Winter Tomatoes in Fl. (Plus veggies and garden pics)

[Barb_FL]

The non-event hurricane did get me to finish cleaning up from the '19-20 season on Friday. So I have 21 Earthboxes being solarized, 17 regular size empty ones stacked in the garage, 7 juniors empty and stacked in the garage, plus 2 that I leave out filled with coir that gets washed when it rains. All earthboxes were pressure washed before filling or stacking. I had already clamped all my cages/extensions and put away. I still need to pressure wash the root pouches but I ended up piling them in my 25 gallon barrels that I use to mix fertilizer and putting a cinder block on top.

So glad the hurricane was a non-event and was incentive enough to finally get me to finish the earthboxes.

Now that mostly everything is done, I'm looking forward to the new season.

[MsCowpea]

That is fantastic. Glad it was a great motivator but without the downside effects. When I know somebody is coming over I run around like crazy
to straighten up - even if they don’t come I am so happy the ‘visit’ got me cleaning and putting away ‘stuff’. Even reading your post makes me think maybe I can tackle one of the many jobs that needs doing. It is a great feeling to get things done.

We only covered up the Earthboxes a few days ago. I realized that I was losing the hottest months of July and August for solarization.
I kept them uncovered because I thought the rain would wash out some of the salts in the mix and I then I tipped them over to drain
but couldn’t wait any longer to cover them up,

I need to repair a large raised bed as the sides got knocked apart. For years, I planted our largest area with lettuces, greens, etc. but I am changing it all up and moving the greens to a different area that gets afternoon shade from tree and areca palms. The tomatoes that were there needed more sun. The greens always did great where they were but they won’t mind the move as there is still plenty of sunlight for them.

[MsCowpea]

Removing rotting old sides of many of our raised beds. They weren’t really raised up any longer as the aisles were level with the beds and In places the wood was buried.
I did like all the defined areas for planting for some reason but will get used to just a large garden area as I have a few of those already. Thinking of getting stakes to delineate
faux beds. I have to do that as that is where my cover crops grew. Next year I can cover the whole area with cover crop but will still mark off
beds for the tomatoes.

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[MissS]

I have a large plot and use stakes and string to define my beds. It works great for me and I can change the layout with each time I start a crop.
Your soil looks great.

[MsCowpea]

Yes, that’s what I will do too, stakes and string. Thanks for commenting.

[MsCowpea]

I was worried something had got the 4 baby peacocks but saw them today with mom and they were much bigger.

Mom is probably telling them to just wait as there will be lots of vegetables to snack on come fall.

I did notice a few caterpillars on my cover crop from white moths and the peacocks were picking a lot in that area. Hoped they picked off the caterpillars.

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[MsCowpea]

I like the jungle-y look but really did a double take when I saw this amongst other plants under the shade of an oak tree. Never bloomed before.
I don’t even remember where I got it. Really is amazing looking.


Black bat flower.

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[Ginger2778]

That is stunning!

[Barb_FL]

Beautiful - your backyard is like an exotic park.

[MsCowpea]

Thank you, that flower sure is a show stopper. Very bizarre. ( I would like my yard to be ‘park-like’ but it sure needs a lot of work everywhere-just waiting for cooler weather to tackle all the projects. )

[Volvo]

(Hopefully ‘fixed’ the upside down issue)

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A very nice Patch indeed , Congrats on your efforts as well as thank you for posting .

[MsCowpea]

Never mind! I see that you were posting what I wrote about earlier pics being upside down.
If anything is upside down let me know because for some reason they all are right side up to me.

Thanks Volvo.

[MsCowpea]

Uh oh, I was enjoying the ‘baby’ peacocks in the yard but woke up to all of them and mom on the patio . Not so little anymore.
They will decimate seedlings if it is something they like and I initially keep trays on the patio unprotected. Even if they don’t like the plant they will sometimes knock over trays checking them out.


‘Teenagers’ and mom on the roof. When I came out she flew onto the roof but they were less afraid. (2020)

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2020

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Added:

Here’s what they can do even though they don’t like tomato plants all that much. (2015)

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[fluffy_gumbo]

Ah, you can't even be angry at them, they're so cute! Just some angsty teens

[MsCowpea]

. Ah, you can't even be angry at them, they're so cute!

I will try and remember that.

Peacocks are sneaky though , you can chase them away and in a few minutes when you go inside they mosey on back.
Makes feeding the feral cat that lives on patio hard as peacocks love cat food and if they are about you have to stand out there while the untamed,
scaredy-cat eats. But we can’t get too close to him either as he’s wary of us even after 5 years.

[Barb_FL]

Oh no. They are cute.

Your plants look like they can be salvaged - replant and keep out of the sun for the rest of today and tomorrow.

[MsCowpea]

Barb, those are plants they knocked over a few year ago. I dated the photo but easy to miss it. I had so many plants did not need to ‘save’ those.

The seed pods are opening on the bat flower.

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[Ginger2778]

Barb, those are plants they knocked over a few year ago. I dated the photo but easy to miss it. I had so many plants did not need to ‘save’ those.

The seed pods are opening on the bat flower.

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Wow, that looks so much like a bat now.

[MsCowpea]

I have a friend with a showplace yard who has beautiful and unusual plants. She is very knowledgeable about Florida plants. She said her bat flower blooms a lot . She has it in a pot but the pot is in water. I went out to look at mine because I thought it was straight in the ground but it is growing out of a shallow container, maybe 6 inches deep and 2 feet across that is obscured by plant debris and rotting leaves. That container makes it constantly damp so I accidentally created a condition that they must like to grow in and didn’t even know it.


We just attached cross beams to hold the cover away from the sides. Otherwise the transplants cook in Sept as it is HOT We still have to remove the plastic off and on which is a pain. Even the shade cloth comes off and on when the plants can take more light.

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This frequently happens , the weight of the bananas breaks the stalk and that particular banana variety is too tall to brace.

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New pineapple bed. Not sure about this. That mound is about 4 feet high, straight uncomposted horse manure and bedding over a huge banana mat (lots of banana plants) we are trying to get rid of by smothering. Then finished compost was put on top and they were planted. We still need to do the back part.
Uncomposted horse manure and bedding is NOT potting mix but DH treats it like it is.
I am afraid the plants might cook up there from the decomposing material. Also wish we had just a little coarse sand to mix in with the finished compost
so the pineapple roots don’t rot but that would have been too much work. We will just have to see how they do.

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[Ginger2778]

Elaine, those crosspieces are simply genius, and I'm stealing the idea! I love that!