Rambling Roses in south Tampa

'Seagull' and 'Leontine Gervais' Rambling Roses are now 90% trained to their rebar trellis on the west side of the front yard, soil fed with more goat poop from Pamela Lunn at Dancing Goat Farm, monocalcium phosphate, feed grade urea, then a few dozen glad bulbs and a coleus and an amarcrinum planted, followed by a slow trickle deep watering. Tomorrow the whole bed gets deeply mulched with shredded palm tree, then between the roses go several fancy, striped mixed color Four O'Clocks, with lemon yellow dwarf cosmos seeds direct sown into openings in the mulch along the border. I'm likely to also plant a few super-hot pepper seedlings here and there. I'm surprised how anal I'm getting about linear plantings, equidistant spacing etc. as I have fun profoundly tidying up the yard in Dad's memory (he was HYPER TIDY vs. my perennial slovenliness). To further build up and heal this LONG TIME sandy hot dry bed, next will go in dead Tithonia stalks on the mulch in between the roses and and other plantgs as I clear out the east side of the house to make room for the other 250 tote generously given me by a student to convert it into a rain barrel to add lignin and humus formers, plus soiled clay cat litter. For years I've used chicken path soil in the litter box, but roses LOVE clay and a 25 lb. of white clay cat litter at Publix is just $3, so from now on all my roses now and then get soiled clay cat litter. Once this west bed is deeply mulched and fully planted, atop the mulch and stalks goes several gallons of rain water with Alaska Fish Fertilizer added. Both of these roses will be prime breeders for me in my new effort to breed ONLY xeric roses for the southeast and other mild climates, so since they've persevered since 1999 in often harsh conditions, I want to coddle them a bit to give me more blooms to work with while adding color and grace to my front yard here in south Tampa. Open-pollinated hips of 'Seagull' can taste pretty good after what we call cold weather in Florida....in my Denver yard it bore MANY hips but out there I had easy access to the much bigger and tastier hips of the Dog Rose (Rosa canina) by the High Line Canal that ran behind Fairmount Cemetery.

 

 

http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=2.3796&tab=1

http://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.5667

My "White Potato Onions" have grown well this winter but all of a sudden have really taken off, in height, girth and by multiplying heavily at the base. The flavor of the hollow tube-like leaves is very much like scallion or allium fistulosum.....I think I will sacrifice a clump and cook with it soon. This is actually a form of shallot that multiplies underground...at least in colder climates, at some point the foliage dies back and what was ONE bulb is dug up as a clump for harvest, with some kept for replanting. I will do that but will leave at least ONE clump in the soil to see if it rots in summer, or if it goes dormant then re-emerges in the fall as Allium canadense does. The seller mentioned his wife liking the blooms but I don't recall a mention of seeds forming. Short term at least I am feeling very encouraged by this experiment. Pics soon, then pics at harvest time or if they bloom.

She makes many excellent points...I am one of many I've known whose health suffered when vegetarian and especially vegan...physiologically we are omnivores like the other Great Apes.

http://matadornetwork.com/bnt/why-vegetarianism-will-not-save-the-world/

Al Steenson is our powerhouse Gandy Civic Association president who brings me countless bags of leaves each spring.. he came by today to chat a while, get caught up, ask a plant ID question...his wife Ellie loves roses so I took him to see the 'Lamarque' climbing rose in the newly revamped west bed hugging my home...I am SO pleased to see not only the marigold and hot pepper seedlings settling in nicely, I ALREADY have TEENSY seedlings of "Giant Green Callalloo" popping up! If all goes well in a week or less the soybeans will pop up between them. I was his VP for four terms and so we know each other well and get along wonderfully,(he good naturedly teases me about being a stoner space cadet homo) and he has radically changed his landscape just off Oklahoma to 100% grassless with deep mulch, horse poop and groundcovers I've turned him onto. Last year I turned them onto "Iron Clay" cow pea, this year I will start them a "Giant Green Callalloo" in a 1 gallon pot. He was hospitalized with severe pneumonia some months back and has thankfully given up his pipe....he stopped cigarettes quite a few years ago. He is 76 and amazes all with his energy levels and passionate dedication to south Tampa. Cracker is enamored with him and vice versa, they were so cute today....he and Ellie are classic "dog people" and lost a beloved dog of 14 years not long after I lost Sweety at 14.  Al last year used carpet, cardboard and DEEP mulch to expand around the original landscape beds I put in a number of years ago to virtually wipe out all turf in front of the civic association building, and installed a clever frugal in ground waterline to service the small ornamentals garden I created around the flagpole a few years back and love the low care perennials I based the garden on. Like me he remembers the 60s and early 70s when south Tampa was often TOO wet and so has become a huge fan of both free tree mulch and the pesticide-free poop from the stables at Ballast Point Park. He is eager to cover the VAST expanses of chain link fence on three sides of our very large lot and so I am going to start a number of seedlings of two kinds of passion fruit vines I was given seeds of by Rare Fruit Council members.

I can't think of the last time that I have been so excited about an upcoming summer gardening season.....I marvel to think of the new crops I've learned of and acquired from friends, found on my own via my usual obsessive sleuthing, plus have purchased at Twilight Market and gotten at fun seed and plant swap potlucks and gatherings. I'd love it if we could get one or two tropical depressions over Florida monthly, plus a good RAINY monsoon season so these and other crops, plus my new roses, can have lush conditions.

Al's visit today reminded why I so favor the horse poop down here in south Tampa....when Elizabeth bought the stables at Ballast Point Park a few years ago and renamed it (Sail Away Farms I believe) she asked me for fly control advice...she bought the eggs of the predatory fly I told her about just once and inoculated all the stalls, so it is now a part of the ecology within the barn... which means when you bring home her poop your yard gets that predator too! She also installed emitters in the rafters than now and then release a mist of neem. I am FAIRLY certain she also avoids the harsh dewormers and uses diatomaceous earth instead but not sure on that latter one. I use the fluffiest hay-based stall cleanings to make potting soil and compost, the poop based on wood shavings for general sheet composting, and the piles that are heavy with horse urine go around my hungriest crops. There are three plastic half barrels on the grooming platform that contain what I call "Super Poop"....pure poop and urine, horse hair, and hoof shavings from the farrier (sp?), which I use to make a gloriously potent nutrient tea that can be diluted to varying strengths as needed. I can't imagine gardening in south Tampa without this stable, especially the way Elizabeth runs it...the more poop that people haul away the happier she is!!

