Thought it was time for a few garden pic’s to give some visuals to the words that say it’s doing so well. It’s hard to get it all into one pic to scope the overall garden so I selected a few representative shots. In case you’re wondering, the marigolds are a variety named Inca. One thing that should come across well is that we’re producing far more than one family can handle from a table standpoint.

Also threw in a picture of the compost pile. That’s the secret to the health and productivity of the current crop – the starting point for it all and the final resting place for everything that doesn’t end up on the table. To give you a calibration point, I estimate that pile is 4-5 cubic yards and in a year, six loads of that size make their way from the pile back into the garden. So you can’t equate this level of composting with carrying your table waste and coffee grounds in a little bucket out to a pile in the back yard. I estimate that 2/3 of the pile originates with yard clippings, predominately palmetto fronds; the balance from miscellaneous weeds and residual from the vegetable harvesting. For example, there are roughly 100 corn plants from which we’ll get 150+ ears of corn – if it all goes according to plant. It’s 100% for sure that the compost pile will get 100 corn stalks run through the shredder and however many corn cobs as makes it to our kitchen.

You might, incorrectly, guess that the biggest change around here when Nancy leaves is the quality of the food. You’d be wrong because she diligently focuses on having plenty of meals in reserve for when she’s away. Trust me, I’ll eat as much as I can and there will still be plenty left when she gets back. No, the biggest change is that I can walk in and around the house with no complaints about what my shoes may be dropping on the floor. In some homes you hear that money or kid problems are the biggest source of problems between a husband and wife. Here it’s a floor thing. Nancy is able to spot some debris on the floor and instantly peg it to my shoes. I guess her shoes have been coated with something that keeps yard stuff from adhering to them. If we ever have to build another house, I’m standing my ground for dirt floors. No tile, no hardwood, and for sure, no carpeting.

Idol has officially gone off the tracks. The last of the “winners” was eliminated last night. The remaining three are talented and attractive but nothing special. Would love to see the demographics on the voters to see just what kind of weird pattern emerges. I’m guessing it’s heavily biased towards tiny boppers from the south.

Bad start to the morning. Went out to get the paper and found that something had gotten into the garbage and spread it around the driveway. My trash container is one of those extra large, automated pick-up kinds so nothing small is going to knock it over. I immediately think of bears and I guess that’s possible. My neighbor, May, has a porch on her mobile home where she has several large potted plants. They were knocked off the porch. One bit of luck was that I had cleaned the grill and had a can of drippings plus about 3 months worth of grill scrapings inside a zip lock bag. That was still in the container and not on the driveway. That would have been a real mess to deal with.

The feared and dreaded yellow flies made their first appearances yesterday. They are up at George’s but will be over here in a few days. For some reason, they’re always worse at his place. I ordered a couple tubs of Tanglefoot to make the sticky black ball fly traps that work so well and have a few tricks up my sleeve to make them more effective this year. Unless the lake comes up a few feet, they won’t be much of an issue this year because no one will be hanging out at the lake.

Kudos to the back door handle on the Toyota. It works so well that it should be patented before somebody from Toyota steals the design. True it looks a little weird but once you operate it, you wonder why the car companies didn’t think about it years ago. If it wasn’t so hard to get the doors apart and back together again, I might consider doing all the handles that same way.

Right after I dropped Nancy off at the airport, tragedy struck. I had driven straight from the airport to Lowes but when I went to open the car door, the handle assembly broke and a spring came flying out. Plastic will only last so long I guess. On a regular American car, this would not be a big deal but I’m dealing with one of these foreign models which means the regular people screw drivers don’t work and the replacement parts are close to the cost of a new car. What I do think is possible is that the back door handle assembly is the same as the front door assembly. Who needs an indoor handle on a back door? My mechanic neighbor will jump all over this. It could be years before Nancy ever notices that there’s no handle on the back door; maybe never.

