4 Cucumbers and an Eggplant....

This is my harvest from my garden this morning... Squash plants are spreading and taking over my garden.

It is obvious that a critter got into this squash.Japanese Eggplant on the vine.

Ripe tomatoes ready to pick.

My Sago Palms are healthy, no scale as many people have struggled with. I go to one of the local coffee shops, where they are happy to share bags of brewed coffee grinds. I generously sprinkle the coffee grounds within the top mound of the plant and make a trench around the base and fill with coffee grounds....looks like its working for me.

Several critters visit my garden.

I believe this is an Eastern Tiger Swallowtail butterfly.

This dragonfly was happy to sit quiet and be photographed.

Back to my "edibles", a cucumber on the vine. There is nothing like a fresh off the vine cuke sprinkled with a little salt.

Spaghetti squash......

Just a garden ornament......love my dragonflies.

Before I pulled out my Brussels Sprout plant, which is a cooler weather plant, I picked these off the plant and prepared them as follows. They were a bit smaller then the first batch but mighty tasty.

This Brussels sprouts recipe is for the "I don't like Brussels sprouts" people. The super-fast stir-fry in butter and lemon retains the beautiful color, and the Brussels sprouts get the most wonderful sweet flavor, and tender texture. The secret is the thin slicing, and the quick cooking time.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 lb Brussels sprouts, washed, bottoms trimmed
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lemon, juiced
salt and pepper to taste
Preparation:

Cut the Brussels sprouts in half lengthwise, and then slice each half into very thin ribbons (see picture). Place a large skillet over high heat. When it is very hot, add the butter and oil; as soon as the butter is melted, toss in the Brussels sprouts. Saute, stirring and tossing constantly for about 45 seconds. Add the lemon juice, and toss for about 15 seconds more. Remove from heat, add salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste, and transfer into a serving dish. Do not overcook, and the Brussels sprouts will stay green, sweet, and tender.

Oyster plants, my ground cover in my back yard islands is finally filling in from the Winter freeze.

A little bit of scattered color.

The Impatians planted around the borders are starting to get bigger with constant color.

Love those flowers.....Lily of the Nile.

Everyday in my garden brings new discoveries.

It has been a slow recovery....

But we are slowly making progress after a bitter cold winter here in Central Florida. Garden ornament.....I salvaged this "planter" out of my daughter's home being totally renovated in Pt. Saint Lucie, Florida. It certainly adds "my touch" to the landscape. Actually most visitors to my garden hardly notice it until I point it out to them.

This is a "baby" from my Giant Kalanchoe Gastonis Bonnieri, Donkey Ears, that I photographed extensively and posted about, probobly until I bored my readers silly. The poor mother plant is gone...a victim perhaps of the glorious bloom it produced and then followed by the freezing weather. And yes during the cold days and nights she was moved into my lanai and covered. It just got too cold. But this little baby protected by other plants did make it. Hopefully by fall it will be ready to bloom for me. I did give away several other babies.

I have pots of assorted flowering plants scattered around to add color and interest.

And I have added a small water feature to my garden, because I just love the plants that can grow in it. But once again the cold weather made victim of several of my flowering water plants. The "lettuce" plants survived and I recently added Papyrus, or "Little Tut" as it is commonly known. The Papyrus is a native of the Nile River, and are the plants the Egyptians used to make the first paper.

The addition of flowering annuals add accent and draw the butterflies and birds.

I have several large Stag Horn Ferns which did fairly well. Several of the fronds were burned from the cold, but new ones are filling in quickly.

I do not have a name for this vine that I purchased last season, but this is the first bloom which I imagine will attract butterflies, at minimum.

My Bird of Paradise is doing well under the canopy of the large trees, and was not at all affected by by the Florida freeze.

Several varieties of Bromeliads did well, I just need to remove the burnt leaves and separate the clusters.

Shrubs are starting to produce their flowers adding more color.

Some more flowers added for color.

Moving out to the front yard, my big brown spot recently the topic of another post is filling in quickly. I am real pleased with the Asiatic Jasmine. My front beds have everything filling in and looking better finally.

My Crinum Lillys which looked like wilted spinach after the cold are coming back beautifully. As noted in a previous post, I have moved them 3 times from different homes here in Central Florida and do really "baby" them.

Since they are in pots, the Red Bird Cacto Cardenal was moved inside my covered lanai during the freeze and did still end up dropping every one of its red color showy leaves, but they are just starting to come back now. I will be patient and it will be worth it.

The little sign displayed reads: A garden of friends is always in bloom!

Ah, now to my "new" favorite plants......My edible landscape, growing in 2 raised beds, using the square foot gardening method. Seen here in the rear is Kale and up front is Zucchini. Other plants I am growing include: beans, several varieties of tomatoes, cucumber, eggplant, green & red peppers as well as hot pepper, squash, broccoli, cabbage, several varieties of lettuce and carrots.

Cherry Tomatoes are abundant on this plant with the first ones ready to pick in the next day or so.

Here are 2 Spaghetti Squash seedlings just emerged from seed. I think that the tomato crop will be very abundant from what I see now. I have about 5 different varieties. I also grow herbs which I love to have for cooking. Once you cook with freshly picked herbs you will never be happy with dried or even the "fresh herbs" you purchase in the grocery store. I am currently growing Basil,Chives, Dill, Ginger, Lavender, Marjoram, Mint, Oregano, Parsley, Rosemary, Sage, Tarragon and Thyme....I think that's it. I even love the scent of the herbs when I water them...........which is what I think I need to do now, since it did not rain.

