines > full sun + some amendments.  Broccoli Raab or Rapini; has a longer growing season and will take more shade than Broccoli.  Must try some out under there.

During a break in the rains yesterday I transplanted veggies.  The broccoli was big; but the head too small to harvest.  Yes, I transplanted it.  I also moved some seedlings around.  Leaving spots for the two roses.  They are both in the ground and happy now.

I root pruned one of the dwarf ixora and I also transplanted a probably frozen croton.  It was the one nearest the old bush; I'll heavily - lots of peat moss; black kow and pine fines - amend that area then plant a batch of root crops - try out the radish & beets I ordered from Fedco and plant the last packet of carrot seeds.  Then I spread 1/3 bag of peat moss in the salad bar.  It obviously needs more amendments. Must treat the soil well, and feed the worms.

The plastic rain sheet blew off the Gimpy Gals Transportable Seeding Tray and they all got soaked.  Since it was going to need to come in from the cold anyway, I moved out the cups that have not sprouted.  Lined them up on the west (away from the street) side of the electrical box.  Mother nature will take her course now.  Out of the original 36, 21 are in critical care.  So, methods changing.  Holes drilled in the tray for drainage; new cups started with holes on the bottom.  I'm starting 7 today.  2" medium coarse sterile sand; followed by 2" sand & mixed seedling medium followed by a shallow layer of seedling medium.  In 16oz cups.  Planting tomatoes to go on top the frig until germination.  I'm OK on tomato seedlings growing; but abysmal on eggplant seedlings.  I started two Orlando Eggplant in the Jiffy Pellets atop the frig. 

Month end time I'll be able to check complete the mail box area work.  Moved the sprinkler head; it was on flex tube instead of rigid!  Yay!  Hopefully the other side of the driveway street edge is the same.  All that remains is to clean up a few loose sands, and decide what to do on the street side of the mail box.  I'm tinkering with the idea of moving one of the dwarf ixora to the front of the light pole in March or April.  One section is still mulch only; with plastic underneath to kill the horri-bad weeds.  I noticed when I was working in there that the worms are taking a liking to the sewers spot.  I'm planning the weeds to be dead by June so that I can pull out the plastic and plant sweet potatoes.  Maybe in the mean time I can use the spot to root mimosa strigillosa.

Coming along ....  I like how the path has shaped up.  I need to get the rest of the stakes needed to finish it up; turning the far corner with the cart tends to grab them; proper stakes will fix that I'm sure.  I finished the row of yellow viola's and added some broccoli raab along the west inside path.  Layered on some sand today. Ended up ordering rain lily bulbs; since I can't find the darn things anyway around here.  I'll plant them in between the bulbine in the drive edging.  The lowest tier still needs to settle before I can plant the red lettuce.  Ah, impatience ....

On tap for tomorrow is to dig out some more trench along the driveway and toss the dirt in the square raised bed.  Then I'll mow and dump some lawn cuttings in; then top it all with cardboard and peat moss icing.  Garden Layer Cake :)

Hubs and I made a treat your soil with yummies run.  Coffee grounds from starbucks then HD for peat, black cow, coarse sand and lime.  All really heavy stuff.  Thank you honey!

HD had just received a delivery of fruit trees.  Hmm, I noticed some familiar peach tree varieties.  I found a reference to Chestnut Hill Tree Farm providing peach trees to central florida Home Depots.  Now that is interesting and good news.  We are now the proud parents of a baby Anna variety Apple. 

Florida Chill Hours

Our first choice was a semi-dwarf plum; santa rosa - which after coming home and looking up the chill hours; so won't fruit here; plus is a carrier for bacterial baddies.  Have to wonder what the buyers are thinking at times.  There is an amazing lot of low-chill fruit available; just be smart about your chill hours.

Back to the heavy load; so the plan next week is to uncover the back section of the salad bar and make a trench about 6" wide on the inside, add garden mix and black kow in the trench; lay newspaper on the backside; spread a healthy dose of peat poss over it all. Put the black plastic back on top the backside; then top it all off with weed block.  Oh, then pine fines on top. 

Then, I'll plant on 12" centers, or thereabouts, a bunch of the Kiera Cabbage.  Then I'll make my way over to the repurposed Rose Arbor and plant a bunch more Kiera Cabbage on 12" centers.

Oh, and dig a hole for the apple tree.  We are thinking it will go in the front; out towards the street.  In the area we want to dig out the weeds grass.  And move the sprinkler head; and plant something to help keep cars off our lawn.  I have a loosely formed idea; Mexican Sage bush at the edge; about where the sprinkler head is now; followed by a half circle of muhly grass, followed by some colorful perennial; followed by a winter greens section.  Widely mulched along the 'connect the end of the sidewalk to the street' section.

Probably should move the sprinkler head before the tree goes into the ground.  Hrmmph.  Not that we run the sprinklers all that dang much; but still fruit trees shouldn't need that much water? 

Saw my most wonderful miracle doc last week.  Me and MIL.  She's having a revision done on her other hip; so she'll be here spring time and get to watch our garden grow.  And I'll get to nourish her back to full health with daily fresh salads!  The arthritis in my bad knee is progressing.  I'm getting set up to go in for a round of injections to help increase the lubricant in my knee; and no more skimping on the knee brace; must wear full time when out of house.  And use my crutches.  I find compliance with the crutches to be much better when I have things to lean them against.  Soooooo ..... looking for creative crutch holder uppers for the garden.  My very own unique style of garden tchatchke.  Hopefully the folks at Garden Rant will give me a pass; or - better yet - some advice!