Going Green part 2

We also like to grow our own fruit and vegetables. I've been working with composting and other things like that this year to see what I can come up with. Mike says we grow about 1 % of our food. I'm not really sure how to calculate that but we do grow about 75% of the fruit and vegetables we eat.

This peach tree was planted in February when it was 3 feet tall. I guess it likes our watering schedule.

This lychee tree is my second attempt at lychee. My first one died from overfertilizing :( It's a slower grower (about 3 feet each year) so I'm not sure when I'll have fruit from it. I love lychees! They are a red, round asian fruit. they are very sweet and moist. For now I buy my lychees from the roadside fruit stands every June but I can't wait to have my own!

These are the oranges growing on the tree we planted 2 years ago. The orange tree had issues with mold and leaf miners (pests that destroy leaves) but is doing well now.

The lime tree is trying to take over the backyard. It was 3-4 feet across when planted 2 years ago. It is now about 10 feet across.

This is a lemon on the Meyer's lemon tree also planted 2 years ago. It also had issues with mold but is now thriving.

This is the fig tree we planted this February. It was also about 3 feet tall and is now 6 feet.

This is one of the many avocados on our 2 trees in the front yard. Both trees were planted 4 years ago but 1 broke off at the ground during a hurricane 3 years ago. Proving just how hardy they are both trees are now equal size and about 15 feet tall and 10 feet across.

This is the strawberry patch that grows in the planters on the new deck. They add a really nice garden feature to the deck as well as being super tasty! So far it has only given us miniature strawberries (about 1/2 to 1 inch) but they have lots more flavor than the store bought ones.

My garden has a rotation throughout the year. We have to adjust our planting schedule back several months to account for the extreme heat in summer. These 2 pictures are of our many tomato plants. This year I planted seeds for Roma, Pear and Cherry tomatoes. All are doing very well. I put down the red tarp to reduce the weeding I have to do and it's supposed to increase yields.

My eggplants are also all started from seed. I always get good results with these :) I know most of you have no idea what to do with eggplant. I'm pretty simple about it. I slice them and either fry them coated with corn meal or broil them with just a little olive oil. I like the flavor but Mike doesn't really.

My herbs do pretty well. This is a basil plant that started from seed in February. It's about ready to be cut down completely. There is also dill, oregano, and chives.

One of my new projects this year is composting. I always had a lot of plant material that was piled along the fence as well as paper documents that should have been shredded. So I got myself a kitchen compost bucket to put fruit and vegetable remains in (only fruits and veggies so as not to attract rodents to the composter). I bought a shredder for the office and then the big outdoor composter. This composter is small (comparitively) and spins to mix. About every 2 weeks I add new vegetable remains and shredded paper. There is also additives that the manufacturer sells to help things along. With this type of composter I'm supposed to leave it alone for 6 weeks but then what would I do with my vegetable reamins? I haven't yet got any good compost from it. The first batch dissolved completely and my second ongoing batch is really moist so I'm not sure what to do. It's a great experiment and if nothing else keeps us from throwing more stuff away.

The gardening and composting is always a work in progress and each year brings new challenges as far as pests and moisture levels. It keeps me busy and is very relaxing. The time I spend in my garden is uninterrupted, no phones or anything else. It gives me a chance to forget everything else and just focus on each litle plant and what it needs :)