The other thing that happened coincident with Nancy hitting the road is that one of her showiest orchards bloomed and Barbara’s staghorn fern did also. With respect to the fern, I had no idea they even bloomed. She said she has only known them to bloom at night and by the next day the bloom has fallen off. So this is a rare event to catch. And I don’t ever remember this particular orchid blooming. I think it’s one she got when it wasn’t blooming so we never knew what it would look like.

Follow-up – The door is fixed. The back door solution came out better than I had expected when George came up with an idea to make a wire hook to open the back door. It has an agricultural look to it but is functional. It took us a couple of hours and we broke a couple more plastic parts as the task progressed but in the end, all things considered, I’m happy with it. Also in the follow up dept, turns out the bloom coming out of the staghorn was not really part of the staghorn. George said that they had mixed in a piece of Jerusalem cactus – personally I think it’s a night blooming cereus – and that’s what was blooming.

Does anybody think it’s strange that Idol has ended up with two males and two females in the final four? About a month ago there was all kind of turmoil because there were only two females remaining. It’s not believable that the voting pattern just happened to adjust itself to be politically correct. I also find it interesting that the final four include a rocker guy and rocker chick and a country guy and country girl. All good talent although for me, the real talent was eliminated earlier – that would be the jazz and blues performers.

The dry weather we’re having seems to be working ok for the garden. It means that I have to water almost daily but that’s an overall plus. When I water, for the most part I water down at the roots and not too much on the foliage. My theory is that keeping the foliage dry is keeping the insect problems at a minimum. I’m sure not having much of a bug problem in the garden so far and the big difference is that the plants are much drier than normal. I’m seeing virtually no spider webs which, by this time, normally are a real pain. My neighbor insists I don’t water enough. He says that because most other gardeners he tracks are watering like crazy. I asked him if their gardens looked as good as ours or much better and he thought maybe the corn in one of them was taller. Fact is classic Florida gardeners water and fertilize like crazy because they are basically growing in sand. It has no inherent water or nutrient retention properties. At this point our garden is at least 75% of the way toward what could be technically labeled an organic garden. Aside from the nutritional aspects of that, it means that the water retention properties are significantly improved over the native soil and I just don’t have to pump the water to it extensively. Personally, I think that’s why I’m not having bug problems this year.

I’m starting to get optimistic about the corn this year. The stalks are about 4′ tall, strong, and a really rich green. They’re also starting to develop tassels and a few micro sized corn. According to my calculations, we should be picking mid June and so far that looks about right. Seems like I’ve been at this point before only to be disappointed by the end results but this looks better to me. Also the butternuts underplanted in the corn patch are growing vigorously and starting to put out small squashlettes. I remember last year the first few dropped off and assume that will happen this year too.

That seems to be consistent with all the squash I grow – the first several fail to develop but after the plant matures, the squash starts to come regularly. I’ve been seeing that with the summer squash, 4 different varieties, for a few weeks and now starting to pick nice edible fruit. I think I mentioned trying a completely new (to me) variety, Cavili, and it’s producing well beyond my expectations so far. The squash it produces is a light green color so it stand out well in the deep green foliage. I love it best cut up in salad along with tomato, onion, and cucumber but it’s pretty good fried/sauteed as well. It’s a bit more tender than the yellow squash.

The other big growth story are the pole beans. I used 10′ long bamboo canes as the climbing elements on the bean tower and many of the beans are approaching the 10′ level and like the corn, look really strong. No blossoms but the calculations say we’ll be picking in early June. I kind of doubt that and am looking more towards mid June.
I continue putting in new bean seeds, intermixing green and yellow beans so we should have beans on more or less a steady basis for a couple of months. And here’s a bit of bean trivia – you can tell which is the yellow bean and which is the green by looking at the stems. The stems on the yellow variety are definitely yellowish compared to the dark green of the green variety.

The tomatoes are turning pink and I pick a couple everyday for window sill ripening. The process is accelerating so we’ll be deep in Whoppers and San Marzano’s for the foreseeable future. Nancy is heading off for Utah again and I suspect my diet will be heavy in Tomato, cucumber and Squash salad. By the time she gets back we will have to move hard into the sauce prep mode.

