Genetically Modified Seed

What are your thoughts on genetically modified seed and patented ownership of that seed?

Watch the above video here. http://youtu.be/zOombMO7Py4

Vertical Farming

This vertical farming video can be watched here. http://youtu.be/1clRcxZS52s

Rosemary: the perfect plant for a beginner gardener

(Rosmarinus officinalis)

This beautiful, fragrant, pest-resistant plant is an ideal choice for any Lehigh Acres garden. Rosemary has an honored place in my herb garden next to my front walk. Brushing past it provides a wonderful scent when entering and exiting my home. Plant it in our sandy soil without adding anything to amend the soil. If you are short on space, rosemary also grows well outside in a container.

Rosemary is practically carefree. Heat and humidity are friends of rosemary, however it does suffer with our dry winters. Prevent rosemary from getting bone dry in the winter with an occasional deep watering and it will beautify your garden for a lifetime.

Rosemary can be used as a single specimen or in hedges. A tall upright variety can reach up to 6 feet high and wide; a short variety can reach 2 feet high and wide; a ground cover can spread up to 8 feet in diameter. All varieties of Rosmarinus officinalis can be used in cooking, but the upright kinds are more aromatic. I prefer to trim my “short” rosemary once or twice a year to keep it looking its best, but this is not necessary. After every “haircut”, it always rewards me by growing back fuller.

Both rosemary leaves and stems flavor foods. The stripped woody stems can be used as kabob sticks for grilling. Whole sprigs or just the needle-shaped leaves can be sprinkled over whatever is in the crock-pot or roasting in the oven. Rosemary can also be used to flavor bread, vinegar, and tea. It can also be dried or frozen for storage, but why would you when it grows all-year-round here in Lehigh Acres?

Nasturtium: Eat the seeds, leaves, and flowers

I really liked wikipedia's description of nasturtium cultivation so here it is:

"In cultivation, most varieties of nasturtiums prefer to be grown in direct or indirect sunlight, with a few preferring partial shade.

The most common use of the nasturtium plant in cultivation is as an ornamental flower. It grows easily and prolifically, and is a self-seeding annual.

All parts of the plant are edible. The flower has most often been consumed, making for an especially ornamental salad ingredient; it has a slightly peppery taste reminiscent of watercress, and is also used in stir fry. The unripe seed pods can be harvested and pickled with hot vinegar, to produce a condiment and garnish, sometimes used in place of capers, although the taste is strongly peppery. The mashua (T. tuberosum) produces an edible underground tuber that is a major food source in parts of the Andes.

Nasturtiums are also considered widely useful companion plants. They repel a great many cucurbit pests, like squash bugs, cucumber beetles, and several caterpillars. They have a similar range of benefits for brassica plants, especially broccoli and cauliflower. They also attract black fly aphids, and are sometimes planted in the hope of saving crops susceptible to them (as a trap crop). They may also attract beneficial predatory insects."

Nasturtium grew great here in Lehigh in the late winter after our frosts, however the drought killed mine before the seed matured. Nasturtium is an annual that grows with little care and poor soil. Pinch flowers (eat them) to encourage production of more flowers. They are great "kid garden" plants. The seeds come in many varieties from bush to vine and in many colors. Direct sow in the soil, do not transplant. Soaking the seed overnight before planting helps with faster germination.

These seeds are on my "to reorder" list. The leaves do taste peppery, almost radish-like, and the flowers are lovely in salads. Google "stuffed nasturtium" for more ideas. Since these are native to jungle areas, this is definitely on my summer trial list.

Beauty Berry, French Mulberry (Callicarpa americana)

PLEASE RESEARCH THIS PLANT yourself before eating.

This drought-resistant shrub grows up to 10 feet tall and prefers light shade. Even here in Lehigh, during the winter, Beauty Berry drop their leaves. Their leaves are egg-shaped, jagged edged all the way around the leaf, light green, and hairy. I have lots of these growing in the vacant lots next door.

The berries of this gorgeous plant are supposedly edible. Large quantities of the raw, purple berries can be laxative. The cooked berries can be used to make jelly and wine. There is also a white variety of the showy Beauty Berry shrub available mail order.

The leaves of this multi-purpose shrub work pretty well as an insect repellent. I crumple green leaves and rub on my skin; shove a crumpled leaf in each of my shoes; and tuck a couple leaves under each bra strap. The insect repellent property of Beauty Berry leaves is being researched to control mosquitoes, fire ants, and ticks.

