Amazing Silvia...those look wonderful! Congrats!! I can't get over your Lychee tree...mine are completely "fried". I sprayed it with Freeze Pruf and didn't cover. It's appx. 7-8 ft tall and almost 3 yrs old. I wonder why yours had no damage at all...but I'm very happy for you.

Your salad looks delicious!!Thanks for the pictures, nice to see green for a change.

Silvia, isn't Oakland in south florida near Fort Lauderdale? You are quite a bit south of me. My garden is pretty much gone. Picked some carrots, sugar snaps, broccoli, kohlrabi and radishes today. That is all that has survived. Soon I think I will rip it all out so I can prepare for my spring garden. Darn dollar weed! Maybe I can cover it up with compost and weed block for a while. Do you think that will kill it(the dollar weed)?

Oakland, Florida is part of Central Florida and is just outside Orlando. We had cold cold temps and those are things that do well in cold weather or at least most of them are. I didnot have much damage on neighbors on the same street had severe damage. Microclimates are truly everywhere. Linda

Hi Pug

Remember I told you that a nursery by my house has a full grown mangos, lychees and other tropical trees? Well, that Sunday that we had the worst freeze, I met him at the store and ask him about how he protect his young trees (anything up to 5 years old) He said that he has built a round with chicken wire and put compost around the tree. Then he covers them with frost cloth, he also put some sort of heat.

I am amazed at my lychee, I live in a HOA, I have to be careful what I put outside. The wind was coming from that side too, I thought for sure was a goner. It is about 7-8 feet and about 2 1/2 years old. The same with all my citrus, nothing was covered. The one I was most concerned was the tangerine recently planted, it shows not even one burned leaf.

Sharon

Oakland Park is in SF, I am near Orlando and going through my neighborhood there is a lot of damage!

We are eating a lot of veggies, I have to harvest to be able to plant more. Sweet potatoes is a good crop that I recommended to everybody, it keeps well and very tasty.

Sorry I cannot help you with the dollar weed, I don't know the answer. All the lawns around here are brown, bahia as well as the other grass. Maybe now that is brown is a good idea to do something about. In Phoenix I had xeriscape front yard and I used the blow torch on them. It worked without using chemicals. It is a 2 person operation, the other one has to keep a hose running all the time just in case, you don't want to burn accidentally something else. -)

Linda

Yes I am near Orlando and we had some long freeze around here, I did not think anything was going to make it. And I worried about the fruit trees, they take a long time to grow and they are not cheap. Around March I will see what fully comeback and what don't.

Vegetables, even seedlings made it with flying colors.:o)

Silvia

My basil has dropped all of the bottom leaves, but the tops still have leaves and are still blooming. Sould I just leave it alone and trim later when it warms up. I don't see why I couldn't keep it even though it doesn't look very good. It does attract bees.

Thanks Silvia, amazing about your Lychee tree...I also had no idea it was 7-8ft tall, from the looks of that pic, I thought it was only 4ft or so.

Sharon

I think you can leave your basil till later to see if it will recover, you are in a zone warmer than mine, it should do fine.

I like to start different varieties, usually I use the egg carton containers to start tiny seeds like basil, the ones I like are the styrofoam where I can easily write the names and punch holes at the bottom for drainage, also on top for aeration.

Pug

I took the picture where is higher, there is a slope going down, and have not measured the lychee but is next to 2 big oak trees and is taller than me, and I am not 4 ft, lol.

My lychee was sprayed also with the freeze pruf, but last year was not sprayed and had no damage either.

Here is another picture on slope. the fence is 6 ft high, the roses and boysenberries are almost there.

Silvia

Silvia,

So happy to see your garden fared so well. Those carrots look yummy and your greens are so pretty! I recently planted a few purple cauliflower seedlings. I hope they turn out as beautiful as yours. Thanks, as always for sharing your beautiful garden with us.

Anna

Oh My..... Dunno WHAT to say.....

Thank you Anna, I am surprised at the quantity of veggies not harmed by the freeze, the carrots have been so productive. They are very easy to sow when you buy them in a tape. I also have some miniature called Thumbelina and Parisian, they would be great for kids or containers.

It is a good idea to try different colored veggies, not only add interest to a meal but there is a whole science about the nutrition in different colors. You will like your purple cauliflower, Cheryl likes the colored cabbage that I am growing now, she said has a hearty flavor and softer leaves.

The front yard of the house it looks the same, the plantings there are very hardy, they might not be the best looking but they don't die. When in bloom azaleas in the front yard look pretty.

