The Garden State
Rob has been showing some loverly pictures of the verdant fecundity that is his garden down South. A few years ago we both planted some fig trees at basically the same time.
Here’s his today
And here are its Jersey “siblings”
I am right on the edge of where these things can live per the USDA; the winters are turning them into Fig Banzais…
He also has some nice Roma tomatoes starting to fill out where as mine are just starting to grow
Ah well…there ain’t much ‘victory’ in this garden at this point!
Fun, Gorebal Warming, Life | Mr. Bingley | 
May 26, 2013 2:14 pm
Subscribe
My fig trees have leaves that can cover up some privates but that’s about all they’re good for at the moment.
We’re a little ahead of you guys on the spring gardens.
Maybe you should put up a greenhouse?
Despair not. This has been a miserably cold spring. Nothing is what it should be. Just pray for better weather.
Yum, figs. Just tell the trees if they don’t behave then Jesus is gonna have some words for them. (It’s in the Bible.)
Re: tomatoes: sheesh – get a head start – start them INSIDE. Under gro-lamps (LEDs so the SWAT teams can’t run by temp-checking your house for hot-spots.) By the time it’s warm enough to put them out safely, you’ve got some good-sized transplants.
BTW, down here in hot-country, we have ’em nice and ripe now. And our season will be ending soon – because it’s gonna get too danged HOT to grow them. 🙁
About the only veggie I know of that really thrives in our SW FL summers is…okra.
Great stuff if you like it (as I do).
But…the seed packet said they’d grow to about 5′ tall – my height. And I was on a 3′ stepladder harvesting them by the time they finally finished. 9′ tall okra (I can reach up to 6′ without a ladder) are a bit intimidating, despite the lovely flowers.
I love okra; I’ve got some planted here too. We don’t have space in the house for grow lamps, but I think one day we will put up a small greenhouse on the patio.
There’s other things to give you head-starts – wall-o-water, mini greenhouses (basically a box with plastic sides) (Google wall o water and you even get a nice cheap DIy). Small greenhouse on the patio will work too.
BTW, did you know tomatoes are perennials? Yes they are – I kept some going for 3 years down here once (before the succumbed to late blight). If we can keep them from getting root-rot or heatstroke in the summer here, they pop right back up in the fall…handy, that.
His tomatoes may be bigger, may fruit earlier, but in the end they still won’t be Jersey tomatoes so pity the poor guy.
I agree with Mark. My homegrown Creole tomatoes are no match for those Jersey tomatoes.
It’s the chemical dumps I mean nutrients in the soil, Rob!