Fall Season

 Fall is a wonderful time in Northeast Florida. The cooler weather makes life easier. This is when I do most of my harder outdoor projects....digging new beds, transplanting or maintaining / building structures. Its a great time for gardening!

 But, before we start gardening I would like to take a trip back in time.

 Back to early spring 2012.......

......... The Ancient City Gardener has just bought a kayak........Its a wonderful time......Lazy days of floating on the Intracoastal Waterway.......

                                                     .......With Beautiful sunrises.........

                                        

                                                      .........Plentiful Redfish.........

                                              .......And exotic wildlife........

 
                                .......Such a wonderful time....... I think I'll do this forever.........
                                                                              

                                                                       NOT!
                                                      BACK TO THE PRESENT!

Well, my garden suffered. I didn't do my normal weeding. My beds were taken over by weeds and now I'm paying for it.
 In my last post, I mentioned removing some Heavenly Bamboo that was spreading. Well, after starting I came up with the great idea of removing everything in that bed and starting over.(When will I learn?!) Then replanting with a combination of ornamentals and edibles. I have removed 5 lawn carts full of mostly Betony weed (Stachys Floridana) with its runners and tubers. (Yes, I know they are edible. Actually, I've ate some of the small ones and they taste like Radishes with out the heat. Not bad,really).


   Here is where I'm at right now. This is the south end of my house. It receives full sun all year.

 I have transplanted some of the Blue Plumbago in front of the A/C unit and some Daylilies on the far right side. I'm thinking I would like to build some type of trellis in front of each window. Maybe a livestock fence panel hanging from the eaves and anchored to the ground. Then grow some edible vines on them. Possibly some Red Malabar Spinach or Passion Fruit. These would shade the windows in the summer to help cool the house, then die off in the winter and let the sun in to help heat the house. In front of the vines, maybe build a permaculture style key-hole bed on each side of the A/C unit.

  At this point, I've got over 10 hours in this project  and still a lot to do.
                                       
 OOOOH MY ACHING BACK!

   I'm not sure which crops will be planted in the beds. Got any ideas? Hopefully not Betony weed!

  If you have any ideas, please comment or email me.


  Soooo.....Until next time......Happy Gardening!

Introduction

Hello! I'm Mark (a.k.a. The Ancient City Gardener).
 I've been a backyard organic gardener for 30+ years. Far from being an expert gardener, I enjoy veggie and ornamental gardening. Recently I've been learning a little about Permaculture which I find very interesting and will be using some of those techniques as I expand my garden. I will keep you posted as to what I'm working on.

 At this time I have a small winter garden planted with Collard Greens, Turnips, Spinach and Carrots with a few flowers scattered thru for beneficial insects.

                       I'm also removing some Heavenly Bamboo ( Nandina domestica ).

This was already planted when I bought this property 7 years ago and has spread in to other plants.

                                    Here it came up in the middle of a Blue Plumbago.

 

 

                                                       

                                                         And in this Fire Spike.

  Although it is beautiful with its multi-colored leaves, it has got to go.
                                         ARGH! I HATE NANDINA! 


I recently purchased a Clarington Forge garden fork from David the Good at www.floridasurvivalgardening.com This is a high quality tool that I can recommend for the serious gardener! This tool has been an asset for removing the Heavenly Bamboo. ( I have some free Nandina if anyone is interested. HAHA! ).

 David (mentioned above) and Cindy Conner from www.homeplaceearth.wordpress.com were my inspiration for starting this blog. Hopefully it will be as successful as theirs.

I'm new to blogging so this is exciting for me, but it is also a learning experience for me. If you have any recommendations or ideas for improving this blog, please comment. As soon as I figure out how to add a"contact me" feature, you can send me emails.
UPDATE :  The "contact me" page is in . If you see the "Error" alert after sending an email, just ignore it.... I believe your message will come thru.


Soooo.... until next time.... HAPPY GARDENING!