Watch the video shown below here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igKeqZjxPYQ&

Green Dean's recipe can be found here. He found the recipe in the book “Florida’s Incredible Wild Edibles” by Richard Deuerling and Peggy Lantz. I have borrowed this many times from Lee County Library.

For ease, I have also put the recipe here from the book “Florida’s Incredible Wild Edibles”:

Beauty Berry Jelly

• 1-1/2 quarts of washed beauty berries and 2 quarts water
  Boil for 20 minutes and strain to make infusion.

• Use 3 cups of the infusion, bring to a boil, and add:
  1 envelope Sure Jell and 4-1/2 cups sugar.

• Bring to a second boil for 2 minutes.

• Remove from burner and allow to stand until foam forms.

• Skim off foam.

• Pour into sterilized jars and cap.

Then the book states: "Even better beauty berry jelly. Follow previous instructions, except use 3 cups infusion plus 1/2 cup lemon juice, 1 envelope Sure-Jell, and 5 cups sugar."

Another Weed to Eat: DollarWeed, Pennywort (Hydrocotyle umbellata)

This invasive, edible, water-loving, creeping plant inhabits a large portion of my backyard and is impossible to eradicate from the yard. DollarWeed grows year-round here in Lehigh. It's bright green leaves are up to 2 inches in diameter and round with scalloped edges. The stem attaches to the leaf in the center of the leaf. Where the stem meets the leaf there are veins on the leaf that extend outward.

If the stem attaches at the edge of a kidney-shaped leaf, this is not DollarWeed, it is Dichondra carolinensis (Carolina Dichondra or Ponyfoot).

If there is a red spot in the center of the leaves, this is not DollarWeed, it is Marsh Pennywort (Hydrocotyle ranunculoides).

View the video here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xNIPdbU_WM&

It grows under everything and arises back up on the other side of rocks, raised beds, and edging. Dig underneath this plant and discover a maze of white runners with white roots every few inches. Every little piece of the runner and it's roots must be pulled out of the ground or it grows back. I read somewhere that the only way to get rid of it is to move. This not being an option for most of us, we can still get back at this plant in a couple of ways. We can embrace this bold plant and change our perception of what a weed is and/or we can EAT IT.

DollarWeed tastes like parsley to me and contains many vitamins and minerals. As in most greens, the smaller ones are more tender than the larger leaves. Throw some leaves in a salad, use as a garnish as you would parsley, add it to soups, or top deviled eggs with it. Google "pennywort recipe" for other ideas including teas juice, and drinks.

Bokashi Method of Composting

Bokashi is a method of intensive composting. It can use an aerobic or anaerobic inoculation to produce the compost. Once a starter culture is made, it can be re-used, like yogurt culture. Since the popular introduction of effective microorganisms (EM), Bokashi is commonly made with only molasses, water, EM, and wheat bran.

However, Bokashi can be made by inoculating any organic matter with a variety of hosts of beneficial bacteria/microbes. Molasses feeds the microbial cultures as they inoculate the organic matter.

In home composting applications, kitchen waste is placed into a container which can be sealed with an air tight lid. These scraps are then inoculated with a Bokashi EM mix. This usually takes the form of a carrier which has been inoculated with composting micro-organisms. The EM are natural lactic acid bacteria, yeast, and phototrophic bacteria that act as a microbe community within the kitchen scraps, fermenting and accelerating breakdown of the organic matter. The user continues to place alternating layers of food scraps and Bokashi EM until the container is full.  Usable compost can be available in as little as 18 days.

For a full understanding of the process, do a search on YouTube.com for "How to Make Bokashi" by Neal Foley, Podchef.  We learned about it at ECHO and have been delighted with the results.

Submitted by: Jane Mullikin

First Meeting "Wish List"

If you have any of these items sitting around collecting dust, consider recycling them with the Lehigh Acres Edible Gardening Exchange:

• A small bell (to call the meeting to order)
• Portable filing boxes and file folders (to organize seeds and
  letter-sized papers)
• Small envelopes to store seeds
• Clipboards
• Pens/Pencils
• Paper
• Suggestion box
• Cloth napkins (that can be washed and reused)
• Cloth towels (that can be washed and reused)
• Excess seeds of anything that is edible
• Name badges/tags/clips/lanyards/safety pins (hopefully something
  that is recyclable or reusable)
• Baskets to collect seeds at meetings
• Drink mugs (for those that forget to bring their own)
• Garden tools
• Garden chemicals (preferably organic but not required)
• Old gardening magazines to share

Contact Karen at 206.3373 for a speedy pickup.

