FloridaGardener's Garden Blog

What can Organic Fertilizers do for your Garden?

info@floridagardener.com — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:05:00 GMT

Plants cannot tell the difference between organic and chemical fertilizers so why use organics? While organic fertilizers release nutrients slowly and improve the body of soil, chemical fertilizers impact the health of the soil by releasing salts into it eventually making their way into the ground water.

Fall Gardening Season has Arrived in Florida

info@floridagardener.com — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 20:57:00 GMT

Fall Gardening Season has arrived in Florida. This is a great time of the year for gardening because of lower daytime and evening temperatures, generally lower humidity and mostly fewer bugs and insects to eat your herbs and vegetables.

Florida cranberry -- Hibiscus sabdariffa

info@floridagardener.com — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 22:36:00 GMT

Hibiscus sabdariffa commonly known as roselle, rosella, Florida cranberry, Indian sorrel, Jamaican sorrel, and Flor de Jamaica is a beautiful, useful and tasty

Balloon vine, Love in a puff, Heartseed, or Heartseed vine

info@floridagardener.com — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 20:35:00 GMT

Cardiospermum halicacabum -- common names: Balloon vine, Love in a puff, Heartseed, or Heartseed vine. This fast growing vine will reach up to 10 feet in one season. It has tendrils which grab and...

Landscape Plants for South Florida – A Book Review

info@floridagardener.com — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 20:45:00 GMT

Full disclosure: Dr. George Rogers of the Palm Beach Community College Department of Horticulture e-mailed FloridaGardener.com to inquire if he could purchase advertising space on the website to bring attention to a new plant manual authored by the faculty, staff, and students of Palm Beach Community College. He was not sure he could afford to pay for the advertisement, but as owner of FloridaGardener.com (and a proud PBCC alumnus), I made him an offer – if he provided an article introducing the manual and sent me a copy of the manual for review, I would post his article, provide a banner ad linking to where the manual may be purchased and would write and post my own review of the manual after receiving a copy of it. So a deal was struck, my review of <

Landscape Plants for South Florida, a Manual for Gardeners, Landscapers & Homeowners

info@floridagardener.com — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 00:05:00 GMT

The prospect of sitting down and writing a book is no doubt daunting. Typing the first page must resemble the first step of that proverbial thousand-mile journey. But at Palm Beach Community College we did not deliberately set out on a big hike. There's a different path---when a book emerges "poof" like magic from everyday activity. PBCC's "Landscape Plants for South Florida" sprouted with no bookish aspirations a decade ago with a reali

FloridaGardener’s Fried Okra Recipe

info@floridagardener.com — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 00:08:00 GMT

I have been collecting Okra pods from my garden over the past week and ended up with about a pound of them to cook with today. I have only nine mature plants right now which is why it took me all week to collect those pods. I have since expanded the number of okra plants in my garden which I hope will grow more of this veggie before the summer okra growing season is over!

Do Faerie Doors Actually Attract Faeries?

info@floridagardener.com — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:15:00 GMT

I installed a Faerie Door. What is a Faerie Door you ask? Well if you know what a Faerie is and you know what a door is, you essentially have the answer to your question. A Faerie Door is, of course, an entrance for Faeries to your home.

My Hoverfly -- Eristalis tenax

info@floridagardener.com — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:48:00 GMT

Hoverflies aka Flower Flies, or in this case Drone-Fly (Syrphidae) are characteristically known for their mimicry of bees, wasps or bumblebees, they have the same the bright colors and sometimes dense hair covering of bumblebees, but are completely defenseless. Flower flies cannot sting. Their specialty is hovering like humming birds, but they are also very fast and maneuverable flyers.

The larva of the Drone-Fly feeds on decaying organic material in stagnant water in small ponds, ditches and drains, pools around manure piles, sewage, and similar places containing water badly polluted with organic matter. Such water usually contains little or no oxygen and the larva breathes through the long thin tube that extends from its rear end to the surface of the water and that gives it its common name of ‘rat-tailed maggot’.

Adult Drone Flies feed on nectar from flowers and are often seen hovering in front of flower blooms in gardens in urban and rural areas. As such, they are helpful pollinators which is why they were introduced to North America from Europe in the 1800’s. Adults can be found in Florida from late March to early December and most often in September and October.

Brahminy Blind Snake -- Ramphotyphlops braminus

info@floridagardener.com — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 21:59:00 GMT

I was in my garden today pulling some weeds and puttering around when I lifted a spare bag of mulch and found a worm-like critter underneath the bag, just on top of the soil.

At first glance I thought it was another worm (my yard is blessed with many since I am not a proponent of poisoning the ground with “‘icides”). But, it was much darker than an earthworm and moved more like a snake.