Fertilizing Your Yard: Go Slow By Half
If you plan to fertilize your lawn this Spring, use a product that contains at least 50% of the nitrogen in slow-release form. Slow-release products feed your lawn or plants gradually, nourishing them for a longer period of time. They also are more likely to be absorbed by the plants and less likely to run off your yard when it rains and pollute our bays, lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. Here's how to figure out how much slow-release nitrogen is in a fertilizer bag. Ordinances in Pinellas, Manatee and Sarasota counties and the city of Tampa require use of slow-release fertilizers from October-May. In the summer, use of any lawn fertilizer containing nitrogen is banned to protect the bays, lakes, rivers and beach waters that make living here so much fun.
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| | Largo's colorful truck remind residents to cut fertilizer use to protect the waters that make Florida fun. |
Thank you to Pinellas County and the City of Largo, who are taking messages about eco-friendly yard practices to the street, via eye-catching wraps on vehicles used to detect and repair stormwater problems. |
| | Pinellas County truck reminds residents not to sweep or blow grass clippings and yard waste down the storm drain. |
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Get A Quick Start To Your Florida Yard
Check out our revamped Be Floridian website, featuring our "Quick Start" guide with simple tips for creating a low-maintenance yard whether you have an hour, a day or a whole weekend.
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Our touring flock of artsy flamingos has landed at the Museum of Science and Industry in Tampa. You can find them in the lobby area during regular hours.
Here is their remaining tour schedule:
April: Museum of Science and Industry, Tampa
May: Sarasota/Bradenton International Airport
June-August: Tampa Bay History Center, Tampa
The flock of 25 flamboyant flamingos painted by local artists is part of our "Be Floridian" campaign to promote easy-care landscapes that need less fertilizer and water.
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Need some expert advice on Gardening Like A Floridian?
Check out the Garden Coaches, Landscape Designers, Lawn Care Companies and Nurseries that support our mission to protect the waterways that make living in Florida fun by clicking here
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Classes and workshops offer free or low-cost instruction on how to save time and money by practicing Florida-Friendly Landscaping™ principles. Check out your county extension service to get started or to learn advanced skills.
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-- Use only slow-release fertilizer if you plan to fertilize your yard before June 1. -- Avoid weed and feed products. They are considered pesticides and difficult to apply correctly, without ending up with too much or too little of either the weed-killer or the fertilizer. -- Sweep up any fertilizer spills from hard  surfaces to prevent them from running off into our waters.
-- Water Wisely! Spring is typically a dry time in central Florida; adjust your irrigation schedule based on current rainfall totals. Most lawns and landscape plants require 1/2"-3/4" of water each week. If you have an automatic irrigation system make sure you have a working rain sensor, or use a rain gauge to adjust your watering practices.-- Add 2-3 inches of mulch to hold in soil moisture during dry spring months. Mulch also helps prevent weeds.Choose eco-friendly mulches like pine straw, pine bark or Florimulch (made from the invasive melaleuca tree). Don't bag those leaves that fall from your oak trees; use them as mulch instead!
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Leave Lawn Clippings Where They Belong:
On Your Lawn!
As mowing season swings into high gear, please remember to blow your lawn clippings back into your yard, not down the nearest storm drain. If you use a lawn care service, make sure they are doing the right thing too.
Lawn clippings left on your yard are free fertilizer that can help keep your grass healthy and save you money. Blowing those clippings into storm drains is definitely NOT Floridian.
Lawn clippings can clog stormwater systems and cause or worsen local flooding. Clippings that wash down the drains go to the nearest bay, lake or stream, where they fuel icky algae blooms that spoil our water fun.
All of our local government partners join in asking residents to leave those lawn clippings where they belong: On the Lawn!
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Sarasota County is distributing this postcard to lawn maintenance professionals
and at community events.
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Native Plants Return Home on Anna Maria Island
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Sustainable living with an island flair has created a vibrant, uniquely Florida commercial corridor on Anna Maria Island, at the southwest tip of Tampa Bay.
The Pine Avenue Restoration Project has reimagined historic beach cottages as
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Photos courtesy of Michael Miller.
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a retail-residential district, attracting tourists and residents alike. Pine Avenue boasts retail shops and offices with rentals above; a series of edible gardens; and landscaping with plants that are not just Florida natives, but native to Anna Maria Island. There are no sidewalks here, just soft sand perfectly suited for flip-flops.
Landscape designer Michael Miller says the distinctive landscape provides a visual sense of place that connects people to their natural heritage.
"What I've done is re-create the Anna Maria that would have been if no one had ever come," he says. "Everything is 100 percent native. I began to realize that what I was doing was 'identity landscaping'."
Local developers and residents have bought into that idea, as have the businesses on Pine Avenue.
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Landscape designer
Michael Miller
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In addition to the landscaping -- which emphasizes hardy salt-tolerant natives such as sea grapes, cocoplum, blanketflower and coontie, Miller has installed a series of edible gardens along Pine Avenue. The public is invited to harvest, but few take advantage of the opportunity, he says.
There are 16 community edible gardens in front of the businesses on Pine Avenue. Some of the edibles include seven different common vegetables, as well as lesser-known varieties such as kutuk, moringa, Okinawa spinach, Seminole pumpkin, and Ethiopian kale. Miller visited Echo Global Farms in Fort Myers for ideas on edible plants suited to island conditions.
