First Hummingbird Sighting 2012

I hung my hummingbird feeders several weeks ago when we got our first cool front. My friend Inese said that she has seen several hummingbirds on her property several weeks ago, and she only lives a few blocks from me. I however did not see my first hummingbird until today. Hummingbirds have a very distinctive song and once you have heard it you will not ever mistake it. As soon as I heard the familiar sound I was able to locate my first sighting of 2012.

Hummingbirds live only in the Americas. Of the 338 species known, 16 are found in the United States and 3 occur in Florida. Black-chinned and rufous hummingbirds occasionally can be seen in Florida during the winter. The ruby-throated hummingbird is by far the most common hummer in the state. This feathered jewel is about 3 inches (7.5 centimeters) long and weighs as little as a penny (¼ ounce). Its name describes the most brilliant part of the mature male's plumage. The throat feathers contain air bubbles that give off an iridescent red tone in full light. Their backs are metallic green and they have two sets of tail feathers: two green ones in the center that cover eight outer black ones when they're folded. In females and juveniles, the black feathers have white tips; males lose the white tips as they mature.

Most Ruby Throated Hummingbirds arrive in South Florida in October and stay until May. I am surprised it has taken so long to notice one this year. I am always busy doing something in the garden, so I thought I would have seen one sooner. Today was so enjoyable because the whole time I was putting in the drip irrigation system several hummingbirds were fluttering over my head enjoying the different sources of nectar plants that I have in the yard. Just like my butterfly garden I have been planting for hummingbirds for many years. I have so many different nectar sources for them to choose from. Red is by far their favorite color. They are most attracted to red. Today the hummingbirds were flying from the oak tree in the front yard over to the clerodendruim, and dwarf poinscianna. It was a constant path where I am putting the raised bed vegetable gardens, and drip irrigation. It was almost like they were saying, “Here we are, we are back for you to enjoy!” It is truly amazing to watch how quickly their little wings flutter. One year I was able to watch a hummer every evening roost way up in one of my neighbor’s trees. He was always there and a constant source of enjoyment in my yard.



Whether or not you see any hummers anytime during the year in Florida depends on if you have food and shelter to offer them, and how long it takes for them to find you. I am a firm believer that if you plant it, they will come! Well-kept feeders are another very enticing way to attract them. Having both feeders and nectar plants as well as large trees for shelter are some of the necessities they will be looking for. If you have a good habitat, you may very well host one or more winter hummers that will hang around your area and frequent your yard for a season or two.

Hummingbird feeders are a great way to attract the birds to your yard. I make a solution 4:1, 4 parts water to 1 part sugar. It is important to make sure you change the solution every 3-5 days, which is sometimes difficult to do. I noticed that my bees have discovered my hummingbird feeders. The hummingbirds will continue to feed despite the bees, unless there are too many. Most hummingbirds are very territorial and usually you won’t see several feeding from one feeder at a time. I don’t like that my bees are drinking from the feeders. Sugar water, although they are very attracted to it, is not the best thing to feed your bees. As an organic gardener and beekeeper I never feed my bee’s sugar water. If I had to feed them I would feed them honey. Thank goodness that in South Florida there is usually a nectar source for the bees year round. There may be some times of dearth but it is usually very short and in the heat of the summer. I digress, but bees have a memory like an elephant. They never forget. Once they discover a nectar source, whether it be a plant or sugar water, they will return until you move it. I am thinking the next time I change the sugar water I need to change the location of the feeders to confuse the bees for a day or so until they discover where I move them too.

Some of the plants that I have to attract the hummingbirds are: Fire Bush, Fire Spike, Native Coral Plant, Lantana, Justicia, Powder Puff Plant( red and pink), Dwarf Poincianna, Shrimp plant, Butterfly bush, Clerodendrum, pentas; I could go on and on. I just planted this year’s Cardinal Vine. I read about it from Margaret Roach, “A Way to Garden” . The plant originates in Mexico, so I decided I would try planting it in my garden. It had a beautiful red flower on it this morning. I am hoping that as it grows it will attract lots of hummers.



One of the best reasons to plant a hummingbird garden is that once you attract them, many of the birds will return the following seasons. I look forward every year to that first sighting, and enjoy having hummers in my garden throughout the winter.