Jon and Debbie Butts are good folks with a fine all-organic farm

http://www.myfoxtampabay.com/story/20921353/2013/01/31/plant-city-farm-produces-old-fashioned-sugar-cane-syrup

Gardening Event in Lake Wales

http://heart-institute.org/newsevents/946-2/

Josh Jamison I've picked 4 pods from the Chipilin plant you gave me....I have maybe fifty shiny beige seeds. After years of thinking of the Crotalaria family as toxic, sometimes very much so, it is so cool to have a species grown and eaten ...for many centuries. I'll be curious if I experience the legendary difficulty of getting the seeds to germinate. There are 4 pods remaining on the plant...now to choose where in my gardens to plant it...in the ground? Water Wise Container Garden? Thanks for this new-to-me crop!

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/home_blog/2012/06/chipilin.html

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLiC00ufi_8

 It's been roughly a week since I moved a 12 inch tall seedling of "Giant Green Callalloo" from a poor spot in the kitchen garden where it sprang  up in (beneath the avocado tree) to an ideal spot in one of the two new beds on the west side of my home...the first few days it looked like it might die. A few generous waterings have saved it, but it looks damaged, the leaves scarred. Ryan told me a few days ago that the three very young ones I gave him at Tricia's in Brooksville two weekends ago after I'd moved them into 4 inch pots have survived, after also looking very iffy for a few days...he's planting them in a sunny spot in his yard. I wonder if moving them from their pots will shock them again. Having seen and heard all this, plus having heard about and seen self sown seedlings elsewhere, I again encourage anyone I've mailed seeds to/shared with locally to sow the TINY black seeds right where they are to grow as Mary Jo and I have.

The chickens have learned how to reach through a barrier fence in my east back garden and peck mouthfuls from the three plants that popped up there from chaff, giving me further hope that this strain of amaranth can help solve the problem of fresh greens for poultry in summer. A few people have asked me if I know if it bears enough seeds to compare to the grain type amaranths I grew for Rodale's test program in the late 80s and early 90s in Denver....I think by the end of this summer a lot of us will know! I am SO thankful to Vicki Conrad for initially making me aware of it on FaceBook, then giving me seeds at a past garden gathering at Andy's...she laughs and says that a year from now I will see it as a weed due to self sowing, but if I can feed excess seedlings to the poultry I think I will be pleased. Plus one can just sever immature flower heads as they appear and prevent seed formation.

I've to date eaten it only raw and look forward to trying it in stir fry, as a good side dish like spinach, and in my smoothies. 

Spring Harvest of Rattlesnake Root Betony in Florida

If you live near a damp area where this native grows, the crunchy white tubers should be optimum size now.

http://www.eattheweeds.com/florida-betony-150-a-pound/

A Bean Bread Recipe I Will Try

http://www.treehugger.com/easy-vegetarian-recipes/simple-easy-navy-bean-bread.html

Perennial Sweet Leek

Josh Jamison in Lake Wales is an amazing edible plants sleuth at the ripe old age of 20....his main passion is perennial food crops for central Florida. His knowledge base and the plants he has acquired and compulsively shared is simply amazing. Here is a pic of his hand next to a new crop he acquired....the wild perennial ancestral leek that over the centuries humans cultivated into the modern annual/biennial form familiar to us all and that is lovely to cook with. As I recall he planted the bulblets last November and he has emphasized that he did not water them ONCE.....he shares my obsession for scant water use, yet look at this leek!!! He gave me some bulblets at Andy Firk's last event but it took me some weeks to decide where to plant them....one went into a large Water Wise Container Garden but I took his advice and put all the others in a new west bed. All emerged within a week. He says his have already replicated but I need to ask if that was by division, bulblets attached to the mother bulb like gladioulus do, or it atop a "flower stalk" like Allium canadense does. I agree with him....next is to see if they can make it through our hot humid wet summer, and then if it truly is perennial here.....he is in a VERY cold pocket in Lake Wales so might have a better chance than I do here in balmy south Tampa. He has a few times on FaceBook emphasized how incredibly XERIC a crop they have been for him there at the H.E.A.R.T project where he does most of his gardening. The bulblets he gave me in that coin envelope were about the size of popcorn seeds.

He and I were invited to speak at the Sustainable Living Conference in Plant City at AWA but they have a firm "no dogs" policy and I could not leave Cracker indoors that long so had to miss his talk on Perennial Food Crops.....I am sure he wowed them. Thankfully he is giving the talk again at Andy Firk's event in Arcada April 13. He is a brilliant gentle young man on a remarkable, self-directed learning trajectory that has already benefited many Florida gardeners. I'd love it if his work with this allium plus those I've been researching for a few years now results in our having year round "onions" to cook with year after year as some folks simply don't like the taste and aroma of Garlic Chives (Allium tuberosum) that is SO incredibly reliably perennial and spreading here.

Not only have I made many wonderful new positive energy new friends at these various gatherings, I've been blessed with new data and specimens of some very promising alternative crops.

http://slowlivingessentials.blogspot.com/2010/07/perennial-leeks-most-generous-vegetable.html

Josh Jamison of Lake Wales gave me a tuber of this at Andy's last event....now that things are warming up I'll plant it out back, likely in a large compost barrel made from a 55 gallon drum.

http://www.mightygarden.com/biennials/how-to-grow-arrowroot.html


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrowroot

Eating Smilax Shoots

http://www.eattheweeds.com/smilax-a-brier-and-that%E2%80%99s-no-bull/

A sure sign of spring...I just ate my first Smilax (Cat Briar) shoot crawling up the fence of the home behind me that has been foreclosed for three years. In my 20s I knew old Cuban men who called it "wild asparagus" and would cook the shoo...ts the same way...it's been YEARS since I've done that as I love the shoots raw right off the plant....reminds me of raw fresh mushrooms.
See below.....I had no idea the roots were edible! In my early 20s I dug up a huge one, potted it in a bonsai tray with about 90% of it ABOVE the soil line and trained it into a trippy bonsai. I don't recall ever seeing berries on one.

