A Chuluota Homestead

[abculatter2]

FINALLY have internet once again! It was nice not being drawn into the clutches of out computer chair all the time, but it's even nicer to have the Information Superhighway at my finger tips once again!

Also, planted some goji berry seeds that has been sprouting in a plastic bag for about a week yesterday. Really hoping those will do well... If not, there's always long island seed project's landrace.

Also, the corn is juust an inch high in the shadiest, moistest part of the plot. From what I could see through the weeds, they're the only ones who've sprouted.

Maybe that idea I had of adding a few Febaceae shade trees next to the rows isn't so bad an idea...

Apr 8, 2012 13:04:48 GMT -5 Joseph Lofthouse said:

And many that are not available...

I call it an archive copy of my garden... I think I've sent 9 almost complete copies of my garden out into the world this winter. I figure that's a great way to preserve the germplasm, get it into living seed banks.

Ahhhh, clever... I will be doing some pretty heavy selection for the plants which I find most desirable, with a big emphasis on hardy, heat and drought-tolerant, low-maintenance plants, so I dunno how much of the germoplasm you like will remain... But maybe that's what you want?

Also, I figured at least a few of those seeds weren't from your online selection... Thanks for sharing them, and I'll certainly send seed back to you later if you ever need them.

[abculatter2]

I've identified a new species of pest today: The Drunken Dumbass
Unfortunately, one managed to roll over both the newly-planted goji berry patch AND the last veggie plot, but fortunately the latter was just weeds anyway...
But, those goji berries... My beautiful little baby gojis ... ._.

In brighter news, however, I found some red clover growing rather thickly along the roadside today. Unfortunately, it was a rather damp area, so I have a feeling they won't do well in my harsh, FULL-sun, dry, and just-barely-formed veggie plots... but I tossed a handful of the seed onto a shady corner of one, anyway.

[abculatter2]

Hey. Little update, since I feel I should at least post the results of Joseph's seed...
Which... I'm sorry to say, were very, very poor... I've set out all of the beans, cucurbits, and corn, and so far, nothing but 6 corn plants have grown, and since summer's coming with ridiculous heat and high evaporation, I don't think anything else is going to grow until fall...

On the bright side, though, I have found out what the most major problem with my site is, and thanks to permies.com, I've found an easy, relatively quick, and best of all, free way to over come it;

My biggest problem is an almost complete lack of water retention in my sandy sand... I can barely even call it 'soil', to be honest... This, combined with the blistering heat of Florida, and you get scorched and dehydrated plants...

And my solution: Mulch. Lots of mulch. An entire foot, or more, of cellulose, with just a bit of horse manure to give a more soil-like structure, and to speed up the initial decomposition.
All which I should be able to acquire nearly for free. The mulch will cost a bit in gas, since I have to get it from the dump, and the manure has to be carried about 400-500 yards to my property, but other then that, it's free.

If you guys would like to know more about what exactly I plan on doing with my land, head on over to permies, here, and scroll down until you see a badly mouse-drawn image, consisting of various colored blobs, about the 12th post down. I've pretty much summarized it completely with that post.