Spring has sprung

     Blooms. Everywhere. My favorite weeds have begun growing again. Some of my new favorite plants have survived this warm winter quite well.
Still have seeds of Spanish Needle and roots of Cardamom Ginger for sale.
Here is a quick snapshot of what is growing on in my main permaculture bed. Pictured here is a small loquat that I grew from seed; black grass, perennial sunflower, and tropical sage, from the Nature Coast Botanical Gardens. I am very much looking forward to their spring plant sale.

Opuntia Placed Using the STUN method.

     I may have said before that I am a huge fan of Mark Sheppard's STUN method of gardening, which is short for Sheer Total Utter Neglect.  In short, you plant a whole lot of the thing you want to grow, as many different varieties as you wish, collect the seeds of the survivors, and continue to plant and collect seed of future generations so that you will be growing the best, most adapted plants for your space.
     So I pruned all of my Opuntia, which came out to a lot more than I had thought it would. Filling up an entire bucket! From my postage stamp yard I was impressed. These are not old and large plants, but tiny things I have found in the neighborhood and bought one at the botancal gardens. These are the native Opuntias, be cautious when handling!

     Then I took all the tunas to the new property, which I am going to have to give a name to. I had wanted to make a fortress of solitude out of the place complete with a moat of Cactus all around it, but as yet I dont have enough plant matter for that. So I placed them all in the ground in a protected area. Could always move them later on. I was delighted to find the sand was moist about an inch deep, perfect for these cacti! With any luck, I can STUN these into thousands more plants for my moat.

Rose Red

     Whoever said roses were not a versatile and humble plant couldnt be more incorrect. These little beauties come from the big box store and look fantastic. Care requirements are high, as they are not native and not adapted. This is not a set it and forget it plant.
     Rose hips are a good source of Vitamin C, as are Cranberry Hibiscus pods.

Opuntia, a revisiting

     I have been rethinking the case for planting spiny Opuntia at the new place. The spiny Prickly Pear still makes a delicious fruit, and it has the added benefit of keeping out people, deer, and anything else soft and fleshy.
There is a very nice overview here.
     I must have at least 20 starts in the front yard ready for transplant. Exciting!

Purslane Cuttings, the bitter end

     The cuttings may have suffered some damages due to cat.

Purslane Cuttings, Day 7

The January Garden

     Lately, I have been patiently waiting the killing cold front that will inevitably hit my garden. The cold will take out or take down mostly everything aI have plabted, particularly the cannas, lemongrass, and the new sugarcane plants. I am prepared to bring the cannas inside, but the other plants will have to make do and stay put. I have a lot of hope for the health of the sugarcane. I have learned that sugarcane was grown here in west florida north of sugarmill woods, which is quite a bit north of me.
Here is the latest picture of my small permaculture garden. Not bad for the beginning of January, 2019.

Purslane Cuttings, Day 5

Purslane Cuttings, Day 4

     Today I changed the water and repositioned the cuttings to repair the cat damage. There is still no signs of roots on either the native purple purslane or the bought rosey purslane, but all the cuttings do look healthy. None have turned into gelatinous goo so thats a good sign. The smaller purple purslanes have curled their stems a little, unexpected, but not deleteriously so.

Purslane Cuttings Day 3

     There are no roots visible yet, but the cuttings look green and healthy. I lost one purple Purslane cutting due to cat damage, found later on the floor of the kitchen.