Duck Potato, Sagittaria platyphylla, Delta Arrowhead

     I once stole this plant from a ditch at the community College. No really,  I really did do that. I wasn't arrested either. It almost tops the time I took cattail from the ditch at the hospital. I wasn't arrested then either. 

     Actually I didn't know what this was until it made a pretty white flower, and now I love it. I had wanted to buy duck potato because I had read that it's edible to, well, ducks. Possibly rabbits? Not sure. But now that I have this plant, all I have to do is propagate it, and I will have unlimited duck food! Mwa haha.

     Supposedly the underground tubers are eaten by ducks and snapping turtles. It sounds like a great plant to grow. Supposedly it can be propagated by transplanting the tubers. Also supposedly, it was a major food source for the Native Americans that lived in the Okeechobee area. 

Muscadine Grapes

      One grapevine planted several years ago now yields more grapes than I can ever harvest. This year I was able to reach four quarts of grapes for eating. They are sweet and crunchy. You know they are ready to harvest when the grapes are soft and springy, if they feel hard then they need more time on the vine. They seem to last quite a while in the refrigerator. Yes Muscadine grapes have seeds in them unless you are able to get a variety without seeds. 

Do Ducks Eat Tradescantia Purple Heart?

 

    Things are so expensive. A bag of plain chicken food without the additives to promote egg laying is about $20. When you factor in the cost of the baby duck food I have already given them, at this time I have spent about $40 in nothing but feed for these ducks. That makes them kinda expensive if I was owning them for meat. So any supplementation that I can give them from my plants would be a good thing.

     Between the corn sprouts and the water hyacinth, I have learned that they will eat Spanish Needle, but they won't eat Papyrus. And today I covered their splash ponds in Tradescantia Purple Heart, also called Moses in a Boat. It's a lovely succulent that grows in deep shade and is used often around here as a groundcover. Previously I had determined that the rabbits do indeed like it.

     Covered the splash ponds in Purple Heart, and then went on to do the next chore. By the time I turned around they were eating everything in sight, including the Purple Heart.

     That day they didn't finish their chicken crumble food or the corn sprouts because they filled up on healthy plants.

     Ducks love water hyacinth.

New Side Yard Garden

     After the neighbors put in their new plastic fence, I learned that I had a few more feet on that side of the yard. That would have been helpful to know before they cut down one of my while I was at work. 

     It took a lot of digging to remove the African Honeysuckle from that part of the yard. Months later I am still finding sprouts from buried canes that need to be ripped out.

     These gingers, taro, and the new moringa tree have all survived the winter and are well on their way to providing an excellent shade hedge.

     This picture was taken in December not long after the plants were put into the ground.
 

Eat the Water Hyacinth

Raw

     If you want to grow your own food, you may have to open up to the idea of eating some fruits and vegetables that are not commonly found at the grocery store. And if you live in Florida, you're going to be working with a whole different plant set and growing season changes than them Yankee gardeners. All this flexibility in diet isn't easy, most people eat the foods that they were raised eating and find trying new foods to be difficult.

     Water hyacinth is my new favorite local food. It's a water plant that grows in warm water, and is well known for how quickly it creates baby plants. In the past it has been used to pull toxins out of water sources, indeed, water purification is one of it's advantages. After I had added it to my pond the water instantly cleared and the fish became visible. Because the pond water is kinda yucky, I feel that water hyacinth should always be cooked, and I handle it like it's contaminated with E.coli (as it may be after the great manure spill of 2016). 

     According to Green Deane, the best way to eat water hyacinth is to stir fry, and I completely agree. With oil and garlic preferably. It has a taste not dissimilar from some good fresh green beans, which are hard to come by nowadays. The texture is decidedly different, as the air bulbs are crunchy and airy, like eating potato chips, and can be a bit chewy. Overall I would say that water hyacinth is quite palatable.

     Water hyacinth is very different from other fruits and vegetables. Because it is so unusual I couldn't get the kids to try it, what a shame! It's so easy to grow in the pond - right plant, right space - that is seems to be ever bearing. Like ever bearing crunchy green beans! Even if the kids never eat it, I know I can eat it and the rabbits do quite enjoy the green bits (they won't eat the roots.)

