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Post by tampaspicer on Apr 5, 2024 14:29:07 GMT -5
How many of ya'll have a vegetable garden and or fruit trees?
What zone are you in?
What do you plant and when do you plant?
Interested in what works for you and what hasn't worked.
I just started at my house in Clearwater(Zone 10A) end of last summer with raised beds and converted the front flower garden to a vegetable garden. I planted a banana tree two Septembers ago (now have 5 total from that one) that has its first crop on it currently. I planted a lychee tree in the front yard a couple months ago I started from seed last year. Have about 20 pineapple plants on the sunny side of the house that produced 3 pineapples last year and only have one this year. Those three were planted and are doing good. Looks like I'm going to get 5 pineapples next year (fingers crossed).
I've had some really good success with my 2 cherry tomatoes plants I transplanted from seeds I started over the summer. Probably picked between 1000-1200 off those two plants so far with a bunch still growing.
Bell peppers, mustard greens, and collard greens have done great in the front garden (morning sun only) this past fall. Got a few collard plants left that have at least another pot on them and hoping for another after that. Pulled the mustard greens up a few weeks ago and planted okra and a couple more pepper plants(jalapeno and sweet pepper) in their place. I'm going to plant a few more bell pepper and jalapeno plants I've got started from seed to replace the collards in a month or two.
In the back yard which gets the most sun I have the tomatoes. I have ten 27 gallon totes so far back there. I had a good crop of bush beans in the fall in 3 bins that were replanted with 3 varieties in February that are doing extremely well. Tried some bell peppers in one bin next to the beans that didn't do as well but I left them alone and planted some onion bulbs in that bin. That bin has the biggest of the 30-40 onions I planted and the bell peppers are doing better but not convinced they will do a whole lot. I planted the rest of the onions in several locations in the front and back. I have some bins on the screen porch that obviously don't get full sun but had ok success with carrots, spinach, and broccoli. I have a couple big tomatoes and a couple of cherry tomatoes in the screen porch but this will be the last time I plant them inside the porch. I have cucumbers, Seminole pumpkins, and luffa planted in bags along the back hedge and so far they are growing good. Got some 5 gallon buckets with big tomatoes that I will move to a more shaded drier spot when the summer rains get here. Hoping they will good to go once the humid rainy season ends. I started them from seed over the fall/winter but they just wouldn't take off but are growing a little better currently. Planted some chard a few weeks ago to see how that does. Never grew it before so who knows but its been a pain to get it going but a few of them seem to be growing pretty decent now.
My plan is to continue to expand on my raised bed space in the backyard and be ready to rock and roll come September. I hand water everything and currently collect rain water from the porch roof in a couple bins. Use the house water when those bins are used up. My plan in the future is to build a 300 gallon collection system to eliminate/cutback on the house watering. I have a compost bin that I'm going to start using compost from in the fall.
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Post by madm002 on Apr 5, 2024 14:34:32 GMT -5
We used to have huge gardens in the midwest. Then we moved to Miami and not much grows there. We are a little further north in Port St Lucie, maybe give it a try. Your post inspires me, I have the time now.
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Post by OhMy on Apr 5, 2024 14:37:00 GMT -5
I have grown hot peppers (habaneros, jalapenos, tabasco) in my backyard. Right now I am growing a pineapple and avocado tree which are doing well. I also grow green and red onion. Right now I am trying to grow a bunch of sunflowers but there is this new type of lizard that popped up out of nowhere about 5 years ago and they eat everything. This little fucker. Edit: I am in Miami.  |
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Post by conchydong on Apr 5, 2024 14:37:59 GMT -5
We used to have huge gardens in the midwest. Then we moved to Miami and not much grows there. We are a little further north in Port St Lucie, maybe give it a try. Your post inspires me, I have the time now. what is amazing is that Homestead used to be a major source for winter crops and there still is a tropical fruit industry. |
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Post by tampaspicer on Apr 5, 2024 14:45:37 GMT -5
I have grown hot peppers (habaneros, jalapenos, tabasco) in my backyard. Right now I am growing a pineapple and avocado tree which are doing well. I also grow green and red onion. Right now I am trying to grow a bunch of sunflowers but there is this new type of lizard that popped up out of nowhere about 5 years ago and they eat everything. This little fucker. Edit: I am in Miami. African redhead agamas. I saw some of those at a rest area outside of West Palm Beach a few years ago. Those suckers are fast. |
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Post by madm002 on Apr 5, 2024 14:50:01 GMT -5
they are a plague right now. The cold winter knocked them back but they are back with a vengance, they tunnel under your sidewalk and garden and generally poop all over the place. I am going to get a certain gun to shoot them that wont offend the Karens here
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Post by tampaspicer on Apr 5, 2024 14:51:07 GMT -5
We used to have huge gardens in the midwest. Then we moved to Miami and not much grows there. We are a little further north in Port St Lucie, maybe give it a try. Your post inspires me, I have the time now. Go the raised garden route(buckets and totes) and concentrate on September-April gardens. Very few things grow well May-August in Florida. Okra, cow peas, and peppers are about the only thing worth growing, I'm trying vegetable luffa this summer. Supposed to do really well and really similar to zucchini without the growing issues. I'll let everyone know how they do. |
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madbeach
Member
I started dancin' again
Posts: 130
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Post by madbeach on Apr 5, 2024 14:54:44 GMT -5
Working on getting the garden ready. I've ran the harrow through it a few times, now just need to get the fence finished to keep the deer out before planting. I usually do well with maters, cabbage, romaine, broccoli and peas. Need to get another satsuma tree. Cold front that went through Dec 2022 almost killed the one I have. I did get a few floridaking peach trees planted. Haven't done well with peaches, but will keep trying. Any suggestions would be great (zone 8-9). Need to get a trellis for the muscadines. Right now, they are on a red top fence and don't get to run. Keep plugging away and hopefully have a little harvest throughout the year.