Putting In a Drip Irrigation System

I decided to put in a drip irrigation system for my raised bed vegetable garden. It will make life easier for many reasons. Drip Irrigation is a watering method which delivers water to plants slowly and right where they need it... at the roots. Where typical pop-up sprinklers spray water into the air and onto plants, drip irrigation systems combine flexible poly drip tubing and drip emitters or "drippers" to both conserve water and save money. Drip irrigation is a great way to conserve water and only delivers water right to the roots where the plant needs it. Drip irrigation systems are not affected by wind and will greatly reduce evaporation and runoff common with traditional irrigation systems. Drip irrigation is the perfect solution for raised vegetable garden beds, hanging baskets, and potted plants. Drip irrigation is the most efficient method of irrigating. While sprinkler systems are around 75-85% efficient, drip systems typically are 90% or higher. What that means is much less wasted water! For this reason drip is the preferred method of irrigation in the desert regions of the United States. But drip irrigation has other benefits which make it useful almost anywhere. It is easy to install, easy to design, can be very inexpensive, and can reduce disease problems associated with high levels of moisture on some plants. When I visited Albuquerque NM, earlier in the year, most gardens were watered by drip irrigation. Obviously in Florida where water is abundant, drip irrigation may not be totally necessary, but for raised bed gardening, it will make my life so much easier and also reduce the disease associated with high levels of moisture that we always have here in Florida. As a sustainable organic gardener I am constantly aware of my use of resources. Water like I said, although abundant in Miami, should not be wasted. Drip irrigation is one way of conserving water.

I ordered my irrigation system from http://www.dripworks.com. After searching the web I decided to go with this company because I have been watching “The Garden Girl TV” videos, which is how I found the “Square Foot Gardening Method”. My husband and I sat one evening and planned out the whole system for our vegetable garden. The Drip Works website was very helpful and there were many videos and resources available to plan your drip irrigation system. They even showed you suggestions of different systems so you could best fit an example to your garden. I meticulously planned out each part and connection and placed the order. I was nervous that I might not have ordered enough connectors and parts, but knew that we did a thorough job making sure we ordered appropriately. Here is a video from the Garden Girl on installing a drip irrigation system. I watched this video several times and printed out my plan as a guide. It helped tremendously.



I wasn’t able to put the system in last weekend, and I have been concerned that I am a little late in planting some of my vegetables. I had to go up to Boston, as my son Drew had meniscus surgery. He did fine, really didn’t want to leave him but I needed to return to work and life. I didn’t want to rush putting in the drip irrigation last Saturday, so I waited until today. I really couldn’t start planting because I didn’t want to disturb the seedlings putting in the system. I stopped by my local nursery yesterday and they have gotten in all their garden vegetable plants. According to them this is the perfect time to start planting, and I have read that it is important to wait just a little bit in Florida to have had at least 2 cool fronts, which we have had. In fact, the weather has gotten much cooler with most nights in the 60’s.

Putting in the system really wasn’t difficult at all. The hardest part was inserting the transfer barbs from the ½” tubing to the ¼” soaker hose. My fingers are really sore from connecting all the different parts. I still have one more box to add the soaker hose but my fingers needed a break. Tomorrow is another day. Here are a few pictures from today, really not as bad as I anticipated, in fact very easy. I haven’t really talked about cost but putting in a drip irrigation system is very economical. This is a picture from the web. My emitters are actually 6” apart.

So finally tomorrow is the day I start planting!! I can’t wait! I’ve chosen all my seeds carefully each being Heirloom, (not GMO or Hybrid) and I’ve reviewed the instructions for each plant. I am soaking a few seeds. That will help with germination. I think I have revised my garden plan numerous times, with many considerations for sun, water, companion planting etc. Tomorrow I am going to my local nursery to pick up a few of the herbs, like parsley, rosemary, oregano, arugula, mint and basil.

Let the planting begin!!