     This video talks a little bit about how water hyacinth is used at this lake to feed local livestock, including chickens.

 

Acalypha wilkesiana, Copperleaf

     I bought this gorgeous plant at the botanical gardens near my house. At the time, I had hoped it had edible value, but as my research continued, I discovered that Copperleaf is used largely as a topical antifungal agent.

     There is an entry in a book from Archive that talks about the edibilty of Acalypha, written in 1943. It says the young shoots and leaves may be cooked and eaten.
     The internet assures me that copperleaf is not frost hardy and will surely freeze in my area. Bring it, winter!

Pennisetum purpureum, Napier grass, Elephant Grass

     At the local gardening club, I picked up some rooted cuttings of this interesting black grass and planted one in the front garden and one in the back garden. I didn't know too much about it then, other than that it was big and black and $12.
     It turns out that Elephant grass earned it name because it is a favorite plant of elephants back in its native home of Africa. It is edible for people too, and by extension, rabbits. Plants for a Future says the young shoots or leaves are added to soups. Elephant grass is closely related to millet.

     According to Feedipedia, it is primarily used in cut and carry feeding systems and used to make silage. It is desirable due to its wide range of habitats and drought tolerance. The fresh leaves an stems are reported to have just 1-10% protein, but to be a good source of carotene.  Historically there have been a few cases of nitrate poisining in cattle fed on exclusively Elephant Grass, but I remember reading the same for Tifton hay also. Archive has a fantastic book about using Elephant grass as a fodder crop in Hawaii.
     It is also used to make thatch and mulch, and to prevent erosion if planted on contour.
   Elephant grass is mainly grown in stands. It produces few seeds and is usually propagated by stem cuttings of at least 3 nodes, 2 of which are buried into the soil. Has been known to grow 4 meters in three months time after planting from stem cuttings.

     It has been growing very well in my yard for almost one year now. I plan on taking cuttings out to the forest to plant on the sandy areas created by cars driving through the corner of the land.

Back Yard Pond Gardening

November, 2018

     After I moved into this house, my daughter and I dug a pond garden in the back yard. Then I lined it with expensive 6 mil liner from the big box store, a purchse I will never make again. Not that I am not happy with my pond, but I found a larger liner 50 mils thick for half the price. Then I placed some patio pavers around it, that I had gotten from my mom.

July 2019

   During the storm season of 2018 the pond flooded badly enough to draw the plants up and out of their pots. I recovered most of them, but some died off or were eaten by who knows what.

Animals must visit the pond a lot more than you would suspect, because last month I found a plant uprooted and a paver pushed into the water. Then I found this cute tortoise unable to climb his way out.
     I learned at the pond shop nearby that most people who have ponds put a lot of value into their fish and their waterfalls. I grew up in Florida, what the heck is a waterfall?? Fish are necessary to control mosquitos, so I began shopping for the black mosquitofish that are at the Nature Coast Botanical Gardens and couldn't really find them. Okay, I will admit, I didn't look too hard. Instead I bought some feeder goldfish for $0.20 each. Most have died off or disappeared, but I have counted as many as five 6-inch long goldfish at any one time. I don't feed these fish, they live on bugs and algae.
The water is pretty clear, but there is quite a bit of sediment at the bottom. Once in a while I scoop it out into the garden.

Cannas, surprisingly beautiful

     Came home from my so-called job to find these beauties in my back yard. I have them growing in a standard nursery pot that is sitting in a larger clay pot that has no drainage holes. It usually is filled with a few inches of water. They say cannas like to have their feet wet, and that definitely seems to be the case around here.
     Cannas are edible, and I have eaten the leaves, which have a mild flavor but are chewy. Would be an excellent base for a salad but I wouldnt use them for lettuce wraps. I haven't yet tried the roots.
     This is a plant that can be found at many nurseries. I have even seen them for sale at Meijers in Michigan, what a sight for sore eyes. They are distinctive and come in several varieties, including variegated and purple-leaved.

