Mushroom season again... Here another good one I know of, Oyster mushroom but this time it's different in color, growing on a log on the ground. This was the first time seeing this color, mostly I see the white/gray one's, ..posted above.

Interesting discussion. Reading what others have said set me to thinking. It seems it would be best to consider growing foods that give high yield with not a lot of effort and they have to be foods that I like! I would definitely do sweet potatoes and some kind of bean. But what foods can you grow without the use of pesticides in Florida? I would use onions, garlic and herbs to help keep some of the bugs away. I've read also that some insects don't like marigolds. I'd have to research more on using plants to protect other plants from bugs. Of course, citrus fruits, mangoes and bananas. I read recently about a peach tree that has been developed to grow in Florida. Tomatoes, squash, peanuts. I like the idea of chickens for fresh eggs, but I couldn't slaughter them myself. (Yeah, I'm a wimp.) And a dairy cow would be useful too. But if things got really bad and you couldn't get butter or vegetable oils, I guess olives would be nice.I have no idea how many trees you'd need to be able to press enough oil to make it worth while and if you've got olives,capers would be nice too. I would really have to try growing coffee.

oysters are very amazing with bioremediation,tumor control, adaptability to substrates,pasteurization instead of steril- ization,speed of inoculation to harvest,possible yields per sq. ft.and just the novelty of the darn activity. the spent substrate is good animal fodder. i compost it with bags of grounds from starbucks. i never got past the trial stage of fruitng on grounds-i didnt like the smell or the mess. straw is cleaner and smells good. ive had no first hand ex- periance with logs. i say try it but it will take awhile to permeate a big log thus longer to fruiting. also the wood may not be as nutricious as straw innoculated at 15-20% grain spawn. i get ostreatus spawn on sawdust from fungi perfecti,djmor spawn on grain from northwest mycological consultants in oregon. ive also been happy with mushroom people on the farm in tn. once i get a bag of spawn i trans- fer it out a few times on grain. this way i have it on hand and can afford to innoculate heavily.you must read ggandmm.

The gaillardia seeds are easy, the seeds that drop come up under the plants when the temperature cools down here in late summer and fall then they spend winter as a green rosette. I've never tried them in pots, I just direct sowed the pack when I first planted them, sort of scratched the top of the soil and scattered them in a spot. A friend of mine scattered some in fall and she has a lot of them up. Since you only have a few, you might just plant them in a pot or do the winter sowing thing and set it outside or you could direct sow them where you want them and mark the spot. Don't bury them, the instructions says to barely cover. They have a tap root and plants like that usually do better direct sowed in my experience. Echinacea does best with cold stratification from what I've read. I don't grow them so someone else would be better on any advice or say different.