How's the gardening in Florida?

[Pincho-toot]

Much of Florida's soil is sandy (something my cousin laughed about when he moved to Nebraska from Florida "hey, there's real soil here!") but if you get the right soil you can grow lots of things. I grew up in suburban Miami and in our garden we grew tomatoes, bell peppers and eggplants. My dad also grew sunflowers on the front lawn one year, they grew tall and beautiful, the whole neighbourhood would walk by and see them and chit chat with my dad about them.

You can also grow pumpkins, too. My cousin did one year in his backyard, and definitely in north Florida. My great grandpa's farm was covered in pumpkins. Many types of crops can be grown, even in your own backyard, just gotta have the resources. Things like apples, though, not very plentiful. Probably only the far north of the state can grow apples and nothing like up north.

[wisescorpiogirl]

Originally Posted by countrykaren

Thanks everyone. I know gardening won't be the same as NY, but still.... interesting to know.

It will be different from NY and Robyn provided a lot of great insight to get you started. It's also about research and trial and error. Which in it's own should be a fun activity. After all it's not a true gardening experience until you go thru a few fails, but eventually it will start to bloom for you

[mississippimagnolia]

If you're interested in organic or permaculture gardening, Unity Church on Racetrack has a Permaculture Garden Group that is open to everyone. The master gardener loves to help people learn about Florida gardening.

Here's a link to the MeetUp Group Saint Johns Permaculture Network (Saint Johns, FL) - Meetup

Or you can visit the church website at Unity Church for Creative living | and click on the calendar to find Garden Workdays.

[BlueWillowPlate]

We have about 4 Meyer lemon trees and one key lime tree in a pot on our pool deck.
This is about the 7th year for the Meyers, and the 3rd year for the key lime.
All of them are very healthy and bear lots of fruit. The lime tree is ever-bearing, it grows limes all year long. My husband uses the limes for his rum and tonics.
I use the Meyers to make limoncello and other things--I am one of those people who always likes to have a lemon and/or lemon juice available in the kitchen.

We also grow parsley (for us and the swallowtail butterflies) basil, rosemary and other herbs. Okinawa spinach grows year-round but is healthier during the winter. I grow tomatoes during the summer, one plant just came back to life but I'm not going to worry about keeping it alive if we get a cold snap.

Some of our favorite butterfly/hummingbird plants:

Coral honeysuckle vine

Firespike (blooms in the fall)

Wendy's Wish pink salvia

Blue salvia

Passion vine (for Gulf Fritillary caterpillars)

white lantana (native to Amelia Island)

Butterfly bush

Cedar waxwings enjoy our holly tree, and cardinals enjoy our beautyberry, which is very pretty in the fall with its magenta berries.

We don't use any chemical pesticides. We had a mealybug infestation last spring that had me freaking out, but it turned out that a bunch of ladybugs and green lacewings saved the day.

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by Robyn55

Thanks. I'll make a note of [St Johns Nursery & Tree Farm on SR13 near Julington Creek Plantation]. and give them a call and see if they're in stock early next year (don't like to plant anything that's not 100% hardy right before the winter).

BTW - just curious - what do you do with the juice of 302 limes? Make mojitos for the whole neighborhood ? Robyn

Well I went over to St. Johns Nursery & Tree Farm today. On spec. Didn't call. It seems to be closed (the driveway was blocked) - with a "For Sale" sign. Not a total loss. We drove there from Nocatee and I needed some things at Whole Foods. BTW - we're getting some unexpectedly cold weather Sunday/Monday night. So take any necessary precautions (I may have to cover my basil - that's about it). Robyn