First look - Back at the garden

Yesterday was such a nice day, that I decide to look at what remained in my garden. I know I haven't talked about gardening since last year. As the weather is warming up in Florida, I feel like spending my time outside more. Here's what I found growing around my backyard.

I still have a few pieces of pumpkin plant growing and flowering. I haven't seen any little pumpkins though.

Here's a native spiderwort. I just learned that they are an edible plant.

My dad planted a Japanese plum seed, and it's finally producing. 

I think I grew this tangerine plant form seed, but my dad planted the sprout.

I don't know what this tree is, but it's growing leaves again. It grew orange-reddish leaves in the fall.

More succulents started growing away from the mother plant. Ironically, I found this plant is called "mother of millions", as you can see the seedlings on the leaves. I placed the babies in pots.

A family picture.

I'm not sure what this reddish leaved plant is, but I'm hoping to research and find out.

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My Garden 2014

My garden has been through many changes since winter. Although I live in Florida, there was too much rapid temperature changes and polar vortexes and rains.

 This was my first pumpkin baby.

Basil and some dried leaves on a citrus plant. It's completely bare now. I hope leaves grow back.

 Another sad citrus plant. I think it's grapefruit.

Tomato and avocado plants

And then there's the compost pile. I received this for free for attending a compost happens workshop in my county. I've had it for 2 years now, and I still don't know how to compost. I did learn that I had to move the pile every so often to get air into the pile, and I definitely did not do that last year.  

You're not suppose to throw seeds and weeds in the pile, but somehow they get in. That's how I got my first pumpkin plant, and I've collected a few more this year.

Here are some newer pictures of my plants from yesterday...

So apparently the first pumpkin baby died last week, but another one is growing in it's place.

 These are the new pumpkin plants.

Tomato is growing strong.

And last are budding flowers from our old tangerine tree. They smell lovely.

*Sorry the pictures are small. My camera phone apparently made them smaller because I had too many pictures stored.*

How to Save Money and Reduce Waste

I was reading a few blogs this morning, and I came across this Food Waste Challenge from the United States Department of Agriculture. Although this challenge is more for organizations, I did find some good Resources for Consumers (plus I love the World War I Era poster!). This information is especially good for times like these.

World War I Era Poster, Committee of Public Safety,
Department of Food Supply, South Penn Square, Philadelphia, PA

EPA's Suggestions for Reducing Food Waste

1. Shop your refrigerator first! It's always a good idea to know what you have and what you need to buy. You don't want to have extra produce because you forgot you had bananas in the fridge (It's happened to us a lot. At least we love eating them!)
2. Make of list of things to buy and ONLY BUY THOSE THINGS. Sometimes it's so difficult to do this with those BOGO deals. Making a list is a great way to save money because you will know how much you will spend.
3. Buy only what you realistically need and will use. This point depends on what you are buying. If you know you eat so much of a specific canned good every month, it could be cheaper and beneficial to buy them in bulk. But when you buy what you need, you should not get any spoiled food.
4. Be creative! If safe and healthy, use the edible parts of food that you normally do not eat. Their examples were stale bread for croutons and sauteed beet tops. My mom loves to make what she calls "mystery soup" or "casserole surprise". She will take whatever vegetables and meat we have in the fridge, and she throws it together to make a delicious soup or casserole. Last month she made a casserole with potatoes, sweet potatoes, broccoli, celery, and cheese!
5. Freeze, preserve, or can surplus fruits and vegetables - especially abundant seasonal produce. Have too many peaches, apples, cherries or mangoes growing in your area? Can them! Just purchase some mason jars and air tight lids.
   You could also make jams. Here's a website with instructions on how to make homemade jam. I read the apricot jam directions, and they even give you specific instructions on what materials you will need and exactly how to preserve the fruit.
6. At restaurants, order only what you can finish. I usually share my meal with a friend or I split my food in half to take home.
7. At all-you-can-eat buffets, take only what you can eat. I don't usually take home food when I go to a buffet, anyways.

Also on the USDA website, there are more links on canning, food safety with meats, fresh produce, frozen foods, and general information on food keeping.

You can also try your hand at gardening. It is fun for the whole family and a good way to teach children to enjoy eating their fruits and veggies! From what I've heard from parents with gardens, if the children grow the food they will most likely eat it. Plus, fresh fruits and vegetables have a more pleasing taste than some store-bought produce.

For any new gardeners out there, try making a compost pile or vermicomposting with your leftover fruit and vegetable scraps. In Hillsborough County (where I live), you can take a free composting class and receive a free compost bin and thermometer, as well as free rain barrels for rainwater harvesting if you take the Rainwater Harvesting Workshop. Check with your county to see if they offer these free classes as well.

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Pumpkin Plants

I've been wanting to write about these seeds for some time. I planted them almost 3 weeks ago, and look how they're growing?

Week 1

 Week 2

 Week 3

I had a large amount of seeds from one pumpkin from last year, and it looked like the seeds were getting moldy. So I took the best looking seeds and I had to plant them. I didn't know how fast they would grow. I also started reading about pumpkin seeds, and I didn't realize how big they would grow! I did plant them a month earlier, but I hope I can get some pumpkins growing!

Origami Fold Newspaper Pots

I find a lot of gardening tips on Pinterest, and when it combines reusing and recycling product it's good for me.

I found directions for seeding pots from AllOurDays.com. There are pictures with the directions, and that made it very simple to follow.

They are not as sturdy on their own, but when you put dirt inside them they hold together.
They are very good for seedlings and starter plants. I tried planting bigger seeds in them, and the bottom expands. Not a bad way to start though.

This year's garden

It's been a year since I talked about my garden. Most All of the plants in the post from last year have passed away. The cherry tomato plant and the strings beans produced vegetables. The other plants eventually withered away from the summer heat last year.   This year, I grew new plants from the seed (with help from my parents, of course). Here are some pictures:

This is a tomato plant I grew from the seed.

These plants are lemon and grapefruit, I think. I don't know which ones are which.

And these beauties are garlic cloves. I planted them in origami paper cups made out of newspaper. I was surprised to see how they grow. You just plant them, and I hear they grow in any type of dirt/soil.

There's a certain awe and feeling of accomplishment when I see seeds I plant grow. I am amazed at what God has given our hands to do.

Have you been growing anything? Do you plan to this year?