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Hooray! Fall is here, and we’re finally getting some cool days. It’s been a long wonderful summer, and lots of stuff has been happening at the nursery and farm. We did get in a summer trip to see and taste the flavor of Costa Rica,
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We settled in Puerto Viejo, a little seaside village that was the hub of the coconut and chocolate trade in the early part of the last century. While there we visited the permaculture tropical fruit farm Finca La Isla Botanical Garden http://www.costaricacaribbean.com/ This is small family run farm, that uses food forest techniques to grow and harvest a bounty of tropical fruits like mangosteen, rambutan, sapote, durian, carambola, banana and cacao, and spices like nutmeg, vanilla and black pepper. They make their living selling their fruit at the local farmers market and giving tours of their permaculture farm. While there we sampled mansosteen, I know now why they call it “Queen of Fruits”, and ate fresh cacao or chocolate. It was an eye opening experience to see black pepper and vanilla vines growing on tropical fruit trees laced throughout a tropical jungle. We learned a lot and hope to apply it to our experiments with growing food crops on the farm.
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Fall In The Gardens…… We’d like to welcome you back to visit the gardens. Take the time to enjoy the beauty of fall, and see the gardens when they’re in the height of fall glory. The wildflower plantings along the highway are blooming a final show for the fall, and the gardens are full of ten foot cosmos, golden yellow swamp sunflowers, tropical lilies and eye popping colorful foliage.
Enjoy the Simple Pleasures of Homegrown Fruit….. The cold of last winter turned this summer into a bonanza of produce, less bugs and much heavier crops of apples, pears and persimmons.
Never have we has so much production in the gardens, earlier harvests of Seminole pumpkins, Rampicante or Italian Trombone Squash, and tons of basil for pesto. Pears and muscadine grapes were juiced and poured into ice cube trays for fruit smoothies. We have rediscovered the food dehydrator, most of this year’s jujube crop was dried, and the flavor is wonderful, very much like dates. At this point we’re processing dried persimmons. We’ve discovered the astringent persimmons dry well in the hard stage; they’re a snap the cut up and 24 hours later we have the equivalent of chewy persimmon candy. The simple life is good! Come taste the bounty of the fall orchard, the tasting table is loaded with persimmon, dried jujubes, pineapple guavas, and marinated olives.
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The nursery has been growing along nicely…… This year’s crop has the best grown trees we’ve ever produced. Vicki, Mindy and Josh have been busy! Each tree has been hand pruned, so it will come to you fully trained, with well placed scaffold limbs; these beauties are full and absolutely gorgeous! The array of fruit varieties is dazzling this year, over 43 varieties of citrus , 33 varieties of figs , 30 varieties of persimmons , many rare fruits like olive , jujube and mayhaw . We’ve also start grafting citrus trees again, so next years crop will contain the hard to find varieties like red finger limes, blood oranges, cold hardy Changshi tangerines and Ichang and Harvey lemons. If you’ve been on the waiting lists for those we’ll have that crop ready next fall.
FALL IS THE BEST TIME TO PLANT
It's true that you can plant a container grown fruit tree the year round but, FALL is the best time to plant them. Fall planted fruit trees get an earlier start on root development and grow into a more stable tree. They'll need less pampering and will be better adapted to withstand heat and summer droughts.
We've got a huge collection of fruit trees designed go grow and fruit well in the hot humid south. Many heirlooms and near wild cultivars that require less spraying and are well adapted to thrive in organic gardens and permaculture sites.
Plant JUST FRUITS GROWN vegetable starts for an extended harvest.
Just Fruits Grown leafy vegetable sets like lettuce and kale have two or three plants in each cell. This allows you to experience an immediate harvest of tasty vegetables while leaving room for the remaining plant to reach maturity. You’ll be eating fresh fall greens in two weeks and your harvest will continue for most of the fall.
The Strawberry Plants are Ready!
We have Sweet Charlie and Camerosa available this year. Both sweeter than any store bought strawberries. Our plants are ready for your prepared garden. Young 4 inch potted strawberry plants that we have gotten off to good start can make your strawberry harvest a reality. You can plant them in your garden or in containers.
Check out our helpful strawberry guide on “How to Grow Strawberries” to get a head start on getting your beds ready.
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Yes! We now have Mushroom Compost
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If you're starting a raised bed garden, we’ve got several amendments to make your magic mix with.
New Peat….A recycled yard waste product. Weed free and completely organic $24.99 yard
Cow Manure Compost…. Aged until broken down into a fine peat like texture 29.99 yard
Mushroom Compost…. Hot stuff, really makes a garden zoom when used with caution. $34.99 yard
Potting soil… Composed of pine bark, peat moss and sand this mix is blended and pH balanced to be perfect for raised beds or vegetable container production, 100% organic $35.99 yeard
For the ultimate low down on how to grow an Organic Vegetable Garden check out our guide. It's full of great information, like how to make your own organic fertilizer, how much amendments to put into a bed and what are the High Demand vegetables and how to get them to perform. | 
