We moved from the northern US to Florida and found that gardening in Florida isn't very satisfying. We moved to Mexico and love gardening here :) in the desert highlands 😊
I love gardening in north central Florida. It’s impossible to grow what I used to grow up north but I found new and better tasting plants that thrive here
North Central Florida is much easier to grow veggies in than south Florida. The soils there are much richer and the pest and disease pressure are much lower than in South Florida.
The soil here is the worst I have ever dealt with unless the land is old growth but soil is the easiest thing to fix if it’s sand. Biochar and unscented cat litter are amendments that encourage bacterial growth and allow nutrients to stick. South Florida does have serious pest issues compared to the north and it’s why having Florida native plants in your garden is a must for Florida gardening. I wish I could afford land in south Florida because I want mango trees. I have heavily pruned mango trees that I put in a greenhouse for winter so I should be thankful for that. Tropical gardening is tough and I did it in the Philippines. But they had richer soil than Florida does. I was also afraid to eat the native plants there because I was young and stubborn.
Thank you for posting this! There are trade offs everywhere...I don't think I could do northern winters again, but the heat exhaustion/climate change/hurricanes/insurance mess is awful in FL, along with having to coat yourself in bug spray to do anything outside, shower twice a day because of the heat/humidity, weeds from hell that stick to your clothes like glue, skin cancer, etc. On the plus side, there's scarlet beauty plum, low-chill peaches (e.g. Florida Glo, FL Prince, FL Grande, Tropic beauty), low-chill pears (e.g. Spalding, hood, pineapple), nematode resistant mulberries (e.g. Tice, 6th Street) and the many tropical fruits that grow here.
Yep, peach trees from FL nurseries are usually grafted on nematode resistant rootstock. Seedlings and peach trees purchased online or from out of state/big box stores often won't grow here because of nematodes.
I'm in SWFL (N Ft Myers) and had an amazing Tomato season. Planted late Sept. Harvested over 400 lbs of tomatoes in our raised beds. Yes, we had pest issues, but dang, that's allot of tomatoes. Our peppers do best in the heat. I have more jalapenos & poblanos than I know what to do with. Carrot bests and green beans were amazing too. I guess the key is raised beds, sun shade, and irrigation for the appropriate "seasons".
As I mentioned you seen to be one of the people who lucked out and got a property that doesn't have soil infected with nematodes. Due to the nematode pressure in our soil, we cannot grow tomatoes even in our raised beds because the nematodes find their way into those as well. And our potted tomatoes were infested by a severe population of russet mites this year that did not respond to any of the products I sprayed and they killed half of our tomato plants. Carrots also cannot be grown in my soil because of the nematodes. Like I said, some people just have what professor McGonagall calls "sheer dumb luck!" When it comes to veggies. For the rest of us, there's grocery stores.
Asian pears need more chill hours than we get in zone 9b/10a, I have many blackberry plants that bloom profusely but don't set fruit (I suspect because of the warm temperatures), and mulberries are also affected by nematodes so I do have them but they also don't fruit because they are being badly affected by the nematodes. We have Chaya as a tropical green, but all of the other tropical greens that I've tried just don't taste great to me!
@@ThePessimisticGardener worth a shot. My friend has Asian pears and she lives in Orlando. My mulberries are doing great inside my chicken run. My blackberries are in a pot. Where there is a will, there is a way
There are challenges to getting good results in the garden everywhere you can think of. Find a fat old farmer and they will be more than happy to share their wisdom, and this can be helpful.
I'm not interested in the health-problems that come with obesity, so I don't think I'll be consulting with any fat old farmers. But also, I used to work as a crop consultant so I already know the secrets. The secrets tend to be based in synthetic chemicals which I avoid as an organic gardener.
We moved from the northern US to Florida and found that gardening in Florida isn't very satisfying. We moved to Mexico and love gardening here :) in the desert highlands 😊
I love gardening in north central Florida. It’s impossible to grow what I used to grow up north but I found new and better tasting plants that thrive here
North Central Florida is much easier to grow veggies in than south Florida. The soils there are much richer and the pest and disease pressure are much lower than in South Florida.
The soil here is the worst I have ever dealt with unless the land is old growth but soil is the easiest thing to fix if it’s sand. Biochar and unscented cat litter are amendments that encourage bacterial growth and allow nutrients to stick. South Florida does have serious pest issues compared to the north and it’s why having Florida native plants in your garden is a must for Florida gardening. I wish I could afford land in south Florida because I want mango trees. I have heavily pruned mango trees that I put in a greenhouse for winter so I should be thankful for that. Tropical gardening is tough and I did it in the Philippines. But they had richer soil than Florida does. I was also afraid to eat the native plants there because I was young and stubborn.
Thank you for posting this! There are trade offs everywhere...I don't think I could do northern winters again, but the heat exhaustion/climate change/hurricanes/insurance mess is awful in FL, along with having to coat yourself in bug spray to do anything outside, shower twice a day because of the heat/humidity, weeds from hell that stick to your clothes like glue, skin cancer, etc. On the plus side, there's scarlet beauty plum, low-chill peaches (e.g. Florida Glo, FL Prince, FL Grande, Tropic beauty), low-chill pears (e.g. Spalding, hood, pineapple), nematode resistant mulberries (e.g. Tice, 6th Street) and the many tropical fruits that grow here.
Peaches are susceptible to nematodes. We tried peaches here and our nematode pressure killed them.
Yep, peach trees from FL nurseries are usually grafted on nematode resistant rootstock. Seedlings and peach trees purchased online or from out of state/big box stores often won't grow here because of nematodes.
I'm in SWFL (N Ft Myers) and had an amazing Tomato season. Planted late Sept. Harvested over 400 lbs of tomatoes in our raised beds. Yes, we had pest issues, but dang, that's allot of tomatoes. Our peppers do best in the heat. I have more jalapenos & poblanos than I know what to do with. Carrot bests and green beans were amazing too. I guess the key is raised beds, sun shade, and irrigation for the appropriate "seasons".
As I mentioned you seen to be one of the people who lucked out and got a property that doesn't have soil infected with nematodes. Due to the nematode pressure in our soil, we cannot grow tomatoes even in our raised beds because the nematodes find their way into those as well. And our potted tomatoes were infested by a severe population of russet mites this year that did not respond to any of the products I sprayed and they killed half of our tomato plants. Carrots also cannot be grown in my soil because of the nematodes. Like I said, some people just have what professor McGonagall calls "sheer dumb luck!" When it comes to veggies. For the rest of us, there's grocery stores.
Tropical cherries, Asian pears, tropical apples, black berries, mulberries. So many tropical greens.
Asian pears need more chill hours than we get in zone 9b/10a, I have many blackberry plants that bloom profusely but don't set fruit (I suspect because of the warm temperatures), and mulberries are also affected by nematodes so I do have them but they also don't fruit because they are being badly affected by the nematodes. We have Chaya as a tropical green, but all of the other tropical greens that I've tried just don't taste great to me!
@@ThePessimisticGardener worth a shot. My friend has Asian pears and she lives in Orlando. My mulberries are doing great inside my chicken run. My blackberries are in a pot. Where there is a will, there is a way
There are challenges to getting good results in the garden everywhere you can think of.
Find a fat old farmer and they will be more than happy to share their wisdom, and this can be helpful.
I'm not interested in the health-problems that come with obesity, so I don't think I'll be consulting with any fat old farmers. But also, I used to work as a crop consultant so I already know the secrets. The secrets tend to be based in synthetic chemicals which I avoid as an organic gardener.