Hello Vegetable Gardeners in St. Augustine... (Jacksonville, Laurel: sale, house, buying)

[FrozenAngel]

If I move to the St. Augustine area, can I expect to grow something edible year round? Can anybody tell me what grows best and when?

I am interested in living somewhere with a longer growing season than we have here.

Thank you!!!

[riveree]

Big time !

There are a lot of fruit and nut trees that do really well here, including some citrus. If you take a little extra care - with proper siting and microclimate - you can even grow some tropicals (bananas, mangos, etc.). St. Augustine is east of the Saint John's River, so it is zone 9A (west of the river tends to fall under zone 8B).

Vegetable gardening is new to me (this is my first year !), but I've been reading up on it and it is possible to grow year-round here, again, with a little extra care.

I really like Tom MacCubbin's books. He has one called "Month-By-Month, Gardening in Florida", it's a good reference that tells you what to do each month of the year for your trees, shrubs, vegetables, etc. He also wrote "The Perfect Florida Lawn", and that's a really good one too. He has others...I'll probably have them all eventually .

There are so many possibilities for growing, it's hard to say what grows best and when....do you have some favorites you're wondering about?

[FrozenAngel]

Originally Posted by riveree

Big time !

There are a lot of fruit and nut trees that do really well here, including some citrus. If you take a little extra care - with proper siting and microclimate - you can even grow some tropicals (bananas, mangos, etc.). St. Augustine is east of the Saint John's River, so it is zone 9A (west of the river tends to fall under zone 8B).

Vegetable gardening is new to me (this is my first year !), but I've been reading up on it and it is possible to grow year-round here, again, with a little extra care.

I really like Tom MacCubbin's books. He has one called "Month-By-Month, Gardening in Florida", it's a good reference that tells you what to do each month of the year for your trees, shrubs, vegetables, etc. He also wrote "The Perfect Florida Lawn", and that's a really good one too. He has others...I'll probably have them all eventually .

There are so many possibilities for growing, it's hard to say what grows best and when....do you have some favorites you're wondering about?

I have always liked eating from a garden (garden to table) which is another big reason that I would like to be in a warmer climate. I eat very little meat (chicken and fish only) and love ALL vegetables so there isn't any one thing I am asking about. I would love to grow fruit! How about grapes? Is that possible?

[riveree]

Yup, you can grow grapes . Do a search for "Muscadine" grapes, they do especially well here. We even have a local winery in St. Augustine that specializes in wines made from Muscadine (Muscadine is very sweet ).

You can grow blackberries and blueberries, strawberries, apples, fig, guava, nectarine, peach, pecan, plum, persimmon, pomegranate, orange, grapefruit, mandarin, kumquat, calomondin...all these things do well here in NEFL.

With extra care (or good luck ), you can grow lemons, limes, bananas, mangos, pineapples, limequat, avocado, star fruit, papaya, etc. The dwarf lemons and limes are really easy to grow in a pot and then move indoors if we have a freeze.

There are only a few things that don't do well here, like coconuts. Just about all the vegetables do well here.

[FrozenAngel]

Originally Posted by riveree

Yup, you can grow grapes . Do a search for "Muscadine" grapes, they do especially well here. We even have a local winery in St. Augustine that specializes in wines made from Muscadine (Muscadine is very sweet ).

You can grow blackberries and blueberries, strawberries, apples, fig, guava, nectarine, peach, pecan, plum, persimmon, pomegranate, orange, grapefruit, mandarin, kumquat, calomondin...all these things do well here in NEFL.

With extra care (or good luck ), you can grow lemons, limes, bananas, mangos, pineapples, limequat, avocado, star fruit, papaya, etc. The dwarf lemons and limes are really easy to grow in a pot and then move indoors if we have a freeze.

There are only a few things that don't do well here, like coconuts. Just about all the vegetables do well here.

Thanks for the info! It is so important to me to grow as much as I can what I eat. Sure wish my house here would sell so I could move!!!

[MrTudo]

Excellent thread. Same question I was going to ask. We live in SW Fla and we grow our own tomatoes, orange, tangerine, red grapefruit, bannana, mint, green onion, lemongrass, dragon fruit, several different herbs and it's great to have your own produce right from your yard. Our tomatoes are the best and I cannot ever see going back to buying the imports at publix. ( no idea why we even import tomatoes , or a number of other things)

OT, Do they sell fresh mozzarella at any of the local Publix stores up there?

What kind of palm trees grow there? Do you all have any of the giant oak trees as well?

[riveree]

Originally Posted by MrTudo

Excellent thread. Same question I was going to ask. We live in SW Fla and we grow our own tomatoes, orange, tangerine, red grapefruit, bannana, mint, green onion, lemongrass, dragon fruit, several different herbs and it's great to have your own produce right from your yard. Our tomatoes are the best and I cannot ever see going back to buying the imports at publix. ( no idea why we even import tomatoes , or a number of other things)

OT, Do they sell fresh mozzarella at any of the local Publix stores up there?

What kind of palm trees grow there? Do you all have any of the giant oak trees as well?

Yup, fresh mozarella is an easy find. Publix has it and Costco has a good deal on it and they sell the regular sized mozarella and the little mozarella balls too.

