Autumn is for Planting

In Florida the beginning of the gardening year is not in the spring. Our best time to begin a fabulous garden is in the late summer and early fall. Our gardens can be full of tasty and health giving vegetables and herbs all winter long.The list of potential plants to grow in our mild winters include most types of greens, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, carrots, onions, english peas, potatoes,lettuce, and most of the herbs except heat-loving basil. All kinds of cool season flowers can be grown, such as pansies, sweet william, petunias, snapdragons, and many others. Winter is also the time to plant blueberries, citrus, grapes, figs and other fruits adapted to our Florida climate. Plants will thrive with far less care than in the hotter months, with lower disease pressure, less insect problems, and less need to weed and water. Fall is the best time to start a compost pile. It is a good time to have your soil tested for PH balance and a good time to add dolomitic lime if needed. Gardening in the cooler months can be very enjoyable and a good way to get fresh air and exercise. Above is a photo of our dooryard garden at the end of winter last year. We had record cold here in North Florida, but all of the hardy plants survived and thrived.

Fennel for Food, Medicine, Beauty, and Beneficial Insects

Some plants have it all. They can be used for delicious food or flavoring, they can be used for medicine to treat common discomforts, they make lovely additions to our dooryard gardens because of their beautiful foliage and flowers, and as an added bonus they are attractive to the beneficial insects we want to visit our gardens. Fennel is a plant that does all this. Easy to grow from seeds or transplants, fennel is also drought tolerant and hardy. The leaves are finely divided and graceful, swaying gracefully to each gentle breeze. They have a delicious licorice scent and are very good in salad or added at the end of cooking time for fish or chicken. The seeds can be added to foods as well, but are commonly used in a medicinal tea. One teaspoon lightly crushed fennel seeds in a cup of hot water steeped for thirty minutes can be used to increase breast milk, sooth an upset stomach, or used as a gargle for sore throat. The seeds can also be chewed after meals to aid digestion and freshen breath. Florence fennel has a bulbous base which can be used as a vegetable. Bronze fennel is attractive to butterflies as a larval food. All types of fennel have brilliant yellow umbel flowers that bloom from early summer and beyond. These clusters of flowers are visited eagerly by many types of pollinators. Fennel is a wonderful example of a plant with so many uses that no home garden should be without.