Gardening pests

So I have noticed lately that something is eating the leaves of my green peppers and tomatoes:


I haven't seen any buds of veggies yet, so I really want to stop this one before my plants get eaten alive before I can even get a veggie from them! I sent out a plea for help on my facebook page, and most people suggested a mixture of dish soap, garlic and water. I mixed the three in a squirt bottle and went to town! Here's to hoping that the pests disappear and I get some young veggies soon!

Spiritual connections in nature

I wouldn't say that I am any faith in particular, but the one that aligns most with my beliefs is paganism. I believe that all living things share a collective life force. We humans have a collective subconscious, this is what links us. To a lesser extent we are linked to plants and animals too. If you sit in a quiet spot in your yard and just clear your mind you can almost hear the chatter amongst things in nature.

I put my heart and soul in my gardening. Sometimes it takes a lot out of me, it's almost like doing a ritual and harnessing spiritual energy. I take time and "feel" my plants every day. One in particular, my magnolia tree, calls to me often. I bought this tree back in March. I wanted a pretty tree with nice smelly blooms. Those were my only standards! When I went to the nursery, this tree jumped out at me. The guy who owned the place was talking about different kinds of trees, and I stopped him and asked "Is that a magnolia?" I had never been shown a magnolia, so that was weird. It just stood there smiling at me, and the next day they came out to plant it!

That night I went outside and felt drawn to it. It's like it called to me. I can't explain how it felt when I touched, just electric, almost exciting! Now, whenever I go outside, I pause in front of it and smile, and feel the fuzzy underside of the leaves and the brittle sensitive bark. It only bore one flower this year, and it only lasted one day. But it's still a baby, with much growing to do. It could get 30 feet tall! One day I picture myself sitting on a bench underneath it, with wildflowers growing at it's base and a birdhouse hanging from it's branches. But for now I am content on watching it grow!! :)


In March:
In June:

In June again:

Garden pictures

I promised some pictures, so here they are!

This is one of my backyard beds. It is facing east and gets the morning sun. Those are pentas in the front, and sunflowers and silver fog in the back. I was told that they all love Florida heat and rain, that's why I chose them.









This was taken three weeks later. The sunflowers really took off! As of today I have 18 sunflowers, and more buds look like they are coming in. The other flowers are doing well also. The only thing I wished someone warned me about- sunflowers are big time bee attractors. Not that I have a problem with bees, it's just that with so many sunflowers we have a ton of bees. I may plant some butterfly attractors there next year, those seem a little more, well, tame.





This was my vegetable garden a little while after I planted it. It faces north and gets sun most of the day. You can see tiny tomato sprouts in the back, leafy onion sprouts in the middle, and my rosemary and thyme in the front.









Here it is a week ago. As you can see things exploded! I had to stake my tomatoes and peppers, since they were tipping under their own weight. The onions seem to be doing great! I hope they last until a cold snap, I hear that makes them sweeter :) the marigolds took over the space for my thyme, and the rosemary is good. Rosemary seems to be one of those things that does better the less you fuss with it. I would definitely recommend it for beginners.




These are the infamous plants I got from Greenfest back in February, the plants that started it all! The three on the left are gardenias, and the one on the right is jasmine. Note that the jasmine is only about a foot tall. They also face east.








The jasmine is now over 6 feet tall! I trimmed it back a few days ago, but wow! It definitely climbs when you allow it to. I will get a bunch of trellises and put them along my north facing fence next year and let some of these things go to town! My gardenias aren't getting very tall, but they are getting "bushier" and fatter. They were the most delicate of all my flowers at first, but seem pretty good now.






This is my baby! It's my southern magnolia tree! I took my share of income tax money and bought myself a baby tree. Most people would call me crazy but I fell in love with this tree. She bloomed a single flower this year before the season ended, and it lasted one day. But boy that flower was so beautiful! I could go on and on about my tree, so maybe I'll do that in a separate blog ;)












This is my pink and white crepe myrtle, and my front garden bed with the yellow hibiscus and lemon/lime bushes. Just planted them Wednesday, hope they last until winter at least!!









Well that's all for pictures now! Peace out!

First blog!

Hello out there in blog land! I ventured into blogging last year with my music blog. Since then I have picked up a new hobby- gardening. Now, ever since I was little, I had what my grandmother so kindly referred to as a "black thumb", which I guess was her way of saying everything I touched in the yard was doomed (thanks gramma!) I went to the local Greenfest over at the University of Tampa, armed with about $100 and the need to fix up a tiny portion of the yard. $125, 3 gardenia bushes and a jasmine vine later, the one corner looked great! It was a lot of work, but all four plants are still flourishing. That's when the garden bug got me!

I decided to clear two more beds. The one I planted tomatoes, onions, peppers, cilantro, rosemary, thyme, and marigolds. The other I planted sunflowers, pentas and silver fog. Once again, these were all just kind of an experiment. Most of them are still around! I have yet to see any vegetables, but the plants themselves are doing great. Lastly, my husband and I just completed our front flower bed. We have lemon/lime shrubs, pentas and silver fog. I will post more later with before and after pictures of all of the beds.

I hope to post about the trials and tribulations of Florida gardening, and my successes and not so successes! Thanks for reading :)