Skip to main content

Cabbages and the Planting Wheel


According to the trusty planting wheel for zone 8b, cabbages should be set out in September through the beginning of October.  Well, we are in zone 9, so maybe I have a bit of some leeway, at least I hope, because today I just planted some cabbage seeds.  I raised a few beds and put some seeds in the ground.  I watered them, but I didn't add any topsoil or anything.  I just dug up the dirt a bit, then dug a trench beside them and added dirt on top to raise the beds.

A while back I got the bright idea to fill up the garden with pine needles I've collected from a portion of our yard that has not been cleared.  Oh, the things I find back yonder.  Anyway, I thought the pine needles might deter weeds in the garden plot and help save some of the soil.  I think they helped a little, because the dirt looked kind of rich, but I didn't test it.  I probably should start learning how to test soil for acidity and all of that.  I read somewhere that you can do a vinegar or baking soda test to check acidity.  I've never done that.  I just kind of wing it with varying results.

The wheel also says its the best time to plant trees and shrubs, so I'm hoping my peach and fig tree make it through the winter as I put them in the dirt yesterday.  I dug the holes as described on the insturctions, and I added a little root stimulator.  I took some dried grass clippins and spread them around the trees, leaving the bases of the trunks uncovered.  I hope I'm doing it right!  I think the peach tree is pretty, and I'd love to see it thrive.  The fig is too.  Figs seem to grow well here in Florida, so I'll be really disappointed if it doesn't thrive here, but where I planted it is near the old oak tree that died and had to be removed.

As I dug, I found some bits of oak root still in the ground.  I kept trying to change spots, but the root bits kept coming up.  I found a free-enough spot to dig my hole for the fig, so let's just hope!

I also have a blueberry bush that I have yet to put in the ground.  I just haven't decided where I want to put it.  

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Spring Update, a Possible Red Bay, and Banana Babies

I found a little tree about two years ago growing near the tall pines in the uncleared section of my back yard.  It didn't look like any other tree I had, so I transplanted it in the front of my house.  I need to know what it is.  It smells like bay.  It looks like bay.  I do think it is a Red Bay tree, and I'll be happy if it is, but I don't have the low-down on all the science-y aspects of tree identification.  The Red Bay is in the Lauraceae family, genus Persea, and species Borbonia. That's what I Googled- up anyway.  The Red Bay is in the same family as the avocado, and I love avocados, but I don't think I can grow some good ones 'round these parts.  If you've stumbled on this blog (or my personal-yet obviously public garden diary), then please feel free to school me on what type of tree this is (also, could I grow a fruit bearing avocado in zone 9?  I'd love to do that!  I have this red bay or whatever it is in the front y...
Post a Comment
Read more

2023 Spring Revival

We moved to the suburbs in a neighboring town in 2019. I drove past the old place, and wow! The road is paved, and all our trees and shrubs are gone. So, all the old blog posts are irrelevant. Starting again from scratch. Seems an appropriate endeavor for Spring.  I love Spring.  It's Spring again, and were in our new place.  I'm coming back to document my off-the-cuff attempt at greenery.   Vitex Chaste I'll start with a Palm Coast Arbor Day tree we got in 2021: A Vitex Chaste Put this one in the ground as a little stub about two years ago. Loquat I've been hoping to get a loquat in the ground forever, and I got one from Fast-Growing-Trees.com. My grandmother had a loquat in her yard in Palm Coast when I was a little pork chop, and we'd sit in her Florida room while she played Solitaire, and she'd suggest I go out front a pick some Japanese plums. I LOVED them.   :)   Chicago Hardy Fig Also got a little fig tree from Fast Growing Trees.  I d...
Post a Comment
Read more

May 2025 Palm Coast: Stuff in the Ground for Posterity and Beyond

 Lavender I planted some lavender in this pot about a year ago, and this is all I have from it! Loquat (Noquat) Our lawn people somehow mowed our loquat tree, which was like, five feet tall. I really can't figure out how it happened, but I was incredibly sad. There is a loquat up the road along our sidewalk and I found a disrupted seedling and made an attempt. I don't know why it's so difficult to get a loquat.  If you have loquat seedlings, I will take some--pay for them. I want a loquat.  Cucumbers I learned recently that we changed to hardiness zone 9B about two years ago, which is super wild, because a few years before that I learned it wasn't 8B, but it was 9A, so is climate change a hoax or nah?  Anyway, I'm really, really wanting cucumbers to pickle, and I don't have the greenest of thumbs. These cukes are struggling in the good ol' 9B Florida heat.  I had a few mushrooms in there and thought it was some sort of tragic sign of the soil, but apparentl...
Post a Comment
Read more