Gardening: (2016– )

[Franci]

Very appreciate all your comments, thank you! 

[TicTac]

2 hours ago, heidih said:

Right. Chicken wire is kinda wimpy. Aviary wire is sturdy. Black coated is visually not odd - no glare. I do not recall if it came black or if we sprayed it.

Not sure how small the Iguanas are in FL, but the ones I have seen are large and will not fit through the wire, and certainly will not chew through it.

 

IMO, it looks far better than a square mesh wire option.

 

Either way, frame it, use your fence as a back drop - and make some nice 'rustic' swing doors that are very wide so you can access the garden to weed and prune.

 

Lastly, drainage holes are key - make sure you put them in a place where your property is slanting away (or create some viaduct to run the water elsewhere to either be reclaimed or moved off property).

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

What eats iguanas?

 

[heidih]

Nothing you want in your garden though humans do, "Chicken o the trees"  https://grillgirl.com/2020/03/iguana-tacos-with-aji-amarillo-crema-chicken-of-the-tree-tacos/

Edited April 7, 2021 by heidih (log)

[KennethT]

The family in their temporary new home

[Franci]

Rest of the garden it’s in progress, ah btw, the husband read your comments, he said that I didn’t clarify that the raised beds do not have concrete at the bottom, it’s open to the soil. 
 

Anyway we got a dwarf Meyer lemon (which I do not like but they told me are the one doing better here) and a Persian lime. Plus a mango tree. The other day we also got a small bay leaf and a rosemary. 

Edited April 18, 2021 by Franci (log)

[KennethT]

@FranciI've read that Meyer lemon trees are easier to grow than the standard lemon.

[lemniscate]

In my area, Eureka and Lisbon lemon tree are bulletproof, you really have to work hard to hurt them.  And prolific fruit, but it takes a few years for full production.   These are not dwarf though.

 

I cannot grow lime because it actually gets too cold in the winter at times and kills lime trees every few years if there's a few nights of hard freeze. 

[Smithy]

3 hours ago, KennethT said:

@FranciI've read that Meyer lemon trees are easier to grow than the standard lemon.

 

My ideal would be to graft a branch or three of different lemons on the same rootstock. So in Franci's case, graft a bud or three of Lisbon (or Eureka, whichever grows better there) lemons to the Meyer. My father was very good at that sort of thing. He grafted a variety of citrus onto one orange tree for his parents. As I recall that single tree had Valencia and Navel oranges, Mandarin oranges (what we called tangerines back then) and lemons - probably Lisbon, certainly whatever passed for the standard lemon there. It was their "fruit salad" tree.

[lemniscate]

9 minutes ago, Smithy said:

 

My ideal would be to graft a branch or three of different lemons on the same rootstock. So in Franci's case, graft a bud or three of Lisbon (or Eureka, whichever grows better there) lemons to the Meyer. My father was very good at that sort of thing. He grafted a variety of citrus onto one orange tree for his parents. As I recall that single tree had Valencia and Navel oranges, Mandarin oranges (what we called tangerines back then) and lemons - probably Lisbon, certainly whatever passed for the standard lemon there. It was their "fruit salad" tree.

We call those "cocktail" trees here.  They used to be all the rage, but then it was realized the more dominant grafts would take over the tree eventually.  I think the lemon/grapefruit portion would overpower the other grafts and the orange part would quit producing.   Or, the sour orange root stock would just take over completely.  (Personally I think sour oranges make the best margarita mix).   So, short term, you may get that on the tree supermarket of citrus, but long term, it will change into one of the more dominant grafts.

[Smithy]

2 minutes ago, lemniscate said:

We call those "cocktail" trees here.  They used to be all the rage, but then it was realized the more dominant grafts would take over the tree eventually.  I think the lemon/grapefruit portion would overpower the other grafts and the orange part would quit producing.   Or, the sour orange root stock would just take over completely.  (Personally I think sour oranges make the best margarita mix).   So, short term, you may get that on the tree supermarket of citrus, but long term, it will change into one of the more dominant grafts.

 

That sounds sensible, but I can vouch that my grandparents' tree was satisfactory for over 20 years...as long as they needed it. I forgot to mention the grapefruit branch. As far as the sour orange rootstock taking over...well, that's what suckering and pruning are about. Ask me how I know about those sucker thorns! 

[lemniscate]

14 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Ask me how I know about those sucker thorns! 

Me too!  YEEEE-OUCH.

 

Edited April 18, 2021 by lemniscate (log)

[heidih]

21 minutes ago, lemniscate said:

Me too!  YEEEE-OUCH.

 

They know how to dominate their territory 

[KennethT]

For those with kaffir lime growing experience, how do you know when the limes are ready to pick?  Also, once ripe, for how long will they stay good on the tree?

[sartoric]

9 hours ago, KennethT said:

For those with kaffir lime growing experience, how do you know when the limes are ready to pick?  Also, once ripe, for how long will they stay good on the tree?