We decided to hit the Tomoka again on Thursday but to modify the plan by getting there an hour earlier to beat the late morning wind. Somebody must have leaked the plan to the wind god because it was howling up a gale when we got to the river. We could see tarpon rolling so decided to brave it and let the wind carry us upstream. It only got worse with the wind blowing at least 20 knots straight down the river. Got a single jump out of a tarpon, about 1/3 the size of the Wednesday fish and a smallish ladyfish. Still, it was lots of fun – that is all but having to paddle back to the launch point against the wind and white capped waves. Wow! We made it but we were both fairly well worn out.

We came home and then decided to try the lake about 7PM as a cap to the week. I caught a gar that gave us a bit of a hassle in the boat and Si bagged a nice bass on the Devil’s Horse and had another nice one on. He’s a 100% convert to top water fishing and is a more than adequate caster. His lure moving technique is not perfected yet but that part is simple. One problem he has that will cost him fish is a wandering eye and a lack of attention to what’s going on in the water around him. He studies the trees, the birds, and whatever else is going on around him but not so much what’s going on in the vicinity of his lure. On the Tomoka he had his cell phone with him so that was another huge distraction so I’d be watching tarpon rolling all around him and he’d spot maybe one in 3 or 4. I think that will change with experience. He’s super fun to fish with we both love kayaking the backwaters.

I mentioned that I was going to give sweet potatoes a go this year. Turns out it’s not working out near as well as I’d hoped. First, when I ordered them I was told they’d be delivered the end of March. Turns out it was the end of April. Out of a dozen slips, 4 made it. The others cratered within 2 days. I know enough to know it was nothing I did so I called Burpee with my tale of woe. They were totally gracious and offered to reship or refund me 100%. I opted for reshipment but the next day received a call saying they were not allowed to ship into Florida. Seems the State Dept of Agriculture had put a ban on all potatoes coming into Florida. They said they never should have shipped to me in the first place. California has plenty of bans on plant shipments as does Hawaii, but Florida, not so much. Anyway they issued a refund and I have 4 plants that seem to be surviving. At least I’ll have a test of sorts. I guess I’ll crank up a few new pepper plants or eggplants since both seem to handle the heat ok. Or maybe a couple of cherry tomatoes. I am going to try a variety called tomatoberry which is a tomato that looks like a strawberry.

I pulled the dead tomato plant to examine the roots and confirm that it was, indeed, a nematode attack. Very strange, but the roots were nominally clean. Normally when a plant has been attacked by nematodes, the roots look like strings of pearls with white knots along the length of virtually all the roots. In this case, the only nodule I spotted was a good size one but it was on the largest root, directly dead center in line with the stalk and it was fairly close to the surface as opposed to much deeper in the soil. It, or something, forced that root to almost do a full turn from downward to horizontal with the surface for a few inches and then back downward. It was a large knot but I wouldn’t have thought it nearly large enough to kill the plant. Perhaps tomatoes have a “tap” root along with lots of smaller roots and damage to that particular root is fatal. Usually with nematode damage, when I give the plant a good soaking, it recovers temporarily. In this case, no recovery and 100% gonzo. I thought maybe there was some obstruction under the soil that blocked the root but found absolutely nothing there. Must have been godzillanematode.

Have had two great days fishing with Simon but today was really special because the tarpon were thick on the Tomoka River at exactly the spot we put the kayaks in. It’s not easy to get one of these brutes to strike and even more difficult to land one. Landing one is something you’re not sure you want to do in any event because they are so large and so energetic. I got a few hard strikes and had a couple on for a few seconds when finally one really latched on to the jig I was casting. I would have to guess the fish was 30# plus, 4′ long and cleared the water twice in quick succession. Very impressive. He towed the kayak around the river for about 5 minutes before he finally ditched the hook. Relative to Tarpon, I’d say this was as good a day as I’ve seen in years.

