Some of the smaller blueberry plants even have unripe blueberries already. It looks like we'll have a nice harvest of blueberries this year with over 20 mature plants.
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| Carpenter bee enjoying the blueberry buds |
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| Blueberries formation |
The Florida Bee Farm" is a mini eco-farm located in Clearwater Florida and completely solar powered. Our eleven hives of pampered (spoiled) honey bees produce delicious local honey. We utilize organic growing methods with naturally made compost and tonics to repel pests. Irrigation system fed by a rain barrel collection system powered by solar electric.
Honey Bee
Showing posts with label nursery. Show all posts
Showing posts with label nursery. Show all posts
Wednesday, March 2, 2016
Blueberries and Bees
Lately there's plenty of activity at The Florida Bee Farm around the blueberry plants. And there's many different types of bees buzzing around the blueberry flowers. Bumble bees, carpenter bees, honey bees from our apiary and a couple bee types I wasn't sure of. While watching a large Carpenter bee on a bud I noticed a couple smaller bees buzzing the Carpenter bee and even bumping into it a few times. There was plenty of blueberries to go around so not sure what the bee anger was all about.
Some of the smaller blueberry plants even have unripe blueberries already. It looks like we'll have a nice harvest of blueberries this year with over 20 mature plants.
Some of the smaller blueberry plants even have unripe blueberries already. It looks like we'll have a nice harvest of blueberries this year with over 20 mature plants.
Wednesday, February 3, 2016
Seeds and cuttings
Networking with other gardeners is a great way to expand your garden in an economical and educational way. Because spending time with other gardeners can be a good opportunity to learn about plants you haven't worked with in the past.
I met a really good gardener the other day and was lucky to be able to walk through her garden with her while she showed me many interesting varieties of flowering plants. Many plants that bees and butterflies thrive around. I swapped some honey for seeds, plants and cuttings and also learned a lot. I only wish I took the time to take some pictures of her garden because it was beautiful. But I had my hands full, taking notes, juggling plants, cuttings and seeds and labeling baggies. The icing on the cake was she had four chickens that ran around while we discussed gardening. Interesting because I keep thinking that having chickens might be fun.
One of my favorite plants was her exotic balloon milkweed plant. It looked like a milkweed plant with a big ole balloon hanging from it. And the balloon was full of seeds. I planted about 40 seeds so hopefully there will be balloon milkweed in our Honey Bee Flower Garden before long.
Just about the whole day was spent potting seeds and cuttings. The nursery / Florida Green House was completely full so some of the Purple Cherokee tomatoes got to graduate out of the nursery. Stage II Tomato growing area is also filling up again so it's about time to build some more container plant growing areas.
I met a really good gardener the other day and was lucky to be able to walk through her garden with her while she showed me many interesting varieties of flowering plants. Many plants that bees and butterflies thrive around. I swapped some honey for seeds, plants and cuttings and also learned a lot. I only wish I took the time to take some pictures of her garden because it was beautiful. But I had my hands full, taking notes, juggling plants, cuttings and seeds and labeling baggies. The icing on the cake was she had four chickens that ran around while we discussed gardening. Interesting because I keep thinking that having chickens might be fun.
One of my favorite plants was her exotic balloon milkweed plant. It looked like a milkweed plant with a big ole balloon hanging from it. And the balloon was full of seeds. I planted about 40 seeds so hopefully there will be balloon milkweed in our Honey Bee Flower Garden before long.
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| Balloon Milkweed |
Just about the whole day was spent potting seeds and cuttings. The nursery / Florida Green House was completely full so some of the Purple Cherokee tomatoes got to graduate out of the nursery. Stage II Tomato growing area is also filling up again so it's about time to build some more container plant growing areas.
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| Greenhouse / Nursery filling up |
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| New arrivals |
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| Happy plants |
Monday, October 5, 2015
Blueberries for the Bee Farm
Craigslist has all sorts of interesting things for sale or for free. This week we drove out to Lithia to get as many mature blueberry plants as we could fit in my truck and trailer. They were in 25 gallon pots that weighed about 75 lbs each which meant we could only fit 18 in one trip. And it's a good thing because the spot we had picked out for the blueberries exactly fit 18 plants. Their Blueberry farm had several thousand plants at one time but they were ready for a change in life and were selling the property and getting out of the blueberry business.
Blueberry plants take several years before they produce optimum amounts of fruit. The 3 small plants I purchased last year only produced a few berries last season so it will be nice to have a good harvest of blueberries this year. We eat several cups of blueberries almost every day. Blueberries also need bees for pollination which makes having these at The Bee Farm so convenient. Another synergistic benefit of having blueberry plants is the effect on the flavor of our honey. Blueberry pollen makes absolutely delicious honey !
The plants were placed on weed cloth in a corner of the yard where there's plenty of sun. They were also added to the irrigation system to automatically be watered every day. However it's important you don't over water them so a controlled drip system was employed.
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| Blueberry farm |
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| Ready to unload the Blueberry plants |
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| Blueberry plants in their new home |
The plants were placed on weed cloth in a corner of the yard where there's plenty of sun. They were also added to the irrigation system to automatically be watered every day. However it's important you don't over water them so a controlled drip system was employed.
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| Automatic irrigation of the blueberry plants |
Friday, October 2, 2015
Making Plumeria plants
One of the easiest plants to grow is what I think of as a classical Hawaiian plant. One that is used to make the lais that people wear. The plant's name is Plumaria, also know as a Frangipani. This plant thrives in subtropical climates and produces a delicious smelling flower. Absolutely beautiful. We have many of these plants around our home and they were getting too big so it was time to prune and turn the cuttings into new plants. I ended up with about 50 cuttings which will soon become a full size Plumaria plants. Some of the plants I had at home were well over 6 feet tall.
