Monroe County Master Gardener Association

I had the pleasure of visiting the Ford Edison Estates in Fort Myers Florida when visiting my daughter.  There are beautiful gardens and much history to learn about there.  During our walk through the garden I photographed a few of my favorite trees. The Banyan tree, a fig, that has an aerial root system extending from the branches.   It was not in bloom during my visit.  Another that I enjoyed was the Kapok that has large root system protruding above the soil. The tree was nearly 100 feet tall.  It too was not in bloom, however I learned that the fiber from the seed pod was used in floatation vests for the Navy.  Today it’s often used as an alternative fiber in stuffed animals and pillows.   The Royal Palms with all their majesty were lined along the walk in front of the estate.  My favorite was the Royal Poinciana (Delonix regia).  It was in full bloom with beautiful red flowers and a fern like leaf.  A seed pod forms after the bloom falls.  These pods are about a foot long and are extremely hard cased.  There was a beautiful specimen outside my daughter’s apartment.  We gathered a seed pod and I planted it.  Today it’s about two fee high in a pot.  Someday I hope it will bloom.  Of course it’s tropical so must be kept inside during the winter.  The most interesting tree was the Sausage Tree  ( Kigelia pinnata).  Growing from it were huge sausage appearing pods.  It also has an interesting flower.  One of the buds had fallen to the ground and I photographed it.  These trees have a somewhat prehistoric appearance.  These are just a few of the over 120 trees on the estate.  Make sure if you are in that area that you take the time to tour these gardens.

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Last Summer I visited Krones Conservatory to see their Butterfly exhibit.  Within the Exhibit there were these baskets at various levels and heights filled with flowers.  I knew this was something I wanted to try in my garden.  I have a few areas that need height.  I’ve been searching since then for these holders.  Still haven’t found the exact ones that are shown here, in the photos.  However, I found some online that are very similar.  The basic difference is the pole.  These use a 4×4 instead of an adjustable round pole.  I certainly will use this method in my garden this summer.  If anyone is interested in these as well, you can find them at http://www.gardenartisans.us/borderandpatiocolumns.aspx.  There are some great photos there of the kits used.  If you click on the section at the top “Pamela Crawford’s Side Planting Container Gardens” you will be re-directed to another page.  This shows her planting some of the baskets.  For a full PDF Tutorial click on “View Planting Demos here”. (about midway down).  This PDF can be saved for future warm weather.   Kits are available for purchase there.  If you’re handy you can make your own.   The ground spikes can be found at a home improvement store. They are in with deck materials.  I actually purchase 4 of them for my arbor but never used them.   The 4×4 material can also be purchased there.  Just cut them to the various levels and paint them.  The ones included in the kit are black, however I suggest you add bright color on the posts for interest.  An alternate wood block or metal block can be  used to clamp the basket to the top of the post and stabilize it.  I also thought plexiglass may work well for this.  It would be less noticeable  Then you just need some  U shape clamps to hold the wire basket in place or the large staples you hammer in. These are located in plumbing & electrical section of the store.  They use these for holding wire, conduit and pipes in place.  We can’t do a lot of outdoor gardening now, so it’s a great time to plan and prepare.  I plan on using those 4 spikes this coming Spring.  Enjoy your planning.

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Between the last two and a half weeks of defective hard drives and electronic camera shutters, I was nearly shut out of the blogosphere. In the next several days I’ll try to catch up on posts and photos our members have been sending.

Gail sent a series of photos from Butchart Gardens in Vancouver. The colors in the photos are all from foliage – there are no flowers! I looked up the climate in Vancouver – it is very mild (up to zone 8!) but can actually be droughty in the summer months. Gail, if you have information about what some of these plant species are, please send us the information in a comment.

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Jennie sent us some great information about African “keyhole”gardening and bag gardening. Whenever I learn how people in other cultures garden in ways that conserve and sustain scarce resources, I’m always impressed (and sometimes a little guilty feeling for our society’s inefficient use of precious resources). Jennie writes:

What’s a Keyhole garden?

My brother recently sent me links to YouTube videos of sack and keyhole gardens promoted in Africa as alternative raised beds for a household’s vegetable growing. I was very interested and am thinking how and whether to adapt the ideas to try here.

Keyhole gardens are a different type of raised bed intended to be more or less permanent and sustainable through an ongoing composting in a central “basket”.  In fact, the kitchen wastes  added to the center may provide all the fertilizer and irrigation necessary for successful vegetables in the bed, which is a convenient height about 2 feet above ground level. There are many variations, but in general stone or bricks are recommended for the outer wall, mortared or not, while strong wire mesh or woven saplings and branches make the inner basket tube. Between these walls, the 2-3 ft wide planting area is filled at first with a good deal of fibrous material such as corn husks, coir, straw, and cardboard along with soil and/or compost, manure, potting media,  mixed up or possibly layered as in a lasagna garden, finishing with several inches of good growing medium on the top layer. Kitchen scraps are to be dumped upon additional fibrous material in the central basket.

In dry climates or seasons, the water used to wash vegetables and dishes, etc., will be dumped into the center along with scraps and peelings. Since kitchen scraps are around 90% water, which is released during decay, this may provide sufficient moisture for the whole garden. Crops should grow as vigorously as on a typical compost heap, and the very active soil ecosystem may limit disease-causing fungi, as will the lack of surface or overhead irrigation. Crop rotation may still be needed to optimize nutrient use and plant health.

Such a bed can certainly be an attractive landscape feature like a large wishing well, but in the poverty of Africa where this instructional video was made, the efficiency of recycling water and organic material to raise high-quality food  in a small space is certainly the primary advantage.

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Likewise, their take on sack gardening is different from ours in using tall sacks that would hold a person or two,  and constructing a central column of rocks to allow water penetration into the whole container.  Then they insert plants into the sides of the sack, gaining greater growing surface area than most containers while limiting water evaporation.  Clearly less permanent and less attractive, these provide another low cost method of using compost and raised beds to maximize production and minimize losses to weeds and soil compaction. Such “kitchen gardens” do not replace agriculture but supplement a single household food supply with high quality ingredients that are consumed fresh, at their nutritional peak, with very little loss in harvest, storage or shipping.  

Before writing these ideas off as suitable for hot dry places, do a search and see how many keyhole gardens are in the UK and in our northwest!

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