The other exciting thing was having our kayaks bumped by manatee. Manatee (sea cows) are certainly gentle giants but having one bump you kayak gets your heart beating rather hard. At one point I think there were two of them between our two boats – close enough that you could just reach out and touch them.

And then the wind came up and made fishing nominally impossible. We would paddle up against the wind and the tide and then drift back through the schools of fish. By the time we had done that a few times, we were both arm weary and my shoulders were starting to revolt from the treatment. I can remember taking Simon fishing when he was little and could barely keep up with me; then we were equal; now I have to keep up with him. I still can – at least kayaking – but he keeps getting bigger and stronger while I’m heading in the opposite direction. I know he’ll be as patient with me as I was with him!!! And everything is ok as long as I’m catching more fish that him.

The meal came off without a hitch and I think everybody had a good time.

Chris related a funny story from his move. He moved from one upstairs apartment to another using professional movers. I guess they were able to vacate the first apartment without a hitch but found that the couch couldn’t make all the turns getting up to the new one. The mover came to Chris and asked him if he wanted them to just leave it on the curb or what. Then he suggested Dr. Sofa. Dr. Sofa is a company that specializes in taking couches apart for just such situations. Chris is in Jersey City and Dr. Sofa is a Long Island company but 45 minutes later, a 2 man crew is on the job, pulling the couch apart. They got the job done and, $400 later, were on their way back to Long Island. I guess so many of the moves in that area are into and out of apartments, that a specialty like that makes a nice business. I’m guessing Dr. Sofa would starve to death in the greater Barberville – Pierson corridor. Aside from the fact that most places are single story, we have chain saws or machetes for just such unexpected happenings.

Olivia voted in favor of an Italian Easter this year which meant a lake event. As it turned out we’ll be celebrating both the Christian Easter and the Greek Orthodox Easter with the Italian feast part happening with the Greeks. Tom and Tina hosted the traditional Easter gathering in Lake Mary this year. Nancy and I decided to go for a big event and have ravioli instead of something simpler like baked ziti which we discussed. Every couple of years we get up the courage to do a big ravioli feast which means making it all from scratch – right from the basic flour. We’ve done it often enough now that we have it down to a science and work together like a finely oiled machine. We’re expecting 10-12 for dinner so we targeted 50 ravioli but actually made 67. It’s not an exact science but we ended up with almost an even match between the pasta dough and the filling. Along with meatballs, braciola, and pork ribs, we’ve got the makings for a large antipasto and Tina is bringing Tiramisu for dessert. Tom is picking up ciabatta rolls so we’re dago from start to finish. Nancy made the sauce a week ago to give it plenty of time to blend and the ravioli were done a day in advance. So the only thing remaining is to boil the pasta, heat the sauce, and construct the antipasto. When we were younger and so much less clever, we would do it all on the day of the feast and be totally worn out and frazzled by eating time. This way we have to smooze with the guests and still turn out a fantastic meal.

The other great thing about this year is that Simon is coming up and planning to stay here for a week of heavy duty fishing. Bass fishing, snook fishing, surf fishing, crabbing – you name it and we’ll be casting for it. He’s bringing the VW camper into which we’ll shoehorn two kayaks and our gear. I’m stoked about that.

