Scrubland Baroness works on the Forest Garden, July 2017

   Early on, one of the children noted that the ground in the real forest was very spongy and lacked a pathway. Apparently children are too short to see over the tops of palmetto bushes, which can make navigation difficult. My solution was to begin building a pathway from the edge of the forest to the shady vale.

   We stopped at the closest big box store and got 20 pavers to begin the pathway. At $1.36 each, the convenience of premade bricks at a reasonable size makes up for the additional price. Plus I didnt have to cast my own bricks, which sounds like a messy and time consuming process.

     Carrying the bricks to place them was the hardest part. I got some cardio, and didnt even make the kids help out.

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.

Chrissy the Scrub Land Baroness

March, 2019

     When I was young, I was bullied. A lot. Things were different then. I have forgiven the chick who was always trying to fight me, because I am a grown up and she, well, she works at a car dealership. I have also forgiven the chick who was always calling me a "scrub" (she thought she was so much better than I was, economically, it seems.) She is a waitress now, and I have come to embrace the term Scrub and all it stands for.

Future Campsite

     When I was younger and trying to understand how the world works I would always ask my father the good questions. Not about dating and romancey stuff, but about science/history/religion/life. I used to spend time with him on the weekends at his repair shop, and sometimes we went out on service calls. I remeber once, as we were driving past the cattle farms on the east side of the county, asking him who owned all this land and how come they didn't do anything with it? His answer was vague, something about rich people that hoarded land from others. That kind of answer was right in character with him, as he grew up on a dairy farm and knew the value of land, or at least, Michigan land. Anyone who has scoped the price of acreage here in Florida knows that you can't buy anything but swampland for less than about 12k an acre. Many estimates are even higher than that number.

Climbing Tree

     When I was a teenager, I really started learning how the world works, and I took an interest in the biosciences and ecology. It was sometime during that time that I had the dream of becoming one of those land barons, so that I could preserve plant and animal habitat. Of course, back then I wanted to buy rainforests so the pretty little parrots and iguanas had their home to live in (thanks a lot, Ferngully!) But now that I am a grown up, I believe in protecting habitat locally. I try to support local parks amd state parks. I try to practice sustainable living ideals - so I have, indeed, turned into the scrub who hangs the laundry on the clothesline.

Rat Snake

     This year I have done something amazing, completed one of my lifelong goals - I have bought some bug out land. I have a piece of the local scrubland for myself, out on the eastside of my county. Though it's only an acre and a half, I am now one of those reviled land barons.
          Scrub Land Baroness.

Punch-bowl Gardening

     I love Cannas. They are beautiful and edible and easy to grow. They are easy to grow, but you have to give them what they want, and what they want is water and sunlight.
     So I am developing a whole new style of plant nursing which I invented, and I am going to call it Punch-Bowl Gardening.
     The technique is simple. Head to your local charity-based thrift store and buy a few punch bowls. Believe me, these large bowls are there in abundance and no one else is buying them! Make sure you don't spend more than $3.00 per bowl, as that kind of money means you are buying an antique and not just unwanted glassware. The bowls can have chips on the edges, no big deal. We are buying them to reuse and recycle, not necessarily for looks.

     Then pot on your Cannas, Taros, or other water-loving plants as you normally would into whatever kind of pot that you have handy. I am using black nursery pots that I have scavenged or begged for. When I plant Cannas and other bog plants i like to put a layer of cypress mulch into the bottom of the pot, then medium, then manure and plant base as the top layer. I use aged rabbit manure, the moldier/gummier the better. Then place the potted plant into the punchbowl sitting out in your garden, and fill the punchbowl up with water. Whenever you water your plants or when the punchbowl is empty, refill to the top.

     The advantages - easy to keep thirsty plants happy and gives wildlife a place to grab a drink (frogs, lizards, butterflies). Disadvantages - mosquito growth and high winds can sometimes knock plants over if very full of water. The easiest way to treat the mosquitos is to add BT to the punchbowl, which inhibits the larval form of mosquito. That is also the most expensive way. Hardest way to treat the mosquitos is to dump the water out twice a week, run a scrub brush around the inside, then refill with clean water.
    If you've enjoyed this post and now want to buy some mosquito dunks loaded with BT from amazon, please use Amazon Smile and donate to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention for me. I want them to get the proceeds for any sales, not me or my plant blog.

The back yard garden, featuring aquarium Cannas, Punch-Bowl Cannas, and non-draining pot Cannas

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?

Grocery Store Onions

     You can plant the bases of fresh green onions. Most will regrow their leaves and provide you with additional green onion to eat. This will be the first year I have been able to keep them alive into the hot part of the summer, because the onions can't dry out in the heat. Shade is helpful also.

     You should try it! It's rewarding to see the fast growing changes and growth. And it stores food outside in the ground, uneaten by bugs and rot. The onion's pungency repels other insects.

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.

Spring 2019 Beans, Part 3

     As full-on Summer begins, the Spring bean plants start to die down. I let the pods dry on the plant, then feed the dead bean plants to the rabbits after harvest. In September I will replant the new beans for another crop.
     I very much enjoy all of Fabiacia that I have tried. Perhaps soon I will give Chickpeas/Garbanzo another try. This Spring I was growing an unnamed white bean, which made bushes less than 12 inches tall.

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.