Wind Damaged Your Corn? Get Creative!

So my dent corn has really taken off and I couldn't be more proud. It grows so fast that I can come home each day after work and there is always new growth for me to see:

This is my corn on September 3rd:

You can see my beans also starting in the background, they are huge now!

September 17th:

Knight/Scarecrow only tricked the birds for about 2 weeks

September 24th:

All this fast growth sounds great but there is a downside...

Most plants can be placed in either of two categories: Slow growing but vigorous(for example a Mango tree) or fast growing but fragile ( for example CORN!!!)

So when I got home yesterday I found my beautiful corn plants looking like this:

NOOOOOOoooooooOOOOOOOooOOOOO!!!  =(

Turns out we had a lot of rain and wind that day, The rain water collected on the corn plants makes them heavy. It only took a few minutes of a moderately strong wind to topple my beautiful plants.

But eventually I had to dry my manly tears and get to work!

I couldn't find much information online on protecting corn from wind. At least none that was useful to me. Since most corn is grown commercially the methods used by that industry don't really translate to my small backyard operation.

So I got creative:

Yes that is weed-eater line

A string tied from one fence to the opposite fence now holds my corn in place.

Notice that I have to rows of corn. Each row was fitted with two strings. One string to support the base of the plant and one to support the top portion:

In each row, the upper string travels behind the plants while the lower string runs through the front. This method gives the plants added stability.

I suppose support stakes could be used too. I didn't have any stakes that were tall enough so I went with my string method instead. If you do use stakes make sure to bury them on the ground early; corn doesn't respond well to root disturbance. 

The point is to be creative and use what we already have whenever possible.

I have some cool projects to show you very soon, but until then...

Keep on learning!

Want To Save Some Dough? Non Edible Money Savers!

Alright, so we all grow for different reasons. Some for survival, and some for sport. Some people grow plants strictly for profit. Other people grow their food for its nutritional value in their specific diet.

However, how come edibles take all the glory when it comes to backyard growing? What about non edible cash crops?

Here are three plants you can grow right NOW right HERE in South Florida to save that cash:

The first one on my list is technically an edible plant, however its non dietary use is what I'm mostly interested in. I am talking about Luffa plants:

I'm sure you've seen these before. They are usually sold in stores with some sort of handle:

The best part is that they are easy to grow and produce plenty of fruit.

My newborn Luffas

My biggest fruit right now

Luffas are vines so you can get creative twining them (Luffa can grow to 30')

Luffa growing on pergola

Luffa growing on chain-link fence

Luffa will be ready in about 150-200 days from time of planting. That is really fast!

 Young gourds are edible and some people love them ( I don't). To create sponges let the gourds mature until they feel lighter and the skin looks brown or dark yellow.

Making a sponge out of the gourd is a matter  of peeling off the skin and shaking the seeds out (don't throw them, save some for future sowing). Cut your Luffa into more manageable slices and use it to shower with, scrub dishes,wash your car, you get the idea.

Random fact:  Luffas are part of the cucumber family.


My next non edible cash hero is perhaps the most popular item on the list. I speak of Aloe Vera (yes technically you can also eat Aloe):

Part of the succulent family, Aloe Vera has been attributed with many uses. While many of the so said benefits are controversial, as a South Floridian I can attest for its effectiveness  treating sunburns. It also works great as a makeup remover, or a moisturizer.

My Own Slimy Resident

And finally, on to the last plant on my catalog. You might not like this one. It takes 10 years for the tree to mature from seed. It is still however, my favorite plan on the list. Allow me to introduce you to Soapberry( Sapindus Saponaria):

As the name implies Soapberry is used to make soap. It is still used daily in some countries like India and southern China. In our own country it is mostly used by penny-pinchers like myself or fans of all-that-which-is-organic.

The more I read about this magnificent tree, the more I fall in love with it, I am now growing more Soapberry trees than I know what to do with:

Whatever your reason is for joining the backyard grower movement, I can almost guarantee that you will feel that awesome "holy s%#t, I just harvested my own food" feeling. It will never get old. But why? Could it be in our very own DNA to enjoy a bountiful harvest? After all, we've evolved from folks who relied on agriculture for survival. Do we maybe enjoy a good harvest because we all run our crops through imaginary cash registers? I love to picture my own savings as I shop in my backyard supermarket.

Keep on learning!

Want a Banana Plant? Just Take A Pup!

I was watering my banana trees today (actually, bananas trees are not really trees at all, they are in fact the World's largest flowering herb!).

So...I was watering my banana PLANTS today when I noticed something. See, my original plan for the banana field was for it to grow along the fence that divides me from my neighbors property. Yes, bananas are awesome, but I also loved the fact that they do such a good job as a privacy fence.

Truth is...my neighbors backyard at the moment is less than favorable to look at so I'm really counting on those bananas to do a good job covering that view.