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Post by madm002 on Apr 5, 2024 14:58:06 GMT -5
We used to have huge gardens in the midwest. Then we moved to Miami and not much grows there. We are a little further north in Port St Lucie, maybe give it a try. Your post inspires me, I have the time now. Go the raised garden route(buckets and totes) and concentrate on September-April gardens. Very few things grow well May-August in Florida. Okra, cow peas, and peppers are about the only thing worth growing, I'm trying vegetable luffa this summer. Supposed to do really well and really similar to zucchini without the growing issues. I'll let everyone know how they do. I have pain issues. I am thinking of growing a certain herb that does well in heat..... |
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Post by conchydong on Apr 5, 2024 15:36:37 GMT -5
Go the raised garden route(buckets and totes) and concentrate on September-April gardens. Very few things grow well May-August in Florida. Okra, cow peas, and peppers are about the only thing worth growing, I'm trying vegetable luffa this summer. Supposed to do really well and really similar to zucchini without the growing issues. I'll let everyone know how they do. I have pain issues. I am thinking of growing a certain herb that does well in heat..... Maybe after the election we can all grow our medications. |
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Post by Tarpon65 on Apr 5, 2024 16:43:14 GMT -5
Here are 5 or 6 pineapples growing in my smaller clump that does not get as much sun. I have another 20 or so small fruits developed in my sunny area on the west side of my home.  |
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Post by treetom on Apr 5, 2024 17:33:58 GMT -5
Are your Fla.grown pineapples as sweet as the Central American ones that we get at the store?
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Post by conchydong on Apr 5, 2024 17:39:14 GMT -5
Are your Fla.grown pineapples as sweet as the Central American ones that we get at the store? Mine were and they were grown in a pot. Have four going now from the original but no pineapples yet. |
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Post by Tarpon65 on Apr 5, 2024 18:30:59 GMT -5
Mine all started from fruit purchased from Publix or other grocery stores. The number of plants has increased over the years, but most of the fruit is very sweet and tasty as I let mine ripen as much as possible before picking them. Unfortunately, once the varmints get a taste of the sweet fruit, I then have to pick them sooner than I may have wanted to.
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Post by jmarkb on Apr 5, 2024 19:19:10 GMT -5
they are a plague right now. The cold winter knocked them back but they are back with a vengance, they tunnel under your sidewalk and garden and generally poop all over the place. I am going to get a certain gun to shoot them that wont offend the Karens here Gamo SWARM Wisper. 22 cal with decent optics and a suppressor. About $150.00 |
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Post by TRTerror on Apr 5, 2024 20:02:14 GMT -5
I grow Meat...
Well , I don't really grow it..it kinda grows its self. Oaks Acorns and green browse seems to work well.
Besides Maters are like a dollar a pound and I eat 10 a year.
Meat..Thats why we have Canine Teeth and Big brains.
Men eat Meat , Vikings eat Meat...Any Questions.
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Post by bullfrog on Apr 6, 2024 10:07:56 GMT -5
  My greens this past winter.  Same greens this morning after several harvests. |
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Post by bullfrog on Apr 6, 2024 10:09:41 GMT -5
  Northern Wonder bananas and honey figs as of this morning. |
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Post by bullfrog on Apr 6, 2024 10:12:54 GMT -5
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Post by bullfrog on Apr 6, 2024 10:18:16 GMT -5
 Main tomato bed. The large ones are heirloom beefsteaks and the small ones are wild tomatoes. |
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Post by bullfrog on Apr 6, 2024 10:25:21 GMT -5
I'm in 8b in pine flat woods and bay swamplands. The soil is sandy and acidic. Low in nutrients. It's impossible to garden without heavily amending the soil. I use wood ash to raise the pH and add potassium. I get my other nutrients from chicken manure. I mix the manure and ash into raised beds. Or alternatively, I just garden in the chicken coops. Either way I have to use barriers to keep the chickens, deer, and rabbits out. I do some gardening outside the coops but it's hit or miss. The rabbits especially do a lot of damage. I've got some watermelon and corn coming up outside the coops. The animals ignore the watermelon but devastate the corn shoots. I also have Seminole pumpkins coming up. They'll take over an area about the size of my home.
