Hobby Gardening
Learn how to attract birds and butterflies to your garden as well as how to grow fruit.
Gardening for Birds and Butterflies
Gardeners in the Florida Keys can create a backyard habitat to attract birds and butterflies throughout the year by providing the basic necessities for their survival---food, water, and shelter. If you would like to attract a particular bird or butterfly, learn the specifics of what food, water and shelter it prefers.
Birds
Birds, whether year round residents, summer breeders, winter visitors, or seasonal migrants, require a consistent and varied natural food source. Through proper plant selection, a Florida Keys garden can provide a wide variety of flowers and fruit all year long. Flowers attract insects and insect eating birds. Jamaica dogwood, gumbo limbo, pigeon plum, seagrape, and locustberry are a few spring blooming trees that attract migrating warblers, vireos, and flycatchers. Fruit of the blolly, seagrape, gumbo limbo, short leaf fig, white stopper and even poisonwood ripen in summer and supply summer breeders like cardinals, black whiskered vireos, gray kingbirds and white-crowned pigeons with a food source for raising their young. These trees and many others have fruit that persists through fall and winter, supplying food for fruit eating fall migrants and winter residents. Plant a geiger tree, beauty berry, Bahama strongbark, powderpuff, necklace pod, or firebush for the migrating ruby-throated hummingbird.
Birds need shelter that provides protective cover for breeding, nesting, and preening. Species differ in their habitat preferences, so choose a combination of higher canopy trees, smaller understory trees, and dense, or thorny trees and shrubs to attract the greatest variety of birds. For example, black whiskered vireos like to nest in taller canopy trees, such as Jamaica dogwood or seagrape. Cardinals and white-eyed vireos prefer to nest closer to the ground in smaller trees, such as the darling plum or white stopper, or in denser trees, such as the locustberry and saffron plum. Red mangroves, black mangroves, and buttonwoods along a canal, or shoreline, will attract green-backed herons, night herons, prairie warblers, and possibly the elusive mangrove cuckoo.
The edge area where different canopy layers meet are often the most frequented. Create a lush, wild growth in one area of the garden to provide protective cover and leaf litter for ground feeding birds, such as the ovenbird. Add some low shrubs or ground covers, such as necklace pod, bay cedar, and sea ox-eye daisy, for the migrating yellowthroat warbler who feeds close to the ground. Leave a few standing dead trees and snags for perches, insects for food, and nesting cavities for the red-bellied woodpecker.
Absolutely essential is the requirement to furnish a dependable source of clean water for drinking and bathing. A birdbath is an excellent way to do this. Spring and fall migrants who dehydrate easily, and summer breeders dealing with excessive heat will use it often. Place the birdbath where there is vegetative cover nearby for perching and preening. Anything from a commercial design, a ceramic dish, or an old garbage can lid will work as long as the sides slope gently and the water is only 2-3 inches deep.
Butterflies
When designing a Florida Keys garden for butterflies, study the food requirements of the particular species of butterfly you want to attract and the plants needed to supply the food. Plant a food source for the larval stage or caterpillar, of the butterfly, as well as a nectar source for the adult stage, the butterfly. A larval host plant for the large orange sulfur, for example, is blackbead, but a nectar source is fireweed. The Orange-barred sulfur prefers Bahama senna for both a larval host plant and a nectar source. While most adult butterflies drink nectar from a variety of flowering plants, the larvae are more limited in what plants they will eat. The one larval host plant for the Zebra longwing, Gulf fritillary, and Julia is the corky-stemmed passionvine. Planting wild lime or torchwood will help increase the territory and population of the endangered Schaus swallowtail, and giant swallowtail butterfly, which uses them for a larval host plant.
Plant butterfly plants in a sunny location with protection from strong winds. Create layers of vegetation, from taller canopy trees to midstory trees, shrubs, and groundcovers for optimum protective cover and food sources for the greatest variety of butterflies. Jamaica dogwood, seagrape, or pigeon plum could be planted first, adding a geiger tree, blackbead or torchwood, with smaller shrubs like Bahama senna, firebush, and golden dewdrop in front. Plant pentas, blue porterweed, lantana, and other flowers and groundcovers in masses. Choose plants with staggered blooming seasons and different size flowers to offer a steady progression of flowers throughout the year. The larval food plants will be defoliated periodically, but can be planted in an inconspicuous area of the garden. Refrain from using pesticides or herbicides in a butterfly garden.
Butterflies, like birds, need a source of fresh, clean water. They cannot drink standing water from a birdbath or pond, but must draw moisture from damp soil. Partially bury a ceramic dish and fill with sand or dirt, and add water. Put rocks in the middle and on the sides for landing sites.
Creating a backyard Florida Keys habitat for birds and butterflies, whether migrants or natives, will not only enhance the beauty of a garden and give excellent opportunities for wildlife viewing, but will also help assure the continued survival of these unique species.
Growing Fruit
Some of the favorite fruit trees for backyards include the famous Key lime, the magnificent mango, as well as avocado, coconut, papaya, banana, Barbados cherry, guava, Spanish lime (local name, not a true lime), sugar apple, sour oranges, and tamarind, among others.
The Keys are tropical, and do not experience freeze or frost except on the rarest occasions in the Upper Keys. Although the temperature is favorable for tropical fruit trees, the environment of the Keys poses some obstacles for growing fruit trees. These include wind, salt intrusion in the soil, salt spray carried in air, micronutrient deficiency caused by the alkaline soil, drought and flooding.
