Gardens

I went to the library a few weeks ago, and checked out a few different gardening books to start reading up more on how to make my seeds grow. You got to realize that I am still at the stage in my gardening experience where I stick the seeds in the ground and pray really hard that there is something to show for it. So this year I decided to start with the books that are free to use... (well except for all the overdue fines that I inevitably accumulate since I can't ever remember to call and renew them.)

The book that I have found to be the best and most useful so far, is the book Ortho's Complete Guide to Vegetables. However, by being the most useful, it is also the most depressing.... or maybe the right word is discouraging. By sinking my teeth into the good meaty stuff inside said book, I have come to the conclusion that when it comes to gardening I know very little and have a LOT left to learn. Granted I probably know more than the majority of people my age since my generation is not exactly known for taking the time to even attempt gardening, nor have many of us been raised by parents who they themselves had gardens (unless there also was someone else who tended to them).

Here is one of the most discouraging issues that I have been faced with. Florida has no growing season... or at least not one that I recognize well enough to get the plants in the ground on time before the heat of the summer takes over too much. I have come to realize that the little maps on the back of the seed packets aren't always a good indicator of the right time to plant either cause there are so many variables that have to be taken into account.

The other issue that I have to deal with is soil content. Apparently I don't have very good soil. I need to buy a few bags of good nutrient rich soil to add to the garden so that the vegetables will like me... umm, the sand I mean. Since I live in Florida I should clarify that all we have here is sand, unless one takes the time to really bring in the nutrients from elsewhere. That can get expensive. So the other alternative is to compost....Most Compost is made up of Grass clippings, leaves and other yard waste as well as household food waste. Well out of those three the only one that I can provide myself is the household food waste, and that is mostly Savannah's banana peels of which she has one every morning. The grass clippings get put right back into the grass, and we live in a new PUD development, which most people know, there is no such thing as a mature tree which can produce leaves on a regular basis.... other than oak trees which also produce so many acorns with them that one prefers to chop them down before they can get large enough to be beneficial. The only yard waste we seem to accumulate on a regular basis is weeds, which I am hesitant to use for compost in fear that I will then be weeding the garden much more, one of the tasks I do not appreciate doing.

Well enough gardening musings for now.... though there will be more to come soon as I feel we must get the gardens up and running here in the next few weeks if we are going to have anything to show for it this year as was the plan. Unfortunately, the taxes are also still on the to do list and there is quite a bit of the gardening stuff that a pregnant woman just can't do at this stage... like turning the soil and stuff.