Farmer Steve’s Plants for 2024

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May 24, 2024- by Steven Greer

Above, those two zinnia are interesting experiments. Not only were they among the few to survive being stored as seeds for years, but I planted these out by the lake in dry limestone rock. They managed to grow, but stayed small. I now have them in dirt and have fertilized them.

The zinnia below are similar, but I planted them in good dirt from the start. They are all violet in color. The whites and other colors must be less robust. I have noticed over the years as I collect the seeds that violet seems to outnumber the others.

Below is a cilantro plant I am letting go to seed. It has tiny flowers. I will try to collect the seeds.Below are love bugs that invaded for about a week.The watermelon above is interesting. A Sandhill Crane tried to eat it and separated the roots from the first-stage seed leaves (the green plant right after it germinates). It was so young that it was able to differentiated into roots again and I saved it. I moved it from a pot into the ground today. Let’s see if it spreads into a full plant and produces melons.

The Dracaena, below, is my pet project. I got it around 1991 as a gift from a girlfriend. So, it is about 33-yo. At great hassle and expense, I have taken it from Ohio, to Miami, then it was held hostage in a moving company warehouse for a month in 1997 before arriving in Manhattan. It moved several times in Manhattan. In 2016, it moved with me into the Ritz Carlton hotel in White Plains and then the Grand Hyatt in Greenwich. It then made it back to Ohio from 2016 to 2019. After that, it moved with me to Port Saint Lucie, Florida and stayed from 2019 to 2021. I moved in 2021 and the plant stayed with a neighbor and then a friend for a year and a half.

It then moved with me to Jupiter for all of 2023. That is when I decided to sever it into to two because it was too tall for moving trucks. The top growth did not miss a beat. It was unfazed. The original lower half finally grew leaves.
Above is a patch of Bermuda grass I grew after I hit golf balls. The Sandhill Crane is newly born this season and seems proud of it. I also have about five new rabbits enjoying the Garden at Lake Greer.

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