Growing tomatoes in winter

Although we experienced our first night of freezing temps last night, my thoughts are on starting tomato and pepper seeds early this winter.  It has been a mild winter for us in Zone 9 Florida and I've done it before, but it has been a long time since I experimented with this theory.   Once...

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The Path to Serenity

There is something about paths in the garden that can transform a garden into a serene sanctuary that creates the mystery of where the path leads, especially when connected with secluded garden rooms. I love the randomness of the pattern and diversity of materials used in the featured path....

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Fall gardening checklist

The autumn leaves are changing colors,  the temperatures are coming down,  in Florida it is less humid. At a loss on what to do in the garden? Fine Gardening's website has an awesome series of videos and articles on seasonal gardening. Click here to go there! ...

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Fall gardening for subtropical and tropical climates

This is one of my favorite times of the year for gardening in our Zone 9, Central Florida garden. Soon the black eyed susan vines that have seeded themselves all over the Paradise that is now a jungle will provide a much needed splash of color.  Another season has gone by, leaving the...

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Nasty Grasshoppers Caught In The Act!

Not only have they chewed up most of our  plants, but now we caught them in the  act of having sex in our front yard. Shameless grasshoppers . . . I hate them! ...

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Summer Reflections

Another summer has come and gone . . .  Paradise still remains like a jungle. Of major note . . . the lime tree that was a memorial gift from JR's aunt when he died started producing very tasty and juicy limes that we have really enjoyed in cooking and sharing with others.  It is...

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Nature's miracle . . . composting

It is estimated that yard trimmings and food scraps account for 26 percent of the U.S. municipal solid waste stream.  Why not recycle them into the best fertilizer you could ever buy? Utilizing nature's fertilizer by way of composting is the economical way to revitalize and nourish your...

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Soil recipes for container gardening

What a gorgeous tropical container planting! Container gardening is my preferred method since I detest digging through tree  roots and I really don't enjoy using a big shovel . . . guess it is a girl thing.  It is so much easier to plant in containers . . . much easier to manage! Grouping...

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Slug Control . . . Home Remedies

You can have gorgeous flowering plants one day and wake up the next morning to nothing but sticks.  Slugs will do that! After lots of experimenting, I found many different methods of getting rid of them . . . Best method . . . purchased organic slug bait and put in jars with holes in...

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Growing Tomatoes . . . soil additives

As an organic gardener, I'm always looking for tips from other gardeners who have successfully used what some would consider off-the-wall methods for maintaining healthy tomato plants. The following mix has been used by several gardeners  on the Organic Gardening website forum ....

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