In St. Petersburg: Pickering in bloom, Mallika buds too small to tell. Maha buds and Cogshall smaller still, may take another week or so to be sure. Neelam, surprisingly, has flushed new growth.
Rain expected Friday-Saturday, then a "cold" spell for our area. May trigger more flowering.

Around the raised bed, and to some extent within it as well. The sides of the bed are 4 feet x 4 feet. The mulch starts about a foot from the trunk. It is piled higher than the raised bed, extends out a couple of feet beyond it. Can't even see that there's a raised bed. Attaching a photo of how it started out two years ago. The mulch pile is just past the black PVC ring. To show how it is now, I'll take and post a pic tomorrow when there's light.
http://postimg.org/image/wls59prxl/

2017 was not a good year for my yard. Fewer mangoes. I was hoping for a better yield in 2018, but a warmer winter will be just more of the same.

What I'm seeing is a lot of new growth. Haven't tipped any tree since couple of weeks before Irma, but we got a decent amount of rain -- two inches in my yard, three a few miles away -- some days ago. That, no doubt, is contributing to the new flushes. But it's also cooled off since the rain, so perhaps the trees will do through a quiet spell for a while and then flower. Can only wait and watch. Also, since the cooler time of the year is here, time to add to the mulch.

Wednesday night, and still no power in large swaths of Pinellas. I lost a couple of avocados - fruit, not trees. Some of the mango trees got a bit pruned, but overall not bad.
The big golden poinciana put up a good fight. Lost a lot of small branches, but the big ones held. Came down to a couple hours of yard raking and general cleanup. Windows held, as did the roof.
Overall, we were pretty lucky.

I'd graft my MC or Pickering on to my NDM (#4) if I could. I'm lousy at grafting. If at first you don't succeed, try, try again. Then give up and do something else.

Simon, yes, always add a bit of black pepper to the pot when you're cooking with turmeric. The black pepper greatly increases the absorption of the turmeric ingredients. I add a little more than a quarter teaspoon of each to my morning smoothie, and about a teaspoon of each to the beans I cook for the week (about 6 servings of beans).

I just googled some info on the health benefits of Turmeric and it appears that Black Pepper which contains piperine is recommended to increase absorption into the human body. The extract I purchased has Black Pepper extract but I plan on planting and using fresh Turmeric so I will probably eat some Black Pepper in a meal with the fresh Turmeric or juice the Turmeric and swallows some whole black peppercorns.

Simon

There was one thing in "How Not To Die" that I particularly noted: Dr. Michael Greger points out that nutrition, or food as a health option, is rarely taught in med schools. He attended Tufts University because it offered a course, but even that was minimal, he says.
Most doctors are trained to prescribe meds, not to discuss diet. Unless your blood tests show you are at an extreme one way or another, they won't discuss it.
Maybe, as my doc says, patients mostly blow the talk away, or would rather get one more med prescribed than make the hard choices of taking responsibility for their lifestyles.
After seeing my last blood tests, he's adopting more of my diet; we plan to discuss it more at my next appointment!

I planted Day, Wurtz and Lula two years ago. The Wurtz has two fruit on it. Wondering if it's time to harvest them.
The Day had about 35; they are ripening well. Small fruit, decent taste, but the big plus is they're there, and I'm not buying from the store. Skin's thin and smooth, and doesn't peel easily the way a Hass does. I use a knife to get it off.
Lulas are getting bigger on the tree. Waiting till Nov-Dec to harvest them.

Saw the documentary What The Health recently. There's another one worth looking at, "Forks Over Knives."
What led me to the vegan path is the bestseller book "How Not To Die" by Dr. Michael Greger. He runs a nonprofit via the website nutritionfacts.org, backs up his advice for plant-based whole food with scientific studies, and admits when the jury is out on some claims. Much of what's in Dr. Greger's  book is also available in short clips on YouTube and on podcasts.
Other doctors whose work I have been following are Joel Fuhrman, Colin Campbell and Caldwell Esselstyn.
I've been a vegan for 7 months (the preferred description is plant-based whole food), and have never felt better. I'm leaner, more energetic, sleep better, my blood tests show a big improvement in my lipid and other profiles.
Yes, Americans are living longer, but that's more due to modern medicine than any other factor. They're living miserable lives in poor health. The obesity rate is horribly high, and the number of prescription meds Americans take seems to be going up.
I used to eat mostly white meat (chicken and fish). I gave that up in January.
So, no meat, no oils, no eggs, no dairy, no salt and no sugar.
Lot of beans and greens, quinoa, whole gains, home-cooked food. Lots of spices to add flavor to the food, lots of nuts, avocado seeds for the fat. And I exercise 5-6 days a week, between 40-75 minutes a day.
As a vegan, I do need to take a B12 supplement. But that's not just for vegans. Meat-eaters also tend to be low on B12. I have to make sure to add seaweed to my smoothie or salad to ensure I get sufficient iodine since I don't add salt to my food.
I was, and remain, hypothyroid; my doc will decide over the next few months whether the dose can be safely reduced.. At 58, I have no cholesterol or BP issued, no diabetes. My hair's snow white, but it started turning gray when I was in my 20s. It's still there, but I expect it will start thinning as I age.
Life shouldn't just be about living longer, it should also be more fulfilling. Don't tell me people with their guts hanging out have a good quality of life, not when they are panting climbing up a few stairs, can't turn fast on their feet, have to drive short distances because their knees and legs are taking a beating. The number of people getting knee and hip replacements is going up. Why are those joints giving out? Why, despite a big increase in dairy consumption (more as cheese and ice cream than milk) are more people, specially women, getting osteoporosis? Why isn't the calcium in milk protecting them?

From what I read on an Indian news site, the poor kids ate lots of unripe lychees. They either didn't have dinner, or their families couldn't afford food that day.

I gave all my mango trees a decent cut last year. The Pickering is flowering profusely and setting fruit; the Cogshall has flowered much less than it did last year, but there is some fruit set; even less so for NDM and Neelam. The Mallika has NO flowers on it at all. A Maha in ground for 2 years has some fruit on a couple of branches.
Overall, it looks like it's going to be much less than last year. I'll be happy to be proved wrong.