Preparing a Square Foot Garden Part 2

I am still in the preparation mode for my square foot garden. Last weekend I decided that I needed one more 4x4 raised bed to house my tomato plants. I think I got a little overzealous with the heirloom tomatoes. I have 11 different varieties: Floridade, Beefsteak, Riesentraube, which I found out, is Margaret Roach’s, “A Way to Garden” favorite tomato. I got this variety for free from the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company and had no idea what type of tomato it was. Riesentraube actually means giant grape. I also have Black Plum, Hawaiian Currant, Yellow Pear, Super Snow White, God Love, Coyote, Isis Candy Cherry, and Grandpa’s Minnesota, which are all heirloom cherry tomatoes. That is a lot of tomatoes. I have watched a lot of videos about planting tomatoes and I was concerned that planting a tomato plant in 1 square foot would really be crowding them. So I have decided to give them more space and therefore built an extra box.

I have recently started exercising again and have been watching my diet very closely. I think they call that a life-style modification, as opposed to diet. Well Cherry tomatoes have become my new best friend. They are so sweet that they actually satisfy my sweet tooth. Crazy right!

I put together the carrot box that will sit on top of my grid. This will make the depth of my soil deeper for the carrots. I also put together my grids that will sit on top of each 4x4 garden. My husband Dave was a huge help as he helped me with the boxes, mixing the dirt and putting together the grids. I couldn’t have done this project without him!

I have been mixing the soil (Mel’s Mix) which isn’t difficult but time consuming. The soil is probably the most important aspect to any garden. It really will make or break how well your plants thrive. I also mulched around the boxes and planted some Sunflower seeds to add some color to the garden, distract from the ugly wall of my house, and hopefully attract some pollinators to my vegetable garden. I wish I was an artist because I would paint some beautiful Sunflowers on the wall of the house.

Here is a video I think really explains Square Foot Gardening (SFG). It is very concise, but says it all!



I found an awesome website while I was watching videos on You Tube about Square Foot Gardening. It can be found at www.growveg.com. It is a great program to actually plan your garden; they even have an “app“for your iphone. There are tutorial videos so you can figure out how to work the website. It really is very user friendly. Here is my plan below. The nice thing about the website is that you are able to go back into your plan and make adjustments, which I have done several times. You are able to plot where you want each plant; you can even keep notes on each plant as far as variety, and specific growing instructions.

http://www.growveg.com/garden-plan.aspx?p=316616

So how did I decide where to plant each plant? Well first of all I considered spacing, which is what Square Foot Gardening is all about. I wanted to give the taller plants and vineing plants more room. It says to plant tall plants on the North side of your garden as to not shade your smaller plants. I actually tried to keep most of my taller plants in the back of the garden. I plan to build trellises to support these taller plants on the back of each box. Another important consideration in plant placement is Companion Planting. Companion Planting is planting plants together that may compliment or help each other. For example have you ever heard of the “Three Sisters?” The Three Sisters is a Native American tradition. After all the American Indians were our first gardeners. The Native Americans believed that corn, beans, and squash are the three inseparable sisters who can thrive only when raised together. Corn provides a natural pole for the beans vines to climb, while the bean vines help shore up the corn stalks and leave behind nitrogen for the soil. Spreading squash shades the bed from weeds and keeps the soil moist, and all three plants create rich compost after the harvest. Corn, beans, and squash not only complement one another in the soil, they also complement one another nutritionally. Corn provides carbohydrates; beans are rich in protein, and squash offer vitamins from the fruit and nutrient-rich oil from the seeds. Native Americans shared their Three Sisters planting system with early European settlers and taught them to recognize the signs that it is time to plant. Speaking of the Indians I received several Seminole squash seeds from Richard Campbell the curator of Fairchild Botanical Gardens. These seeds are actually from the Seminole Indians. The Indians used to girdle the Oak trees which would kill them and allow the squash to utilize the tree as a trellis and allow the squash to grow up the oak tree. There is an excellent article in the magazine “Edible Miami” written by Richard Campbell about the history of the Seminole Squash. I was very pleased to receive these seeds, and planted them next to my fence line so they could use the fence as a trellis.

So in planning my plant placement I will be planting my corn next to my squash. I didn’t choose to grow beans but I am sure that the corn and squash will be good together. I tried to plant aromatic plants in the same bed as the tomatoes to deter pests. There is a great book by Louise Riotte “Carrots Love Tomatoes: Secrets of Companion Planting for Successful Gardening.” Information about Companion Planting is also on the garden planner www.growveg.com.

