A look at the containers now

Here's the tomatoes with nasturtium leaves in front. I just fertilized the tomatoes again for the second time with slow release organic fertilizer. I've been picking the cherry tomatoes for a few weeks now.



Here's the lettuce, spinach, and cilantro - all planted from seed. Notice most of the lettuce is gone. I should have planted an entire container of it. I replanted more seed in the bare spot on the right.

Here's my herb container. Everything here was planted from 'seedlings'. I have been eating the arugula with my salads. It and the cilantro are starting to flower. I could have used more basil.

Spinach Quiche

My spinach is ready for harvesting. Here's a spinach quiche I made. It also had rosemary from my herb garden.

Eating my first salads

Nothing like fresh lettuce. The leaves are so tender. I'm also picking the first cherry tomatoes.

A look at my container gardens

The first container contains a row of lettuce, a row of spinach, and a row of cilantro. They were all started from seed, and have their first true leaves now. I'll be thinning the lettuce soon, and learned from class, it can be eaten as a microgreen.

The second container has rosemary in the middle, arugula in the front, basil on the sides, and cilantro in the back. I bought all the plants as starts. I've already enjoyed arugula in my salad, basil on my pizza, and rosemary with roasted potatoes and carrots.

The third container contains tomatoes with nasturtium planted around the borders. The tomatoes were started from seed in September. The nasturtium seeds were added in January.

Cold weather!

Last week we had our second cold snap of the season, with the weather going down into the low 30's. I covered my veggies with sheets, and everything survived quite well. This is the first I've been in Florida when the weather has been so cool.

Nasturtium

I planted nasturtium in the same container as the tomatoes - around the front and sides of the container. I got the seeds from Burpee. The variety is Jewel Mix. I started the seed on Sunday, January 18, and they germinated today, Thursday, January 29.


Last week in class we sampled some of the flowers and leaves. They had a peppery taste. I've used the flowers before in salads, but this was my first time to try the leaves.

Nasturtium is very easy to grow from seed, and is such a cheerful flower. I use it all around the front border of my vegetable garden in Maine. I also save the seed after it flowers. The seed is very large, so its easy to handle. Nasturtium prefers a poor dry soil, and produces few flowers with a rich soil. It will be interesting to see if it flowers in my 'purchased soil mix'.

Spinach

I planted a row of Spinach, Bloomsdale, Long Standing seed in the same container as the lettuce. The seed is a packet I found at Lowe's from Ferry Morse. It is described as a richly flavored spinach that is slower to bolt than other Bloomsdale types.

It says it is ready to harvest in 45 days, and can be planted from September thru April in Florida. I'm somewhat sketpical of those dates - Since its a cool weather plant I wanted to get it in early in. It was planted on Sunday, January 18, and the first leaves appeared on Monday, January 26.



I'm looking forward to a spinach salad, omelet, quiche.

Lettuce

In one container I planted a row of green and red lettuce. The seed is a mix of bolt resistant lettuces for cutting, that came from Fedco Seeds. The packet says it takes 52-68 days. I chose a bolt resistant variety since it will be hot by mid-March when it matures.

I planted the lettuce on January 18. I was so excited to see it coming up in about a week, on January 26. It doesn't look like much now, but with any luck I'll be using it for my salads in a month from now.

Self Watering Planter

For my containers, I'm using self watering planters from Gardener's Supply. I've had my containers for several years, but this is the first I've used them here in Florida. Last year I planted tomatoes in regular pots. They dried out so quickly, and when it was windy as it often is here, the entire pot would blow over.

They are easy to use - you water from the top and also fill the 4 gallon water reservoir in the side of the pot. There are soil channels that wick the water to the roots of the plants.

Vegetable Gardening & Edible Landscaping

I'm taking a course in 'culinary gardens' at Palm Beach Community College (VEC1201) this semester. I continually hear how difficult it is to grow vegetables in South Florida, and want to discover why. After all, lots of the food the country eats in the winter is grown here.

Our class project is to grow something edible, and document it's progress. Since I live in a gated community with a tiny yard that I cannot do anything to without homeowner association approval, I'm gardening in containers.


Follow along, and watch me grow!