Gardening in My Sunny Florida Backyard

Today I decided to start conquering the madness in my back yard.  My former employer kept me busy working  55 - 70 hours a week for the last 4 months which is the height of growing season here in Central Florida.  Which means the weeds and not weeds out back have run amok.  Where to begin.

See the monster plant with the yellow blooms?  Started as a cute little cutting from a friend's plant.  She got it as a cute little cutting from Seaworld as she scurried through the gardens with scissors, a plastic bag, & wet paper towel.  Had no clue it would take over the whole side of the pool screen.   Note:  I'll need to buy a tree saw to cut the branches underneath.  Will pass on that chore today.

Now the area under the tree & behind the little iron fence over there is NOT supposed to have all that greenery underbrushy stuff.  That part I can tackle today.  By the way - see those pots with the tomato, peppers, lettuce, & collards?  We can grow tomato plants in the winter here because it doesn't get cold - at least not usually.  I just planted that sweet little potted garden last week.  Oh and over by the shed in the smaller pots I have herbs and the start of a pineapple.  I can't plant directly in the ground because I have 2 big ole hound dogs that either trample my garden or use it as their toilet.  Yuk.  And let me emphasize BIG ole hound dogs.  Right at 120 pounds, and 85 pounds.  They're my babies now that my children are all grown up.

Here's a couple of shots of my shed.  Notice the striped door.  Honeybabysweetie built the shed from a kit.  He did a great job.  Until he ran out of stain & decided to stain alternate panels on the door to conserve until he could get more.  That was 2 years ago.  He hasn't gone back to the store yet to buy additional stain.

I had a great plan to make this area a xeriscape so it wouldn't need so much water.  Gets dry sometimes around here in the summer & very hot.  Then I forgot my plan & put rose bushes right in front of the shed.  Anybody know how much water roses require?  Oh well, my intentions were good.   There are a lot of weeds in the area right now but those I can take care of a bit at a time.

Then finally there's the planter area inside the screen.  Once again these bird of paradise monsters came as little plants in 1 gallon containers from Lowes.   Looked so pretty in the pots & the pictures of the unique white flowers on the tags struck my fancy.  Now it appears they are ready to pop the top of the screen so they can poke through, and I haven't seen nary a flower.  I'll be digging these out in the next few weeks & deciding what to plant instead.

I'll publish my progress as it evolves.  For now I'm off to the home improvement store for stain & a tree saw.  Stay tuned......

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Category: About Me