Allen Boatman is a great guy, considerate, generous, BRILLIANT plants man, dedicated husband and father, does his best to live his Christian faith, and ran a wonderfully progressive horticulture rehab program for prisoners at the Falkenburg Jail until it was shut down by slimy politics. One of his many obsessions is hot peppers...he has seeds of 1,300 kinds in his collection!! One of the many healthy influences he had on me was changing my perception of hot sauces and how to make them....don't rely on vinegar to lower the pH but a bulk food grade acid...he uses citric acid, I use ascorbic acid and a touch of very strong kombucha tea. He also turned me onto the concept of using various ripe fruits to provide both a sweetening AND a thickening effect. His mango hot sauces are paradise! I've used cranberry sauce, fresh pineapples I dumpster dived from a produce market, and ripe bananas. I have a great deal of papaya in both freezers and today had a brainstorm I'll have to tell him about...for some reason, my Surinam Cherry not only bloomed very early this year, but also very heavily. When I saw the many hundreds of green fruits on it today it occurred to me to freeze them as they ripen vs. eat them out of hand as usual. I think a hot sauce based on equal amounts of papaya pulp and Surinam Cherries could be wonderful. My neighborhood gardening friend Joe gave me seeds of varying VERY hot peppers, plus I saved the bruised fruits in small bag of Habanero peppers I bought at SANWA Market and dried them. I mixed them all together and sowed them in a big pot where I got a VAST number of seedlings, many of which I have planted in the two new west beds. I figure by early July I can start making big batches of hot sauces, and will be sure to try this notion. Some folks don't like the taste of Surinam Cherries as being "turpentiney" but I've loved them since my teens. Like me, Allen is a very adventuresome eater (we both love the kimchees we each make) and I'll be sure to save him a bottle of each one I make, including this papaya/Surinam Cherry one. And like him, I now no longer like vinegar-based hot sauces, like Tabasco, etc. but ones thickened and balanced by ripe sweet fruits. I plan on making one this summer based on slightly ripe plantains too with frozen pulp from my Meyer's Lemons.

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

6:30pm in EDT

11349 Bloomingdale, Riverview, Hillsborough County, Florida 33578

Please join us for a 4 Course Classic French Country Dinner with Chef Gary Moran. Chef will give talk about the dishes and the meal and the History of French Country Cuisine. Feel free to bring your own wine to the event with no corkage fee. 6:30 Meet & Greet 7:00 Dinner Service Begins Tickets can be purchased online- http://frenchdinner.eventbrite.com/ Tickets can also be purchased at Wimauma or at the door $50 per person Menu French Country Dinner Salade Lyonaisse w/ Poached Egg, Bacon Lardon, Frisee & Champagne-Mustard Vinaigrette Caillettes de nice with sauce tomate and bagna rotou Duck Confit w/Lentil du Puy & Carmelized Apples Pickled Peach Clafloutis w/ Basil Chantilly

April 13 at 10:00am until April 14 at 3:00pm in EDT

Bamboo Grove Homestead, 2460 SW Mixon St., Arcadia, FL 34266

Come on out to the counrty for a full day and night of fun. Great vibes, relaxed atmosphere, over 100 people are expected. Entrance fee: One hug. 1 hour homesteading workshops ($5 donation each), plus free garden tours of our edible forest gardens, Saturday night potluck (vegetarian and wild pescatarian), Saturday night campfire and free campout (bring camping gear), Sunday morning potluck breakfast, Sunday wild edible & herbal plant walk & workshop ($10). Everything is optional. Free parking, kids all...owed, very friendly animals allowed (we have cats), no smoking or drugs, work exchange for workshops available. Info: Andy at 863-993-3228. No reservations required. Contacting us to let us know you are coming is a nice thing though :) SATURDAY, April 13, 2013 10 am: Gates open, set up your campsite if you plan on staying the night. Arriving later? No problemo. (entrance fee: one hug). 10 am – 11 am: Free garden tour. Workshops are 1 hour each ($5 donation each). They run from Noon – 6 pm & 9 pm – 11 pm. They have not be scheduled exactly yet. - Josh Jamison: Perennial Food Crops For Florida. - Rebecca Conroy: "The Magic of Honeybees.“ - Laurie Ponte-Wind: Backyard Chickens. - Green Deane: Wild Edible Plants. - Steve McAllister: Common Wealth Time Bank, the Garden Brigade, & Other Sarasota Happenings. 6 pm – 7pm - Plant Swap, Give Away & Sale. Bring loads of cuttings, potted plants, containers, seeds, roots, garden tools, garden books. etc. 7 pm – 9 pm - Free potluck (vegetarian & wild pescatarian, label your ingredients) & campfire. Tent camping. One guest room is available inside the house. Bring acoustic instruments to jam with. Musicians are coming! 9 pm – 11 pm: Late night workshops. SUNDAY, April 14, 2013 8 am – 9:30 am: Potluck breakfast (bring your own food). 11 am – 3 pm - We convoy to Morgan Park on the Peace River, 5 miles away, for a workshop on Wild Edible & Herbal Plants. ($10). Indoor bathroom & outdoor shower are available 24 hrs. Everything is optional. Come and go as you please. Kids and very friendly pets are welcome (we have outdoor cats and chickens). Call to let us know that you are coming: 863-993-3228 (Andy Firk) Bamboo Grove is my acre and a half edible forest homestead in rural Arcadia. I have planted 40 clumping bamboos, 200+ mostly heirloom fruit trees, perennial root crops, wildlife attractors, etc.

In my Denver yard, from 1987 until I moved back to Tampa in November 2002, I abided by the theme of ornamentals in my front yard, food crops out back, except for the small Candy Mint lawn I had my last few years there, although as here I grew in the back yard roses from my own breeding program. (see the link to my registered rose hybrids). And here at my south Tampa retirement home I've done the same thing. But that is changing BIG time. Until this year, my front yard kept getting re-consumed by two lovely but very hard to manage tropical vines that either reseeded or rooted where they touched.....Pandorea Vine and Perennial Morning Glory (Ipomoea acuminata). With the help of a neighborhood yard guy with little lawn mowing work in winter and who is an EXCELLENT weeder, I've got them ALMOST eliminated from the front yard. Both had consumed my west fence and two rambling roses there, but now that the fence and roses are clear and in full sun, I will be planting all along the fence many giant white lima beans (Phaseolus lunatus) I bought a big bag of at Publix. Unlike garden beans (Phaseolus vulgaris) lima beans are tropical and love summers here. They will clothe the fence, nitrify the soil, and give me food (my intent is to eat most like edamame soybeans). In the south end of that bed, behind the 250 gallon tote soon to become a rain barrel, are planted sunflowers, nasturtiums, marigolds, hot peppers, glads bulbs, a crinum and a test patch of the Perennial Sweet Leek that Josh Jamison gave me. It is some work, but a lot of fun to be greatly reinventing this front yard after ten years to feature perhaps seventy roses vs. the original pre-drought one hundred and seventy, NO invasive ornamental vines and quite a few food crops, like the "Vegetable Mallow" (Malva verticillata var. crispa) that is the border plant for the main bed hugging the old original limestone fish pond I built circa 2000.