Some of the environmental obstacles can be overcome. Salt intrusion and soil alkalinity may be avoided by growing fruit in mounds or containers. Buildings or other plants may be used as windbreaks to prevent wind damage, as well as pruning for wind resistance. Windbreaks may also protect from salt spray. Micronutrient deficiency can be avoided by using micronutrient foliar sprays four times per year. During periods of drought, occasional watering may be necessary; some fruit trees will lose leaves during drought, but will re-sprout when rain begins. Fruit trees should not be planted in areas that flood for more than 1-2 days during heavy storms, or in areas where saltwater and rainwater will mix during a flood.
eneral maintenance of fruit trees must be diligently followed to obtain large yields of tasty fruit. The needs of each fruit are different, so do some reading about them before growing. When planting, if roots have become wrapped along the bottom of the container, loosen them from the root ball. For many fruit trees, young fruit are picked off the tree for the first two years so that the plant can become established and to encourage growth. You may even need to pollinate your trees yourself for greater fruit yields. Fruit trees should be pruned yearly, starting with young trees. Prune fruit trees to reach a maximum height of 14 feet, in order to withstand storms and to be able to reach fruit for picking.
The amount of fertilizer and water vary among the types of fruit, as well as tree size. Mulch your trees as you would any other plant, with the exception of citrus- Do not mulch citrus because mulch promotes a rotting disease of the trunk which kills the tree.
In the Keys, fruit trees do not always bear fruit. A tree grown from seed may take 5-20 years before bearing fruit. Other causes of non-fruiting are salt in the air or water table, high wind, incompatible root stock, not enough water or fertilizer, too much water and fertilizer, lack of pollinating insects, and an improper cultivar for the environment of the Keys.
Each fruit tree has predictable problems. For example, mangos commonly get a fungal disease (anthracnose). Some varieties of coconut trees are susceptible to lethal yellow. Leaf miner causes a squiggled pattern on young citrus leaves periodically, but the citrus tree will develop new leaves after damaged leaves drop. Guava and papaya fruit often have the worms of fruit fly larva- this can be avoided by placing paper bags over fruit when development is just beginning. Bananas may develop Panama disease, which is a fungus that attacks roots and cannot be cured.
There is no sweeter success than that of growing fruit trees in the Keys. A full crop will provide enough fruit for family and friends to have full bellies!
Vegetable Gardening
The joys of vegetable gardening are possible in the Florida Keys! The “key” to a successful vegetable garden in the Keys is planning for the significant environmental conditions adverse to vegetables. Alkaline soil, salt levels in water and the air, and a lack of soil above the cap rock offer challenges that can quickly frustrate the home gardener. Additionally, the wonderful, long growing season offers two challenges: short, winter days and hot, summer nights.
Building the Garden
Growing vegetables in the ground is nearly impossible for three reasons: 1) the lack of top soil, 2) the alkalinity of the soil, and 3) the high salt water table found in most areas of the Keys. For these reasons, a successful vegetable garden requires the use of mounds, raised beds, or containers. A 12-inch deep mound of soil will allow the roots of the vegetables to avoid the salty water table, as well as flooding from storms.
Raised beds offer the opportunity to grow a bountiful crop in a small space. To offer the best drainage, most gardeners will construct raised beds from rot-resistant materials such as railroad ties, pressure treated lumber, concrete blocks or large rocks. The open bottom allows for water to drain freely.
Locate the bed to allow for at least six hours of sunlight. Short winter days become a consideration in determining the location. Provide some type of protection for the bed in areas where salt laden winds exist. Gardeners that use well water for their crops need to consider that during the winter months of low rainfall, well water may become somewhat salty. Locate the bed with easy access to well water and alternative water sources.
Whether planting in a raised bed or containers, good drainage is essential. Drainage can be accomplished by using sand, perlite, and/or vermiculite in the soil mix. Also, be prepared to add lots of organic material over time to hold and partially supply nutrients. Consider the use of compost and mulch to provide on-going organic matter to the garden.
Controlling Nematodes
Nematodes, microscopic worms that feed on roots, are common in the Keys where soil has been created or amended. Many gardeners combat these pests by taking advantage of the summer months to solarize the soil. After removing vegetation and watering the soil, clear plastic is placed over the soil and allowed to bake in the sun for six weeks, effectively killing any nematode population. Rotating crops is also effective against these pests, but many Keys gardens are too small for effective rotation.
Vegetables and Planting Times
Choosing the vegetables for the Keys garden is as important as soil and water! Most gardeners have luck with tomatoes, peppers, melons, winter squash, cucumbers, eggplant, cucumber, radish, carrot, leaf lettuce, collards, New Zealand spinach, herbs, cassava, calabaza, chayote, okra, and dasheen. Also, it is important to choose a good variety of the vegetable- the tomato you grow up north or out west may not do well in the Florida Keys!
In general, vegetables in the Keys are planted up to a month after times specified for South Florida. Although compost and mulch provide nutrients, some fertilizer may be necessary (slow release is great; you will also need to add calcium). Water in the morning so leaves will dry in the sun and fungus will be discouraged.
Very few vegetables do well during the hot summer months as the warm evening temperatures cause many plants to go to seed quickly or flowers to abort. Most gardeners use the summer months to enrich the soil in their beds and look forward to October when the long growing season begins.