I'll have to buy my eggplant start, because I didn't get my seeds in time

Don't understand this, dg. My eggplant stands the S FL summer very well. I have to apologize to it when I pull it in July to clean up for the fall, because it's always still going gangbusters. For sure it's not too late to start from seeds, unless you don't want to wait for the fruit.

BTW, just checked my ping tung long and it's got 14 fruit on it right now, after cutting four yesterday and accidentally knocking two off. I've hated not having any winter here this year, but the tomatoes and eggplants sure like it. Of course, so do the aphids and white fly.

I'm just lazy, I guess. I could order seeds now, but I really am not that crazy about growing eggplant this year at all. I don't know why. I have so little full-sun space, and so much that needs to be planted, and I have to go away for a week in early June and don't have anyone with any real knowledge of gardening to keep my plants for me, so I'm sort of concentrating on what I have now, getting it into the ground and established before I go.

I have a volunteer cherry tomato plant that appeared out of nowhere. It has produced tiny little tomatoes all winter. Weird.

With NO Winter this year BUGS will be our chief crop.....

Over 30 adult black Stink Bug kills so far......caught hanging out with the beans and 'maters.....I'm ready to paint/tally the kills on the garden trellis

Tomato "worms".....still tiny but hungry.....with 5' tall plants planted too close together

Aphids on the pepper pots

Dirty....want Orlando Eggplant seeds ?

dougandpam

jerzeegirl(9b) Could it be an Everglades tomato?

abnorm, I don't like the tiny eggplants, but thanks for the offer. They don't seem to have as much flavor as I like. I sort of like the stronger flavored ones, so I'll probably just do a Black Beauty this year. I actually saved seeds from my Long Purple last year, since it was the only eggplant within miles, and I had to actually hand-pollinate it to get any fruits. I wasn't crazy about it either. To me 6 inch eggplants are not "long."

jerzeegirl, I was going to say the same thing. My Everglades survived the winter and already has fruit. I just planted another one and am about to plant more. I love those tomatoes so much! I call them my garden candy.

I stretch my tomato, pepper and cucumber crops by stretching 40% shade cloth over their bed in June or July after we start having 90s daily. I leave it up until the weather cools down a bit. I don't get quite as many veggies as earlier in the year but enough until my new fall plants are ready to plant.

Silvia, that is beautiful. Your garden makes me wish for unlimited funds to spend on gardening. Not saying that's why yours is so beautiful, because I know how frugal you are, but you do such a great job with what you have.

Thank you D, and you are right I am very frugal. The tomatoes and marigolds were started from seed and everything else in the veggie garden.

I have 2 new eggplants and the one that I had last season is really big, that will give me plenty.

The season for fruit already started and will continue through the summer and fall. Right now I am harvesting, red guava, sweet tamarind, star fruit (for juicing), lemons, limes, some are getting ready like figs, bananas, star apple. Forming fruit on my peaches and nectarines, mulberries. Hopefully I will get some lychees, mangoes, pomegranates and for sure I will get a lot of avocados like every year and fall will bring persimmons....

Some of the fruit trees today

Silvia

I dug up two loquat seedlings last year, even though we have a huge tree right around the corner. The squirrels strip it completely, except for the ones they drop, which just sit there and make more seedlings, so I'm going to plant the two I have together somewhere so I can have some loquats that are closer to the ground and don't get eaten by the squirrels. I've pretty much decided on a peach tree for the large pot to go in the middle of the courtyard. I really do miss fresh peaches, and even thought our tropical peaches aren't nearly as big and beautiful as the ones we grew in SC, they are still yummy.