Even After Devastation, Nature Prevails

I made a post about a tree that had gotten knocked down during a hurricane and then started to regrow, you can find it here, an Inspirational Tree.
This tree is at my work so I see it all the time and it has not stopped! This is the tree from a further-out perspective so you can see exactly how mangled the hurricanes made it.

and we still see these magnificent leaves growing anew, branches and stems and everything else ready to create life again. So next time you feel like you're at a place that no one can bounce back from, try to remember this tree again, holding on for dear life!

An Inspirational Tree

Sometimes in life, we feel like we're cut down, dismantled, uprooted, or somehow broken. Sometimes nature just happens that way, that's where the circle of life comes from.

And just as not all seeds will germinate, not all flowers will bloom, and not all stamens will meet pistils, there are also the plants that will overcome whatever challenge may be brought to them.

P.S. EDIT: this post was converted into a draft by mistake and did not post at the time it was written. It was first posted in late October, 2017.

A Post that Says Things

Sometimes in life...

We need a post every now and then so Google will know we're still active for a few months and we can eventually put ads on our website.

Serendipitious Dragonfruit

A few months ago, I was walking around Winter Park near a food truck event on Corrine Drive. Towards the end of the night, my friend and I went to get some food from the trucks we saw earlier; unfortunately, they were all in the process of closing down by this time. I asked a passerby cleaning his truck if there were any trucks still open. He said they were all out of food and offered a free dragonfruit in response (yes, I was just as puzzled).

Unfortunately, the dragonfruit went bad before I could eat it all, but it was not over. I had imagined there was a single, large seed in the middle (kind of like an avocado). Those of you who have eaten or grown dragonfruit may know, there are hundreds of tiny seeds inside! So I set them in a damp paper towel to begin germinating and shortly after, dozens of them began sprouting! I was amazed and can't wait until they grow into the stunning plants they will become.

Some comment about how the leaves are super thick like succulent leaves

Recycled Raised Bed

A few weeks ago, a neighbor of mine had cleaned house and was throwing out dozens of things including an "under the bed" storage container. Disheartened to see this plastic go straight to a landfill, I got an idea of how to recycle this into something very useful for the garden!

First, I gave the container a good cleaning to get rid of any 'bad' bacteria or fungus spores that might have collected in the trash pile. Dish soap and a hose nozzle go a long way!

Then I drilled some holes in the bottom (forgot to take a picture of that one). I tried to model it after grower's pots in size, frequency, and spacing of holes. Also keep in mind that things you don't eat like to grow in corners and to not making any holes that could damage the integrity of the structure.

After that, it was as simple as adding some potting mix in! Beginner tip: always use potting mix with containers, especially in FL! Soil will compact and stay soaked and rot the plants away (I learned this the hard way). (The mulch is in there because I ran out of potting mix and needed a filler to hold everything in place.)

Then came our favorite time, time to begin planting! Here I have some broccoli and cauliflower seedlings beginning as we go into the "cold" (for Florida) months. When I filled in the rest of the raised bed, I added in some romaine lettuce, strawberries, and other seedlings over time

They look so lovely, ready to grow! You can also see this raised bed make an appearance in my recent post about a Catnip Mystery as well!

Jay Blanchard Scenery

Here are some pictures I took on a smartphone of the lovey Jay Blanchard park a few weeks ago. The nature trails are a lot of fun and I highly recommend it to anyone who wants to go!

Cypress knees as far as the eyes can see!

More cypress kness! These two pictures were taken from standing on top of a fallen tree, likely taken down by the recent hurricanes

Some beautiful, old roots that have endured decades and still thrive on

Catnip!

I started growing some catnip from a little seedling a few months ago, and the plant grew incredibly quickly! It's huge! I had to re-pot it twice because it was growing so quickly. 

Last night, I re-organized some of the garden and put a raised bed for seedlings next to the catnip and checked on it today to find little footsteps in the loose potting soil! The catnip plant (actually a type of mint plant) had several branches chewed up or torn off. I guess that cat had a blast! 

Here are the pictures to see how this cat made me laugh when I got home from work today!

Isle of Green! Plants from Dublin, Ireland

A visit to Dublin a few months ago left me awestruck on many levels, not the least of which was the beautiful foliage in the Green isle!

One of my favorite things here was the garden at Trinity College where I found both mint and flowering lavender. They both smelled like a dream, I wish I could have taken a picture of that too!

and here's some Guiness as a bonus ;)

Views of the Early Garden!

Welcome to my Backyard Garden!

Here are some very early pictures of my garden. Best to start off with the beginnings, right?

(This blog is still under construction, but here are some general pictures of different parts of the garden at different stages. I'll also try to put together some pictures of plants across different stages and let you know what I did to make some food out of out tough Florida climate!)