We survived the Floirda Winter… two weeks ago we had temperatures dip in the low 20’s and for any true Floridian that is trully bone chilling cold. March brings in cool breezes and over cast skies, perfect for dreaming about hot Summer days.
To keep a garden means to believe in the future…. every little seed holds a story: the life of a carrot or a tomato as they gently begin their short life, the story as it unfolds for them. Imagine how that could be? Their tale involves sunrises and sunsets, gentle breezes, avian serenades and quiet observations. Perhaps a few irritations of unwanted critters crawling and nibbling and the cooing of a humans voice “aww you looks so beautiful”.
What could be the conversation of the plants, oh… but only fairies can tell us if we ask.
For now, let’s take a walk through my pre-Spring garden:
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The lemon grass still speaks of Winter still holding on to last years charm.
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It never seizes to amaze me how a body can be busy out in the garden. Above I have freshly bagged cow compost that had been ‘curing’ itself over the Winter. I am having wonderful success with my citrus air layers… ensuring a continued diversity of citrus such as Navels and Hamlins. A couple of years back a volunteer visitor sent me dandelion seeds from Pennsylvania and these are so lovely; dandelion tea is so good for the body. The space I work with receives nearly 12 hours of sun… so I am presented with a major Florida challenge. The framework that George built for me creates a shade sanctuary for me and some of the herbs – with the help of garden fairies hopefully I can create a lovely herb patch in this section. 
This year I have added a few new herbs and hopefully whether they are annuals or perennials, they will be happy to call this place home. One of them is a little plant called ‘feverfew’, and unlike its name it is not used to reduce fever but a nice brew of tea or a leaf chewed can reduce or even totally take away a migraine headache (we’ve used it for such purpose and totally works). I have moved ‘thyme’ to this area and only time will tell if it is happy here. (ooh… what a perfect play on words!)
The garlic has made it through the Winter, which means we will have a harvest- so looking forward to that.
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As we walk under the makeshift canopy… we glance to the right and see the lovely Yarrow dancing in the morning breeze. My friend Cathy Tallecksen gave me a gift …one little strawberry plant, which has multiplied to six! …and it too has made it through the Winter. We peek inside the screened bed area and see the work that lies ahead… amending the soil to get the raised beds ready for seedlings. What will I grow there? hmmm, tomatoes -yes!
Heading to the open raised beds (which are now falling apart), we are still harvesting turnips and radishes. Some are going to seed… the turnips have lovely dainty yellow blooms, while the radishes color their world in lilac and pinks.
My lettuce mix is going to seed and still enjoying beets and beet greens. I planted another batch of cabbage… which I started in flats in the Winter. This Summer I hope to harvest ‘papaya dew melons’… I made a little patch for them and was trying to create a mini green house with some plastic bottles I had laying around, so – we’ll see how that goes.
There is something just lovely about how cabbage forms itself. Such elegance and perfection… I could almost taste green just by looking at it.
As we continue our garden walk … I can’t help but to admire the abundance and yet the simplicity of life. How can two concepts that appear at extreme pole-opposite exist juxtaposed in perfect harmony? To so many of us such a concept seem far from our reach.
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…let us sit now and enjoy the endless possibilities.
Daisy Says: Memories are created by moments lived.
