How's the gardening in Florida? (Jacksonville, University: for sale, house, refrigerator)

[countrykaren]

I've always lived in New York: either Long Island or upstate. I love gardening and always had a large veggie garden and some flower beds. I can see flowers doing well in Fl, but what about Veggies? We are considering the St Augustine area. Is the soil good? Does it get too hot where everything just fries? Thanks.

[judeK]

The gardening is great here, as long as you have real soil and not just sand like too close to the beach. Up here in Jacksonville when we lived in Arlington my wife had a fantastic vegetable garden, but now that we live 1 block from the ocean in Neptune Beach, not so much. She can get tomatoes to grow, but not much else.

[snuffybear]

I think it's good....as long as you can handle bugs/snakes. It's not that they're normally a problem but when you are digging around bushes/plants/flowers, that is where they hang out. Today I moved a bunch of stepping stones (saw small bugs and a few fire ants), planted some flowers around mailbox (my annuals die constantly, but it's me LOL)....carried sand to another area and put down marble stones and cement pavers under a new deck box. WHEW....I didn't see any snakes but did see lots of bugs and a few lizards and even a green frog (mom and baby!). In the past I've seen birds swoop down and get snakes out of ground cover; so watch your step in that stuff.

I think it also depends on where you are, inland or near beach, for what will grow well. Surely TONS of flowers, veggies I don't know. I planted a lemon and lime tree; we already have an orange tree. That is fun for me and kids to watch them grow and pick the fruit.

It should be a fun hobby around here! Enjoy!

[mtraininjax]

The good news about planting a garden in Jacksonville is that you can start planting seeds or plants early. The bad news is that the bugs and pests also come early. By July, most tomato plants are dead because they cannot take the intense heat. Its just now finally getting cooler so some cooler plants can be planted and enjoyed, but get ready for the fruit trees, they normally are harvested around the first of the year and you can get a bag of Satsumas for about 5 bucks a bag.

[snuffybear]

Whew, someone told me if I have lizards/frogs (and even more toads! big ones and babies!)...we probably don't have snakes. (Thanks !! and phew, I will worry less!).

Truth be told, I've seen a few small snakes that are harmless (the ones that pop out of groundcover)...and a couple snake skins (black racers I think). Neighbor has seen water mocassin, but I don't think it's too common as I've never seen one despite a retention pond behind us.

Last year we had probably 200 oranges on our tree (they were good too!)...this year NONE! Does that mean it didn't get pollinated? Another tree, that ahem, neighbor cut down on MY property when the house was vacant/for sale, is sprouting back from almost nothing and yielding some oranges, so I guess we will get a few.

Any secret to how to get the bigger tree to yield oranges next year? (it's about 7' tall).

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by countrykaren

I've always lived in New York: either Long Island or upstate. I love gardening and always had a large veggie garden and some flower beds. I can see flowers doing well in Fl, but what about Veggies? We are considering the St Augustine area. Is the soil good? Does it get too hot where everything just fries? Thanks.

This is kind of a tough place to garden. We're not tropical (we get hard freezes). But we don't get enough chill/freeze hours for a lot of things either.

Also - we have lots of different micro-climates/soils here in the metro area. Things that do well inland in parts of Clay County won't do well at the Beaches - etc. Even things that will grow ok on the south side of your house might not do ok on the north side - or vice versa. I have tried to grow some veggies here at the Beaches - and it is pretty much hopeless. If the rain doesn't rot stuff - the birds will peck at everything - like cherry tomatoes - the day before it's ready to be harvested (I am too lazy to use the suggested bird netting).

If you look at the metro area - well areas like western SJC are big farming areas (the Tour de Farm is this Sunday). Mostly cabbage and (chip) potatoes. So it's obvious you can grow at least some things here if you live in a particular area and/or are willing to give it like 100%+ of the old college try.

I grow lots of herbs in my yard - in the ground and in barrels. Some in the summer - like basil. Some in the winter - like dill. Others - like rosemary - all year round. No issues whatsoever. Except I do plant things like parsley as plants for caterpillars in my butterfly garden - not much parsley left for me after a good butterfly season .

We have a lot of newsletters/workshops sponsored by the University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) here - and they are a great source of information.

Note that we have pretty much the same issues with flowers. Too cold for tropicals. Not enough chill hours for things like tulips (you have to chill bulbs in the refrigerator before planting). Still - there are things that do well here. It is now the start of winter flowering camellia season. My "Yuletides" are just starting to bloom - and I'll post a picture this weekend if you're interested. Robyn

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by judeK

The gardening is great here, as long as you have real soil and not just sand like too close to the beach. Up here in Jacksonville when we lived in Arlington my wife had a fantastic vegetable garden, but now that we live 1 block from the ocean in Neptune Beach, not so much. She can get tomatoes to grow, but not much else.

It's not only a matter of soil. It's also an issue of your micro-climate. Including things like how wet/dry your soil is - how hot/cold you get - and what else you're doing on your land. I have over the years tried to turn my back yard into a bird and butterfly environment. With great success. But all those birds come at a price. The first time I ever tried to grow cherry tomatoes - the day before the first one was ripe for the picking - a bird pecked holes in it. And all the other cherry tomatoes too. My birds didn't like cherry tomatoes - but darn if they didn't have to sample every single one of them before they reached that conclusion.

The butterflies come at a price too. The caterpillars eat a ton. Mostly stuff I plant for them to eat - but some things I wish they'd avoid as well.

Most of our 3/4 acre is planted with native trees/plants (or - to put it more accurately - that stuff was there when we built our house - we have just kept it thinned/groomed over the years). I am very fond of that area - which looks like a park. Only a small part of our yard is for me and my bird/hummingbird/butterfly garden. If anyone is interested in an area like that - I would be glad to give plant recommendations. Robyn

[mawipafl]

Robyn55 is spot-on about the wide variety of micro-climates and soils. Suggesting UF-IFAS is excellent advice, too.

SP 103/VH021: Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide

Another resource is any book by Tom MacCubbin.

If ground soils aren't suitable but the micro-climate is, some gardeners use raised gardens.

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by mawipafl

Robyn55 is spot-on about the wide variety of micro-climates and soils. Suggesting UF-IFAS is excellent advice, too.

SP 103/VH021: Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide

Another resource is any book by Tom MacCubbin.

If ground soils aren't suitable but the micro-climate is, some gardeners use raised gardens.

Forgot to mention about UF-IFAS - each county seems to have separate offices/publications. I prefer the publications from St. Johns and Clay County to those from Duval (the latter are more urban oriented). Most of the publications are available on line - for example:

Clay County Contact Newsletter - Clay County Extension Office

Instead of raised gardens - I use whiskey barrels. Made of some resin type material. Costco has the best prices - and sells them in the late winter/spring/summer. I tried real whiskey barrels when I first moved here - but the termites ate out the bottoms of the barrels in about a year. The resin barrels last much much longer. If I were going to do raised gardens - I'd probably use a synthetic material for the sides as opposed to wood because of the termite issue. Pressure treated wood has some issues. Although they're small - why take a chance when safe synthetics are available?

I like Tom MacCubbin's stuff too:

Residental Horticulture - Plant Doctor Topics

Robyn

[StreetSmarts]

gardening in FL? too damn hot except for a cpl months out of the year.. heck today is the first day its not going to be in the mid 80s to low 90s for the high temp. and its NOV!