So what does a gardener with a broken camera (and a broken heart) do?
Post older pics & order seeds online, of course!
BayTree Nursery
*Blackberries X3 : Navajo Thornless, Apache, & Dirksen Thornless
*Kiwi, Issai Hardy (Actinidia arguta 'Issai')
The blackberries all are suited for our Florida weather and these selections should provide us with an almost 3 month supply. Since birds are mostly attracted to red berries if they try the blackberries while not yet purplish/black they will eat unripe fruit and probably not bother with it again.
The kiwi is self-fruitful (most kiwis need at least one male and one female plant to produce fruit) which is great for someone with a limited sunny planting area. I read in my book Florida's Best Fruiting Plants--By Charles R. Boning, that hardy kiwis are a tad smaller than the most common fuzzy kiwi, but the hardy ones have "edible skin & superior flavor." So there. :-)
Burnt Ridge Nursery
Geraldi (I have seen it spelled a million different ways) Dwarf Mulberry
This mulberry is delicious, easy to care for and perfect for a small garden as it grows only to about 6 feet tall & it has a more bushy habit than the regular canopy-type mulberry trees.
Territorial Seed Company
Zamboni Broccoli Raab
Purple peacock broccoli
Sorrento Broccoli Raab
Giant Red Celery
Crisp Mint Organic Lettuce
Marshall Lettuce
Fennel
Beetberry –Strawberry spinach
Gypsy Pepper
Healthy Pepper
Señorita Pepper
Sunburst Zucchini
Flying Saucer zucchini
Taxi Tomato
Orange king Tomato
Gold Nugget Tomato
White Currant Tomato
Manitoba Tomato
Burbank Slicing Tomato
I got mostly organic & heirloom varieties of the plants listed above (mouth watering already). Ordering heirloom will allow me to break the cycle of seed-buying for these varieties and instead will continue the seed-saving cycle that I have started with other varieties already.
Swallowtail Garden Seeds (herbs)
Epazote
Lovage
Borage
Savory
Chervil
Now for the citrus rambling part--Here is my two cents on growing at least some edibles in your Florida garden, no matter how busy your life is: grow at least a couple of citrus plants! They require no huge investment money or time-wise, they only get better with age, they will fill your garden with their sweet perfume when in bloom, they are the host plant for several kinds of swallowtail butterflies, AND they will provide you with wonderful fruit!
My humble experience is that it can be challenging finding a nice sweet orange to grow here, I kind of gave up on my orange tree and now just see it as a vehicle to have more butterflies in the garden...but, all the lime & lemon trees I have planted have been a lovely surprise. Our limes can be just eaten out of hand, that's how sweet and wonderful they are. We have a few different varieties: Persian, Indian & two different Key Limes (one thornless)...they are all performing wonderfully with virtually no care (other than the occasional watering). Our Eureka lemon is also a winner, I get the same amount of juice from one of our lemons that I would get from 4 store-bought lemons. Not kidding. And the quality of something just picked is a million miles away from something that had to travel a million miles to get to you.
We bought all of the citrus from the regular box store...nothing fancy.
So if your excuse is that you have no time...well, you'll have to find a better excuse...particularly when one has to pay over a buck per lemon/lime these days!
Okidoki, off to pick some hibiscus for tea...did I tell you? Turns out that the Florida Hibiscus/Sorrel we are growing makes the most delicious (and prettiest, if I may add) tea in the world. To make the iced tea hubby likes, I also add a little bit of pineapple sage from the garden. It makes for a beautifully fruity and refreshing.
Hibiscus harvesting update: when grabbing the spent flower be sure to do so by its skinnier end (it would be the top of the bud-looking thing). This, I recommend after getting hurt with the tiny little hairs at the bottom of it. ouch.
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