Plans Change

The Garden Has Been Under Cover Since Last Summer.

Well, plans change.  We will be leaving the micro-garden under the screen enclosure for now, and will plant in it soon!  This is the least expensive option and it is the easiest way to continue for now.  It won't be long until it gets too hot to grow most garden plants in Florida anyway.

Needs More Dirt!  And A Grid.

I have started more lettuce and spinach in the nursery and once it sprouts will begin to plant them in the garden.  The same goes for my herbs, four of each are planted and hopefully we'll have some basil and oregano sprouting in the next 10 days.  My kale and romaine lettuce plants are ready for planting!
My brother-in-law garden partner has been quite busy lately, and I expect he may help me with the garden project again soon.

Garden With 12" Grid.  My Shadow At The Left.

In the meantime, I'm planting seeds and waiting for all the grubs in the garden to surface so I can eradicate them before they eat my plants.  I killed two grubs yesterday.  One fairly clean way to get rid of the grubs is to pour some beer up to the rim of a small cup, buried so the cup rim is at the surface of the garden.  The slugs cannot help themselves and will simply drown in the beer cup.  So there's your green gardening tip for the week.
Happy Gardening!

Seeds On The Left In The Vermiculite, Baby Plants On The Right In The Soil

Online Organic Seeds

Just type in "Organic Seeds" into Google search, and you will be rewarded with pages of options.  Online there is a treasure trove of organic seeds, sprouts, and support.  I even found a few organic seed companies here in Florida to try.

Organic seeds used in my garden...spinach, oregano and  basil.

Organic kale and Swiss chard.

Organic romaine lettuce.

Remember, to sell seeds as "Certified Organic", the seeds must be grown and kept in a strict organic nature, with tons of US Government paperwork to prove it.  These seeds would be considered safe and proven to be chemical-free.  The paperwork must be updated annually, complete with inspections.  There is much more USDA Organic information here.  Though a bit of a long read, I encourage you to digest some of this document to gain a better understanding about organic foods and how they are grown.
Many smaller seed sellers sell organically grown seeds, but without the organic certification process.  In these cases, you would trust them to provide a safe and healthy seed, as many companies do today.  Mother Earth News reports that you can legally sell up to $5000 of seeds annually but you cannot call it "organic" or put the organic seal on it.  These companies still have to follow the same USDA organic growing rules and are subject to "surveillance monitoring".
Biodynamics are more of a "way of life", for managing a total ecosytem of the farm.  There is much more about this spiritual-ethical-ecological approach online here.  You could consider seeds grown this way to be excellent also, though maybe not 100% organic.
Remember that Heirloom seeds are proven to have more vitamins and minerals in them than commercial vegetable seeds because they have not been altered.  My kale is heirloom.
Here are a few of the organic seed web sites to check out:
Mother Earth News story on Organic Seed production.
High Mowing Organic Seeds.
Seeds of Change.
Bountiful Gardens.
Burpee Organic Gardening.
And stores in Florida:
Eden Organic Nursery Services in Hallandale.
Florida Backyard Vegetable Gardener in Spring Hill.
Just Fruit and Exotics in Crawfordville.
Happy Gardening!