I’m curious as to what you use kaffir limes for. 
I have a tree but only use the leaves. The fruit falls off eventually

[KennethT]

1 hour ago, sartoric said:

I’m curious as to what you use kaffir limes for. 
I have a tree but only use the leaves. The fruit falls off eventually

I've never used the fruit - from what I am to understand, there's very little juice in a kaffir lime, and what juice there is is very bitter.  But the zest and sometimes even the rind are a common ingredient in curry pastes.  I am growing my tree for the leaves, but it started flowering a while ago (the flowers smell amazing) and while I pinched 99% of the flowers to stimulate more leaf growth, I let one flower stay on just out of curiosity.  I've seen kaffir limes sold in the Thai store, but they're always pretty old so I had no idea what a really fresh one was like.

[KennethT]

I just finished repotting my lemongrass plant.  1 small plant wound up completely filling a 1 gallon fabric pot - it was completely root bound.  I separated the plant into 3 plants - which was like wrestling a tiger made out of razors - I've got small paper cuts all over my arms!  Now, the 3 plants are in a 3 gallon pot - I really need to get back into cooking just to use some of this - it's growing faster than I can use it!

[sartoric]

16 hours ago, KennethT said:

I've never used the fruit - from what I am to understand, there's very little juice in a kaffir lime, and what juice there is is very bitter.  But the zest and sometimes even the rind are a common ingredient in curry pastes.  I am growing my tree for the leaves, but it started flowering a while ago (the flowers smell amazing) and while I pinched 99% of the flowers to stimulate more leaf growth, I let one flower stay on just out of curiosity.  I've seen kaffir limes sold in the Thai store, but they're always pretty old so I had no idea what a really fresh one was like.

Ah, yes. I thought of Thai curry paste after I asked the question. I also just remembered I tried making lime pickle (the Indian style) with some once. It was very bitter and ended up in the compost.

[sartoric]

4 minutes ago, KennethT said:

I just finished repotting my lemongrass plant.  1 small plant wound up completely filling a 1 gallon fabric pot - it was completely root bound.  I separated the plant into 3 plants - which was like wrestling a tiger made out of razors - I've got small paper cuts all over my arms!  Now, the 3 plants are in a 3 gallon pot - I really need to get back into cooking just to use some of this - it's growing faster than I can use it!

 The leaves make a refreshing tea too. 

[KennethT]

Just now, sartoric said:

 The leaves make a refreshing tea too. 

and medieval torture devices.  The plant of a thousand papercuts (plus a bit of sticky resin).  It makes me wonder about an experience I had in Thailand years ago.  My wife and I were offered free foot massages from our hotel.  The first thing they did was wash our feet with a broth of lemongrass, galangal and kaffir lime leaves, scrubbing our feet with lemongrass leaves scrunched up like a sponge.  I don't remember getting papercuts on my feet - it actually felt really good, and smelled good enough to drink (until my feet got in there!)

[sartoric]

My first time growing ginger. Love that I can just harvest enough for a few days. It costs $45 per kilo here, so there’s that too.

 

[KennethT]

2 minutes ago, sartoric said:

My first time growing ginger. Love that I can just harvest enough for a few days. It costs $45 per kilo here, so there’s that too.

 

That's fantastic.  Once I get my current plants into their permanent home, I'm going to either plant some ginger, or more likely some galangal.  Ginger is pretty cheap and easily available, but galangal is a lot more expensive and I have to get a ton of it so I wind up freezing a bunch, but I've never been happy using it once frozen.  Also, once we're completely settled (that'll be a few months) I'm planning on building an ornamental plant wall, and either plant some heliconia psittacorum (they're in the ginger family but not edible but I love the look of their flowers) or some torch ginger which are pretty and edible.

[sartoric]

1 minute ago, KennethT said:

That's fantastic.  Once I get my current plants into their permanent home, I'm going to either plant some ginger, or more likely some galangal.  Ginger is pretty cheap and easily available, but galangal is a lot more expensive and I have to get a ton of it so I wind up freezing a bunch, but I've never been happy using it once frozen.  Also, once we're completely settled (that'll be a few months) I'm planning on building an ornamental plant wall, and either plant some heliconia psittacorum (they're in the ginger family but not edible but I love the look of their flowers) or some torch ginger which are pretty and edible.

I have turmeric ready to harvest too. 
When it gets light I’ll take some photos of our ornamental ginger and maybe you can tell me what it is

[heidih]

1 hour ago, KennethT said:

I just finished repotting my lemongrass plant.  1 small plant wound up completely filling a 1 gallon fabric pot - it was completely root bound.  I separated the plant into 3 plants - which was like wrestling a tiger made out of razors - I've got small paper cuts all over my arms!  Now, the 3 plants are in a 3 gallon pot - I really need to get back into cooking just to use some of this - it's growing faster than I can use it!

 

Both the lime flowers and lemongrass make a nice tisane, and as weather heats are good iced as well. Had to laugh the lemonGRASS in my experience is like a goldfish who grow to the size of its container.

[sartoric]

@KennethThere’s my ornamental ginger. Do you know the variety ? 
 

 

Here’s turmeric nearly ready to harvest.