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Fresh veggies are free for the taking.
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Pine Avenue also has an all-native plant historic park, which was preserved through a grant from the Tampa Bay Estuary Program and the Sarasota Estuary Program.
In using Florida native plants, Miller said geographic accuracy comes before aesthetics. "Natives re-establish a sense of place," he says. "When I landscape I don't want anyone to know I was there. I use that scruffy old cabbage palm that everyone hates. 'Pretty' is near the top of the list when doing landscapes, but 'identity' is above that."
Landscape tours of the Pine Avenue Restoration Project are available; contact Mike Miller at mcm@perfectenvirons.org or visit his web site at perfectisland.us
- Article by Kalika Novoa
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Culinary Students Cooking Up Something Special
Students at a unique cooking school are learning the art of hospitality from the ground up -- literally.
The Culinary Innovation Lab, a 4,000-square-foot teaching facility at Lakewood Ranch, teaches students how to cultivate, harvest and cook with fresh produce and herbs grown in a large garden at the campus. The garden was designed by Michael Miller, who designed similar edible gardens for the Pine island Project on Anna Maria Island.
The CIL is part of the USF Sarasota Manatee College of Hospitality and Technology. The hands-on program offers in-depth training in the hospitality industry, from event and restaurant management and service to creative, sustainable and global culinary cuisine.
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Culinary students select fresh produce and herbs from the garden.
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The program is an effort to "get out from behind the books and get involved with different events," says program director Joe Askren, who previously taught at Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts.
A sense of sustainability is a strong element of the coursework. At the edible garden, students have the opportunity to grow familiar vegetables and herbs such as eggplant, squash, arugula and lemongrass, which they use in the dishes they prepare.
The students also grow some exotic, high-nutrition greens, such as Okinawa spinach, Chinese spinach, katuk and moringa. Other sustainable practices are planned, such as composting food waste to produce organic fertilizer for the gardens.
Culinary student Jessica Stone says the program focuses heavily on "sustainability and locally sourced food which is the current trend among restaurants in the Sarasota area. Having an edible garden on campus brings these real consumer demands into the classroom."
A typical day may start with a visit to a local farm, picking ingredients to be used in a six-course dinner under the tutelage of visiting world-renowned chefs.
The students proudly participate in the annual "Vets 2 Chef," five-day Culinary Boot Camp that has an additional eight weeks of training for veterans. The students have an opportunity to mentor, direct and inspire the vets, who can go on to find employment in the culinary field.
They've also participated in Clearwater Beach Uncorked and, in collaboration with a local restaurant, the United Cerebral Palsy Chocolate Festival held at Michael's on East. They drew an enthusiastic crowd with their offering of almond bacon macaroons, sunflower seed brittle, and chocolate bark with dried fruit. Hard to walk by that table!
The Culinary Innovation Lab recently announced a partnership with the Longboat Key Club and Resort as the college's "teaching hotel" where students can work in the various departments of the hotel for on-the-job experience.
- Article and photo by Kalika Novoa
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Plants for True Floridians
Florida Native  Coral HoneysuckleLonicera sempervirens If you are looking to attract ruby-throated hummingbirds and butterflies to your yard, you can't beat coral honeysuckle. Songbirds are also attracted to the bright red berries produced by this woody trailing vine with its clusters of tube-like coral red flowers. Coral honeysuckle grows wild in open woodlands, roadsides, and is quite content on fences and trellises. It will bloom all summer long for your enjoyment, prefers full sun and is drought tolerant. Plant it along with a variety of butterfly plants and a hummingbird nectar feeder and you'll invite a parade of wildlife to your yard.
Florida-Friendly Non-Native
Queen's Wreath
Petrea volubilis
 Clusters of small delicate lavender blossoms make Queen's Wreath a colorful addition to any landscape. Reminiscent of northern wisteria, Queen's Wreath is a strong, high-climbing twining vine that can be pruned into a tree, if desired. A common plant in tropical climates, it flowers mainly from February to June in full to partial sun and is drought tolerant. Use it as a rambling or controlled vine or maintain it as a shrub or small tree with one or more strong trunks.
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Recipe for Relaxing
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Rejoice! April and May are prime season for blueberries in Central Florida, so be sure to put them on your shopping list. Toss them into salads, muffins, and pancakes, and spoon onto cereals, yogurt and ice cream. Blueberry smoothies are delicious, too. Make this super-easy Blueberry Cobbler, and then treat yourself to a heapin' helpin' !
Blueberry Cobbler
Filling
1 stick butter
1 teaspoon lemon juice
4 cups fresh blueberries, rinsed and drained
1 cup sugar
Topping
1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
1/2 cup milk
Filling: Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place the butter in an 8x8-inch square glass baking dish (no substitutes) and melt the butter in the microwave. In a mixing bowl, combine lemon juice and blueberries.
Add the sugar and mix well. Add the blueberry mixture to the baking dish with the melted butter. Do not stir.
Topping: Combine all of the topping ingredients in a small bowl.
Pour this mixture over the blueberries and bake 45 minutes, or until brown.
Recipe and photo from FreshFromFlorida.com
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