“Do what we can, summer will have its flies”. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson
It sure has had its flies, beetles, caterpillars (not only the good ones), leaf-footed bugs, and MORE! Oh my goodness! The heat and insects are like none I have experienced since moving to Florida nearly 14 years ago! Combine all that with my broken elbow, and I just can’t get caught up, forget getting ahead! Anyway, I’m still keeping on. I am hoping that by fall I can make some headway. For now, I am just appreciating all that I can get out of the garden. This may be the most challenging that my garden has been, but it is also the biggest and I have grown more here this year than I ever have in Florida. For that, I am thankful! I really can hardly believe the incredible abundance that is going on in this garden this time of year, despite all of the challenges! It is SO beautiful!
My zone experiment worked! I’m so excited! Since my tree made it through, I wanted to make it a point to put it to good use. So I went ahead and started to create a separate area under the tree where I would try to make it more a 9a/b as opposed to 10a. I had no idea if it would work or not but I set out to try anyway. I set up beds for sweet potatoes, swiss chard (which normally loves heat anyway…just not quite so much), and even Brussels sprouts and cabbage…in summer! Brassicas in summer in Florida?! YES, it worked! I don’t know how but it DID! So I finally had my first cabbage and Brussels Sprouts! I’m so grateful and will definitely grow them in my new zone again next year!
The sweet potato beds are doing fantastic! I am very much looking forward to seeing how they turn out…it won’t be long now! I had to really protect these beds because the first time with the vines I lost the tops off from them. Despite the fact that I had “fencing” put around them, something came over the top and chomped the greens off. I was still able to rescue the bottoms and bring them back. So, I just got more and doubled the amount. This is good because I have no idea how many I would get from six plants anyway, so now I have 12. So, what I did was put netting over the top of the “fencing” that I created with screens and skewers. It has worked fabulously to keep everything out! (The one below was the first one, after I replaced the ones that were eaten. I later built the second one, when the other six regrew. Can’t wait to see how they grow!)
Oh, while I haven’t been raising the monarchs for several months I was able to save one. I saw it in the garden so I decided to take it in and ensure that it would make it to a monarch. It did and he was quite beautiful, as seen here.