http://www.helpmefind.com/gardening/l.php?l=7.8513

Until I took my first ever wild edibles walk with Andy Firk last year, I for years mistakenly called this weed "chickweed". That my chickens scarfed it down added to my thinking I had the name right. Thanks Andy Firk.

http://www.eattheweeds.com/pellitory-parietaria-is-a-whiz-2/

I've enjoyed eating these berries each spring here in Tampa since 1984.

http://www.floridata.com/ref/e/elaeag_p.cfm

Thankfully two "friends" who constantly tried to "fix" and "improve" me and pushily offer unrelenting unsolicited advice about every aspect of my life, right down to how I managed my place setting when I attended Joshua D. Rumschlag's delightful seed swap potluck, withdrew themselves when I objected in a stronger, less polite fashion. When they wanted lemons and papayas from me he'd time and again tell me I was not picking them "right" even though many times I'd say, politely, "you pick fruit the way you want to, I'll pick fruit the way I want to". I guess politeness was the problem....I should have long ago said "MIND YOUR OWN FUCKING BUSINESS!!!" Their own lives are full of family discord due to that behavior, plus chronic health issues due to poor diet, so why they felt "qualified" to intervene in my life, right down to personal finances (I've been debt free and ample savings since 2005 long before Dad passed away last June16) is beyond me. Rejecting me for objecting was the best thing they could have done for me! Whew!

I have always failed with previous soybean attempts, even when using purchased seeds of "Beer Friend", one of the best for edamames. So after concluding that soybeans ARE a summer crop in Florida I bought a bag of pale soybeans imported from GMO-strict Thailand from south Tampa's DoBond Market and yesterday planted a small number, two seeds per hole, in between the planting sites for "Giant Green Callalloo" in the new bed hugging the west wall of my home. This bed has already been enriched with Pam Lunn's goat poop and then mulched with shredded palm tree, and soon gets a drenching with dilute fish emulsion. Next in go seedlings of mixed VERY hot peppers from neighborhood friend Joe. The only rose in that bed THIS time around, ten years later, is the climber 'Lamarque' to be trained up a rebar there. As these plants plus the border of mixed color 'Cracker Jack' marigolds get taller, I'll then mulch the soil with a few inches of horse stall sweepings from the pesticide-free stable at Ballast Point. If all goes well, this will be a very productive garden bed plus HOPEFULLY, my first ever successful crop of soybeans.

Hot Weather Summer Crops for Central Florida

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3pk4jYNbfo

Once I have lots of leaves on my "Giant Green Callalloo" plants I want to try some of the many recipes out there that often call for taro leaves vs. amaranth leaves...this one sounds delicious.

http://www.food.com/recipe/jamaican-callaloo-greens-131107

The three times that Cracker and I have attended events at Andy Firk's Bamboo Grove have each been a delight, a wonderfully eclectic, diverse mix of positive minded people, with wide ranging conversations including of course gardening and botany and permaculture, but also health, child rearing, politics, relationships, religion and spirituality, cooking and more. Andy has amassed QUITE the growing food forest plus a very impressive mix of potted plants, many QUITE unusual and many for sale. I'm not around children often so I enjoy those that come, all very well behaved and Cracker loves to play with them. The seed and plant swaps are a joy, as are the camp fires and music and the nearly-vegan potlucks that leave me happily stuffed. Each time I attended I come home energized and relaxed and in an ever better mood than usual...it is hard for me to imagine a more pleasant mix of people and in a very nice semi-rural setting that is a treat for me as a south Tampan. I look forward to seeing Andy and quite a few other favorite folks at this new one. April 13 at 10:00am until April 14 at 3:00pm Bamboo Grove Homestead, 2460 SW Mixon St., Arcadia, FL 34266 Come on out to the counrty for a full day and night of fun. Great vibes, relaxed atmosphere, over 100 people are expected. Entrance fee: One hug. 1 hour homesteading workshops ($5 donation each), plus free garden tours of our edible forest gardens, Saturday night potluck (vegetarian and wild pescatarian), Saturday night campfire and free campout (bring camping gear), Sunday morning potluck breakfast, Sunday wild edible & herbal plant walk & workshop ($10). Everything is optional. Free parking, kids allowed, very friendly animals allowed (we have cats), no smoking or drugs, work exchange for workshops available. Info: Andy at 863-993-3228. No reservations required. Contacting us to let us know you are coming is a nice thing though :) SATURDAY, April 13, 2013 10 am: Gates open, set up your campsite if you plan on staying the night. Arriving later? No problemo. (entrance fee: one hug). 10 am – 11 am: Free garden tour. Workshops are 1 hour each ($5 donation each). They run from Noon – 6 pm & 9 pm – 11 pm. They have not be scheduled exactly yet. - Josh Jamison: Perennial Food Crops For Florida. - Rebecca Conroy: "The Magic of Honeybees.“ - Laurie Ponte-Wind: Backyard Chickens. - Green Deane: Wild Edible Plants. - Steve McAllister: Common Wealth Time Bank, the Garden Brigade, & Other Sarasota Happenings. 6 pm – 7pm - Plant Swap, Give Away & Sale. Bring loads of cuttings, potted plants, containers, seeds, roots, garden tools, garden books. etc. 7 pm – 9 pm - Free potluck (vegetarian & wild pescatarian, label your ingredients) & campfire. Tent camping. One guest room is available inside the house. Bring acoustic instruments to jam with. Musicians are coming! 9 pm – 11 pm: Late night workshops. SUNDAY, April 14, 2013 8 am – 9:30 am: Potluck breakfast (bring your own food). 11 am – 3 pm - We convoy to Morgan Park on the Peace River, 5 miles away, for a workshop on Wild Edible & Herbal Plants. ($10). Indoor bathroom & outdoor shower are available 24 hrs. Everything is optional. Come and go as you please. Kids and very friendly pets are welcome (we have outdoor cats and chickens). Call to let us know that you are coming: 863-993-3228 (Andy Firk) Bamboo Grove is my acre and a half edible forest homestead in rural Arcadia. I have planted 40 clumping bamboos, 200+ mostly heirloom fruit trees, perennial root crops, wildlife attractors, etc.