Homegrown Revolution (Trailer)

Guest Speaker: Russ Luther from ECHO at First Meeting

Russ Luther from ECHO will be the guest speaker at the first meeting of the Lehigh Acres Edible Gardening Exchange on Wednesday, July 20.

The meeting will be held in the large meeting room of the East County Regional Library (off Gunnery) from 5:30pm - 7:30pm.

Bring your own cup/mug and a healthy snack or drink to share. Let's aim for a tiny ECO footprint: NO TRASH.


Sign up on facebook or call 239.206.3373.

First Meeting of the Lehigh Acres Edible Gardening Exchange

The first meeting details:

Wednesday, July 20th, 2011
5:30pm to 7:30pm
East County Regional Library
881 Gunnery Road
Lehigh Acres, FL

Bring your own cup/mug and a healthy snack or drink to share.
Let's aim for a tiny ECO footprint: NO TRASH.

Setup help needed 5pm-5:30pm. Clean up help needed 7:30pm to 8pm.

Please go to our facebook page to sign up for this event.

Rooting Tomato Suckers

Edible Hibiscus: 3 of them

 This article is in the process of being broken into three. Search for each individually for the most recent information.

These three types of hibiscus are on my summer trial. This is NOT the hibiscus sold in Lowes and Home Depot that most people have in their flower garden. Each variety can be used in a different way. Since I cannot tell you how they will do this summer, I will share my research on each of them. Please comment with more information and I will update this post.

Roselle Hibiscus (Hibescus sabdariffa)
Roselle hibiscus can be used to make tea from the sepals, or calyx, that surrounds the seeds. It might lower blood pressure, is high in vitamin C, and can be made into jam, jelly, wine, pie, or sauces. Some wonderful recipes can be found here.

Roselle care is similar to eggplant and okra. It can be started from seed or cuttings and prefers full sun and HEAT. I can attest that these plants have LONG tap roots and do not transplant well. Seed this annual where it will grow then thin. Each plant grows up to 7 feet tall and wide. The calyx should be gathered when tender, crisp and plump. Up to 16 pounds of fruit can be gathered per plant!

University of Florida sheet states that the leaves are sometimes used for greens however I am growing this variety for the calyx. Here is the University of Florida data sheet.

Sunset, Manihot, Sweet, Edible Hibiscus (Abelmoschus manihot)
This was considered a hibiscus and now is classified as Abelmoschus (Okra) but the name still remains.

It has edible leaves, flowers, seedpods, and mature seeds. Sunset Hibiscus tolerates heat, almost pest free, but is frost sensitive.

There are two thoughts with harvesting: from the bottom up allows the rest of the plant to continue growing OR pruning sends out new shoots.

Leaves are cooked. Seeds can be toasted and ground up for a coffee-like beverage. Blossoms can be used as a wrap or in salads.

Edible hibiscus grows up to 6 feet high and 3 feet wide in full sun or part shade. The blooms are up to 8 inches in diameter.

Red Shield, Red Leaf Hibiscus (Hibiscus acetosella)
Young red leaves can be added to sandwiches, salads, or used in stir fries. Flowers that only open for one day can be used in salads.

The leaves are green with red veins, instead of red, when not in full sun. This plant doesn't mind drought conditions and requires little care. Red Leaf Hibiscus readily self seeds, is very easy to transplant or propagate from cuttings.

Plant at least 2 feet apart. Prune to make bushier. Seed packet states it is perennial in zones 9B-11.

Thank you wikipedia for the images.

Sweet Potatoes in Lehigh Acres

Sweet Potatoes: Easy to grow for even a first time gardener

Over the summer, when few things grow here in Lehigh Acres, sweet potatoes grow super crazy. Consider starting some next spring and you will have plenty of sweet potatoes to share in the fall. Here are a few terms that will make sweet potato growing extra easy:

Tubers are the sweet potato bought in the grocery store. They grow under the ground from sprawling sweet potato vines.

Slips grow from a sprouting sweet potato tuber. Slips can be purchased mail order or grown from a store-bought sweet potato tuber. Remember the school science experiment of cutting a sweet potato in half, placing half in water and half out of water, supported by toothpicks? That's exactly how it's done. Once the sweet potato has sprouted, the slips can be removed from the tuber and treated as cuttings.