I'm just trying my first banana tree - a Musa "Ice Cream" banana. I love those tiny bananas! I buy them at the Beach Blvd Flea Market (sort of a farmer's market inside the flea market). I'm ruined to regular bananas now, those tiny ones are awesome! I think it takes about 18 months until I'll see it first fruiting, so I have a bit of a wait .

Karla tipped me off to this great citrus nursery. They graft onto Flying Dragon stock, so their trees do not need cold protection in Jacksonville. I just tried posting a link, but something is up with their website - the server cannot be found . Anyway, it's called Flying Dragon Citrus Nursery and they're on Loretto Road in Mandarin. I bought a Limequat from them and plan to purchase a Bearss lemon and a Bearss lime. I also have a Tahiti lime tree, a Meyer lemon tree, a Variegated Pink lemon tree and a Kumquat that's not doing so well...we'll see how that one does.

Herbs seem to do really well here, mine are growing like crazy! I have a few different basils (Purple Opal, Lemon, and Siam Queen - my fave). I also have Greek oregano and Italian oregano, fennel, 2 different types of rosemary, 2 different sages, chives and a great new find - Salad Burnet! So good in salads!

I'll let you know how my tomatoes do - first year for me. So far, a bug ate 3 of them, but I found him and took care of him . If everyone stays away from them now, I have quite a few heading towards maturation. I have 4 different types going. Also white eggplant and different color peppers (including chocolate-colored).

Okay, I went way off track there....love to talk gardening !

Giant Oak trees? Yes! Really, I think the only one you want to plant is the Live Oak. The Live Oak lives for hundreds of years and is very hurricane resistant. Others, such as the Laurel Oak, only live about 60 years and topple over regularly in storms .

There's a great tree sale every January by our local Greenscape. It's a fundraiser and they sell young trees for $10 a piece! This past January I picked up some River Birch (native and gorgeous!), Live Oak, Star Magnolia, Ann Magnolia, Flame Maple, and a holly...all at $10 each .

Some palms do very well here, others not so well. I have a Jelly/Pindo that needs nothing from me (now that's my kind of palm! ). I also want to plant some Cabbage Palm. It's native, and it's our state "tree". It also does fantastically well here in NEFL and does not need any cold protection, etc. There is a Palm Society in Jacksonville, if you're interested (I'm not in it, but I have some friends who are).

You're probably enjoying your tomatoes already! You're in SFla, aren't you?

[JagFan27]

I really, really, really want a lemon tree. As soon as I get this flooring in, I think I'll make it my mission (right after I get my drapes hung in the bedroom) to locate a lemon tree. But, I don't want one that I will have to cover and run a lightbulb out to it to keep it warm. Last night, Karla mentioned a varigated lemon tree, I think.

[MrTudo]

Originally Posted by riveree

You're probably enjoying your tomatoes already! You're in SFla, aren't you?

Oh my yes, we've already picked more than 120 or so absolutely delicious tomatoes. This time of the year the birds are looking for food however and you'll see a beak prick in the side of tomatoes, even when green. The trick is to drape a piece of netting over the plants to keep the birds off of them. It's getting a little too hot though I think and we are noticing a dowturn in the amount of new growth despite adding fresh topsoil to refresh the nutrients etc.

Thanks for the tips on the mozzarell, and what's growing well for you

[riveree]

Originally Posted by JagFan27

I really, really, really want a lemon tree. As soon as I get this flooring in, I think I'll make it my mission (right after I get my drapes hung in the bedroom) to locate a lemon tree. But, I don't want one that I will have to cover and run a lightbulb out to it to keep it warm. Last night, Karla mentioned a varigated lemon tree, I think.

Flying Dragon is the place to go then . With the Flying Dragon rootstock you will:

1) Have a dwarf tree, which is nice (8-10 feet). You'll still have plenty of lemons, but you won't need much space.

2) No cold worries, you won't have to wrap anything. Now with a "regular" commercial lemon tree you would have to provide cold protection, but when a lemon tree is grafted onto Flying Dragon stock, it is a japanese rootstock which is more than cold hardy enough for our climate (it gets much colder in Japan).

So "Flying Dragon" is both the name of a rootstock and the name of a citrus nursery in Mandarin:

3973 Loretto Road
904-880-5026
open Sat & Sun 9-5 (weekdays by appt)
*Look for the big orange sculpture by the driveway

If I had to pick ONE lemon tree, it would actually be a Limequat. You'd never know it isn't a lemon, but it has no seeds, thin skin, and a less acidic taste. It does everything a lemon does (and looks like a small lemon), but in such a better way .

Yes, there are pink lemons . There is a variegated pink lemon tree, and the foliage is really pretty - it comes out pinkish and ages to a cream & green leaf. You'll get lemons too, and they're pink (you can make natural pink lemonade !). This is a tree more grown as an ornamental, it does not provide a large quantity of fruit, but you'll get some. I picked one up at Lowes for $9 a month or so ago (you can still find them at Lowes and HD). It's going to go into a protected area near the house once I get it into the ground. I'm not sure if Flying Dragon would have these, but they'd be about $35 there.