Two sites now say 80% rain chance tomorrow!

http://forecast.weather.gov/MapClick.php?CityName=Tampa&state=FL&site=TBW&lat=27.959&lon=-82.4821

Totally psyched to do my first planned direct sowing of "Giant Green Callalloo" today along the west wall of my home in openings in the thick mulch, then planted maybe 15 seedlings of mixed color "Cracker Jack" marigold along the pathway edgings. Once I am sure that the entire bed is very nicely damp in goes seedlings of mixed EXTREMELY hot peppers in between the callalloos. The nasturtiums and glads in the narrow bed right across from this bed are coming up, though I need to replant several hot peppers there as I lost a few thinking that bed was truly damp....not. Then I paint the concrete edgings bright white with scavenged latex paint and that whole side will be done. I'm guessing "after" pics in about 6 weeks.

I see nothing in satellite or radar to explain this huge jump in rain forecast numbers...but I'd LOVE a good soaker!

http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/weather/forecast.html

The FDA is in the pocket of Big Pharm and Big Farms

Those petty officials should be ashamed of themselves!!

http://www.naturalnews.com/039538_backyard_chickens_homeowners_government_intrusion.html

Rain this week?

http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/weather/forecast.html

Woo Hoo!

I came home from Tanja Vidovic's with the monster Scarlet Mombin (Spondias purpurea) that she snagged for me at ECHO for just $40, seedlings of Peanut Butter Fruit  AND two cuttings of Tree Kale!! On the way home I stopped at the Seminole Heights Community Garden to check out the "Giant Green Callalloo" I saw last fall....gone BUT there is a whole colony of young seedlings. I wish I'd have brought my camera...the gardens were simply lovely, teeming with giant thriving veggies and very orderly.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIyfVmX3VLo

I LITERALLY cannot cook without onions and use 2 three pound bags of yellow onions per month. So maybe 6 years ago I started obsessing on achieving onion self sufficiency by trialing quite a few types that are perennial in colder climates, like the INCREDIBLY productive strain of Egyptian Walking Onion my clients and I grew in Denver (MUCH bigger than a leek!) but that failed quickly each of the several times I brought clumps to Tampa. Allen Boatman had gotten a strain that we THOUGHT liked it here and shared it freely but now they all seem to be in a fatal decline as they enter year four in the gardens. I trialed MANY forms of Allium fistulosum (aka "bunching onion") and found one that IS perennial after three years here in balmy south Tampa, divides at the base AND sets vast amounts of viable seeds.....people who bought it from me report good success short term (see video I shot a couple years back). Last year I learned of "Potato Onions", which are a selected form of shallot that comes in white, yellow and red bulbs. I bought white ones from a Texas grower (see pic of bulbs in the box they came in). Short term they are THRIVING in large Water Wise Container Gardens on my back patio, multiplying at their bases, some as thick as the base of my thumb, at this point looking like giant scallions though it is my understanding that at some point the tops will yellow and collapse, signalling harvest time of the clumps of bulbs. The flavor of the leaves is wonderful.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozjyWZM7VEo

If anyone feels that they can't grow anything to eat in summer's humid heat, grow "Iron Clay" cow pea (Vigna unguiculata)!!! I've given thousands of seeds over the years to students and people attending my talks, and when I run into them later they report great success and understand why I promote it as a "confidence builder". The young leaves are good in salads and stir fry, I use the vine tips in stir fry and soups, and the pods can be eaten when young and tender raw or cooked, later shucked like black eye peas, or as a dried bean. It is very problem free and is a potent nitrogen fixer too, a perfect summer crop for children or beginning adults who feel they have brown thumbs. each fall I get a brief and seemingly cosmetic "attack" of aphids on the rampant vines, but they always go away...then again, in 2003 I dispersed several thousand Trichogamma wasps of two species to control aphids on my roses, okra and elsewhere. I am very psyched that one of my blog readers mailed me seeds of a Cow Pea that evolved in a friend of hers yard, a stable, seeming hybrid of (Whippoorwill X Iron Clay)....the seeds are MUCH bigger and she reports vast production of plump tender pods. John

I grew up with them in Michigan, loved them in Denver where they are a biennial that self sows like CRAZY, here they can be a winter and spring annual. I've not grown them since I grew these pink ones for my Mom in Okeechobee a number of years ago. They are a mallow and thus edible, but to me the petals are bitter if eaten alone, but can be nice if a small portion of a salad. As soon as these seedlings of mixed color hollyhock get a little bigger, they are going into the front yard as another source of tall color along with the Sunn Hemps, glads, differing sunflower varieties. I'm having fun trying to decide which bed to plant them in for full visibility from the street as they are a very uncommon sight in central Florida and are a source of nostalgia for northern transplants here.

Yesterday midday I did my usual March thirty minute soaking of the hen house from the inside using a $4 no moving parts shower sprinkler. This annual practice has for years prevented an outbreak of NIGHTMARISH poultry mites brought into the hen house by crows stealing eggs as they need VERY dry conditions to get a foot hold in home poultry. Plus this deep soaking rinses many months' of chicken poop into the root zones of "Gray Street Grape" and "Gracie's Grape" just as they break winter dormancy. Poultry mites were an UTTER NIGHTMARE for me and my birds the year the hen house was infected with them by wild crows that had gone in to steal eggs....they ended up in my home, even my bed......I had HUNDREDS of very itchy bites all over me. Diatomaceous earth dust baths in a cat litter box rid the quails and chickens of the mites, sponge mopping my house and laundering the bed a few times and spraying the mattress with a pyrethroid I dumpster dived eliminated them inside. But this simple DEEP soaking of the hen house each March seems to have COMPLETELY eliminated them from my property for years now.

