Zone 9 Gardeners ~~ Anyone want to join? - Page 7

[Annikate]

Originally Posted by Talula Fairie

You can use amaranth as a gf grain alternative You can even grind it into flour. It's also good as breakfast cerael or in soups (according to Viva Le Vegan).

I just wonder though, is it a PITA to harvest? I mean will I be having to pick out tiny pieces of amaranth from amidst some kind of pod like thing?

[Talula Fairie]

Originally Posted by Annikate

I just wonder though, is it a PITA to harvest? I mean will I be having to pick out tiny pieces of amaranth from amidst some kind of pod like thing?

No clue about that one, I've not grown it personally.

[carseatqueen]

Hm, I wonder how I missed this thread. Maybe I'll learn something! It's taken me a few years to get used to gardening in Florida, but some things are finally working for me this year.

We're currently prefecting our gardening skills on a small scale hoping to move to our 5 acres (5 miles from our current home) someday and have a huge garden, small farm, and hopefully supplement DH's paycheck. This year we have 4 blueberries, tomatoes, beans, green peppers, broccoli, pumpkins (planted on accident) and a few other things. The broccoli did great in the winter and our tomato from last year produced for 9 months since we carried the pot into the garage whenever we had a freeze warning. At one time it had 52 tomatos. It was sad to see it go. We kept it small this year since I had a baby in March. I can't wait for this fall. I'm already on DH to get more containers cut and ready- we use 55 gallon barrels cut in half.

I'm thinking I want to try sweet potatoes and a few other new things this fall. Anyone tried growing endame?

[dillonandmarasmom]

Originally Posted by carseatqueen

Hm, I wonder how I missed this thread. Maybe I'll learn something! It's taken me a few years to get used to gardening in Florida, but some things are finally working for me this year.

We're currently prefecting our gardening skills on a small scale hoping to move to our 5 acres (5 miles from our current home) someday and have a huge garden, small farm, and hopefully supplement DH's paycheck. This year we have 4 blueberries, tomatoes, beans, green peppers, broccoli, pumpkins (planted on accident) and a few other things. The broccoli did great in the winter and our tomato from last year produced for 9 months since we carried the pot into the garage whenever we had a freeze warning. At one time it had 52 tomatos. It was sad to see it go. We kept it small this year since I had a baby in March. I can't wait for this fall. I'm already on DH to get more containers cut and ready- we use 55 gallon barrels cut in half.

I'm thinking I want to try sweet potatoes and a few other new things this fall. Anyone tried growing endame?

Hi!
Wondering if you meant edamame? If you did, then yes. It is a snap to grow. In fact, here in California, it grows despite our ignoring it! We have several plants in our gardens (I own a backyard CSA), and all are very, very happy. They had pods faster than any other plant!

Good luck!

[Annikate]

carseatqueen - it took me a while to get used to FL gardening too - much different than growing in the NE! This year is my first really productive year. In fact, dh and I were just dreaming about our winter garden and all the stuff we'll have.

I'd really like to start seriously canning too.

[igglebah]

wow, wondering how i missed this too. i'm in North FL and we started our first garden this year. We have lots of herbs, 2 tomatoes, zucchini, squash, carrots, lettuces, cantaloupe, and a experimental watermelon plant. We had about 20 squash and zucchini plants and all but about 3 croaked. I think because of about 2 weeks of steady rain we had. they just seemed to rot from the inside out. Before they died, we got a pretty good harvest from them. Now we have about 10 growing spontaneously in the back of our yard that we are just watching a seeing what they do.

We've had several enormous tomato hornworms eat most of our tomato plants, but we've been able to save them (the plants not the worms). The lettuce had aphids, the carrots are still in the ground and the cantaloupe are just beginning to grow. Even with these issues, we are totally lovin' it. : and we plan on keeping it going.

[Annikate]

Isn't growing food awesome? :

This fall and winter we plan on taking down a bunch of trees in our side yard to open it up to more sunshine and more GROWING space. I'm ready for a REAL garden!

I also can't wait to plant the fall stuff, esp. broccoli.

[Talula Fairie]

Awesome? Eh. I think it is when you have all the right conditions going on. But when you feel like you have to fight the everything all the time, it can get really frustrating. I don't have enough light in my backyard. I have a pest problem (flea beetles and tomato horn worms and heaven knows what else). I moved my containers to my front yard, but it gets hit with the housing complex's sprinklers, so watering is tricky, and the pests are even worse out there.

However, I did get some green beans!!!! My first harvest-able veggie. I'm going to wait a few more days or a week or so before picking them. The leaves look terrible from the flea beetles but the plant produced anyway. And my spindly tomato plants are looking a lot happier now that I moved them into full sun. Well, if it weren't for all the spots on their leaves that look like shotgun holes But I think they will overcome it.

[cymbeline]

I hear ya, Talula Fairie, I am in the doldrums of a heat wave so the garden is taking a lot of work and producing very little.

The cukes are coming along nicely, even though the vine looks pretty sad. I do have to water the heck out of it (I'm so nervous to see the water bill for June!!).

My tomatoes aren't dead... yet! Is there any point in keeping determinates alive? I have three large determinate Homestead plants and they produced about 10 tomatoes in June. I read that determinates grow to a specific size, produce a big yield, and then they are done. Are they really done? They keep blooming, but we have a lot of blossom drop I assume because of these crazy high temps. I went ahead and put manure and mulch around the bottoms of them, and I pruned all of the leaves that had fallen pray to gray leaf spot and septoria. I'm wondering if I might get another yield in the fall if I can carry them through the heat, or should I just give up and pull them and start a totally new crop later?

My Solar Flare's are sad looking. Maybe fungus, maybe bacteria? I don't know. The Roma plant is also sad. But my Florida 47's each have a few small green tomatoes, so we will see! My Mr. Stripey is big and full of blossoms, but no fruit yet!

My green bell pepper plants, all four of them, are deadbeats. Tall and green, but no fruit. So far, I got one bell pepper in early June. Argh.

I think my zucchini might be done (I've been saying that for 6 weeks). Only two of them left, and one is almost completely wilted, hanging on for dear life. The other one had a biforcated vine, and I had to cut off one half due to the dang borers.

The jalapenos are producing like crazy. Good thing DH likes jalapeno jelly

And I have two baby watermelons on the vine!!! This is very exciting. One of them is just growing like mad. I can't wait. Being super-pregnant, I have been eating a small watermelon almost every day, LOL!

Oh, and my basil is finally taking off. Time to make pesto!!! Anyone know where I can get a great but reasonably priced food processor??