Yucca Wall #1

We have been trying to come up with the perfect wall between the Palm Island traveller palm and the neighbor's driveway, and we finally solved it.  We have a Yucca patch out back which was begging for propagation, so we finally did the magic on Sunday and now have Yucca Wall #1 in place rooting.  Good sources say that in 3-4 weeks we'll have roots and can plant them in their destination location. 

PEEP-A-PEEP

They're backkkkkkkkkk

Fed All Plants

Today, all plants got fed - it's spring! (Florida style).

• Bananas - Potash
• Palms - Timed release
• Bamboo - Timed release
• Papayas - Potash and calcium

They're BACK! PEEP-a-PEEP!!

They're BACK!  PEEP-a-PEEP!!

SO happy that the black bellied whistling ducks came back!  We had 4 yesterday, and 21 today.  Their happy whistling makes P2 so much more musical.

They love the corn pile... who doesn't?

Mark's Scrabble Achievement of the Decade

STAPLES
for the Win!!!

Goodbye Whistling Ducks

They were just passing by, seduced by the mountain of delicious cracked corn on January 31st.  They stayed a few weeks to entertain us with their cuteness, and today they were gone.  It's amazing to share time with them, even if they have to leave.  Some things I love about the Black Bellied Whistling Ducks who I endearingly called the "Peep-a-PEEPs".

• Their morning "battle" for the corn (tribe against tribe)
• Their tribes:  The Ten, The Six, The Five, The Four.  Each tribe hung together most of the time, with combo-tribes occasionally.
• They never ran when they saw us
• No quacking, only whistling
• Cream colored eyeliner and coral lipstick :D
• Maximum count was 34, but when 10 were here it was awesome too

Sweet Potatoes!

We grew 20 lbs of Okinawa Sweet Potatoes!  I really didn't expect to get any harvest from the slips that Indy gave me in 2015, but I rather added them to the food forest as ground cover.  Lots of food forest plans include Sweet Potatoes as a ground cover to increase microbial life and to crowd out weeds, so I was happy to get them going crazy in the banana circle, the food forest, and in a few pots for fun.  The sweet potato vines are prolific here in central Florida and really did make it tough for weeds to survive in the banana circle.  They've escaped from pots in a few other places out back in the nursery, and they are a simple but beautiful green ground cover wherever they grow.  Bugs don't eat the leaves, so they always look fresh and green.

But the real surprise came in the 2 whiskey barrels that I planted some slips in 2 years ago.  Last year we had a cold winter with a couple of freezes, and when I checked for potatoes last winter after a year of growth I didn't find any potatoes.  I probably didn't dig down deep enough, but rather only grabbed a tiny fingerling or two near the surface and decided they must not have got enough of whatever they needed to produce food.

I was out last Sunday digging through pots to try to clean up for the new growing season, and I decided I would finally clean out the whiskey barrels.  The vines were incredibly long, growing way out of the pots and around the area by the papaya patch (Pip, Pop, and Peep).  As I pulled the vines out to clear out the pots for new plantings, I found THIS:

It's about 20 lbs of sweet potatoes!  The largest one in the lower left corner is 1 lb 13 oz, and an average sized one (upper right) is 3/4 of a pound.  I'm happy!  I had to dig many of them out of the bottom layer of the wood whiskey barrels, as they were lodged deep in the crevaces.  

My takeaway here is that there are a LOT of these beasts throughout the property where there are vines!  I think that's pretty cool.  I don't need that many sweet potatoes, so rather than disturb the banana circle I'll probably just leave them there and see what happens.  The microbes down in the ground licking the roots will thank me.

What's the future here at P2 for sweet potatoes?  Interestingly enough, even before I found these guys in the pots, I had already decided that I need to try growing sweet potatoes of different varieties this year.  Indy had given me Okinawa sweet potatoes (white on the outside, purple on the inside), but I know Mark prefers REAL sweet potatoes with yellow flesh.

On January 30th, I placed an order with Gurney's for a LOT of sweet potato slips.  They had a half price sale, and I figured why not try EVERY variety!  I ordered 12 slips of each:

• Beauregard
• Bush Porto Rico
• Georgia Jet
• Majesty (purple)
• O'Henry
• Covington
• Vardaman

The tomato cage is officially converted to a sweet potato cage, complete with 10 25-gallon fabric pots.  The vines will grow and be trained up the strings and hooks, just like the tomatoes.  It's going to be fun!

I also have plans for a 100' x 10' sweet potato patch out on the far property by the little pond.  There's a sandy patch that the previous owner made to potentially build something on, but it's just a sandy mound.  Perfect for sweet potatoes.  Between the sweet potato cage and the sweet potato patch, and the whiskey barrels, I will hopefully find places to plant 84 sweet potato plants.  Ok, I went overboard a bit, but why not!

HUGE OUR MALE PEACOCK 2019 WINNER

HE IS HUGE!

Azalea Bloom

Every year in February - right around February 14th - the Azalea along the front walkway produces the most beautiful magenta flowers for a few weeks.  Then when the flowers drop, the shrub goes back to being a boring shrub until next February.  Every year I've tried to remember to get pictures, but FINALLY this year (now that I have the time to think!) I got pictures of her at her prime.  The magenta color reminds me of my mother's lipstick :D

What happens around Valentine's day

What happens around Valentine's Day

• Sneetches faces are red
• Peacocks start calling (and displaying!)
• Angel trumpet blooms appear
• Azalea blooms
• First mosquito bites (UGHHHH)

Here's a summary of a few things going on at P2 today.

Angel Trumpet flower pods

Azalea in full bloom

Azalea flower

The Brogdon Avocado is gaining size and girth this year, and has some buds.  I hope by next year we'll have avocados to eat.

One of the mango trees... making buds, but probably too young to produce fruit.

Muscovy duck visitor on the pool cage

Okinawa Sweet Potatoes - 20 lbs from 2 whiskey barrels

Papaya trees appear in add places.  This one chose this pot, but is too big to stay.  Into the ground he'll go on Sunday!

The Strawberry Guava is blooming, so hopefully we'll see some fruit this year.  She's in a small pot, and I'll upgrade her to a larger pot once she's done making fruit (I don't want to upset her while she's busy).

And finally, a Sneetch in full red face and legs breeding colors.  Very pretty!

FIRST CANE OF 2019
We went out to examine bamboo across the southern end of P2 and found a brand new Seabreeze cane.

We have had some 80-degree days with some nights in the upper 40s, the bamboo is happy and thinks it's Spring, we think so too😎💏🌴.

Planting More Bamboo in the Southwest Corner - Variegated Dwarf Malay

Last year we bought 9 large pots of Variegated Dwarf Malay Bamboo from Clay at Valkaria Gardens.  This bamboo will be perfect to create a 10' wall at various locations on the farm.  We intended it for Palm Island, but we're not quite ready to push the button there, so we're locating it for now in the southwest corner of the property.  It's nice that it doesn't hit 40' to 50' high like most of the other varieties we grow!

Here's some info about Variegated Dwarf Malay here and here.

Pictures to come soon!