🍴 Velvet Nopal Tacos

Ingredients

• 2 to 3 tender velvet nopal pads (Opuntia cochenillifera)
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 small tomato, diced
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• Salt to taste
• Corn tortillas

Instructions

1. Remove spines from nopal pads and slice into strips.
2. Boil the sliced nopal for 5 minutes, then drain well.
3. Heat oil in a pan and saute onion until soft.
4. Add tomato and cooked nopal, season with salt, and saute until tender.
5. Serve warm in corn tortillas.

🌵 About the plant:
Nopal Opuntia (prickly pear cactus pads) is a cornerstone vegetable in Mexican cuisine and a long-standing staple across Central and South America. It is valued both as food and medicine. Traditionally eaten sauteed, grilled, or stewed, nopal is rich in fiber, minerals, and antioxidants. It is especially well known for its role in blood sugar management - many people who eat it regularly report significant improvement in diabetes control.

🌱 In the garden:
Prickly pear is a fast-growing, tough desert plant with showy red flowers. It thrives on neglect, tolerates drought, and also handles Florida rain surprisingly well. Easy to grow, productive, and edible, it is one of the most practical food plants you can add to your landscape.

🛒 Add Nopal Cactus to your kitchen garden

📚 Learn more:

• ▫️ Opuntia cochenillifera - Velvet Nopal Cactus, Prickly Pear in Plant Encyclopedia
• ▫️ Edible cactus with health benefits that your tortoise will love too

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🌳 Why young trees need staking?

Staking a young tree is simple but important. The goal is to attach a bamboo stake to support the trunk, encourage straight growth, and-most importantly-prevent the stem from wiggling.

Young trees grow fast and vigorously, but their trunks are often much taller and heavier than their root systems can support. At the same time, those trunks are still thin and flexible. Even light wind can cause the tree to rock back and forth. This movement disturbs developing roots and slows establishment.

• ❗️Without proper support:

• 🔹 The trunk can break in strong wind.
• 🔹 Roots loosen instead of anchoring.
• 🔹 The trunk may grow crooked.
• 🔹 The tree becomes uneven and less stable long-term.

• 🌳 How to stake correctly
• 🌳 Small trees

• 🔹 Create an A-frame with one bamboo stake.
• 🔹 Attach near the top, forming a triangle.
• 🔹 Do not push the stake right next to the trunk. It may look neat, but it can damage roots and will not provide proper stability.

• 🌳 Medium trees

• 🔹 Use 2-3 tie points along the trunk.
• 🔹 Use soft green garden tape, 1/2" wide.
• 🔹 Secure firmly but allow slight movement.

🌳 Tall or heavy trees

• 🔹 Use a strong support such as a metal pipe. We use 1" aluminum electrical conduit.
• 🔹 Attach with wider green tape, about 1" to protect the bark.
• 🔹 Build tripods around larger trees.

❗️ Important maintenance tips:

• 🔸 Check ties and tape often-every few weeks to once a month.
• 🔸 As the tree grows, re-adjust the tape so it does not cut into the trunk as it thickens and doesn't cause any rot.
• 🔸 Re-position bamboo stakes as needed, and be ready to replace them with a larger, stronger stake as the tree grows.

These rules apply to both potted trees and trees planted in the ground. Proper staking early on helps your tree establish faster, grow straighter, and develop a strong, stable root system for the future.

📸 Mango trees in 7 gal pots with "nursery-style" bamboo stakes that create a neat "standard". When stepping up or planting in the ground, attach a new stake and keep it away from the trunk.

🛒 Explore fruit trees and flowering trees

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Customer appreciation moment

"Dear Smokey and Sunshine, thank you for your recent newsletter 2026 Gardening Resolution That Actually Works.
I laughed, smiled so right and funny with my coffee!" - Sheryl

Smokey: Look, Sunshine. Customer comments. They like us.
Sunshine: Of course. Because of my coffee and donuts advice.
Smokey and Sunshine: Thank you for your kind words and support. Gardening together with you makes this all worth it.

🎉 Happy New Year!
Here’s to a fresh calendar, happy plants, curious cats, and lots of good garden moments ahead.
Let’s make it a fun, green, slightly muddy one 🌿😺

💌 Top Tropicals Newsletter cats Smokey and Sunshine reminding you:

• ✦ Make sure to subscribe to our Newsletter to stay informed of our New Arrivals, Happy Gardening Tips, Events, and discount coupons
• ✦ Check out our Blog for daily news, plants and cats

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🎊 Happy New Year, fellow gardeners!

• As we step into a fresh year, we want to thank you for being part of our little tropical corner of the world.
• May your garden be full of new leaves, surprise blooms, and plants that thrive beyond expectations.
• May your hands get a little dirty, your heart stay light, and your days be brightened by greenery, flowers, and a few curious cats supervising every step.
• Here is to another year of growing, learning, and enjoying the simple joy of life in the garden.

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💻 Make a wish for the New Year!

🐈📸 Niki the Cat making a wish: "I want to wake up to zero news tomorrow. Nothing. Just the cat videos"

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