Thus far in our story, Dad and I have hit a tropical plant nursery… taken down a scheffelera tree… planted an acerola cherry and had a tiff over the relative usefulness of cinnamon in a survival situation.
Today, I’m going to show you what I did with a formerly almost-useless set of plants in a front planter.
This is what we started with:
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| NOTE: The Prius isn’t my family’s. We can’t afford pricey electric toys. Neener neener. |
There you’ll see some incredibly thorny bromeliads, asparagus fern, and a natal plum I didn’t realize was an edible until recently (thanks, Grower Jim!)
Anyhow – that’s what I started with. It took some work, but I removed the landscape plants in an hour or so, then started digging.
After I dug a big hole (it was at least 3′ deep – the picture is rather deceiving), I filled it with compost along with lots of scheffelera logs and debris.
Then, I topped it off with dirt… and planted Dad’s brand-new jaboticaba tree. HECK YEAH! IN LIKE, SEVENTEEN YEARS, WE’LL HAVE FRUIT!
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| This looked better after I added mulch. I don’t have a picture, though. Maybe next time… |
Along with finishing that little planter, I also got busy planting trees out back.
It’s hard to believe this little mulberry will one day tower overhead… but it will… and they grow so darned fast, it won’t take long. This one is in the back yard.
By the back wall, little guava replaced some aralia plants Mom pulled up:
Next time I visit, I’ll be sure to post some updated photos. Soon this yard is going to be overflowing with fruit… and it’ll take very little work to keep things going. (Right now I’m trying to convince Dad to replace the Royal Poinciana in the front yard with a tamarind I just bought… we shall see how that pans out. It’ll be awesome, Dad! I promise!) Watch for updates in the future: I may be going back down there in the next couple of months and I’ll make sure to take more pictures.
As a final note: anyone can do this. Florida, especially South Florida, is a really lucky state when it comes to growing food. Year-round, baby… especially if you’re in zone 10. Start thinking about what you can do – right now – that will feed you and your family, friends, church and neighborhood for years and years to come.
You can have greener thumbs by this weekend!
11 comments
"Jaboticaba?"
"Err, uh… no, can't say that I ever have. But I'm starting to think I might like to."
aralia plants? Reeeeeeeeealy? was your mom growing pot? ;)
If you were to make a list of the people least likely to ever grow pot, my mom would be on there, right next to Billy Graham, Mother Teresa and Carrie Nation…
i don't know if mother theresa would be on that list. what do you think she did to get away from the pain and misery of the natives during her missionary work? (hehe i can make fun of her because i'm catholic, but if you do it it's racist or something) :)
Suddenly I'm picturing her on the stage at Marley Fest…
Hows that jabuticaba doing? Did you plant a seed grown or grafted variety? I understand that grafted plants fruit much faster. Mine just went in the ground 4 weeks ago.
It's poking along – not growing much. The one I have in a pot up here in N FL is growing much quicker than the one in the ground down there.
I believe they were grafted – I'll have to check. Glad you have one too – they're really cool trees. Apparently the trick to quick Jabuticaba growth is lots and lots of water.
LOL! Love it, I said the same to my parents when I planted 2 Jabuticabas in their back yard but we have had regular fruit off them since they were around 4-5 years old, they are both loaded this spring season (Aus Spring this month) “brand-new jaboticaba tree. HECK YEAH! IN LIKE, SEVENTEEN YEARS, WE’LL HAVE FRUIT!” I wonder if the “15 year+” fruiting wait is related to neglected trees as mine fruited in 5 years from a seedling was about 20cm, now around 1-2m & loaded with blooms.
I think they fruit faster if they know they are loved.
HI, we just recently became homeowners and I am excited to start growing edible things to feed us and bless our neighbors! A couple questions:
1. What did you do with all the dirt you removed and replaced with compost/debris?
2. From your previous post, do you just put down any type of cardboard before covering with mulch around your new plants?
Congrats!
I didn’t take out dirt – we just piled material on top of it.
Yes, we put down cardboard. However, you don’t have to. Weeds are easy to pull in sand and you can just yank them up, then stack mulch.
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