DE-motivated.

This FUCKING RAIN.
There is nothing in this world that makes me lazier than rain. And here in South Florida, it's been raining nonstop for weeks. Unfair.
Luckily, this means most of my plants are doing really well. They love the rain and they all look very healthy. Unfortunately, lack of sun makes for very little in the way of flowers or more veggies so everything is at a stand still.
I got a few really nice green peppers to cook with, but there aren't any more being produced at the moment. It's a sad time for my little garden.

In the meantime, while waiting out this damn monsoon season, I've been baking and generally interneting.


For Pooka's birthday, I baked her this batch of Pansy cupcakes in 1 1/2" clay pots. I think they could have come out a little nicer, but for a last minute present, they're just fine. In the future, I think I'll add mint leaves to make the flowers look more complete. And I'll probably use the pots that are one size bigger. There wasn't nearly enough cupcake in each pot to whet my appetite.

Anyway, I think as soon as it stops raining I'm going to finally build the raised bed for my pumpkin and squash patch. Gotta make one for my carrots too! I may only have two at the moment, but they need space to grow.
<3

My baby garden tyrants

As I mentioned in a previous post, I sowed some pumpkin seeds in hopes that I could have a healthy pumpkin harvest come Halloween. My little babes have greatly exceeded any expectations I had for them. About 4-5 days after living inside my germination station (note: a 30 gallon Rubbermaid tub lined with moist paper towels, sitting out in the sun) the pumpkin seeds were full on plants! Granted, they still don't have their second set of leaves in yet, but holy crap! WTF DID I DO? I thought I would only be lucky enough to get one of the suckers to grow...
Anyway, now I have a dilemma on my hands. It's absolutely imperative that I find a living space for these monsters I've created. If you're not already aware, pumpkins grow out in vines that will literally take over your garden if you don't watch out. Of course, having about half and acre to work with makes things less difficult. However, this half acre is literally covered in trees. I'm under the impression that my little pumpkins will do a lot better if they have a good amount of time under the sun.
So, I've cleared out a nice area that gets about 6-8 hours of sun after noon time and I will soon be making my little tyrants a home by way of a raised wooden planter. I'm thinking of making it about 4' long by 2' wide. Currently, the tropical depression we're under is making it impossible to take any good pictures without flash - but the minute the sun comes out to grace us with its presence, I will provide plenty of photographic goodness. <3

Rain, rain, go away. You're ruining my hydroponics

It's been raining for days now, which kinda spoils my gardening fun. I was really starting to enjoy the constant watering of my garden to keep my flowers and veggies from burning up in the unbearable heat. Now they're good and quenched and they look fabulous. My water lilies are blooming like mad, and the herbs look crisp and delicious.

Unfortunately, all this rain is no good for my outdoor hydroponic station.

As you can see, it's sitting outside. We decided to opt for natural sunlight to save on the cost of a sun lamp. The picture you see here is minus one plant - a red bell pepper. The little tomato on the right didn't make it. :(
On the left we have a big healthy tomatillo, which has yet to produce any fruit since we brought it home. And now, the rain has overflowed the tub and we're going to have to dump the water and and re-do the nutrients. I really hope my little dudes don't die of shock.

At some point, I'm going to sit down with boyfriend and write out a how-to for the system we have. It's really simple and fun and best of all, it's cheap as hell.

In the meantime, I'm going to go clip some herbs and enjoy a very rainy memorial day weekend.
<3

Truly, truly, truly insprirageous.

Let me begin by saying that I've been pining for a web space where I could write and post pictures of my various crafting exploits. While I do have Facebook, Myspace, Picasaweb, and Flickr accounts, neither of these really satisfies me the way a good blog does.

Anyway, the other reason why I created this blog rests in the creation of another blog (you might call it a sister blog) called All Things That Are Good, which was started by my very good friend and fellow gardener, Jessica (but you can call her Pooka.)

So, on to garden things. Miami is notoriously hot (hence the blog name) and it's a real challenge trying to get anything to grow correctly here. However, this fact has failed to deter me from the pleasures of producing delicious goodness in the form of herbs and veggies. Also, nothing feels better than proving nature wrong. YOU CAN'T BURN MY VEGGIES, BIATCH. I GOT THIS.

Now. Feast your eyes upon my recent victories!

From Garden Madness 2009

If you'd like to see larger image and plant names, click on the image and you'll see the full album.

Upcoming adventures:
-Building a permanent home for wilder veggies, such as squash and pumpkin
-Hydroponic strawberries, tomatoes and bell peppers
-Growing my first fruit tree
-Experiments with organic fungicides and pesticides
-Backyard composting (featuring the all important Red-Worm)
-Raising a successful flower bed
-If necessary: Pet proofing my garden
-Cooking with fresh herbs
-Extracting rosemary and lavender oils for homemade bath products
-Successfully cloning plants - chemically and organically
-Training vine plants
-Growing moss
-Above ground ponds, water plants, and pond pets
-Growing misplaced plants, otherwise known as weeds
-Maintaining a healthy butterfly garden (and conquering my fear of butterflies)
-Mounting stag horn ferns and other air plants
-Cooking with fresh veggies and fruits
-Edible flowers
-Citrus and the dangers of growing such delicious fruit in Florida
and more. <3