Erin's first post on Gardening in Miami

Hey, Everyone! My name is Erin, I'm serving for a year in the Presbyterian Church (USA)'s Young Adult Volunteer program and DOOR in Miami. Its been really fun to start a garden down here, because I'm originally from Iowa... which has been covered with snow while I'm starting a garden in Florida.

So far, my lettuce, cilantro, onions, and broccoli are doing really well. I also have spinach, cayenne pepper, and basil, which are sprouted, but not taking off like the others yet. I had also planted carrots, cherry tomatoes, and sweet peas, but those didn't come up at all - I'm blaming it on the recent cold weather. I've replanted tomatoes from seed, and I plan on planting green beans, so we'll see what happens. Also, Heidi just gave us two tomato plants which she had started, and I just planted those today.

Like Heidi, we threw some potatoes into our compost and have two beautiful plants growing very well. At first we had no idea what they were, but they were growing so well that my roommate, Megan, decided against weeding it. I've recently discovered that one plant has a good size potato, and the other has a tiny little potato that's started.

Another exciting addition to our garden is a lime tree! My sister and brother-in-law, who live in Vero Beach, gave me two lime trees from their yard. One did not take well with the transplant. It had a lot of roots, and I couldn't dig more than a foot into the ground before I hit solid rock. I read that lime trees don't do well if there are air pockets around the roots, and with the challenge of not being able to plant it very deep (because of the roots), it didn't have much of a chance. The other tree - which might be a key lime - is doing very well. It has new leaves and little buds, so maybe we'll have limes this year!

There you are- my first update of our garden. Here are a couple more pictures:

2,000 Dollars & Hours (not related to gardening!)

Tape your business card to the back of your laptop. 

Today I left my laptop inside the seatback pocket of my airline seat. I didn't realize it until I was driving away from the airport. Oh how my heart skipped. Such a big airport. What if the plane takes off, with my little mac still in the seat? Ugh.
As I run into the door to get a pass to go back through security, my phone rings. A gate agent has my mac and is saving it for me at gate K7. They called because my cell phone number was right there. They said in all the years they worked at the gate and all the many laptops left, this was the first with id information.

Speaking of Fruit

For all the fun I've had with composting, the surprise potatoes and the accidental beginning of all this gardening, I learned a little too late last year about coffee. My house has become something of a coffee laboratory. There has been a lot of coffee grounds in the wake. Last year I was flinging them all over.  Until I read up on possible reasons why my tomatoes weren't blooming. Coffee has a lot of nitrogen, and while that is mostly good, it can inhibit the tomato/ pepper family from blooming.
All week I've been thinking about weeding and gardening and how similar those things are to church. The difference, says the Jesus parable, is the fruit. You'll know if it's a weed by its fruit.  The fruit is the key to what that plant produces and reproduces.
What if it never even blooms? No blooms, no fruit.What keeps us from blooming? We see a lot of reasons why folks don't bloom; abuse, neglect, abandonment, lack of resources.
Kids are so resilient though. A little coffee wouldn't stop the blooming. They'll bloom anyway. They'll be strong, something like fertilizer. But too much, stops the process.   
The challenge I think, is once a plant doesn't bloom. The soil is all wrong. How can a gardener provide the conditions for blooming next season and coax the blooms? Can the soil be balanced to get things back on track? Can a life be balanced back to blooming?

Weeding is a Part of Gardening

The Bible is chock full of gardening imagery. It starts in the garden of Eden for crying out loud. The "New" testament is full of great parables that include harvests and workers and such. Anyone who has even tried some gardening knows that there are weeds, weeds that need to be pulled. There is a great parable (Matthew 13:29-31) of the master of the vineyard decides to let the weeds grow with the grain and it'll be figured out in the end. It's not a very popular parable, not one I learned in Sunday school. 
It ends up being all about fruit.  We'll know if it's a weed or not by it's fruit.  There's a groovy tune left from the Hippy Jesus movement- "and they'll know we are Christians by our love." 
Or not.  Seems like an awful lot of weeds in some churches.

More New Potatoes- from Compost

It happened again this year. I don't know if I ever posted my potato story. Last year I found a nice looking plant in the beds where I bury the various table scraps. I left it going. A couple more popped up in other beds and I left them as well.
One day as I was burying more compost near by, I found what I thought to be a red rubber ball. It wasn't a ball, it was a new potato! I had no idea that new potatoes would grow in Miami. I assumed it was a northern thing and that was that.
I didn't mean to repeat it (or I would have 'planted' in a better spot) but it happened again. The problem this year is that I didn't leave it growing long enough. The cute little taters aren't even the width of a quarter. Now I'm going to try to do it on purpose. I've picked a spot and tomorrow I'll clear it of the various weeds.  I'll keep you posted.
Anyone else successful in growing potatoes down here? types? start times? suggestions?

A little warmer must be time to plant

I know that winter is not over, but I'm betting that it is for our beloved sunny South Florida. The freeze warnings of last week are hopefully behind us as the days are getting longer.  But maybe it's just the warmth that gets me inching to plant.  I'm guessing that's how it feels up north.
So today, in hope of sunshine and new life, seeds were planted. Onions, spinach, oregano, cayenne peppers join the family.

Freeze Warning in Miami- Are you kidding me!?!?

I live close enough to the coast that we are supposed to be more protected by the 'warm' ocean winds. But just to be safe, I have watered and covered by little outdoor garden in sheets. I felt like I was tucking them in and I guess I am, minus the lullabye.
It's always funny when it gets cold in Miami. Usually we think 65 is cold. Folks out on South Beach bring out the fur coats for the 5 special "cold" days a year. But when it gets cold, as in 40-50, it honestly IS cold. We don't have heaters! We only have air conditioners. Right now, I've got my feet wrapped in a heating pad while the kids share a room with a space heater left over from our days up north. 
Hope the pretty little new blooms on the red peppers and tomatoes fair as well.