Papaya goes home

Papaya
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

My papaya plant recently made the journey from my office to my house. My co-workers had been very tolerant but it was getting waaaay too big to sit on my desk any longer. Poor Jen could hardly see out the window any more.

So far it's adjusting well. I think it might be getting a little sunburned (see photo), so I moved it into a spot where it only gets direct sun in the morning.



The good news is that it hasn't dropped the fruit that was already forming, and there's now another fruit on the way. In fact, the first fruit is getting pretty big -- about the size of a small lemon. Maybe I'll eventually have a ripe papaya that's big enough to eat!



And speaking of big, the plant itself is now about three and a half feet tall and three feet wide. Wow! It's so much bigger than it was here and even here. It's amazing that it fit in the back of the SUV. One month more and I might've had to resort to renting a flatbed trailer.

Slowly but surely...

Slowly but surely...
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

The mulch is finally spread! I couldn't have moved that giant pile alone and am incredibly grateful for the help I received. (Thanks!) Doesn't the bed just look great? I couldn't resist plopping a few plants on top of the mulch just to see what the final result might end up looking like. I can't wait to get the plants in the ground!

Of course, now I'm realizing that I should redo the bed that runs along the front of the house. It looks pretty scrappy in comparison to the new bed. One step at a time though, right?

Peach picking

It's peach picking season here in North Florida. Last weekend I went down to Florida Peach Farms & Nurseries in Citra and picked about ten pounds of juicy peaches. I've enjoyed some of them fresh and also made a peach crisp using the fruit crisp recipe in the trusty "Joy of Cooking" cookbook that I got from my grandmother, adding a dash of good rum for a little extra interest. Okay, so maybe it was more than a dash, but the crisp sure turned out tasty.

The orchard should be open again this weekend for picking and it's definitely worth making the trip if you're looking for something fun to do. Be sure to also stop at The Orange Shop on Highway 301 in Citra for the tastiest fresh squeezed orange juice you'll find for miles.

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Best. Prank. Ever.

Georgia freaks out over the googly eyed plants
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

One of my co-workers loves the sketch that Christopher Walken did on Saturday Night Live titled "Indoor Gardening Tips from a Man Who's Very Scared of Plants." If you haven't seen it ,watch it here before reading any further.

I decided that it would be the perfect prank to fill her office with googly eyed plants. Conveniently, she went out of town for a work conference so I had ample time to move all of our office plants into her office, affix 204 googly eyes to them, and avoid getting caught.

After she got over the initial shock (see first photo), she loved it.

Here are a few more shots of the googly-eyed entourage.

Georgia, pretending to be Christopher Walken


The googly-eyed gang


My favorite cross-eyed cutie


Even my beloved papaya got into the act

King of the Mountain

Free mulch
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

Apparently, mulch piles are exciting places. When I left the house this morning I spotted a young girl climbing on my mulch pile. It's funny because as I was spreading the mulch last night,* I started thinking about how much I loved climbing on dirt piles when I was a kid. One of the neighborhoods we lived in was still under development, so it seemed like there was always a half-built house that was getting a pile of sand delivered.

This girl wasn't just climbing on the pile -- she was clearly hunting something. I greeted the girl and her companion, who I took to be her grandmother, and asked what she was after.

"Lizards," she replied. "They like the mulch."

Cool, I thought -- a gal after my own heart. As a kid, I spent countless hours hunting for crayfish in the creek and catching insects.

But then I started thinking about why lizards would want to climb all the way to the top of such a huge mulch pile. My first thought was that the lizards had liked eating the insects swarming over the pile. Or maybe, just maybe, the lizards liked climbing the pile just because it was there, like Everest. Heck, it IS like Everest to a tiny little lizard! When I get home tonight, I'll check to see which lizard is defending his title as king of the mountain.

*(And yes, this means that I'm actually making progress on the front bed. I'll try to get the rest of the mulch spread out tonight, and will definitely post pictures if I do.)

Free mulch

Free mulch
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

My utility company was trimming trees in my area and was kind enough to dump a load of mulch in my yard, all for free! While it isn't as pretty as the mulch from the store, you can't beat the price. You can call your local utility company to see if they have a similar program.

However, this mulch is from green wood so it needs to age a bit before I put it near plants, lest it burn them. For me it's not a big deal. I'll spread out the mulch and let it sit for a little while, and then I'll put in my plants. I like this plan because I can now officially say that I'm not procrastinating about getting the planting done. I'm just waiting for my mulch to mellow. ;-)

Once the plants are in, the mulch will help retain moisture and keep the weeds in control. You can read more about mulch on Gardening in a Minute.

Blank canvas

Front yard panorama
Originally uploaded by sassycrafter

So the blank canvas in my front yard continues to stare at me. It's because I decided to hold off on installing the plants I bought, at least for a little while. I had some major plumbing work that needed to be done first. 

See the line of fresh dirt in the photo that stretches back toward the house? There's a brand new water supply line underneath there. For years the water pressure in the house has been low, and I decided that now was the time to finally deal with it. Replacing the line helped some, but it was the new meter that the utility company installed that really made the difference. Finally, I can water the yard and flush toilets at the same time!

So I guess now I have no excuse for not planting that front bed. I'm still waiting for the seedlings to be big enough to transplant, but they're coming along nicely. Here's a shot taken on April 6. Since then, the okra seedlings have also popped up. As always, you can click on the photos to have a closer look.



Certain seedlings have suffered an untimely death. I'm not sure what killed them. Cutworms perhaps? Some of them seemed to be severed off at the soil line. Though a few were uprooted entirely, which is often the work of nefarious squirrels.



Two of the six castor bean seeds that I sowed have come up. I'm not sure why the others haven't. I also wish that the ones that came up were the bronze-leafed variety. I wasn't sure what I'd end up with since I bought a mixed pack of seeds, but I really wanted the kind with the purplish leaves.



I'm going to try to get the yucca and bromeliads in the ground this week. I'm also probably going to buy some yellow bulbine to add. I can't wait!