Josh Jamison shared this link on FaceBook and has acquired starter plants to root from since this brassica does not bloom or set seeds. I am psyched to grow this!!

http://treecollards.blogspot.com/2011/04/everything-you-never-knew-you-wanted-to.html#comment-form

Josh Jamison is one of many delightful people that I met initially on FaceBook, then became friends with in real life. He is a brilliant, 20 year old self taught botanist who is passionately curious about alternative crops.....the number of his obsessions outnumbers mine! When I was 20 I was depressed, in denial and closeted, but Josh and his delightful wife Emily are happily focused in life and garden and ferment foods (her passion) in Lake Wales. His primary focus is on perennial food crops and in particular has gone bonkers over the true yams (Dioscorea species and cultivars), but in his quest for knowledge then seeds and specimens he casts a VERY broad net. His generosity defies his meager income, an aspect of his vibrant Christian faith that has benefited MANY Florida gardeners. I'd never heard of an edible Crotalaria, a family I think of as being at times violently poisonous...but he learned of this ancient edible one, got seeds, and gave me a one gallon plant of it at Andy's last permaculture event. It is now setting seed pods that I hope to be able to share and grow to get it established here....it is a perennial in mild climates. Here are pics of Josh (long blond dreadlocks) and Emily standing next to Keith at Andy's, and the seed pods and leaves as they appear today.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/home_blog/2012/06/chipilin.html

Eating Mulberry Leaves

http://health.wikinut.com/The-Mulberry-Leaf/1x4c5bao/

Unbelievable...day before yesterday I shucked and sowed seeds from several dried heads of lovely ornamental sunflowers sown by descendants of the hybrid mix 'Autumn Sunset' and planted them in a wide shallow saucer of soil from down deep in the chicken path to see if thwy are viable.....they are germinating in vast numbers TODAY, some with their first leaves open!!! Since each new generation results from cross pollinations plus reverting back from hybrid to ancestral forms, I never know each year what the new ones will look like.

April 13 at 10:00am until April 14 at 3:00pm Bamboo Grove Homestead, 2460 SW Mixon St., Arcadia, FL 34266 Come on out to the counrty for a full day and night of fun. Great vibes, relaxed atmosphere, over 100 people are expected. Entrance fee: One hug. 1 hour homesteading workshops ($5 donation each), plus free garden tours of our edible forest gardens, Saturday night potluck (vegetarian and wild pescatarian), Saturday night campfire and free campout (bring camping gear), Sunday morning potluck breakfast, Sunday wild edible & herbal plant walk & workshop ($10). Everything is optional. Free parking, kids allowed, very friendly animals allowed (we have cats), no smoking or drugs, work exchange for workshops available. Info: Andy at 863-993-3228. No reservations required. Contacting us to let us know you are coming is a nice thing though :) SATURDAY, April 13, 2013 10 am: Gates open, set up your campsite if you plan on staying the night. Arriving later? No problemo. (entrance fee: one hug). 10 am – 11 am: Free garden tour. Workshops are 1 hour each ($5 donation each). They run from Noon – 6 pm & 9 pm – 11 pm. They have not be scheduled exactly yet. - Josh Jamison: Perennial Food Crops For Florida. - Rebecca Conroy: "The Magic of Honeybees.“ - Laurie Ponte-Wind: Backyard Chickens. - Green Deane: Wild Edible Plants. - Steve McAllister: Common Wealth Time Bank, the Garden Brigade, & Other Sarasota Happenings. 6 pm – 7pm - Plant Swap, Give Away & Sale. Bring loads of cuttings, potted plants, containers, seeds, roots, garden tools, garden books. etc. 7 pm – 9 pm - Free potluck (vegetarian & wild pescatarian, label your ingredients) & campfire. Tent camping. One guest room is available inside the house. Bring acoustic instruments to jam with. Musicians are coming! 9 pm – 11 pm: Late night workshops. SUNDAY, April 14, 2013 8 am – 9:30 am: Potluck breakfast (bring your own food). 11 am – 3 pm - We convoy to Morgan Park on the Peace River, 5 miles away, for a workshop on Wild Edible & Herbal Plants. ($10). Indoor bathroom & outdoor shower are available 24 hrs. Everything is optional. Come and go as you please. Kids and very friendly pets are welcome (we have outdoor cats and chickens). Call to let us know that you are coming: 863-993-3228 (Andy Firk) Bamboo Grove is my acre and a half edible forest homestead in rural Arcadia. I have planted 40 clumping bamboos, 200+ mostly heirloom fruit trees, perennial root crops, wildlife attractors, etc.

From what I've seen in people's yards, and hear from folks on FaceBook and elsewhere, coppicing just may be the solution for my "problem" of having acquired several fruit trees for my food forest that I felt a few years down the road could cause me shade problems. So now I see my White Mulberry, Everbearing Black Mulberry and my 'Florida Giant' red mulberry as large bushes instead, which will help me decide where to plant them.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coppicing

Too soon to call, but at this point, Brittany Aukett Hickman's bunching onion, "Eliska's Bunching Onion" and my long term perennial Allium fistulosum strike me as a the same. The White Potato Onions from Texas are definitely different, multiplying heavily at their bases.

I am looking for a handyman to help with my guest houses, apartments and hostel. You must have some of your own tools and have home repair skills. A valid drivers license and basic computer skills are required. I have extensive organic gardens on the property and you are welcome to garden here also. This is located in Clearwater--4.6 miles from the beach, 2 blocks from the Pinellas Bike trail and a 15 minute walk to downtown Dunedin. There are several options for lodgings here. It would include electric, water, cable and internet as well as private living quarters. I would expect approx 25 hours a week in trade. Must be an upbeat person! Interested? Contact Vicki Conrad at Vcconrad@hotmail.com

http://www.ehow.com/about_5106509_definition-mycorrhizae.html

First new chick in easily a year

The first of the fourteen eggs from LARGE breeds that Pam Lunn gave me three weeks ago hatched today....these eggs will shift my poultry raising from mainly eggs to more of a focus on meat production too.

I stockpiled a LOT of dried kombu seaweed two weeks ago Fukushima...good thing!!!

http://worldtruth.tv/the-radiation-warnings-you-wont-get-from-the-mainstream-propaganda-machine-3/

One More Reason To Get And Stay Debt Free And Grow Your Own Food!

http://transmissionsmedia.com/greece-agrees-to-give-up-all-of-its-gold-to-obtain-latest-bailout/

Update on "Giant Green Callalloo": The three seedlings of "Giant Green Callalloo" went into SUCH transplant shock in their four inch pots despite being bottom watered in the shade that I gave all three to Ryan Iacovacci in hopes that at least one makes it, and so gave a pinch of seeds each to Andy Firk and Tricia Gaitan Medina to direct sow where they are to grow. I am thus changing my plans for the west wall planting...will apply more goat poop then shredded palm mulch, DEEP water, then expose a 4 inch circle of soil below the mulch in about eight places in a row along my west wall and direct sow one seed in each to grow in place.

