Welcome, Zone 9 gardeners! My name is Angela Taylor, and I live in beautiful, historical St. Augustine, Florida. I’m so excited to blog, which will allow me to combine two of my favorite things, writing and gardening.
Growing up in Northeast Florida, my parents always had a garden, because with three kids they had plenty of free labor! I’ve now been married 16 years and have two wonderful children who are old enough to pull weeds and water plants, so I decided it was time to return to my roots (pun intended) and start gardening again. My husband and children are avid hunters, we all love to fish, so it seemed very natural to me that we should also be growing our own vegetables and herbs.
I have to tell you, though, my first couple gardens were complete flops. Did I mention I live in Florida, where we have one season: Hot! I tried the method of planting, then tending as little as possible because of heat and mosquitoes. Needless to say, that didn’t work at all.
This year I’ve gotten serious and committed myself. Quite a few seeds (several kinds of tomatoes, Brussels sprouts, jalapenos, poblanos, red cubanelles and cucumbers) were started in cups at the end of July. Those are growing beautifully and are ready to be transferred into larger containers before finally landing in the garden. About a week ago I directly sowed mustard, kale, collards, okra, spinach, carrots, scallions and beets, most of which have already sprouted and are looking very healthy. I’m also companion planting with nasturtium, marigolds, dill and basil.
I’ll be container gardening with raised beds, for the most part, inside my screened pool enclosure (see the aforementioned mosquito paragraph). However, everything I directly sowed was planted outdoors. So….if anyone has any herbal/natural mosquito repellent recipes, I’d love to read about them!
I’m also composting. Let me tell you, I never appreciated the amount of food scraps that went into the garbage on a daily basis until I started putting it in a bowl. My compost pile is coming along nicely and will soon be ready to add to my garden.
There’s so many gardening sites and so much information out there, it can be a little overwhelming. That’s why I love zone9garden.com, it’s tailored to our needs! Thanks for taking the time to read my blog. I look forward to hearing your gardening stories, hints, tips and tricks as we grow together.
