Button for Reading New Garden Blog Posts

I recently added a button to my Internet Explorer toolbar that cycles through all the garden blogs which have new posts. This way, I don't have to check in with every blog in my blogroll to see if there's a new post. The button only takes me to the new posts which I haven't yet read. It's the best!!! Below are instructions for adding this button, but first, here's my Sweet 100 Hybrid Tomato plant on the front patio. It's still blooming!!! It's a must for next year.



How To Add a Button to IE for Checking new Garden Blog Posts

First, sign up for Google Reader. It takes 5 seconds. Once you have an account, begin subscribing to all the blogs you follow. This part takes less than 5 seconds per subscription because you just type in the url and hit Enter.

Google Reader allows you to organize all the blogs you've subscribed to...so the next step is to make a folder called Garden Blogs (or whatever you choose) and put all the blogs into the folder. This part will take 30 seconds.

Then, in Google Reader, go to Manage Subscriptions -> Goodies -> Put Reader in Bookmark. This part takes 10 seconds.

Since my homepage is iGoogle, I added my Garden Blogs Subscription to my iGoogle page.

Thinning Peaches, Plant Hardiness Zones, Mystery Plant.

After 4 years, the mystery of the North Garden dracaena has been solved! It's a Dracaena 'Janet Craig compactica'. Thanks to Grower Jim of Garden Adventures for the identification. I was also able to identify the little critter that irrigates the dracaena when the grass is too wet for her little feet. I'm one step closer to identifying every plant in my garden now!

I checked out Grower Jim's zone 9b blog, Garden Adventures, and realized that I needed to be honest with myself about two things:

1. I am not in zone 9b anymore....the zones have changed over the past few decades and I'm zone 10 now. Back in 2006 when I first started gardening, and when the map was first published, many gardeners refused to believe their zone changed. We base our whole garden around our plant hardiness zone, so it was hard to accept.

2. I HAD to thin out the peach tree. Grower Jim thinned out his peach tree. I KNOW I will be rewarded with bigger, sweeter peaches.

Here are all the peaches I yanked off the tree. Dunno what to do with them.

Royal Poinciana Tree is coming back

I thought this royal poinciana tree was a gonner. It's coming back! I think I will plant it now that I know it's going to be a winner.
Headed to Tampa tomorrow via Tpke and 60. Anyone have thoughts on where I could stop along the way? I'd appreciate the tips.

Blotchy Mottle on the Meyer Lemons?

What is this? The discoloration is asymetrical. The fruit seems to be healthy. I see no bugs. I think it might be Blotchy Mottle. There's no cure for Blotchy Mottle!!! Uh oh. Off to the extension office again.

Roses and Palm Tree Centerpiece

I used roses and areca palm fronds from the garden today to make a pertty flower arrangement. I love using palm fronds in the arrangements because they are so dramatic and they last so long.

Mystery Plant #2

I thought I had this mystery plant figured out....but I didn't. Please help if you know what the dark green plant is called. By the way, this is another installment of my quest to document every plant in the garden.

It's been a small bushy plant until a few months ago when the freeze killed all the lower leaves. Now, it looks like some type of dracaena with long skinny trunks..

Gardening: Do I need Mulch?

Yes!...every gardener should use some form of mulch. Mulching help reduce evaporation which in turn conserves water. Mulching helps prevent weeds. Mulching (at least the kind I use: pine bark) helps put nutrients into the soil. Mulching helps keep your garden looking beautiful.

Above: Rose bed with patchouli, asparagus fern, duranta, and pine bark mulch

In honor of Earth Day (today: April 22, 2010), I laid 6 bags of pine bark mulch around the house. Buying and laying 6 bags isn't that big of a deal...it's under $20 and it will give you a good workout. It also makes the car smell good!

Above: oleander, duranta, liriope, marigold, variegated schefflera, silver buttonwood


Above: variegated schefflera, oleander, sunfllower, avocado tree, marigold

Above: rubber plant, Song of India, and mystery plant #2

Aloe Vera in Full Shade

Our aloe vera down here in South Florida does great in the hottest full sun and also in full shade. It can even go for weeks without being watered. It's the ultimate container plant.

More Problems with the Peach Tree

My UF Sun Peach Tree is having more problems. Based on in internet research, it's either bacterial spot or captan fungicide spray injury.

In the past week, I sprayed it twice at night with Organacide so it might be injured from captan. I hope this is the problem because maintenance for bacterial spot is copper or choosing a different kind of tree. An article put out by a Virginia college says there's not much you can do for spot other than replacing the tree with a more disease resistant variety.

Many of the leaves are falling after turning yellow. I'm scared all that beautiful fruit will not ripen. We'll see.

