Who was it warned me the plants might tip the Earthboxes over? The eggplant ("aubergine" to some English speakers) is doing it's best:
My wife wants easily accessible herbs so we threw some cilantro, rosemary, thyme and oregano close by.
There's a tomato plant and a Cuban oregano lurking underneath the exploding zucchini:
In addition to a couple of potted tomatoes we also threw a couple more into hanging planters which i strung up from the top of the water cistern/deck:
I am considering getting a couple more topsy Turvies next time we are at Target in Miami because I think we could usefully grow bell peppers in them too.
They just hang there impervious to iguanas and grow, conveniently facing south:
We put one bell pepper into an Earthbox next to the eggplant/aubergine monster and it is forcing its way through to sunlight.
The Earthboxes have worked a treat and they really do produce some strong growth. The only thing I don't like about them is that when it rains I still have to water them, but they go several days without watering even with monster plants like these. It's easy to fill their tanks and then just let them water themselves.
We put a selection of lettuce in an Earthbox as well, and these are four plants overflowing even though we have been peeling leaves off for dinner regularly. We bought our plants form the guy who sells them at the Big Pine Flea Market. His plants seem suited to Florida conditions and they do a lot better than the generic stuff that is available at Home Depot. 
The other lettuce plants in the wooden planter I built last year are doing well. I've been spraying Iguana Rid madly and it seems to have worked. I started spraying early and though i did see a few mouthfuls bitten out apparently the capsaicin mixture works well because they have learned to believe these lettuce are not tasty for lizards...do far so good.
My two pineapple shoots are weak but I should probably have put them in water before I threw them in the ground on a whim. The three strawberries I planted last winter yielded nicely and then started to take over the entire bed. I figured what the hell and now I'm looking forward to a meadow of blooms in a few weeks:
My trees continue to grow, mango, sugar apple, avocado, pomegranate (Thanks Robert and Dolly) and a tangerine and key lime.
It seems to be going a lot better this year than last. We seem to be figuring stuff out better so perhaps we aren't too old to learn. My coconuts are producing as usual and there are so many nuts lying around on the ground they are sprouting:
I've thought about doing a Johnny Appleseed and hauling these nuts around and planting them at random. 
So, before you think this is the Garden of Eden let me remind people under snow that in summer things don't grow that well and that is a whole new chapter we will be working on. Last summer we went fallow but I hope this year with the help of Earthboxes to produce something year round. 
I can't wait for my wife to get back. When she gets home I get to commute on the Bonneville again. I miss it really badly but Cheyenne isn't settled enough to leave at home, crate or not crate and being a single parent sucks, let me tell you. I keep hosing the Triumph down to keep corrosion at bay but a ride would be nice.
And to close the year we have the perennial view across the salt ponds towards Highway One and the Niles Channel Bridge in the distance. Imagine sitting here in my deck with a glass of plonk and a book, and a Labrador at your side. Who needs snow?
And look through the mosquito netting on the front porch- the moon is rising above the palm trees and it's full and I'm snug at home and not working. Let someone else deal with the loonies loose in the bars of Key West. I'm hunkered down in the suburbs, far from the noise, the bars and visitors. They tell you Key West is paradise, I tell you the outlying islands are. Prove me wrong.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Happy New year Everyone and let's hope we have better luck in 2010, whatever we want.
14 comments:
Dear Sir:
The Iguana Garden of Eden. I was glad to see you added the caveat explaining that in the summer, most vegetable gardens in Florida ignite upon coming into contact with air.
Have you considered planting juniper trees? My guess is no. But what greater purpose can there be for limes than to bathe in gin? And how can one make gin without juniper berries?
Have you considered having a crop duster come in low and spraying the entire block with Iguana Rid? I would do it in a minute. In fact, I offer a special service, in which you pay me in advance, and I will play a French horn, driving iguanas into the canal by the thousands. I can be there on Monday.
The image of the moon rising through the palm trees is too much for me at the moment. I'm going to pour an egg nog as big as my ass, and warm my feet by sticking them on the broad backs of one of these dogs.
Bob Skoot just called me on the phone. He was worried that I might have thrown myself under an ocean liner. He had visions of several thousand people clutching life vests as the mighty ship went down.
Happy New Year...
Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
You sure know how to rub it in. At least I am glad to hear that even you have not been riding much lately. I suspect that the deprivation is wearing on you.
And if Jack makes it down there to dust your town with Iguana Rid, then I offer to join him. The daredevil accountant in me promises to help by doing some wing walking while singing patriotic songs about the joys of capitalism and the evils of government run health insurance in the style of Rush Limbaugh. Just for you my friend!
Right now the visions of palms trees sounds great.
My daughter just left Key West for a 4 day visit here in NE pa. Shes in for a rude awakening. It's snowing and we are to get flurries every day she is here. Well she wanted to see snow and she will. It was time for her to have a reality check. It will do her good to see how the other half lives. She can take the labs out for a run in the snow then come in and defrost.lol
Happy New year to you. I was in the Keys this past October and you were kind enough to offer a tour of dispatch. In an effort to keep my girlfriend happy I had to decline as she had other plans for us. I'll be back in May with family staying at Papa's Hideaway..would love to say "Hello" to you and Cheyenne.
Many thanks for you and your blog. On snowy Ohio days like today I feel,at least for a little while, as if I'm back in the place I love so much.
Von
Seriously, this is some useful information about gardening techniques. I've got the urge to grow some herbs and veggies again. I don't, however, have the urge to break up all the hard ground with a little rototiller again.
I've always eschewed eggplant. Then in desperation because I forgot to buy chicken but had an egglant around, ( a pass-off from Grandma ) I made eggplant Parmegian. I was actually quite good.
Sorry you can't ride. Here's the perfect opportunity while the wife is gone to ride all you can. Except for Cheyenne! Oh well, sounds like she's making up for it in other ways.
Darn, I have got to change my ways. I realize I'm getting as long winded at Reep. Aaaaarrrrgggghhh!
I must concur with Von! I have been following your blog for well over a year, and when I can't take this Michigan weather any longer, I happily load up your blog and travel in my mind back to the only place I truly would like to be. Key West is a fun little place, but I wouldn't want to live there, you have the perfect set-up, for peace and quiet after a long shift in dispatch. I, too was a police dispatcher many years ago, and can sympathize with the need to get away from the crazies and the hustle as much as possible on your down time. Thank you for the wonderful blog you continue to post, I so look forward to seeing where you are and what you are doing as I live vicariously through your eyes!! Happy New Year Sir!!
The blog is well past 1040 entries so far and I keep expecting to ru n out of things to photograph. I just realized I haven't done Dupont Lane for some reason, so I guess there is one more to do.Mind you tomorrow will be a look back at two years of owning the Bonneville and I am alos planning a look back at memorable rides because I think the Bonneville is a fine touring machine, so if you wnat keys pictures i recommend entering soemthing in the search box at the top and you never know what wilkl pop out from the last 30 months.
Happy new year back.
ps irondad getting wordy is okay. it works for riepe. And no I'm not going to build a distillery.
Crockscooter:
Does Triumph make a sidecar? Just a thought. (Google "doggles")
D
Dear Conch and IronDad:
One picture is worth a thousand words. Since I don't take good pictures, I revert to plan "B."
Fondest regards,
Jack • reep • Toad
Twisted Road
dear D I have read Ara and Spirit and I think poor Cheyenne would put with them too. The cheapest sidecar is $3000 plus installation. Then you lose 25% of your gas mileage and your tire wearincreases (unless you can find proper square sided sidecar tires). Talk to my wife would you?
Dear jack don't change a thing. (I'm not being sarcastic ferchrissakes).
Conch, what a cool garden you and your wife have! And to grow stuff in December is an odd thought for this northerner, as well as having to plant where the iguanas can't get to it!
My goal is to grow stuff year round but the summer months are tricky an dusually lie fallow. On top of everything else there is no soil down here so you have to make your own beds. But anything is possible givne enough motivation and last year was weird enough I really wanted to learn how to grow food in the Keys. Here's hoping 2010 settles down economically though how that might work out I have no idea.
Good looking garden. I agree about the summer months and the soil thing. My thing is, I start of strong, and then they sort of fallow out. It is very disheartening sometimes. But I will keep at it.
Your blog looks nice. Like the picture of winter garden. It was nice going through your blog. Keep up the good work.
Post a Comment