Cuttings can be made from mature sweet potatoes vines growing in the garden by clipping off 6-8 inches of the end of the vines. Place slips/cuttings in a glass of water to start rooting. The portion of the slip/cutting that will be under water should be stripped of its leaves to prevent it from rotting. When the roots are about an inch long the slips/cuttings can be planted in the ground. Keep them moist until they are established in your garden soil and our summer rains begin.

Harvest smaller tubers anytime after the vines start growing vigorously. The main harvest can begin when the vines start to die back in the fall. Gentle digging under the vines will reveal bountiful prizes.

Curing is the time is takes to "heal" the sweet potatoes for sweetness and to prepare the tubers for storage. Curing can take a couple of days to a couple of months. Two weeks worked just fine for this gardener. To cure, place newly harvested sweet potatoes on newspaper in a place out of the sun and allow them to dry. Space them apart so they don't touch and turn them occasionally so they air out on all sides.

Store sweet potatoes by wrapping each sweet potato in newspaper, place loosely in a ventilated container, and store in a cool place. A large cardboard box with holes cut on all sides for ventilation and no lid works well for storage. The sweet potatoes might sprout in early spring, but they taste just fine.

Share your excess sweet potato harvest with a local food pantry. Your gift will be greatly appreciated.

Lehigh Acres Edible Gardening Exchange members exchange knowledge, successes, failures, ideas, seeds, and more to grow edibles year-round in Lehigh Acres, Florida.

Bananas in Lehigh Acres

In the North, we tried to grow outdoors in summer then winter them over inside, but never could produce bananas. Moved to SW FL and we have bananas! Dwarf Orinoco bananas to be specific.

These things I have learned about the banana through reading and asking Mr. Stephen Brown at Lee County Extension:

• banana is an herb, not a tree
• banana leaves are edible but VERY tough (I would not eat them, but good to know), they are great for wrapping delicate fish for grilling (excellent, from personal experience) and making environmentally friendly plates and storage
• fruit-bearing stalk must be cut down to 30" after removing fruit so that next sword/spear sucker can fruit
• banana water suckers grow a bit farther from the main stalk/pseudostem, leaf right away, have wider, floppier leaves versus sword/spear suckers, can be dug out to start new plants but are not the best for fruiting, are not part of the corm (similar to a tuber) as the main stalk/pseudostem and sword/spear suckers are
• banana sword/spear suckers grow close to the main stalk and share the corm with the main stalk, have thinner sword-like leaves after they have grown a bit, are better for cutting out and replanting as new plants, best for leaving and having the next crop of bananas
• video from Mr. Brown on suckers
• banana can recover from frost and fruit within a year if protected
• banana love, love, love water including waste water from kitchen such as cooled liquids from cooked canned goods, pasta water, steamed vegetable water, potato water...
• banana like mulch to keep their roots cool and damp
• "birth" of bananas is called inflorescence
• banana flower/blossom/heart is the big reddish upside-down teardrop that comes out first from the stalk, after that the bananas appear, then cut the flower off to allow the banana fruits to mature, the flower is edible and tastes similar to artichoke (I have not eaten one yet to confirm.)
• banana trunk is also edible (Not yet tried this.)
• group of bananas, similar to what you get at the grocery store, is called a "bunch", a bunch is part of a tier or "hand", a single banana is a "finger"
• fruiting banana needs support 
• banana plant has been used to make paper, textiles, remedies, and food
• banana is slightly radioactive and is used as a basis to compare other slightly radioactive items (banana equivalent dose is based on one banana a day)

Above photos includes mini bananas in front, they are not suckers

Pepper and Eggplant Cuttings

Last December, after a frost warning, I severely cut-back my peppers and eggplant. These plants were cut back and covered with inverted pots/buckets the nights of frost. If loppers had to be used, the plant was cut to 8-12 inches. If hand pruners were used, the plant was cut to 3-8 inches.

Most came back nicely. Bright green, new leaves are sprouting at every joint. Plus new growth from the ground of what appeared to be frosted-to-death plants. About 10% of the plants were lost, most of them were younger plants. The more mature plants, even though intensely cut back, managed the best.

Certainly more efficient and cheaper than starting from seed again. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of guts to seriously prune fully fruiting plants.

This did NOT work for basil.

The prunings were converted into cuttings for new plants. After sitting in a glass of water for about a week, they were planted in the ground. About a third took hold and are new, healthy, happy plants. Free plants! Hurray. Let's share them.