Tuesday, September 29, 2015
Moringa Harvest
Our Moringa trees have been growing like crazy and we've been harvesting the leaves for their nutritional values. Every day we add dried moringa to our morning smoothies. It's not what I would call delicious but more of an earthy taste that's good for you. Moringa is one of those miracle plants that are very nutritious and widely used in other parts of the world. I believe the entire plant is edible and very resistant to drought and insects.
From Wikipedia: It is a fast-growing, drought-resistant tree, native to the southern foothills of the Himalayas in northwestern India, and widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical areas where its young seed pods and leaves are used as vegetables. It can also be used for water purification and hand washing, and is sometimes used in herbal medicine.
The leaves are the most nutritious part of the plant, being a significant source of B vitamins, vitamin C, provitamin A as beta-carotene, vitamin K, manganese, and protein, among other essential nutrients. When compared with common foods particularly high in certain nutrients per 100 g fresh weight, cooked moringa leaves are considerable sources of these same nutrients. Some of the calcium in moringa leaves is bound as crystals of calcium oxalate though at levels 1/25th to 1/45th of that found in spinach, which is a negligible amount.
The leaves are cooked and used like spinach and are commonly dried and crushed into a powder used in soups and sauces.
The immature seed pods, called "drumsticks", are commonly consumed in South Asia. They are prepared by parboiling, and cooked in a curry until soft. The seed pods/fruits, even when cooked by boiling, remain particularly high in vitamin C (which may be degraded variably by cooking) and are also a good source of dietary fiber, potassium, magnesium, and manganese.
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| Moringa being washed |
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| Drying the Moringa leaves |
From Wikipedia: It is a fast-growing, drought-resistant tree, native to the southern foothills of the Himalayas in northwestern India, and widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical areas where its young seed pods and leaves are used as vegetables. It can also be used for water purification and hand washing, and is sometimes used in herbal medicine.
| Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz) | |
|---|---|
| Energy | 64 kcal (270 kJ) |
8.28 g
|
|
| Dietary fiber | 2.0 g |
1.40 g
|
|
9.40 g
|
|
| Vitamins | |
| Vitamin A equiv. |
(47%)
378 μg |
| Thiamine (B1) |
(22%)
0.257 mg |
| Riboflavin (B2) |
(55%)
0.660 mg |
| Niacin (B3) |
(15%)
2.220 mg |
(3%)
0.125 mg |
|
| Vitamin B6 |
(92%)
1.200 mg |
| Folate (B9) |
(10%)
40 μg |
| Vitamin C |
(62%)
51.7 mg |
| Minerals | |
| Calcium |
(19%)
185 mg |
| Iron |
(31%)
4.00 mg |
| Magnesium |
(41%)
147 mg |
| Manganese |
(17%)
0.36 mg |
| Phosphorus |
(16%)
112 mg |
| Potassium |
(7%)
337 mg |
| Sodium |
(1%)
9 mg |
| Zinc |
(6%)
0.6 mg |
The leaves are the most nutritious part of the plant, being a significant source of B vitamins, vitamin C, provitamin A as beta-carotene, vitamin K, manganese, and protein, among other essential nutrients. When compared with common foods particularly high in certain nutrients per 100 g fresh weight, cooked moringa leaves are considerable sources of these same nutrients. Some of the calcium in moringa leaves is bound as crystals of calcium oxalate though at levels 1/25th to 1/45th of that found in spinach, which is a negligible amount.
The leaves are cooked and used like spinach and are commonly dried and crushed into a powder used in soups and sauces.
Drumsticks
drumstick
The immature seed pods, called "drumsticks", are commonly consumed in South Asia. They are prepared by parboiling, and cooked in a curry until soft. The seed pods/fruits, even when cooked by boiling, remain particularly high in vitamin C (which may be degraded variably by cooking) and are also a good source of dietary fiber, potassium, magnesium, and manganese.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Florida Bee Farm ... AND Nursery
Last week a representative from The Florida Department of Agriculture inspected and certified the Florida Bee Farm which means we're officially a legal nursery that can grow plants and legally sell them.
Not completely sure where this is going but the direction we're heading is interesting and might be fun. My nephew is also interested in growing things ... especially peppers and he will be working with us too. It's nice seeing young people passionate about gardening. The new greenhouse setup seems to be working well which means we should have plenty of healthy seedlings growing into healthy plants soon. At least that's the plan.
Last week I found an ad on Craigslist from a professional landscape company that was giving away a thousand plant pots of various sizes so I completely loaded the truck bed full of free pots. It's amazing how many free resources are available. Yesterday the Bee farm received about 4 yards of free mulch from the county which was loaded by them into my truck. Unfortunately it wasn't very good quality mulch, especially not the type I would put around my plants. However it did work well for using in the walkways around the planting areas.
Not completely sure where this is going but the direction we're heading is interesting and might be fun. My nephew is also interested in growing things ... especially peppers and he will be working with us too. It's nice seeing young people passionate about gardening. The new greenhouse setup seems to be working well which means we should have plenty of healthy seedlings growing into healthy plants soon. At least that's the plan.
Last week I found an ad on Craigslist from a professional landscape company that was giving away a thousand plant pots of various sizes so I completely loaded the truck bed full of free pots. It's amazing how many free resources are available. Yesterday the Bee farm received about 4 yards of free mulch from the county which was loaded by them into my truck. Unfortunately it wasn't very good quality mulch, especially not the type I would put around my plants. However it did work well for using in the walkways around the planting areas.
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