Red Sugarcane, Saccharum officinarum

   Last fall I took a road trip to a nursery called A Natural Farm, at Howie in the Hills, Florida. They had many interesting plants, which pleased me very much, including many that I already owned. I ended up buying three sugar cane rooted cuttings, and planted all three in the back yard. The back is sheltered from frost and winds, as best as I can make it. These are some pictures taken shortly after planting.

     Wikipedia says that sugarcane is the worlds most produced crop by quantity. It also says that sugarcane is a true grass. It is propagated by stem cuttings that must contain at least one bud. These three are stem cuttings.
     IFAS recommends cutting linger stalks into 6 bud seed pieces ( about 2-3 feet long) and planting that. Also, "Single node pieces, which contain a single bud, can be planted in pots or trays and later transplanted at the target site."

Texas Sage, Scarlet Sage, Tropical Sage, Salvia coccinea

     It's hard to believe how many flowers this plant has over the course of the growing season. I feel like it blooms if it gets any amount of watering. I have even taken to trimming off the spent branches after the seeds have been thrown off to encourage more blooms. I feed the branches to the rabbits, of course.

   Texas sage is a tender perennial native to Mexico but found in Florida and other parts of the Southeast. It can freeze to the ground in the winter time, and I have lost several plants that way.  I have also lost a few plants to irregular watering. It is edible, has a bitter taste which is good for flavoring chicken. It is in the same family as the hallucinogenic sage, but it is unknown if Texas Sage has hallucinogenic properties. Maybe you can tell me?

    Propagation of Texas sage is primarily done by seed, but I suppose you could do cuttings of new growth if you were desperate. Texas sage is woody, so follow the same cutting directions as if you were making rosemary cuttings. I like to do nothing to propagate Texas Sage, and then later find seedlings in unexpected places, and I move the seedlings to where I want the plants to grow. The seedlings transplant easily.
     Flowers can either be red, pink, white, or possibly other colors I have never seen. Red is the most successful in my garden, but that could be because I have had red the longest. It gets visited by a variety of creatures including hummingbirds and bees.

Shell ginger

     Native to Eastern Asia, Alpinia zerumbet (Shell Ginger) is an amazing addition to any permaculture garden. It thrives with very little water and deep shade.
     It is edible, with the leaves being used to wrap rice dishes and rice cakes. Tisanes are made with ground leaves, stems, and roots. It is considered to have many antioxidants and to lower blood pressure.

    According to this study, Shell Ginger has many effects including antimicrobial (against E. coli), antiparasitic, insecticidal, anti-cancer, antiproliferative, antiinflammatory, analgesic, antiallergic, neuroprotective, and antioxidant properties. It has a proven efficacy against HIV virus and against neuroaminidase enzymes (Influenza viruses). Phytochemicals in Shell Ginger inhibit oxydative stress in adipose cells, and contribute to lipolysis. The phytochemicals also decrease intracellular triglycerides, which limits fat cell production/growth. A chemical in the roots called labdadiene inhibits glycation, preventing glycation related diabetic complications. Essential oils, specifically terpenin-4-ol, relax smooth muscles and decrease blood pressure.

     Apparently Shell Ginger is the local superfood that no one knows about! And here I am telling everyone. The superfood outside the back door...
    Propagate gingers by lifting the rhizomes and dividing them. Plant the rhizomes at the same depth ad the parent plant, or closer to the surface when in doubt.  It should be about as deep as the rhizome is tall.

     It has been my experience that all gingers hate being disturbed, and may look poorly for a year or two after dividing. One source says that after a Shell Ginger produces flowers/seeds then thay stalk can be cut to the ground and the rhizome will send up a new shoot. If you do any cutting, the stems and leaves make great rabbit food. Indeed, they think it's a treat! The cut leaves also have a wonderful aroma, not unlike a mixture of cardamom and ginger. Not too bad in a smoothie either.

Found Opuntia

     I feel like it's Christmas in the Springtime. When I was planting the Yucca filamentosa on the easement boundary of the new place I found several beautiful, native Opuntias growing there. I wonder if the previous owner planted them or it was just a fortuitous accident?