I finally have all the dirt in all four boxes and the grids in place. I am waiting for my drip irrigation system to arrive. This will make watering so much easier and hopefully make my plants thrive and keep them free from pests. I look forward to planting in the next week or so, as soon as I have the drip irrigation system in place.

Harvesting Honey!

It is amazing that so much can change in two weeks within the hives. Last time I was in the hives they were looking great! On Sunday when I went into the hives they were all Queen Right, but the populations were definitely smaller than they were two weeks ago. I think the bees know that winter is approaching, or at least what winter we have here in Miami. We are going to experience out first cool front of the season this week! Hallelujah!! A few of the hives still had some small hive beetles, but they are mostly corralled towards the back of the hives. The bees seem to be doing a good job keeping them in check. My main concern happened when I went into hive #3. There were hundreds of ants crawling up the cinder blocks, up the hive, and into the entrance. The population looked dismal and I thought for sure the hive had absconded from the ant infestation. The queen was present and the population actually improved as we got closer to the brood nest. The queen was just a little further back in the hive than normal. I found myself having to condense many of the hives, since the populations seemed much smaller than two week ago. I took several bars of capped honey to harvest. The bars in hive #3 that had ants I took because first of all there was no brood present, and also the queen had moved back into the hive to lay. It is amazing that they instinctively know that the ants are not a welcomed visitor. I need to watch this hive very closely because it is much weaker than it was two weeks ago. I did give it two bars of capped brood from hive #5, which is my brood box. Hopefully that will boost the population within hive #3, and give it enough resources to recover. Consolidating the hives and taking comb that isn’t necessary, will allow the bees not to have to protect empty comb against unwanted pests like ants, and small hive beetles. If you give your bees too much area to protect it sets them up for failure. Most of the hives are about 12-18 bars right now. With the cooler weather about to approach consolidation prepares them for winter.

As always, whenever I consolidate my hives I end up being able to harvest several bars of beautiful honey. Today I actually harvested about 12 pounds of honey. I put most of it in quart jars and have plans to make my first ever Cyser. My Joe’s Ancient Orange Mead is still fermenting on the kitchen counter; I look forward to tasting it during the holidays. No matter how often I harvest my honey it still is a precious gift given to me from my bees. Every drop is liquid gold!!

Preparing a Square Foot Garden

I have been preparing to plant my first vegetable garden for several weeks now. In preparation I have been reading many books and articles about vegetable gardening in Florida. Florida is a different animal than the rest of the country. Growing up in the north I am use to vegetable gardening ending as fall and the first frost is occurring, but here in Miami our growing season is just beginning. So what is involved in preparing to set up my vegetable garden?

First of all it is important to pick a site that gets at least 6 hours of sun and is close to a water source. The west side of my house gets sun from mid morning until almost sunset. I am slightly concerned that it may get too much sun, but many of the fruiting vegetables such as tomatoes, need a lot of sun to produce fruit. I have several water faucets on that side of the house and I also have access to my well water. I have considered adding a water barrel to collect rain water, but the rainy season is almost over. This is something to think about for next year. It is the perfect site as it is right near one of the downspouts coming off the house. I could set up a water barrel to collect water right there. It is right next to where I will have the garden. Good drainage is also important. You do not want water pouring off the roof line and flooding your plants, nor do you want an area where water doesn’t drain well. You also want to make sure that you locate your garden in a convenient place. I really can’t see the garden on the west side of the house, but it is the sunniest area in the yard. It also is not in an area where my big Boxer Bandit can run through the plants. There is no traffic in this area and other than a few birds or raccoons. I think the garden will be in a great place in my yard.

Secondly it is important to prepare your beds or containers. At first I thought I would dig down and work my soil by adding compost, and organic material, but as soon as I started to dig I realize this would be a big undertaking. I did not think I was strong enough and it would take a lot of work to improve my soil. I considered getting my soil tested. Remember that most of the neighborhoods in my area of South Florida were built on Coral Rock. This is very difficult to improve. As I started researching I decided that a better idea for a South Florida garden would be to consider a raised bed garden. I discovered a method called Square Foot Gardening. I will go into greater detail in a minute. I had never heard of this method before and I think it is the perfect plan for my garden.

