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Spanish Needle with seeds Photo Credit Wie146 / CCSA  2.5 / Wikimedia

(For all my Christian readers, this is tongue-in-cheek. I'm not a Christian, but I was for most of my life and respect the Christian religion. Please don't get all bent out of shape about it.)

I spent some time weeding the past couple of days, and I have come to two conclusions:

1) Spanish needle is the most noxious weed on earth
2) I am totally justified in not worshipping a God who would create Spanish Needle.

I'm now totally convinced that there cannot be a God, or if there is, he isn't a gardener. No gardener would ever invent Spanish Needle (Bidens pilosa).  This weed is so invasive, it's not even funny.  The yard next door to me is taken over by it, and it spread into my yard from there. The seeds cling to your clothes and you carry them everywhere with you.  Broadleaf weed killers won't touch established plants, and larger older plants take several applications of Roundup to die.  Doesn't matter, because it will leave 100 seedlings in its wake.

There are good things about Spanish Needle, but not enough to justify having it in your yard, especially since it grows in abundance in weedy areas.  The tender young leaves are edible as a pot herb.  They don't taste very good, but if you're starving, you won't ever die in the Florida wilderness as long as you have a way to cook it. It takes quite a while to gather enough for even one helping, though.  Butterflies and bees love the flowers.  In fact, I almost let some grow in a back corner of my yard once because of this, but decided against it.

The very existence of this horrid weed proves to me that God is not all powerful and perfect. He makes mistakes, and then he tries to fix them by letting things such as Monsanto and Roundup come into being.  Nope, there cannot be a God.  Nobody is that stupid.

Everything is a "disorder" now, so I decided that I must suffer from major FZDD, or Floridian Zone Denial Disorder. I plant things that aren't hardy in my area, then get all upset when they freeze.

Here are some symptoms of FZDD:

1. Inability to accept zone hardiness recommendations. This is characterized by the tendency to "ooh" and "ahh" over catalog items and the inability to keep from ordering things not hardy to your zone. Also includes confusion as to why northern plants can't be brought to Florida and thrive as they did where you came from.

2. Tendency toward "zone push". Characterized by thinking such as "It will be o.k. if I cover it during the cold", or "If it dies, I can get another one next year." Includes
the delusion that shade growing will save many northern sun loving plants.

3. Hording (sp?) of blankets, sheets, plastic and other protective gear in order to make vain attempts to save non-hardy zone plants from cold snaps.

4. Excessive container planting, followed by intensive transfer of potted plants to a warmer place (like inside your house) when it gets too cold. This tends to result in making your house a winter jungle, which can only be traversed with care, through very narrow avenues weaving between the pots.

5. Compulsion to make things bloom out of their zone, when a dozen or more people have quoted you horror stories about how they have tried and failed.

6. Weatherphilia, characterized by constant monitoring of weather stations, weather charts, statistical data, and may include having a weather board on your wall with all the charts and data attached. Includes almanacitis, which is a obsession with almanac information, and may include a tendency to collect almanacs from 20 years ago or more.

7. Argumentitive syndrome, characterized by a tendency to contradict and condemn anyone who says you can't grow something in your zone, coupled with an uncanny knowledge of statistical and anectdotal data to back up your opinion.

8. Catalog obssessivitis, characterized by a tendency to order every gardening catalog from every zone in the southern hemisphere, and an inability to refrain from buying dutch bulbs and planting them in zone 10.

9. Extreme mood swings, ranging from excessive elation over a single bloom to crying jags and depression over the death of a plant. Anger over inability to make plants conform to expectations is common, and may result in violent ripping out or chopping down of non-performing specimens, coupled with uncontrollable outbursts of obscenity.

There is no cure for this disorder, but with treatment, a reasonable level of reality can be instilled into the sufferer.

Did you know that many of the spices you use will grow herbs, veggies or flowers? Yes, they will! Read here, then check out your own spice rack to see what you can find. Tell me if I missed anything.

Coriander - This is the seed of cilantro, a popular herb in latino cooking. If you let it go to seed, you have coriander again, which is used in soups, stews and curry.

Mustard Seed - While many people don't like mustard greens, a lot of us do, so stealing a few mustard seeds to grow greens is just up our alley.

Flax Seed - Yes, the laxative. Flax has beautiful blue flowers, so next time you put some of this into your muffins, take a teaspoon out and put it into your garden.

