I recently received a quite interesting question in my inbox relating to pine scrub food and Florida food forest planning: David, I recently found your books, bought and read the (ones) for Florida, and have handed them off to my home school children to get them started! We were blessed and got a great deal on some 15 acres – 3 is wetland – in St. Augustine surrounds. The uplands was cut and left to regrow about 30 years ago. I’m struggling with palmettos everywhere. I have a small tractor and have been bush hogging some – and now READ MORE
Category: Florida Gardening
North Florida Coffee
I’ve written on growing coffee in North Florida before, and on my survival plant profile for coffee, Kakunka relates his own experience in the same area: I’m not the guy you met at Kanapaha, but I do live in the area, I’ve been growing coffee and tea here for a number of years. . . I try not to bring anything in the house, unless absolutely necessary . . . Extended periods of cold or super hard freezes. I cover up around freezing and a bit below. Occasionally, I’ll get some scorching from the cold. Of course, living next READ MORE
How to Grow Garlic in Florida
Laura has the hookup on how to grow garlic in Florida: “I grow garlic successfully in the Florida Panhandle (zone 9a), and have heard of others growing it with good results in Central and even South Florida. Two major things to bear in mind for Florida garlic growing: 1. Variety selection is important. Creoles, softnecks, artichokes, and Turbans are more tolerant of our warm winters than most hardnecks or rocamboles. I usually grow Turbans (Shilla this year) in part because they harvest the earliest. I can have them fully cured before the humid, rainy summer weather starts. 2. READ MORE
Growing Coffee in Florida USDA Zone 9!
Growing coffee in Florida has always been considered a stretch. I managed it against a south-facing wall a little south of Gainesville, though only a single plant. I just got a comment from Alison Golwick sharing her success near Tampa, on this post from two years ago: “I am growing arabica coffee plants in Brandon Florida, a community just east of Tampa, Florida. It is zone 9b, I live on a ridge with a slight slope so planted the coffee plants along a south facing slope with an oak canopy. They get a little morning sun and some part READ MORE
Welcome to Florida: Do this First
If you didn’t have the blessing of growing up in Florida like I did… my condolences. Welcome to Florida. This is a great place to garden. Yes, I hear some of you scoffing at that assertion. “Yeah, right! You should see the 20-pound rutabagas my pop used to grow in Jersey!” Yes, I know. Florida has “bad soil!” It’s “too hot!” It “has no seasons!” Whatever. If you don’t like it, go back home! Ahem. Where was I? Ah, yes. Look, you don’t need to worry about the soil, the heat, and the seasons if you decide to do READ MORE
The Secret to Easy Florida Gardening (No One is Telling You)
I posted a video giving you the secret to easy Florida gardening – check it out: Transcription: I grew almost a thousand lbs of food in my Florida garden in 2015. I wrote a book called Totally Crazy Easy Florida Gardening: The Secret To Growing Piles of Food in the Sunshine State. Here’s the main part of the secret: The secret is growing the plants that grow in Florida. If you grow the plants that thrive in Florida you can grow more food with less work than you ever thought possible. Here’s the thing with Florida, right: people READ MORE