BIG jump in atmospheric CO2

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2013/mar/08/hawaii-climate-change-second-greatest-annual-rise-emissions

Pam is a delight, I visited her farm for the first time recently, wonderfully run!

http://www2.tbo.com/news/community-news/2013/mar/09/znnewso1-bleating-hearted-dairy-farmer-ar-653373/

Ornamental Sunflowers

These reseed freely for me here in a dry area behind my mailbox, but I am going to make heavy use of them in my newly revamped  long and narrow west bed. Mine are back bred I believe from an original sowing years ago of 'Autumn Sunset' so I am going to buy me a couple packets of new cultivars for greater variations in color and form.

http://www.ces.ncsu.edu/fletcher/programs/herbs/crops/agritourism/sunflower_varieties.html

Chipped oak tree mulch is prettier, but shredded palm trunks and fronds used as mulch decay into a wonderful spongey damp layer when applied thickly as sheet compost then deeply watered. Oak is behind the birdbath.

Once the whole pile of shredded palm has been spread on the revamped front beds, I will top dress it lightly with stall cleanings from the nearby stable.

http://www.kentucky.com/2013/03/07/2546721/conway-says-kentucky-could-grow.html

Spring fever setting in....just mailed seeds of "Giant Green Callalloo" to Jon and Debbie Butts, plus seeds of Dwarf Lemon Yellow Cosmos, Purple Possum passionfruit, a hyper-productive super flavorful yellow passion fruit, and "Butterbean" (a spontaneous cross between Whippoorwill and Iron Clay that a blog reader sent me) to my Tampa gardening friend Mary Jo.

I can't help but be encouraged that the trial plant of 'Swiss Mint' growing well in a drainage restricted pot has begun sending out surface runners across the soil the way Spearmint and Candy Mint and Chocolate Mint did in Denver.....fingers crossed that growing mints on the north side of my home allows me easy PERENNIAL mint culture here in south Tampa.

No runners yet on the 'Kentucky Colonel' mint or the (hopefully) Spearmint seedlings.

http://www.occupymonsanto360.org/2012/02/18/chemical-warfare-the-horrific-birth-defects-linked-to-tomato-pesticides/

Guava

I just planted a clone of an unknown Guava cultivar I purchased a year ago in my new bog garden made from an old limestone fishpond in the northwest corner of my front yard. For a few years I had a clone of my Dad's plant in my southwest corner, but years of drought then a hard freeze a few years back killed it. On my many trips to see Mom and Dad in Okeechobee I noted JUST how happy the guavas seemed that grew right AT the water line in the canals and ditches. Plus Dad's plant THRIVED wildly in his VERY wet low-lying yard. I hope my two soon bless me with many fruits as I LOVE ripe guavas!

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/morton/guava.html

It looks like my faint memory of there being an amaranth species beginning with the letter "g" was right....I'd be curious to learn just how many cultivars there are as this one is much shorter than the 8-12 feet that the one I was given can reach.

http://www.backyardgardener.com/plantname/pda_69fe-2.html

"Giant Green Callallo" is what I am calling the edible leafed Amaranth that I was given immature seed heads of by Vicki Conrad at one of Andy Firk's permaculture gatherings in Arcadia. I am excited for several reasons...about 2 years ago a woman who works at my gym asked me if I grew Callalloo, I told her that several plants get called that, what was she referring to....she had bought hers at Oceanic Market, green leaves with red markings, not great raw, nice cooked....I told her that sounded like an amaranth to me. Googling I saw that even a taro gets called that, that the name can also refer to just an entree' cooked a certain way, Jamaican style. Then last year on FaceBook a few women mentioned a Callalloo that was a green amaranth 8-12 feet tall, THICK stalk, BIG tender leaves raw or cooked...did I want some seeds? YES!!! I saw one at the Seminole Heights Community Garden that just as they had mentioned had been cut back HARD to about my height and was regrowing FURIOUSLY....the stalk was EASILY the thickness of my wrist if not my mid forearm! I nibbled a few leaves raw...tender and mild and I could just picture them in a stir fry or salad or smoothie. When I let dry the immature little piece of flower head that Vicki gave me I got a fair amount of seeds, have shared with just one person so far. But I tossed the threshings behind my east bed fence, and in my kitchen garden....seedlings have begun popping up!! (See attached pic). I am taking 3 seedlings to Tricia's "Spring in Sustainability" gathering this Saturday in Brooksville, one for her, one for Andy, one for Ryan Iacovacci so they can distribute seeds this fall. I am giving one each to a few Tampa friends. After I spread Pam Lunn's goat poop, some white clay cat litter, and a deep layer of shredded palm mulch today in the bed hugging the west side of my home, I am deep watering there then planting half a dozen seedlings of this "Giant Green Callalloo" there to enjoy that hot wall and maybe cool it off a bit each afternoon while giving me ample greens that I suspect might also be useful as a summer forage for my chickens and ducks. In the late 80s in Denver I joined Rodale's Amaranth test program for a few years, but those were the grain type cultivars, all Amaranthus hypochondriacus cultivars as I recall....I was not fond of the leaves at all, and I'm not fond of the various Asian leafy amaranths I've grown here....too tough and bitter for my taste. So I am very grateful to Vicki for getting this VERY desirable amaranth out there!! For some reason, in the back of my mind I think the species name might start with a "g"....gangevitus? Will Google and see if that leads anywhere. Vicki and another woman at a second event at Andy's confirmed it reseeds well, which I felt I saw evidence of at the Seminole Heights Community Garden late last summer. To help get the word out about this, I will cut and paste this posting at Barefoot Gardeners Forum on my urban farming blog and on FaceBook. I have a small amount of seeds but can mail TEENSY pinches of the TEENSY seeds to maybe six people.