Celery Seed - We all know what this grows, and while celery won't grow well in many parts of the country, if it does in yours, well worth growing.

Poppy Seed - Yes, it will grow poppies, but not those beautiful white opium poppies. However, you may get a variety of poppy flowers from a jar. Recently, thieves began stealing poppy seed off the spice racks to grow poppies for opium. Actually, you can get opium from any poppy, but the white ones produce more. Hey! Don't get any ideas!

Dill Seed - Dill plants are very useful, both the leaves and seeds, and are very attractive as well as being a larval plant for butterflies.

Caraway Seed - Grown slmost exclusively for its seeds, caraway is used in casseroles, sauerkraut, cakes, cheeses, and curry. It can also be used to make a tea that is a tonic for colic and digestive disorders. Caraway roots may be cooked as a vegetable and tastes much like parsnips.

Fennel Seed - Fennel seeds and leaves have a strong licorice or anise smell and taste. It has culinary and medicinal properties, and fennel seed extract is often added to milk to cure colic in babies.

Anise Seed - This spice has a taste similar to fennel, and is used medicinally to treat menstrual cramps, relieve gas, and as a treatment for head lice and mites.

Fenugreek Seed - The leaves of fenugreek are used as an herb, and the seeds as a spice. It is a common ingredient in curries.

Cardamom Seed - Now this takes a long time to produce anything, but in subtropical areas, this will grow into a large ginger-like plant with beautiful white bell-shaped flowers. Ground cardamom is made from the seeds.

O.K., so some of these are a little far-out and not spices you'd use every day, but it still may be fun to try to grow some if you have a need to buy them. I've personally grown dill, flax, fennel,  mustard, coriander, anise and fenugreek. They really are pretty easy, and if you have the spices anyway, maybe it will save you some money.

There are still seeds you can put in the ground in March. It's also time to plant summer vegetables, while still planting for another crop of your current winter-grown veggies. If you had frozen veggies this winter, you can replant those now and get a crop before the heat hits.

It's too late to start many cooler season vegetables, such as broccoli and greens, from seed, but you can buy starter plants and possibly get another harvest before hot weather hits.

Heat resistant annuals such as Zinnia, Marigold, and Cosmos are excellent choices to add color during warmer weather. Plant Coleus seeds now for everlasting summer color.

Annuals to plant in March in South Florida:

Ageratum	Marigold	Begonia	Zinnia	Coleus
Cosmos	Portulaca	Amaranthus	Salvia	Vinca
Aster	Torenia	Balsam	Gloriosa Daisy

Vegetables to plant in South Florida in March:

Tomato	Watermelon	Radish	Lima Bean
Snap Beans	Okra	Sweet  Potato	Summer Squash
Mustard	Onion Sets	Canteloupe	Southern Peas

Photo credit: Michael Wolf CCSA 3.0 / Wikimedia

February gardening in South Florida is generally a time of preparation, cleaning and replanting. Temperatures are warming, and there is generally no chance of a hard freeze. Now is the time to plant that vegetable garden you didn't get around to in September, or second vegetable crop can now be planted in order to get in a harvest before the summer heat hits. February is also a perfect time to refurbish those freeze damaged beds, or start a new one.

There is still time in February to plant most of what you didn't get planted in January. What most of our northern transplants consider summer vegetables still have time to bear before hot weather. February is a great month in the South Florida garden, and with the wonderful cool weather, one of the most productive months of the year.

Annuals to plant in February in South Florida:

Ageratum	Hollyhock	Begonia	Petunia	Candytuft
Alyssum	Dianthus	Celosia	Salvia	Vinca
Marigold	Nasturtiums	Cosmos	Portulaca	Impatiens

Vegetables to plant in South Florida in February:

Radish	Tomato	Onions	Beets	Cabbage	Eggplant
Broccoli	Peas	Potato	Turnips	Lettuce	Pepper
Celery	Mustard	Cauliflower	Chinese Cabbage	Beans	Cucumber
Squash	Spinach	Corn	Collards	Parsey	Kohlrabi

Bulbs to be planted in February in South Florida:

Tuberose	Dahlia	Eucharis	Canna
Caladium	Blood Lily	Lilies	Daylily
Agapanthus	Zephranthes	Calla	Crinum
Allium	Ginger	Montbretia	Watsonia