Thanksgiving harvest



"Nantes half " and "cosmic purple" carrots

Happy Thanksgiving!

We're headed down to south Florida to celebrate the holiday with my daughter and her husband. My contributions to dinner come from the garden.

I planted most of these veggies on Labor Day and wrote about in this post: Fall Edibles. I'd planted two types of carrots, "nantes half" and cosmic purple." The purple carrots have matured faster than the orange ones. They both taste great because they are so fresh, but the purple ones flavor is more complex--my husband called the flavor "darker."

The whole harvest

Sustainable Gardening Program on Sat. 11/17

I'll be giving a presentation on Sustainable Gardening on Saturday 11/17 at the Lyonia Environmental Center. 2150 Eustace Ave., Deltona, FL 32725 in Volusia County. My co-presenter Jim McCuen will speak after my talk with more specifics on the best native plants for your landscape.

Go to the Lyonia Envirnmental Center website for directions and more information on other activities and resources that are available there. While the program is free, registration is requested and can be made by calling:
(386) 789-7207 ext. 253

I hope to see you there!

Green Gardening Matters,

Ginny Stibolt

Green Gardening Matters!

Last month the Blog Action Day theme was "The Power of We." I wrote an article for the Florida Native Plant Society, which was published on the October 15th that talks about how much can be accomplished when members of a group like FNPS works together and with other groups.

"It's easy to see how the Florida Native Plant Society and the combined actions of its 37 chapters - 4,000 members in all - fit within the context of this year's Blog Action Day topic, "The Power of We." Here is a sampling of some of the activities we've engaged in - as a group - for the purpose of conserving and/or restoring Florida's native plant communities and the wildlife that depend upon them."

Continue reading my post with ten action items that show what can be accomplished in a year...

Alone we are small, but together we are mighty

Carole Browne created a group blog Native Plants & Wildlife Gardens, of which I am proud to be a member. Her post for blog action day tells a touching and powerful story of what a dedicated group of people can accomplish.

Read her post here.

To sum up this post: Green Gardening Matters

Positive actions that each of us accomplishes adds up to a much greater whole.  So keep up the good works. Mother Nature appreciates it.

Fall weather and planting garlic in wide rows



A green spider with an ominous red spot in a dew-covered web

There has been a turn in the weather over the past three days with temperatures in the 60s and humidity near 100% each morning. These conditions cause dew to collect on spider webs and this makes them really stand out.

I am particularly fond of this tiny green spider with a wicked red spot on her abdomen. Her beautifully symmetrical web is strung between the tallest rosemary spikes by the back door.

Here are a few more...

Attracting Damsels & Dragons

Common green darners (Anax junius) mating and
laying eggs under the water’s surface.

Many people have long been interested in birding and butterfly gardening, but with the availability of new dragonfly & damselfly field guides, more folks are now identifying and pursuing these interesting insects. And with their beautiful coloration and fun names like variable dancer, common green darner, eastern pondhawk, little blue drogonlet, how can anyone resist?  Plus they eat mosquitoes!

My book is available for preoder

Now available for preorder at amazon.com at a big discount!

Organic Methods Vegetable Gardening in Florida

You can preorder Organic Methods for Vegetable Gardening in Florida from Amazon.com

I will be available for speaking to garden-oriented groups and gardenfests from April through June 2013 in north and north central Florida. My coauthor, Melissa Contreras, will be covering south and south central Florida. Send me an email if you're interested.  gstibolt@sky-bolt.com

Green Gardening Matters,
Ginny Stibolt

A glorious Florida afternoon!



This doesn't have anything to do with gardening, but the clouds in every direction around our house early this afternoon were amazing, so I thought I'd share them with you.

A beautiful cover and progress in the gardens

Organic Methods for Vegetable Gardening in Florida

Big news! The front cover of my new book.

I think it looks fantastic, don't you? I love the way the designer at University Press of Florida used the purple color from the eggplants in the top photo to edge the tomato-colored title box.

Thanks to Nell Foster for permission to use her photo of that wonderfully chaotic farmers market display. I'm mostly done with proofing the galleys and am now working on the index.

It's due to be released in Feb. 2013. I can hardy wait.

I'll be on America's Home Grown Veggies radio

Kate Copsey, the host of this weekly web radio show, contacted me to see if I'd be interested in appearing on her show. Well, of course--I am always ready to talk about gardening. We had a lovely conversation about what it's like growing edibles in Florida, which will be broadcast on Saturday 9/29/12 at 10am. Later, it will be available in the archives.

Changes...



The newest section of lawn to bite the dust will be the unmowed portion next to the front meadow.

We've been reducing the lawn since my husband and I moved into this house in 2004. In the top photo, the lawn sodded with St. Augustine grass extended almost to the fence. The previous owners had left some mature trees around the edges of this part of the lawn, which we now call the front meadow. We stopped mowing it because the ground was uneven and often had a large puddle in the center after a hard rain. We maintained it as a meadow for a number of years, but now we've stopped cutting it entirely and a nice assortment of oaks, sweet gums, and pines are becoming a forest. Read my post from a few years ago Reducing the lawn in your landscape for a better perspective on the process and to find out why what we have is a freedom lawn.

Fall edibles



Newly planted fall garden next to the garage.

This bed next to the garage has been sitting fallow for the summer. I've buried kitchen scraps, as they became available, about six inches under the surface, until about four weeks ago.

On Labor Day, our unofficial beginning of fall, I planted some cool-weather crops in wide rows and some sugar snap peas at the base the three tomato cages. There was no trace of the kitchen scraps as I rearranged the bed, only good black garden loam.