Healing the Sand

The comment: "If you do not have worms in your soil, you have nematodes" really stuck with me.

Solution: add lots of organic matter.

An old plastic gallon juice pitcher, next to the kitchen sink, holds my kitchen liquids that contain anything plants might find beneficial. This includes liquids from canned goods, drained pasta water, rinsed out cans/bottles of mustard, tomato paste, and the like all get poured into the pitcher.

A small, white paint bucket with lid next to the pitcher, serves to store scraps of fruits and vegetables until they make it out to the garden.

A note about store bought compost. Don't be tricked (I was) by the bags of $1.25 compost at Wal-mart, Lowes, and Home Depot. It is burnt sand with no nutrients. See a prior post about Lee County Compost.

OrganicLee Compost in Lehigh Acres

Speaker Mr. Keith Howard from Lee County Solid Waste told us about his compost for sale at our August 2011 meeting.

Here is the information he shared with us:

NEW: OrganicLee™ compost in bags has been sold to residents and businesses at their 6441 Topaz Court Facility, Fort Myers for more than a year.

The demand from our local gardeners and landscapers for this product has prompted the Solid Waste Division to offer OrganicLee™ Compost also for purchase at the Lee County Waste To Energy Facility Complex at 10500 Buckingham Road in East Fort Myers. Update: bags are also available at the 10500 Buckingham Road facility. The price for one bag of OrganicLee™ Compost is $2.45 (plus tax).

When purchasing OrganicLee™ Compost at the 10500 Buckingham Road location please drive up to the scale house at the entrance of the facility and tell County staff how many bags you are purchasing.  You will be asked to pay for the product at that time and receive directions to the compost loading area.

Payment can be made in cash, Visa, Mastercard, American Express, and Discover.

Bulk purchases of OrganicLee™ can be made at 10500 Buckingham Road, Fort Myers (at the Resource Recovery Facility) for $20.00 update: $10.00 a cubic yard plus sales tax. Trucks are loaded by Lee County staff. Pay at scales, get a ticket and then come to the compost loading area; its that easy. Update: mulch is also available for $10.00 a cubic yard plus sales tax loaded in your truck.

This compost benefits every Southwest Florida lawn and garden. Improved soils create healthier plants, lawns, shrubs & trees. OrganicLee is processed by Lee County at the Lee/Hendry Landfill at 5500 Church Road in Felda, FL.


Update: Please note: OrganicLee® Compost may be applied in your garden and lawn during the summer months. OrganicLee Compost composition makes it exempt from the Lee County Fertilizer Ordinance that prohibits the application of fertilizers for the months of June through September. The material generated by the Solid Waste Division is comprised of organic materials as it is primarily derived from yard waste with the complimentary feed stock also being organic, resulting in a composted organic material.
To speak to a Solid Waste Division customer service representative, please call (239) 533-8000.


......

From the label on the bag of compost:

Total Nitrogen (N): 2.0% (0.8% Water Soluble, 1.2% Water Insoluble)
Available Phosphate as (P205) 2.5%
Soluble Potassium as (K20) 0.5%
Derived from: Composted Biosolids

This composted biosolids product is Class AA Exceptional Quality and meets the criteria of 62-640.850(3) F.A.C.

Photo by Lillian Nieves

FREE Mulch in Lehigh Acres

FREE garden mulch is available to residents at the Lehigh Acres Community Park at Williams and 5TH ST. Lee County's yard waste is processed into mulch and made available to residents for FREE. Bring your own gloves, shovel(s), and containers to the RED circled area. If there is no/low mulch remaining, call the Solid Waste Division at 239.533.8000 to let them know.

This ground up mulch is made from our weekly yard waste pickup. It is comprised of leaves, grass, fruit, grass, tree limbs, palm fronds, and branches.

Contact the Solid Waste Division at 239.533.8000 for mulch locations in other areas of Lee County Florida.

ECHO www.echonet.org

239.543.3246

17391 Durrance Road

N. Fort Myers, FL 33917

ECHO is a great place to visit if you are interested in edibles. Their online listings (part one, two and three) of tropical plants is priceless.

ECHO has a tropical fruit nursery that offers many types of plants. Since Lehigh Acres is in zone 9B, check if the plant is frost-tolerant before purchasing. Visit their bookstore which sells seeds, books, and gardening gift shop type items. ECHO also offers Global Farm Tours, courses and workshops.

Thank you Alan, who emailed the suggestion of ECHO.