Protect Papaya trees (and others, like coffee) from frost

Tonight it will be, hopefully, the last danger of frost night for this season. It usually works like that, when plants need to be covered, the weather is the nastiest and most unfriendly to the poor person who has this task at hand. I had to struggle with the comforters to cover my coffee forest. The trees are quite tall now, and the blankets just did not want to stay put. Finally, after much effort, coffee is covered, and probably grateful. Here it is. Peekaboo!

In the Spring, after coffee stops fruiting - it seems like it never stops fruiting though - I will prune the trees to about four feet of height to make it easier to cover next winter, and to renew the trees. They are supposed to be pruned of dead wood and old branches.

One thing I need to mention is that if there is hard frost coming, something like 28F, these quilt covers will not be sufficient. On cold hard freeze nights I use real comforters on my coffee trees.

Papaya is more tolerant.

Or maybe it is easier to get and grow.

But, for one thing, it is difficult to cover the whole papaya tree, as they usually are pretty tall, and secondly, they regenerate after frost damage rather easily. I normally, just wrap the trunk with the blanket and let the leaves to be damaged. Come spring, papaya will grow new leaves and branches.

Here is papaya tree that is probably four years old. It gets damaged every year, but then it grows new stems from the trunk (that was wrapped), and continues fruiting with abundance.

Keep warm tonight, and before we know, it will be Spring and new gardening adventures here in sunny Florida.

What can we plant in February in Florida

What cannot we? Seriously, I am not kidding.

If you are a beginner at gardening, consider yourself lucky. Anything you throw at your soil will grow. Forget about warm season - cold season rules, just plant and it will reward your efforts with some awesome fruit. If you are a veteran, and want to experiment with a new type of vegetable or a new variety, plant away, it will be forgiving and cooperative. February and March are our paradise. This is when we think we live in a no-fault all-success garden heaven. But let's go back to the earthly rules for a minute.

Warm season vegetables: tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant should be seeded by now. In South Florida it is too late to start these from seed, you will have to buy transplants. In Central and Northern Florida we still have the last call of seeding our tomatoes for the Summer harvest. I seeded my tomatoes about a month ago, and have transplanted them into the individual cups already:

Now, man cannot live on tomatoes alone, so I am keeping seeding my herbs, broccoli, lettuce and other short-bearing cold season vegetables throughout February.

You can seed directly into the garden these vegetables: corn, beans, cucumbers, squash, radish, okra, potatoes, broccoli, and any of the short season varieties of cabbage, carrot, beet, onion and herbs. Just make sure you keep the ground moist and apply plenty of fertilizer, and you practically cannot go wrong.