Sunday, November 02, 2008

I'm back after a long break and it's time to get growing.

My blog has been on hiatus the past several months. Actually, I guess I have been on hiatus from posting on my blog. Poor neglected thing, I am determined to give it the time and attention it needs. So starting today I'm clearing out the dust and cobwebs...let there be a new post at Heart of the Garden!

The weather here in Southwest Florida has started to cool off a bit. It's a tad early this year, but we had temperatures in the upper 40's last week at night. The weather has been so glorious that we have had our windows open for a whole week; I am looking for a substantial decrease in the amount of our next electric bill. We sowed some seeds today and transplanted several plants that we brought from our other house (we moved across town in August). We have a Meyer lemon tree in our backyard and the lemons are ripening now - they are absolutely delicious and taste nothing like the little lemons that you buy at the grocery store. A wedge in a glass of sweet tea is something to savor! I plan on planting several different varieties of tomatoes, peppers and beans this year. It worries me that the United States' food supply is not as safe as it should be, and the cost of produce continues to increase while the quality of our food decreases. I am on a mission to grow as much food for my family as I can; and to buy the rest from local or regional small farmers. There's not a lot of those around here anymore, but you can find them if you look hard enough. Today I sowed mesclun, snap pea and radish seeds in a long plastic "deck planter". Cilantro, chives, Genovese basil and Italian frying peppers are on tomorrow's agenda, and some tomatoes if I can get to them. I am gardening in large containers to help with pest and weed control - our bugs here in Florida are very hardy and determined critters so we have to be diligent in our efforts to keep them from getting to the harvest before we do. I hope you'll join me here in blogland as I begin my 2008-2009 gardening adventure, it's going to be a lot of fun!

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