North Florida Gardening

[karstopography]

Is it a Live oak stump? The color looks right. If so, live oak is one tough on chainsaw wood. Live oaks are the dominant oak around here and the wood almost becomes rock hard and petrified if left in place. Wood destroying fungi and termites will eventually get it, but it can be years and years before that process comes into play.

[PlainJane]

Yes, @karstopography, live oak. It’s been sitting there under a few inches of soil for at least 15 years and hardly any decomposition started. Damn the former owners for not getting someone to grind the stump.

[PlainJane]

Rented chainsaw was 1.5 HP more and 4” longer blade so made quick work of the remainder.

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[worth1]

The USS Constitutions hull was made out of live oak.
A testament to its durability.
We have a ton of it here too.

[PlainJane]

The Red Bull Brussels sprouts are finally starting to head upwards instead of just out.

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All you Texans are planting your tomatoes out already so I decided to plant 2 that I have dups of - Daniel Burson and Grandma Oliver’s Chocolate. Stole enough of the compost delivery to make up 1 grow bag. There’s coco coir, pine bark fines and Garden Tone mixed in.
Actually a good test as this is close to the mix I’ll be using in the raised beds eventually.

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[worth1]

I haven't planted anything yet.
This morning was below freezing and the redbuds aren't out and no oak leaves the size of squirrels ears.
Not even for sure what I'll plant.

[PlainJane]

I haven't planted anything yet.
This morning was below freezing and the redbuds aren't out and no oak leaves the size of squirrels ears.
Not even for sure what I'll plant.

Since moving to Florida I’ve never planted out until at least March 1st, and usually more like March 15.
We’ll see what happens!

[worth1]

I've planted out here in the middle of March only to see the plants covered in ice.
I've also been called a fool for planting the last week of February and had great results.
That was almost 20 years ago.
Ya just never know when you roll the dice.

[karstopography]

Anything having to do with plants has an element of risk. I saw the long term forecast for Jacksonville, Florida. Certainly Nothing on the cold side to put off planting, but 87° on Wednesday, 90° Thursday, Friday, 88° Saturday, Sunday, 87° Monday, I’d be watching how much direct sun and water the plants get.

[GoDawgs]

@karstopography, we're coming into similar weather as yours only about 5 degrees cooler each day. But it's good enough now for potatoes. They got planted yesterday. Woo hoo!

[PlainJane]

I need to make room for tomatoes and other warm weather stuff so harvesting what I can.
Few favas, carrots and fennel first on the list.

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[karstopography]

I had exactly one carrot survive the December 18°freeze, but when I pulled it the other day to make room for a tomato plant, the supposed to be orange Nantes type carrot was stark white.

@PlainJane pretty fennel. I’ve still got 4 or 5 surviving fennel out there that are big enough to harvest. The surviving fava beans are blooming like mad, but I’ve yet to see a bloom set into a bean.

Anyway, your success with cool season fennel and fava beans got me on that track to planting my own so I am grateful. They both will be in my future winter gardens even if this year’s freak cold weather wasn’t exactly favorable to either. I like how the fava bean and fennel plants look even if I never actually did anything with them. Ornamental vegetables are my favorite.

[GoDawgs]

Nice carrots, @PlainJane. I pulled some of my fall planting yesterday and they were all about 2-3" long. Good color, no hairy roots but stubby. That bed had all the carrot foliage burned back earlier this year despite being covered. Then it got rather swamped with all the January rain. I think the carrots had a meeting and decided enough was enough. They were going on strike and refusing to go down any farther!

[PlainJane]

Yeah, I’m not sure why I got so lucky with the carrots and fennel as I didn’t cover either during the big freeze.
All the fava beans I’m finding are towards the bottoms of the plants so I’m still hoping to get enough ready at once to make a meal out of.
The artichoke is looking pretty good too and is decorative. What went kaput were the first batch of snap peas which doesn’t make sense.
Also noticed that one of the surviving cauliflower is heading up so very happy about that. And the onions are starting to thicken at the base of the stems.
All in all not a bad winter growing season.

[Ella NJ]

I was under impression that carrots can withstand the freezing temperatures.

[GoDawgs]

I was under impression that carrots can withstand the freezing temperatures.

It depends on how low "freezing" goes. The carrots were sown the beginning of October. By Christmas they had really nice foliage. Then December 23-26 we had lows of 15, 10, 19, 18 and a high of only 29 on the 24th. The carrots were covered but it didn't help at these temps. Fortunately after the foliage browned and was removed, the carrots put out new foliage.

The kale, on the other hand, did fine with just a little tip burn.

[PlainJane]

Moving slowly as we went out for tapas and libations with friends last night but am determined to get some of the tomatoes planted today. They are busting out of their pots.

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The new space is on to the next phase: irrigation.
And yes, DH, I will weed this area today.

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[PlainJane]

Making room for a tomato work area by squeezing everything else towards the driveway.

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Brussels sprouts, Song and Purple Crush cauliflower, last bag of carrots, 2 bags of Broad Windsor fava beans, greens and onions tucked here and there.

[GoDawgs]

Ah, the garden stretcher at work again. It's sure getting a workout lately!

[SpookyShoe]

Plain Jane, did your Bells of Fire Tecoma ever come back from the polar thing back in December? Unfortunately there has not been any green on the trunk or the branches of mine. Just some new growth at the bottom. My two plants were large shrubs/small trees. I'm wondering whether to be patient and let them fully grow back or buy new ones if I can find any available.

My Gold Star Esperanza also died down to the ground and is showing some new growth at ground level.

The above plants were magnets for bees and hummingbirds.

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