This is how the banana strip looks right now:

Notice my poor attempt at covering the view to my neighbors hideous yard

However is not all bad news...take a closer look and you will notice something. My bananas are propagating like crazy:

This is one of my smallest banana plants and its got, one..two..three...four pups!!!!!

So with every single banana plant shooting up pups like crazy, why don't I take some out and spread them to the sides to cover up my fence faster??

But before you go digging up your pups, it will probably help if you understand their anatomy. New shoots look something like this (line shows cutting angle):

So out came the shovel:

And one single cutting motion at the right angle...

And your pup is yours to do as you please bwahahaha!!

Now I have sped up their lateral spread, and everybody looks happy!

That's a proud mom in the left watching one of  her pups move out on it's own!

Kat Williams scoping out the "new" resident

I hope that if you learn anything from this post is just how easy it is to propagate bananas, so if you have a neighbor with some plants, go ahead and nag him for a pup. Better yet, tell your neighbor you know how to dig it up yourself!

Update: It is been two months and the banana plants are getting huge. I have decided against transplanting any more pups in between the mounds. I did a bit more research and it is recommended that a spacing of about 8 feet is kept in between each mound. I say it will probably be another two months before I get the banana privacy fence that I want.

My original point still stands. Bananas are very easy to transplant =)

Here is a picture of the progress:

Have a good one, and keep learning!

Planting Corn this Season? You Should Try Dent Corn

September is here and you still have time to start your corn plants.

I've noticed however that most folks in South Florida grow the sweet corn variety.

This post is my plead to get you to try dent corn, also known as field corn, or yellow dent corn.

But first I think it's important to give you a brief background:

While dent corn makes up about 90% of all the corn grown in the US, it is mostly used for animal feed. For this reason many people know the variety as "cow corn". It has many other uses, like making tortilla chips, or even making ethanol fuel.

Because of it's importance in animal feed production, this type of corn has been labeled as "animal corn", while sweet corn is dotted with "people corn".

That makes me mad. I actually prefer the taste of dent corn!

Dent corn also has more nutritional value that the sweet kind. Besides tasting great, each dent corn kernel is completely "meaty" and not filled with the sugary liquid like the sweet type. No more spraying the person in front of you with corn juice!

So how can you tell them apart? Well as the name implies dent corn has a dent in each kernel while sweet corn doesn't. I took a pic of both for comparison, you can see the dent corn on the left:

I  picked the biggest seed I could find from each pack, the dent corn kernel looks way more impressive!

On the pictures below you can see the difference in corn ears, notice how sweet corn is more pale:

Dent Corn

Sweet Corn

So now that you are convinced, how do you plant it? Easy!

Plant the kernels about 1" deep in good loose soil. Space them 8 to 12 inches part, and space each row 24 to 36 inches.

I usually put two kernels per hole to increase my odds. If any don't come up you cant always go back and replant.

Provide plenty of water for your corn. After all, corn is part of the grass family!

 In about 5-7 days your rows will pop up and your corn will grow very fast from there.

When the plants reach about 6 to 8 inches it is a good idea to mound some soil around the base of the plants to keep them from bending during strong winds.

When corn is planted in large fields the outer plants provide wind protection for the rest of the field. In small beds however it is a good idea to mound soil around their base for extra support.

Corn ears will be ready to harvest about 100 days from time of sowing.

Have you tried dent corn? Let me know what you think, 

 Keep on learning!

Strawberry Space Saving Tip

Plant your strawberry plants on your raised bed cinder blocks and send any new shoots to adjacent holes.  Great way to save space!

Keep your care tags whenever possible, they come in handy when trying to remember varieties.

Catching up with the progress

Ok so with this post I am going to bring you guys up to date with everything I've done before starting the blog so sit back!                                                       

On to the yard, some grass was installed: ( Yes the Robellinis were there, just needed a haircut to show their full potential)

Look at all that wasted space in between each palm!

Looked around Craigslist until I found someone trying to get rid of a pile of dirt. Sweeet find! 

It all started with a pile of dirt

So the beds came about..

and some more beds...

and moreeeee!!

Future watermelon pods

I then fenced a section of the garden:

And planted some peppers on there ( I now start everything I can from seed, I will do an entry about that later on)

I also bird proofed it:

Girlfriend appearance so rare on the garden that I posted this pic even if it was blurry

My watermelon pods are producing, can you see the yellow flowers?

And of course my nick name would not be Banana Nick if I didn't have a set of bananas on deck:

The bananas are all different types but I didn't label them so as I get fruit I will do so.

Now for an update on the front of the house, as you can see some smurf blue went on the walls and I decorated the tree bases with some flowers.

I used rocks that were laying around my property to keep the soil from eroding away:

If you can find rocks around your property, use them! They are free and look pretty nice arranged.

And I wanted to finish this post with a little project I started right around the time I bought the house. It is called a pond-on-a-pot!

This is how is started

And is now looking great:!!

The fish keep mosquitoes at bay.  It is definitely one of my favorites projects so far.

I have lots more to share with you guys but I wont make this post any longer! 

Until next post, keep on learning!