Opopeo Amaranth

This is my Opopea  Amaranth plant.  It is very easy to grow.   Amaranth is very high in vitamins and minerals.  It is better to eat the leaves of this variety.  The leaves can be cooked like spinach or included raw in your smoothies.  Other types of amaranth are harvested for their seeds.  The seeds can be used as grain and even for popping like pop corn.  The seeds are in the colorful plooms at the top of the plant.  I will be saving these seeds for planting next year.

Finally it is raining!

Central Florida is getting pounding rains to make up for all the dry weather.  I had to rescue my tomato plants and tie them to the trellis.  It’s good to have rain.  Just take it easy. 

Opopeo Amaranth

My Opopeo Amaranth is just starting to bloom.  This plant is over 5 feet tall now.  Other varieties of amaranth can grow much taller.  This particular variety is raised to eat the young leaves.  Other varieties are grown to harvest the seeds.  Amaranth is highly nutritious.  It is a very easy plant to raise.  I will save the seeds from this heirloom plant for next year.

Lettuce Leaf Basil

I harvested some lettuce leaf basil yesterday.  It was my first time growing this variety of basil.  My leaves did not get that large, but they have a nice flavor.   I put them in the dehydrator overnight.  What are your favorite varieties of basil?

MY NEMESIS – THE SQUASH BUG

He and all his compatriots are always waiting for me under the biggest leaves in my garden.  They always run when I find them.  I don’t spray or pour.  I hunt them down and “SQUASH” them.  Just as their name implies, that is their fate in my garden!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father’s Day to all you fathers out there! 

(Especially the ones with “green thumbs.”)

I hope that you get to have a little garden time on your special day!

Dry Weather and Tangerine Trees

The weather has been so dry here in Central Florida.  The orange trees are starting to wilt.  I keep watering them every day, but I should have started sooner.  I bought a new tangerine tree.  (My favorite citrus tree)  It looks like such a baby next to the older trees.  There are little green tangerines on the other 2 tangerine trees.  They are the first citrus to ripen in late November.  I am looking forward to the cooler weather of November in Florida with lots of tangerines from the tree.

Harvesting Worm Castings

I made a quick youtube video about harvesting worm castings for fertilizer for your organic garden.  Maintaining a worm bin is a great idea for an organic gardener.  That is Mother Nature’s most direct form of nutrient ready food for plants.  Worm castings strengthen your plants and strong plants are better at fighting off disease.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aq6PeAafFkU

Picking veggies from the garden

My garden is coming along.  I picked amaranth and collard green leaves for my green smoothie this evening.  I have one small Sugar Baby Watermelon and lots of blooms on my watermelon plants.  My heirloom Broccoli Rapini is currently going to seed.  So I’ll save those seeds for next year.  My tomato plants are late and just have the blooms on them.  I’m hoping for ripe tomatoes before the weather gets too hot.  I placed them, so that they don’t get the late afternoon sun.  That may help them cope with the Florida heat.  What is everyone else growing in their gardens this season?

Spider Plant

I was transplanting the shoots off my spider plant today.  I need to repot the mother plant.  She hasn’t gotten much attention lately and needs to be divided into two pots.  It is such a pretty plant and so easy to propagate.  I always need to have a few extras for the times that I forget to bring one inside on a freeze night.  Spider plants do not like the freezing cold!

Micro greens

I am thinking about starting a project to grow micro greens.  I might start with sunflower seeds.  They sprout easily and are very nutritious.  I may set it up in the old greenhouse.  That should give it enough protection.  It is a quick way to have gourmet greens at my fingertips.  It would taste great with salads and add great nutrition to my green smoothies.  I just need to think of a cheap efficient container to grow them in.  I have some crab shell plastic containers that would work, but I would like a larger flat.  I could cut holes in the bottom of one of my plastic sprouting flats that I use for the garden.  That would give me the size that I want.  Hopefully I’ll find time to get started this week.

Opopeo Amaranth

I've been picking some of my opopeo amaranth leaves and putting them in my green smoothies. Lots of vitamins and minerals. Also a source for protein. The plants sprouted easily. They haven't bloomed yet, but I'm hoping to see their red plumes soon.