Keep Gardening.......

Make every inch of your property beautiful, productive and delicious!!!!

When two passions collide.......

My journey through books has taken me to some incredible places.

For a long time now I have considered myself to be a Bookaholic! How do I describe what a Bookaholic is. Someone who has a strong passion for and desire to read all the time or someone who has a strange fetish for books. Or possibly someone who keeps buying books to add to a stack of unread books. I probably fall somewhere between the two. I love having books around me, visiting book stores and libraries. I love how books look, feel and even smell.

I have no more room for books on my shelves, but I keep buying new ones. I am a Bookaholic. But in my own defense, it's a fairly inexpensive, fairly harmless obsession.
My most recent book category obsession has been every gardening book I could get my hands on, especially since completeing the Master Gardener classes. I find myself to especially gravitate towards anything that has to do with Florida gardening as well as edible gardening.
Another "hot" book category on my list is the "new" cook books. Now I have shelves and shelves of cook books, going back several decades to the "Woman's Day Encyclopedia of Cookery". This 12 volume set was available in the grocery store one volume at a time as they were released, I think monthly. I still have several favorite recipes within those pages. I have made the Banana nut bread so often, that when you open to that page, it looks as if someone "sloppy" used it as a place mat to eat dinner on. It certainly has its splatters of food stains obviously indicating this to be a favorite recipe.

My latest collection of cook books are geared towards eating "whole" and healthy, completely eliminating all processed foods from the diet. You've heard the drill..... when in the grocery store, shop only around the perimeter, eat healthier and live to be 100 years old!

Finally, the inpiration for this post! As I was walking through Borders today just passing through, you know the drill, from the parking lot to the mall to return an item in one of the stores, I was just casually looking around the gardening section which this time of the year is now center aisle. I was just browsing as I often do, minding my own business, and I find this book. Could it be.....the actual collision of my two passions. This new book that takes you from the seed packets to the canning jars, was written by four women who have only ever met on Twitter. They pooled their knowledge of gardening and cooking and in 60 days pulled together this remarkably complete book - from pest control to preserving.

They used their own social networks - blogs, tweets and Face book pages - to gather the best information from others and now, presumably, they will be able to sell the book to their combined 50,000 tweets, followers and friends!

As I peeked through the pages, I knew I had to add this wonderful book to my stacks......I mean book collection. When I got home I went online and ordered it on amazon. Now I wait for it's arrival. So while I wait, I think and write about my wonderful journey with my books.

I proudly call myself a Bookaholic.

So many books, so little time.......

Donkey Ears, new resident on the funny farm.....Look what's happening in my garden, July 2009.

Donkey Ears (Giant Kalanchoe Gastonis Bonnieri) A really different looking plant was a recent find out in Mount Dora, Florida. Note the babies grow on the tips of the leaves. This plant was a perfect addition to my collection of "funny looking " plants....or out of the ordinary. When I researched this plant after I brought it home, I learned how interesting it really is. It forms a spike out of the center for the flower which is a beautiful-large bunch of bell-like flowers that attract Hummingbirds. I am looking forward to see this plant flower.

Who would have known this past weekend when I found this little wrought iron "thing" at a garage sale, for 50 cents, that it would become home for 4
of my Bromeliads.

Bromeliad Flower

Desert Rose, (Adenium Obesum) after the harsh Florida winter frost, I thought for sure this plant was gone. I just cut it back and here are the results.

I never remember the name of this spectacular plant. These are the pups from my plants at my first Florida home that I have moved with me. I most definitely baby these plants and have several in the front and rear landscape of my home.

Starburst or Shooting Star (Clerodendrum)

This plant was about 15 foot high with 6" leaves or longer-top deep green and bottom dark purple. A beautiful plant in itself.....but the flower is a spectacular starburst of white and rose color. Much of this plant was lost this past winter, however after I cut it back it did eventually come back.....it also started to send up an outburst of suckers and shoots, some as far as 15 foot away. I have learned that this is typical for this plant following a severe pruning.

Mother of Thousands ( Kalanchoe daigremontiana)

This plant derives its name from the tiny plantlets all along each leaf. These tiny plantlets give the plant a unique look; as they mature, they fall off and start new plants automatically. It is a succulent so it doesn't need a lot of water.

Pencil Plant (Euphorbia fiherenensis)

The tips of this odd shaped and looking plant turn orange & pink in full sun.

Pineapple plant (Ananas Comosus)
If you happen to have a pineapple on hand to eat take a few minutes and grow your own plant from the discarded top. Although the pineapple plant is a Bromeliad, it is not an air plant and does require a soil bed.

Angel's Trumpet (Datura Metel)

Giant blooms and jazzy seed pods with the look and scent to the tropics. Even the stems are purple. Marvelously fragrant and exotic in both color and size, this flower looks like something from a hot-house instead of an easy-to-grow, sun loving tropical you can start from seed, which is what I did! This summer blooming show off is a scene stealer.

Red Bird (Cacto Cardenal)

This plant has a bamboo type stem that when in the sun fills up with showy variegated leaves. Just a little different looking.

Staghorn Fern

The fronds of this unusual looking plant resemble an antler. the amazing thing about these ferns is that they feed on their own composted frond material.




When I was attending my Master Gardener classes, it was stated several times that if we learned the "scientific" name for even a single plant that we would really impress others. Although I took the time to look up the scientific names, I doubt if I will remember any of them, let alone pronounce & spell them. I just like growing my plants and watching them thrive. Nature is a wonder!