coming out of my shell

coming out of my shell

Friday, May 19, 2017

Bizzaro World


It feels like summer now to this northern transplant, but it isn't. Summer is yet to come. Summer is a whole other kettle of fish in Central Florida.

After my Mother's Day post, I cannot stop thinking about my mother, especially in this heat. Mom hated the heat and humidity of summer. I can just see her in my mind, sighing and sweating. She preferred the cold, northern winter. I am the opposite. I hate the cold. It chills me to the bone.

However, I've said this before. From June through September it is too damn hot to be outside in the afternoon down here. Our lives are very different since we moved to Central Florida. Now we hibernate in the summer rather than the winter. I am absolutely not complaining. It is neither better nor worse. It's all good! I am simply marveling at how different one place can be from another.

We DO have two vegetable planting seasons. How cool is that? Mom would have loved it. I do, too. She always had a veggie garden, and she used Rotenone like it was going out of style. She was of the "why weed when you can spray?" opinion. I figure that is why she developed Parkinson's Disease. Sigh. There was no telling that stubborn woman anything she didn't WANT to believe.

One planting takes place in October, for things like beets, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, lettuce, spinach, radishes. Everything else we plant in late February or early March. We have been eating juicy tomatoes from raised beds since late April. 

We grow basil almost all year round (lotsa pesto!). Our perennial herbs are always available. Hmmm, I don't think Mom ever used or grew fresh herbs, except when she made dill pickles. I can picture her kitchen table covered with mason jars, cukes, and sprigs of dill weed. It was one of the things she and my Dad did together. They also made grape jelly, sauerkraut, and put up innumerable quarts of tomatoes. Food was important in my mother's house, and we ate well.

Living in this beautiful, relentlessly sunny place is almost like living in bizzarro world, or in upside down land. However, I'm goin' with the flow. The politics sometimes stink, but every day is beautiful. I am grateful to be right here experiencing big changes in my life, at my age, in these times. No matter how long one lives, life is too short. I try to live my life with joy, and I do NOT use Rotenone. I like reaching into the earth and yanking a skanky weed out by its roots. It feels like a personal victory.

Here are some things in our small veggie garden this morning:


Orange grape tomatoes - they always make me happy


Zucchini blossom, such a tease


Japanese eggplant and parsley
Basil, patient and true

17 comments:

  1. Lot of work, gardening. But well worth the effort. Looking good.

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    1. Our veggie garden is super small, almost laughable - so it isn't really much work. But we try to use it to our best advantage.

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  2. I love seeing your garden. I'm a little jealous that you're already eating homegrown juicy tomatoes. Ours are still in the "I might flower soon" phase. I'm not a big fan of hot weather. But I don't like it cold either. The weather has to be just right. I think my sensitivity simply implies my princess royalty! LOL.

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    1. We are all different. The great thing is there are so many different climates and geographical wonders in the U.S.

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  3. During the darkness of winter, I often wish that I lived further south. On the other hand, for what I have been given, I am joyful. Having a garden is a lot of work but pays off with many benefits.

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    1. In the heat of the summer I wish I was up north! ha.

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  4. My sister lived in Florida for many years and loved it there. My mother tried living there for a few months and hated it. I guess everyone wants something different.

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    1. Yes, luckily this country is big enough and diverse enough to make everyone happy (if they want to be!). I actually could be happy just about anywhere, I think.

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  5. Ahhh, gardening! I miss it so.
    Yours, albeit small, looks like a charmer. I remember when I had one, I liked to sit in the warmth of the dirt early on a summer morning and pull those pesky weeds. My dogs loved to pull a cherry tomato off the vine and chomp on it..animals love to garden too :). Oh gosh, the garden memories, love them.
    Happy gardening to you..wear a hat!

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  6. I used to be envious of the long southern growing season. But then I came to realize that it also means a long "working the garden" season. I have now come to appreciate winter as a well needed resting season. Still, fresh garden tomatoes in May is jealous worthy.

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    1. You'll have them in August, when my tomatoes are burned up and a distant memory. It's all good.

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    2. We don't really have a "garden" per se, we have two 4x4 feet raised beds. Super small. Minimal effort. Almost pathetic...

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  7. Very tasty pictures! I love the zucchini blossom, such a colour!

    When we lived in paradise (just a breath south of the equator) we tried growing tomatoes and zucchini and pumpkin. Everything shot up and flowered almost within days only to be devoured by bugs within an hour or less. The only thing we got going successfully were chilies, lime and avocado - but they had been there before we arrived. And mango trees and papaya and passion fruit everywhere like a weed. Can you grow mango and avocado in Florida? Passion fruit? I miss that stuff.

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    1. Yes, my neighbors have mango trees, and they sell avocado trees at the Farmer's market. We have a banana tree in our yard. I would like to have a mango and an avocado but our lot is so small. Of course limes, lemons, and oranges grow here, too. The problem is that Orange County (where I live, near Orlando) often has a couple of frosts overnight each winter, so that is problematic. I don't think we would be able to grow pumpkins. But we can do tomatoes and zucchini if we get them in the ground in February. The intense heat of summer kills them.

      We are considered subtropical; however, the Tropic of Cancer is at least 350 miles south of us. We are in the middle of the state, near Orlando.

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  8. Wow! Love reading your list of vegetables and looking at the photos. Glad you are feeling better as you head into hibernating season in Central Florida!

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    1. Many thanks, am. I am feeling much better now.

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So, whadayathink?