Had to get involved in one of my least favored tasks – fixing the sprinkler system. My system has 3 independent circuits and I noticed that on two of the circuits, the longest circuits, the pressure had dropped so that at the end of the string of sprinklers, there was barely enough pressure to lift the sprinkler head. Since it was on two independent circuits, my logic was that it was something at the pump or worse. But on inspection, looked like plenty of pressure at the pump end. I took on the simpler circuit and found that there was no water at all coming from the last 6 heads. Aha, clogged line. Wrong, turned out to be 6 clogged heads, no line problem at all. So I headed over to the second circuit and found no such luck. The last sprinkler on the string was gushing water out the sides of the sprinkler so I guessed the sprinkler was history. Installed a new one – same problem. So I decided to just let it run and see if I could find a spot along the run that was saturated because the only possibility was a line break somewhere in the 200′ length of buried pipe. Sure enough, I found a spot where water was bubbling to the surface. The actual break was about 4′ from the spot where the water surfaced but once found, easily fixed. Easily if you have all the pieces you need to build a splice. I happen to have it all and within a half hour, oila, fixed. The beauty of dealing with sprinkler systems in Florida compared to my experience in Texas and Utah is that it’s infinitely simpler to dig into the Florida sand. In Texas it was rock hard clay and in Utah it was rocks. A job like this would have taken half a day at least in Utah; an hour here at most.

Today’s harvest was a beautiful cabbage, the first cucumber and first zucchini. I think there are two more cabbages and two cauliflowers but beyond that, all summer stuff. At this point the big garden question mark is going to be the corn. I’ve never done well with corn before which really bugs me because it takes so much space. If it’s not a success this year, it gets scratched off the list forever. I think it’s a big farm crop and not something for us back yard guys. We have plenty of roadside stands loaded with really nice corn so……………….. At this point it’s the challenge that keeps me trying. Did have a setback when one tomato plant was attacked by nematodes and crashed overnight. That’s one out of 12 so I have to assume that I was just a little sloppy with that particular plant in terms of ground prep. It’s also a good reminder to me that the little rascals are always there waiting for me to screw up. I had started thinking that perhaps once you overcame them, they were gone for good. Wrong. I haven’t pulled the plant yet to examine the roots and I guess it’s possible something else happened but it sure looks familiar.

Have another thing to put on my “check once a week” list. I lifted the hood on the Toyota, the car we drive almost every day, to check the oil and found the start of a squirrel nest along with a pile of acorns. It was built right on the engine block just as it was on the Mercury last year. Interestingly, when I removed it the bottom of the nest was blackened by the engine heat. I guess it doesn’t get hot enough to burst into flame but it sure has that potential. So let’s see – in the past month I caught a mouse in a trap in the trunk of the Merc and removed a squirrel nest from the Toyota. I guess these guys are smart enough to vacate before the engine starts, at least I hope so. What a mess that would be.

I was thinking Obama was toast when gas topped $3; burnt toast above $4; burnt toast crumbs above $5. He said he wanted higher prices many times so it’s hard now to back away from it. I guess he can appoint a committee to look into it. In his defense, we’re actually pumping more oil than ever – oh wait, that’s based on new production started 5 years ago when the evil Bush was in charge.

From beach to garden. Got home and found that George had picked all the potatoes. I knew they were about ready so wasn’t too surprised. Good thing too. I had ordered sweet potato slips and they were supposed to be shipped April 25, more or less when I expected to pick the regular potatoes. But they were shipped early so picking the others a few days early turned out to be a good thing. We ended up getting in the neighborhood of 30 pounds of potatoes so I have to rank that as a total success.

Another piece of good news is that when I started tilling the row where the potatoes had grown, I found it loaded with earth worms. That’s a significant sign that the soil is rich and heavily organic. Up until this point, there were zero worms and I was fairly well convinced that I’d have to buy some to prime the pump. I still might do that because the worms I have now are really skinny worms and not the kind you can fish with. I was going to add some big, juicy variety when I was confident the soil would support them – I am now.

At this point the garden is full – no available space for planting. The only “old” crop still producing are the brussels. I give them another 2 weeks at most and that row will quickly be converted to okra. The plants under the insect/frost covers seem to be doing just fine, we’ve started picking squash and the first cucumber hits the salad bowl this week. No doubt about it, the garden is producing at a much higher rate than at this same time last year. Unless something happens, and it always can, we are about to be overwhelmed with squash and tomatoes. The corn is looking good – 2′ tall and growing fast. Ditto the pole beans. I’m guessing we’ll be into both by early June. Green peppers of several varieties by mid May.