Good Critters!

http://www.the-compost-gardener.com/actinomycetes.html

Monsanto knows NO limits!

http://www.occupymonsanto360.org/2012/03/17/monsanto-owned-seednames/

More reasons to use rain barrels, pee outdoors, reuse gray water, deep mulch and use Water Wise Container Gardens...

http://beforeitsnews.com/foreclosure-gate/2013/03/30-facts-about-the-coming-water-crisis-that-will-change-the-lives-of-every-person-on-the-planet-2444324.html?utm_medium=facebook-post&utm_content=awesm-fbshare-small&utm_term=http%3A%2F%2Fawe.sm%2FeDdI8&utm_campaign&utm_source=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2F%3Fref%3Dlogo

I look forward to attending and speaking at Tricia's 'Spring into Sustainability' permaculture event this weekend in Brooksville, then my fourth visit to Andy's Firk's Bamboo Grove in Arcadia for another gathering there next month. Largely due to my having become a Facebook junkie, over the last 12-18 months I have gotten to meet and know a great many delightful people who are passionate gardeners and permaculturists. I've learned SO much from them and have acquired a great many new-to-me edible crops, both annual and perennial that are finding their way into my front and back yards as I re-invent both. Andy, plus Josh Jamison in Lake Wales, are brilliant plants men and horticulturists, and Josh in particular at just 20 already demonstrates an uncanny and inspiring appetite for inquiry then learning then sharing.....he has blessed me with several new crops I'd not known of! Tricia is giving me a rooted cutting of the White Mulberry that she and Josh love and promote as a perennial cooked veggie and as "kale chips"! Learning of hugel kultur and the Food Forest concepts has been a powerful catalyst for me as I reinvent my yard to once again breed roses, but this time with a very specific focus of breeding super xeric roses for Florida using a few key "Moms" and a wide variety of "Dads". Initially, years ago my front yard was home to 170 roses and was tidy and almost formal.....years of drought decimated that. This new version may have around 70 roses but THIS time have far more perennial and annual flowers and, for the first time, food crops interspersed between them to take advantage of my willingness to use a little more water than my previous obsession with using VERY little...each rose gets about 5 lbs. of cheap white clay cat litter at the bottom of the hole, and each bed will get MUCH thicker mulch than before. This effort is being shaped in part by what I've learned from people I know in real life or just on FaceBook, and I've enjoyed sharing what I have learned over the years with them and my students. One goal is to have the front yard MUCH tidier.....another is to have it MUCH more colorful while for the first time ever bearing food..... hot peppers, mints and alliums in particular. Here are a few pics from maybe 10 days ago showing the original bare bones of the garden I laid down in 2003 that had been consumed by bidens weeds, two giant roses 'Cherokee Rose' and 'Mermaid' and two perennial tropical vines of NIGHTMARISH vigor....Pandorea and Ipomoea acuminatta that I unwittingly planted back then. A LOT has occurred here since I took these pics as a delicious case of Spring Fever settles in. By midsummer my new goals and ambitions for my front yard should be fully apparent and partially realized. Thanks to many for the lessons, seeds, tubers, cuttings and plants! John

http://www.occupymonsanto360.org/2013/03/02/syngenta-charged-for-covering-up-livestock-deaths-from-gm-corn/

Thanks to Paul Zmoda for his suggestion today to wrap dormant cuttings from my "Gray Street Grape" in damp newspaper then put them in the fridge in a plastic bag for a couple of months THEN stick the cuttings! I'll do this plus as I did before and layer dormant vines still attached to the mother plant in 1 gallon pots of soil atop the duck pen as Josh Jamison and Mary Shalhub-Davis and others want to grow this very vigorous tasty purple Mystery Bunch Grape that I rescued years ago from a rental on Gray Street that was to be bull dozed. The flavor has a distinct element of Concord grape to it. Sometiess I think it might be 'Conquistador', sometimes I think it might be an improved form of Vitis aestivalis like 'Norton'

Hot Pepper Sampling.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GPd74JUWlNI&feature=youtu.be

Another legacy of Bush's criminality in Iraq!

http://www.alternet.org/story/62273/why_iraqi_farmers_might_prefer_death_to_paul_bremer's_order_81

Monsanto does it again.....

As if DDT, dioxins, 2,4-d and 2,5-T (Agent Orange), saccharin, aspartame, bovine hormones, PCBs, patenting heirloom crops in Iraq right after the invasion with Paul Bremer's blessings, Sucralose etc. were not enough!

http://www.occupymonsanto360.org/2012/06/07/first-super-weeds-now-super-insects-thanks-to-monsanto/

I can see anew why I am obsessing on finding truly perennial mints for the area that are VERY minty and sweet....a few visitors here have found the scent of very reliable Mojito Mint (native to Cuba) pleasant, but commented that the taste is sharp and biting. Now two people have sniffed my trial plant of 'Kentucky Colonel Mint' and REALLY liked it but made a face and stated objections to the scent of the 'Swiss Mint' that Ricola uses to make their mint drops. Yesterday I gave seedlings of what hopefully proves to be true Spearmint (Mentha spicata) to Mary Shalhub-Davis from seeds that Tanja Vidovic gave me. I will trial all three on the north side of my home to shield them from the harsh south winter sun plus get any cool north winds that arrive here. It will be interesting to see which, if any, are thriving here three years from now as true perennials here in balmy south Tampa.

Dwarf Yellow Cosmos

I want much more yellow in my landscape as the revamp accelerates and this is a super easy annual that reseeds well in central Florida. I am getting just under 4,000 seeds for $8.85 after shipping!

http://shop.wildseedfarms.com/Ladybird-Dwarf-Lemon/productinfo/3284/

I've grown and eaten Velvet Beans for maybe eight years now....taken in three week cycles on and off their L-dopa content triggers the pituitary gland to make more Human Growth Hormone. Body builders use it to add lean muscle mass....I learned of it back then from two guys at my gym who suddenly were packing on muscles. It can delay graying of hair in men and act as a potent aphrodisiac. The pods form ONLY in the fall. This price for 5 POUNDS of the powder is incredible, especially compared to the gel caps!

http://www.znaturalfoods.com/Mucuna-Pruriens-Seed-Powder-5-lbs

Front Yard Revamp

Hiring the neighborhood lawn mowing and yard man Paul twice a week has allowed me to finally reclaim the front yard from the weed bidens but in particular overgrown tropical ornamental vines, yam vines and a monster Cherokee Rose. I'm now planting several dozen own root Old Roses in big holes, with five pounds of cheap white clay litter per hole to hold moisture, followed by 500 glad bulbs plus perennials, followed by a DEEP layer of shredded palm tree mulch. Later I will plant a large number of sunflowers and Sunn Hemp plus snapdragons, mixed hot peppers, hollyhocks and marigolds. This was all triggered by a lot of soul searching and finally making peace with setting out garbage cans of the pulled vines and weeds that kept REgrowing when I'd try to compost them out back, plus using more water than my usually OBSESSIVELY tiny amount. One primary result will be my resuming rose breeding based on a few stalwarts that have survived drought and neglect since 1999, the goal being a race of roses that CAN survive in Florida's now perennial drought and ever-deepening watering restrictions. Thanks Paul!