dustynewt's Garden

This our borrowed little plot of earth.

It is hard to believe now, but we used to be nestled in an oak hammock that shaded the house and fed the beautiful old azalea bushes. Hurricane Charlie and friends took those from us, but the yard has sprung back in other native, tropical ways. Sometimes overwhelmingly.

The grackles have pretty much gone away. No high oak roosts. In their place cardinals, redwing blackbirds and doves now call our yard home. October through May we are visited by painted buntings who seem to love the wild patches that we have neglected. So any progress on our garden is with them in mind. We are careful not to impose too much structure in our plantings that might inhibit their visits.

We plant what we feel like eating or seeing, taking a hit or miss attitude. We grow basil, thyme and lemon grass in reckless abandon. Our hot peppers (habenero,cayenne) are a staple in our diet and an essential for my wife’s hot sauce. With limited success, we grow tomatoes, romaine lettuce, eggplant and a few other veggies.
The papaya;

has yet to fruit, but in August and September the Beverly Mango tree;

planted in 2000, blesses us with five or six of the sweetest mangoes that could possibly be grown.

We shy away from chemicals, trying to find cheap, alternate methods of pest control and fertilizing. My namesake, the newts (what I call all skinks, lizards, anoles, salamanders, etc.) are plentiful and keep the roach and spider populations in check. They also provide a renewable resource in that our cats really enjoy lizard tail. There are a lot of tailless newts around. The birds do their job, and we are not mad when they decide to snack on something that we might have eaten.

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