Amaryllis Blooms Yearly

The amaryllis bloomed a bit earlier this year than last year. Everything else is a bit later this year because of the extended cold season we had, so I'm surprised this bulb was early.

Celebrity Tomato and Feta Appetizer

I picked a few tomatoes yesterday and made a quick appetizer from cubed goat cheese and fresh herbs. It was definitely a winner and I will have to remember it for parties.


I tossed cubed feta with basil, rosemary, olive oil, and bread dipping spices. I threw in the tomatoes that were seeded and chopped.

Jasmine Blooms in April

Each year during the summer, the jasmine blooms. It smells so good. Here's my (finally trimmed) confederate jasmine. It's a great climber and I have it all over the house.

Before

After

Here's an update on the peaches. I sprayed them with Organizide two days ago at night. They are showing no signs of stress, but those little flies or moths are still on them. No additional signs of fruit damage. I will spray them again in two days.

Celebrity Hybrid Tomato is Delicious

The Celebrity Hybrid Tomato plant from the box store turned out to be delicious! I planted it back in early February and harvested the first tomato yesterday. The plant looks so pittiful because this season it had to content with below freezing temps on multiple occasions and hail.

The recipe was delicious. Sandra Lee would love it because it's mostly store bought, but a few fresh ingredients made it taste 100% homemade.

Danielle's Easy Chicken Pasta Alfredo

Ingredients

Spicy sauteed chicken (4 breasts)
fresh basil
fresh green onion
fresh tomato
half box fettucini
small jar alfredo sauce

I sauteed the chicken in garlic and cajun spices while the pasta was boiling and the bread was baking. I heated the alfredo sauce in a small pot on the back burner. When the chicken was done I sliced it and put most of it back into the sautee pan and tossed it with the onion, chopped tomato, pasta and preheated sauce. I let it cook for another 2 minutes and it was done. Garnish with shaved parm, basil, cracked pepper, and a few pieces of the reserved chicken. Serves 3. Total 30 minutes.

Ooze on UF Sun Peaches

A clear ooze on the surface of young peaches is the first sign of an oriental fruit moth infestation. I headed off to three different places to get recommendations on how to safely eliminate the moths.

Extension Office:

They offered three suggestions: Safers Soap, Sevin, or Triazicide. I'm not too happy about the suggestion to use Sevin because it kills bees.

IFAS website:

They also offered three suggestions: Thiodan 50W, Phaser 50W, or Imidan 70W. I'm not happy about this recommendation either and here's why. The article contradicts itself in that it says not to use Sevin because it kills bees, but it also says to use it 7-14 days before harvest. IFAS also says that immediately after petal fall, insecticides are typically needed every 7-10 days.

Lowes:

Of course, Lowes doesn't have the three IFAS recommendations. They recommend Organicide ($14) or Bayer Orchard Care ($15).

My Decision:

I will try Organicide. It's free (because I already have some), and it's organic. From experience, I know I'll have to spray frequently, but it's better than killing bees and putting posion in the peaches.

Chlorpyrifos (Lorsban), azinphosmethyl (Guthion) and carbaryl (Sevin) are highlytoxic to honeybees. Severe losses of bees can be expected if these materials are used when bees are in the orchard at the time of application or for 24 hours thereafter. Apply sprays in the late evening or nighttime to help avoid excessive damage to bees. Endosulfan (Thiodan) is moderately toxic to bees and can be used in the vicinity of bees. However, this material should not be sprayed directly on the bees in the field. Vendex is relatively non-toxic and can be used around bees with minimal side effects.

How To Espalier Jasmine

Espalier is the horticultural technique of training trees and vines into patterns. Here in South Florida, confederate jasmine is commonly trained with fishing line to grow up the sides of homes in a diamond pattern. Yesterday, I took photos of two beautiful homes which have nicely maintained, mature expaliered jasmine.

The jasmine faces West and must get a lot of salt spray. From where we were, it looked great though. I'm sure these homes use coated or stainless wire instead of monofillament fishing line. The constant sun, salt, and wind would not last more than a few years in these locations.

Want to know how to espalier? Here's an article I wrote about how to easily espalier jasmine.
Here are a few more articles I wrote about espalier.


Here's John and his baby as we came back under the Bridge Rd. bridge.

Here's Tinsel and I catchin' a tan near Pecks Lake Park.

 

Here's a google map of our trip. I think it took an hour and a half because of all the idle speed zones. John said he once took his friend's boat down to Jupiter in a half hour, but he went out the St. Lucie inlet and in the Jupiter Inlet. He said from inlet to inlet, his time was 17 minutes which is pretty fast considering it's about 17 miles.