Watch My Food Grow ~ A South Florida Raised Vegetable Garden

My yard has two mango trees… a  Haden and a honey mango. The Hadens are the ambrosia of the mango world, as far as I am concerned. So, I watch that tree with anticipation every spring. Even have it guarded by the old man on the tree.

Last year in April, we had a severe thunder and rain storm that blew the majority of the mangos off the tree. It was a meager year. I didn’t get enough to satisfy my yearly mango craving.

Wind and Pounding Rain

This spring, the Haden tree set a lot of fruit. It was dropping the usual tiny culls, but it had plenty of fruit that was coming along nicely… until Friday night.

We had a really pounding rain storm with a lot of wind during the night. We woke to find the ground covered with scores of half-grown mangos. It looks like another meager year. I am so disappointed.

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During an unusually rainy time in March, the poblano, jalapeno, banana and bell peppers I planted began to suffer from, what looked like, damping off.

Damping off is my guess, because everything else in the box is doing well. The drainage in the box may not have been sufficient for the peppers. The stems turned brown and soft , the leaves wilted and the plants were dying.

Build and Set Up a Box with Better Drainage

Peppers need rich, airy soil with very good drainage. To have peppers, I would need a third box that I could adjust to get better drainage. My husband constructed a box, 24 inches by 42 inches from plywood left over from a previous project. The box is smaller than my others, but it will be used only for assorted peppers.

Drainage and Weed Barrier

The bottom of the pepper box was lined with a single layer of scrap red brick.

Weed barrier cloth was placed on the bricks to contain the dirt and prevent weeds and grasses from growing up from underneath.

All the soil I purchased from the nursery was used in the large box set up earlier this spring, so I took the easy, fast way. I filled the pepper box with a bagged garden soil and planted all new pepper plants.

Looking Much Better

Better drainage means that these plants have to be watered more often. It has been about a week, and it looks like the new plants are taking hold. So far so good.

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I am going to veer off the growing food subject for a day and go with growing beauty instead. I was away last week. Every couple of months, I make a trip to Missouri… Cape Girardeau to spent time with family and St. Louis to visit friends. My timing couldn’t have been better. I was there at the perfect time to see  Redbuds and Dogwoods in bloom. Actually, everything was in bloom…. from dandelions to huge trees covered with white flowers. It was everything spring is supposed to be. It was spectacular.

Pink Dogwoods

One morning while I was in St. Louis, I took a walk and came upon a street lined with small Dogwoods and Redbuds. I grew up in Missouri, and I remember how beautiful the white flowering Dogwoods were. These pink ones were equally amazing. Even these very young Dogwoods had large, beautiful blooms.

Young Redbuds

I was surprised when I looked closely at the Redbuds. I had no idea that the flowers grew right out of the trunk. They were as perfectly formed as the waterfall of flowers on any branch.

Iron-fenced Garden

Across the street, there was a well-kept garden behind an iron fence. It was a pleasant surprise. I did not expect to see it in the neighborhood.  Besides all the green, flowers were in bloom there as well.

Not So Lowly Dandelions

On this same street, along the sidewalks, there were dandelions everywhere.  They were as pretty as any flower in any garden you’d find. Of all the flowers I saw that day, dandelions were the only ones that the bees were working.

Huge Flower-covered Tree

I was told that these trees were white-flowering crab apple trees. I don’t know for certain that they were, but the flowers were spectacular. Each tree was draped with white blossoms. No matter what kind of trees… it was an awesome sight.

Fall Was Beautiful, Too

There was one remnant of last fall left on this street.  A beautiful old wood fence was the backdrop for some dry grasses that made it through the winter with their beauty intact. It seems fitting to add a bit of the past season. It won’t be long before spring flowers will have fallen, and nature will be moving on to summer colors. It’s the circle of life, and all of it is beautiful in its own way.

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