Opuntia planted into an unstoppable barrier

     Someone gave me some Prickly Pear cactus, and I took some freshly grown tunas to the new property. I dug a trench in the limestone sand near the easement, and popped the tunas into the ground.

     Exhilarated, snapped a picture to show how the moat around my Firtress is progressing. I have also added a few Yucca Filamentosa to the wall of spikes. I plan on intermittently placing some Agave Americana amongst the wall, which will really deter anyone or anything from stepping onto my property.

     At the other boundary I have been placing Yucca filamentosa and Agave Americana. This part seems to be in direct sunlight, so Prickly Pear might not do as well. I will be adding more plants to my moat as much as I can, limited by supply of free plants from my little yard and time to go out to the property.

    One of my other plans is to dig the low spot on the property deeper, perhaps into a pond. On a previous trip I snagged these plants from the low spot, which I think might be cattail. I potted the little grasses into my backyard pond, successfully as of yet. Neither has created a
cattail flower or any kind of distinguishing mark.
      Digging the low spot deeper isn't a plan to create drinking water at the property. I am still working on that problem.

Opuntia placed using the STUN method, update

  It has been about two months since I planted all those tunas at the new property. They look great considering no rain and no care, right?
     It won't be too long, maybe another 6 months, and I will place them around the border of the new garden. It will be just one layer of fencing around my fortress of solitude.

Fortress of Solitude - Building a Moat

     Other than the Prickly Pear cacti that ai am propagating for my moat, I also have plans to use Yucca filamentosa as an additional barrier. If the yuccas were spaced appropriately it would be enough danger to stop most large animals, in theory. No deer preying on my garden!
    I planted out some of the immature yuccas from my house with enough spacing in between them for a row of prickly pear and then Agave americana on the inside row. Of the three aforementioned species Agave americana is the moat useful to me at the moment, as a leaf from it needs no adulteration in order to feed the rabbits. They like it! So having agave on the inside seems to make sense to me at the moment, even if I am sick from a cold and sleep deprived.
     Here is the beginning of the plant fence near the road.

Beans, Spring of 2019, Part II

May 12th, 2019

May 12th, 2019

May 12th, 2019

Beans, Spring of 2019

     This spring I decided to try something different.  I planted a bunch of mystery beans in my containers, along with some morning glory. The beans were cheap and white, and said they were bush variety, so why not? I guess I am a why not kind of person.
     The germination rate on the beans was pretty decent - more than half sprouted. I can't complain about that.

     The best thing about beans is that they have been hybridized to grow quickly. This is a boon in our short spring growing season. Beans share this trait with peas. Every day you can walk over and visibly see that there has been a change from the previous day. Suddenly there are flower buds and tiny pods. Leaves are good in salads and smoothies, or with the stalk fed to the rabbits. And the flowers are gorgeous!

     There is a lot growing on in these pictures, as I am a big fan of polycultures and diversity. I am learning to appreciate the traditional choice of potting mix - that spaghnum moss is an excellent moisture sponge. It makes me wonder what other traditions people are growing on? I will post more pictures as they flower and fruit, assuming I can keep up with rhe watering!

April 29th, 2019

Veronica spicata, Blue carpet speedwell, update

     Now that the Speedwell plants have gone to seed, they aren't nearly as beautiful as they were when they were flowering in this picture. But now they have dozens of seed pods, which are moist and mucilaginous. Perhaps when they dry out I will seed this spring flowering beauty elsewhere on the lands! It's useful as an expectorant or just as an additive to tea; almost a shame it's not native.

Rabbits, Spring of 2019, part 2

     Early Saturday morning, I remembere d that one of the rabbits was about to kindle, so I quickly scrubbed the nesting box and threw it into her cage, beautified with a new cardboard bottom. It was a good thing that I had done that right then too, because when I went out there Sunday morning to feed the rabbits, she had filled the box with fur and squirming masses. And inhaled every last drop of water and food. So I topped her up with an additional water bottle and plenty of greens with more to come every day.
     The garden has been producing growies in abundance this year, thanks to my super plant selections and attention to watering. This morning the rabbits received leaves of ginger, tropical sage, turks cap hibiscus, and Spanish Needle.