The neighborhood is called Oakland because of the old oaks here, we still have a lot of them, when the builder came they took down the old oaks and had to replaced them with new ones. Is mandatory to have 2 oaks in the front and 2 maples in the back.-)

I am looking forward to improve the looks of my front yard someday, I am sure going to need ideas. And they will have to be frost proof because we are going to get a freeze sometimes whether I like or not.-)

Hi NC

We just had some terrible freezing days. All my passies I think they are toast, I don't know if they will ever come alive. I guess is time for me to start new seeds, I have my nice mini collection of passies that I can start. My runner beans took a dive too, at least I had a decent harvest already. Fava beans are doing well despite the weather. And I am eating some of my ripe bananas, so life is good!

This is how I kept warm my avocado tree

Silvia

I'm Glad that Some of Your Plants Made it though the Freeze.. But I'm Also a Bit Upset for You in re Those that Didn't...

Could have Done with That Fire Pit Here, Had Snow... It Was GRAT to Look at as it was on EVERY Leaf and Branch...

Do You Eat Your Carrots Raw? I LOVE Raw Carrots! ***Grin***
NC

Working on the garden today, I saw some plants greening at the bottom, so there is a possibility that they are not dead and will comeback. I will wait till March to see what survived.

And yes I like my carrots raw and cooked also. I harvested today Thumbelina variety, they are small like baby potatoes, same shape. I stir fry them with butter and maple syrup till they were caramelized, they were good!

{{gwi:21784}}

Silvia

Silvia --- You are so lucky to have your plants survive the deep freezes so nicely. The carrots look exceptional. I found a use for carrot greens---chicken food. The chickens love them.

Christine

Great post Sylvia, I love your carrots, and lunch! All my lettuce's survived, as did the broccoli and the sugar snap peas. So did the pole beans BUT they are getting old now and never really grew so they are being replaced this weekend. I have five 2-foot yellow tomato varieties that survived because they were in the back near the water, but all my tomato seedlings near the front of the house are toast so I'll be buying what sets I can find in a few weeks to start a spring crop...onions and radishes also did well. I'll try to post a few pictures tomorrow since we're looking at the bright side of things :-)

Tom

Hi Christine

When we were having the freeze, I thought for sure nothing was going to survived, I was not prepared for so many nights like that neither where the plants.-(

This time I over planted carrots, I have a japanese red that is very sweet, have to harvest those soon. I was going to put more beets and Cheryl said they are not too versatile, she said the same about the hot peppers.lol

How is your garden? Is it looking better after this few warm days? I know that we are all thinking new beginnings with some of the plants. Loosing any veggie is okay because they can be easily started from seeds.

My 2 papayas look very ugly, worse than the bananas,lol

Hi Tom

Every day I count my lucky stars and what I have and not what I don't. Especially now with all the tragedy around us with the earthquake in Haiti.

We have a warm bed to sleep and good food, medicine if we get sick, loved ones around us, we are rich in blessings!

And yes, I would love to see your garden and the positives, it is always room for beginnings. You probably did not get as cold as me or Christine, we had a frozen wave here.-(

Silvia

Hi Silvia!
You passi may come back from the roots and even more vigorous. I have three: Incarnata, Lady Lavender and Lady Margaret. Last winter they froze to the ground and I thought that I lost them. But they came back - and so strong! This time I even didn't cover them and they are dead-dry frozen now, but I'm not worried - they will come back. What variety do you have, Silvia?

Hi Chara

That is very good to know that the passies come back from the root. I would hate to loose them, they were growing very nice!

I started from seed sweet granadilla, because I love the fruit!

Also bought 2 more at the Biosphere because they were pretty looking, one is edible and the other one is not, has blue flowers and bean like pods. Unfortunately, they had no label.

I have different varieties of other passies to start, I just did not remember, now with the freeze it got me thinking again.

If I was going to win the prize on the worst looking plants after the freeze will be first the passies, then the papayas, and after that the bananas.

I will have to keep away from the pruners! :-(

Silvia

silvia, tried to send you an email about possibility of visiting with you on Monday afternoon.

Did it make it to you or get lost in cyberspace?

bernie

silvia, tried to send you an email about possibility of visiting with you on Monday afternoon.

Did it make it to you or get lost in cyberspace?

bernie

Hi Bernie

I did not get any email from you today. Maybe by mistake I deleted them, I don't know.

That was a nice surprise that maybe you can come by Monday. My email is vsilvia1@msn.com.

Silvia

silvia, I've tried to emails. Try me at jbker (at) juno.com

I typed without the @ because I've read it keeps spammers from grabbing your email, but I'm not a computer type so that may not be necessary.

email me an address and I will find you tomorrow.

bernie