Now the plan. Before planting, draw a garden plan that includes the name, location and planting date of the vegetables you want to grow. The University of Florida has an excellent planting guide for Floridians to follow. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vh021 Make a list of supplies and order seeds. I ordered mostly heirloom seeds months ago from Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company. I was very concerned about not planting any GMO seeds in my garden and also did not want to choose hybrid seeds. Heirloom seeds are passed down for many generations and are open pollinated. As a sustainable organic gardener this was an important consideration in picking my seeds.

The most important factor to consider in planning a vegetable garden is your soil. I will go into further detail about the soil when I explain the Square Foot Garden Method. Most Florida soils benefit from the addition of organic matter, such as animal manure, rotted leaves, compost, and commercial soil mixes. Adding your own compost from your own compost pile is also an excellent source of organic matter.

So what is the Square Foot Garden method and who developed it? It was developed by Mel Bartholomew. His gardening book is the best selling gardening book ever sold, with over 2 million copies sold. He was a civil engineer by profession and a frustrated gardener by weekend. When he retired he decided to attend a composting class given by his local nursery. The instructor ended up not showing up and he led the discussion and the class decided to meet again. He was convinced that single row gardening was a waste of energy and output. Single row gardening was the norm because “that’s the way we’ve always done it.” Mel Bartholomew condensed the unmanageable single-row space to 4x4 feet, amended the soil, and he developed a gardening system that yields 100% of the harvest in 20% of the space. His method gained popularity and strength, and ultimately converted more than one million gardeners worldwide. “Square Foot Gardening,” was the highest rated PBS gardening show to date. Launched in 1981, it ran weekly for five years.

After discovering his method I quickly bought his book. I thought this was the perfect method for my first vegetable garden. He recommends building 4x4 boxes only 6 inches high. You should be able to access your box from all sides. That is why he recommends no larger than a 4x4 space. I built three 4x4 boxes out of pine. I followed his instructions and watched several YouTube videos on how to build raised bed garden boxes. They were pretty easy to build. Here are some pictures of me building the boxes. I think I look like I know what I am doing right? I did not use treated wood as I did not want any chemicals from the wood to seep out into the soil. I chose to use 10 inches high wood because I wanted to plant carrots, and other root vegetables. One of the most important concepts to Square Foot Gardening is the grid that is placed on top of the boxes. Without this grid it would not be square foot gardening. I purchased mine through Mel’s website. It is made from wood, and the 4x4 area is mapped out into square foot sections. So, in a 4x4 box you have 16 square feet in which to garden. Depending on the size of the plant you can plant 1, 2, 4, 6, 9, 16 plants per square foot. For example, 1 tomato, 2 cucumber, 4 swiss chard, 9 spinach, 16 carrots etc. in a square foot. To conserve space he recommends gardening up.

Because you are using a raised bed he recommends the perfect soil. So no matter what your local soil conditions are in your area, you will start with the perfect soil named Mel’s Mix. It consists of 1/3 compost, 1/3 peat moss, and 1/3 coarse vermiculite. I went down to Homestead, Florida to Diamond R Fertilizer and bought enough peat moss, vermiculite, and some of the compost soil. I needed approximately 14 cubic square feet per each 4x4 box. He also recommends using compost from different sources. So I bought several bags from 3 different sources, Diamond R, Home Depot and my local nursery.

There is so much that I could tell you about his method and I highly recommend his book if you are planning a vegetable garden with limited space. His method conserves resources and like I said earlier yields 100% of the harvest in 20% of the space.

I am at the point that I am ready to start planning where each plant will go. I am looking into companion planting to help me decide what plants to plant next to each other. I believe I have all my equipment that I need to start planting. I have built my boxes, I have my soil to mix together, and my seedlings are started. In fact I transplanted my tomatoes, and peppers into larger pots, so they can grow a little bigger before I plant them permanently in my square foot garden. The area where the boxes are to be located is ready. I am just waiting for the weather to get just a little cooler. Supposedly we are going to experience our first cold front next week, after we experience a late season tropical storm/ hurricane Sandy.