Wild tomatoes grow throughout my farmyard. The chickens spread them. Anywhere I've used chicken manure in my beds, the wild tomatoes come up. They make cherry tomatoes with excellent flavor. This year I'm allowing them to come up in my traditional tomato beds to let them hybridize with the wild tomatoes. The wild tomatoes will keep as seeds on the ground all year and randomly come up in warm weather. So I would like to see if I can impart that hardiness on some larger tomatoes.
This year I started my gardens as soon as the local pecans budded. Seems to have done right by me. We've had two light frosts since that did no damage to the gardens.
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Post by bullfrog on Apr 6, 2024 10:31:17 GMT -5
I've tried apples, domestic persimmons, various pears, peaches, figs, loquats, and plums.
The persimmons and peach trees seem to be flourishing even though they haven't heavily fruited yet. The apples are alive but not flourishing. The plums and pears that I planted in the richest area of my yard died. I have one pear tree doing very well that I planted in plain sand with no amendments. I have a new pear, fig, and peach tree waiting for me to plant this weekend that I'm going to put beside one of my ponds.
I have lots of wild persimmons all over my farm that fruit well every year. I am considering grafting some domestic persimmons onto them one winter to see what happens.
Of course, I have several acres of rabbit eye blueberries. Should be a good crop this year. I have a couple of acres of high bush blueberries past their prime.
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Gardening
Apr 7, 2024 16:37:30 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by richm on Apr 7, 2024 16:37:30 GMT -5
In Orlando. Wife is looking for organic herbs. Told her to use aerogarden…
Gonna plant sweet potatoes pretty soon. Have to yank those hitchiker yellow daisy things first tho.
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Post by TRTerror on Apr 7, 2024 17:40:08 GMT -5
Checked my Trail Cams yesterday and this years crop is looking real good.
I'll start hog hunting in about 45 days. Gonna take the Browning Auto 5 and harvest some pork.
It'll Roast up nice with my Sweet Corn 3 ears for a buck at Wallys..
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Post by spearit on Apr 9, 2024 11:05:17 GMT -5
Boston/Thomasville Georgia here. Zone 8b i believe. I usually start planting spring stuff the last week of March or first week of April. I like to get potatoes in the ground mid February. I'm a little behind this year because of tiller problems. Got 72 tomato plants that need to get in the ground and a bunch of peppers. Usually do bush beans, cream 40 or pinkeye-purple hull peas, okra, squash, watermelons, cantaloupe and a shit load of cucumbers. We have started making fermented pickles and they are much better than pressure canned ones.
We have 9 acres and have planted 15-20 citrus trees, 8 fig trees, 15-20 blueberry bushes, plums, olives, muscadines, peaches, bananas and plums. My wife has some raised beds near the house that we plant herbs and a few fancy tomato varieties.
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Post by tampaspicer on Apr 9, 2024 14:19:59 GMT -5
Great pics and post everyone.
Built some boxes and got them partially filled with logs, sand, and hay in the bottoms this Sunday. I'm pretty much done with planting anything until September. The heat and bugs are gearing up and almost everything gets eaten or burned up. I'm going to concentrate on starting fall plants from seed and getting the soil ready in my unfinished raised beds. Beans are doing great as well as the peppers. Worms/caterpillars are giving it hell on my tomatoes but I've been smashing them by hand. They aren't eating anything I normally wouldn't trim off so if some get to eat of well. I have 10-12 onions about ready for harvest with another 20 or so at various stages ready in the next month or two. Things go downhill fast when the rain and humidity kicks in.
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Post by tampaspicer on Apr 9, 2024 14:21:25 GMT -5
How is everyone's luck with eggplant? I've tried two different varieties since last year and can't get shit to produce.
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Post by spearit on Apr 9, 2024 14:30:49 GMT -5
How is everyone's luck with eggplant? I've tried two different varieties since last year and can't get shit to produce. Eggplant likes it hot and they can take a long time to produce. Are you getting blooms but no eggplants? |
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Post by tampaspicer on Apr 9, 2024 14:33:11 GMT -5
How is everyone's luck with eggplant? I've tried two different varieties since last year and can't get shit to produce. Eggplant likes it hot and they can take a long time to produce. Are you getting blooms but no eggplants? Yes and not one single egg plant. I got a couple started from earlier this year. I'll see how they do in the upcoming months. |
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