Talk of The Villages Florida

Talk of The Villages Florida (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/)
-   The Villages, Florida, General Discussion (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-general-discussion-73/)
-   -   Vegetable and fruit garden (https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/villages-florida-general-discussion-73/vegetable-fruit-garden-317549/)

zendog3 03-18-2021 02:50 PM

Best not to rush into gardening down here. Remember, you are in a subtropical environment. Some things you took for granted up north, can only be grown poorly, and with great effort. eg tomatoes. Other plants can't be grown at all. You may find it more satisfying investing your time in pickleball.

5:00somewhere 03-18-2021 02:55 PM

This is the best 5 gallon bucket container system for tomatoes.
 
I purchased three of these my first season. The following year I added three more. I don't know enough people to give all the extra tomatoes to, so I stopped at six. There are several ways to create your own DIY version of this system, but I thought they were reasonably priced and all I do is add potting soil and my tomato plants. I used cages for my indeterminate plants, but just a wooden stake for determinate varieties. There is nothing better than stepping out to your container garden, plucking a couple of fresh tomatoes for BLT's. I can a lot for making chili and soups in the off season. This is a link to a video that demonstrates it nicely. There are a lot more videos once you get to this link.

GroBucket Tutorial - Not A Fishing Video - YouTube

RuthA 03-18-2021 04:00 PM

I tried and tried to grow tomatoes with no success! One plant had limbs about 3 feet long, but no tomatoes. Parsley and basil were good. My granddaughter and I planted beans and the rabbit got his fill - no beans!

OpusX1 03-18-2021 04:52 PM

I used to grow 6 tomato plants, green beans, peppers and cukes.
There are two growing seasons for that type of produce. Plant in September harvest December and plant February or March harvest May and June. The only think that does well in the heat is okra. I had two jalapeño plants that produced for 3 years. Just pruned them in the dormant time and they would produce peppers about 8 months a year. I used a container system called earth box. Worked well for me.

EarthBox(R) | Successful Container Gardening Systems

DotComMom 03-19-2021 03:52 AM

What do you grow?
How long have you been using them?

Quote:

Originally Posted by DIver0258 (Post 1917377)
We are currently using a hydroponics tower system. It's not a closed system, all towers use coconut core and pearlite as growing media. Has a variable timer that feeds the towers from a nutrient tank. The vertical towers allow many planting spaces in a small footprint. If you wish PM me and I will send you the details about the system we are using.


Laker14 03-20-2021 06:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zendog3 (Post 1917618)
Best not to rush into gardening down here. Remember, you are in a subtropical environment. Some things you took for granted up north, can only be grown poorly, and with great effort. eg tomatoes. Other plants can't be grown at all. You may find it more satisfying investing your time in pickleball.

I have eaten a few Pickleball's, and I find I like a fresh tomato much more.

ElGee 03-20-2021 08:35 PM

The bunnies also like roses!

Topspinmo 03-20-2021 08:39 PM

1 Attachment(s)
I have good luck with peppers, pickling, and dehydrate for pepper flakes, I find hot banana pepper flakes has very unique taste made into flakes. For hot pepper flakes I use Thai hot ornamental peppers around 80,000 up on SHC. For milder use serrano’s and Cajun belle’s, Cajuns are also good stuffed. But mid to late summer they can get stressed and hotter. I also grow big Jim’s Numex’s they have skin that has to be roosted off. Plus few more. I save the seeds and have good luck starting seedlings.

bobdeb 03-21-2021 03:03 PM

Yes, we live here but we have a garden plot outside of the TV. (That's another story altogether. )

Had good luck with cold weather veggies like kale, romaine, radishes, carrots, onions and chard. Trying tomatoes, peppers and brussel sprouts now.

We also have a bunch of golden zucchini that looks amazingly promising. Lots of beautiful flowers and lots of fruit (zucchini is a fruit) coming in now.

Oh, it's in a fenced in shared garden club. The rabbits are voracious here!

We shall see.

coffeebean 03-21-2021 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LuvtheVillages (Post 1917077)
Love my herb garden.
Rosemary needs to be kept trimmed. It loves Florida and will overtake everything after a couple years.
I have been harvesting dill for several weeks. Plant some more after several weeks.
The chive that grows here is different than the chive that grows up north.
Basil does well. Keep pinching it back.

Put a little fence around the herbs, or use containers. Otherwise the landscapers will think they are weeds.

Are little fences that surround herb or vegetable gardens allowed, especially if visible from the street?

thelegges 03-21-2021 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coffeebean (Post 1919220)
Are little fences that surround herb or vegetable gardens allowed, especially if visible from the street?

Many use something similar to chicken wire. Keeps out the rabbits. If you pay attention you notice it, but most don’t.

coffeebean 03-22-2021 05:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thelegges (Post 1919310)
Many use something similar to chicken wire. Keeps out the rabbits. If you pay attention you notice it, but most don’t.

Thanks.


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 07:34 AM.

Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2025, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Search Engine Optimisation provided by DragonByte SEO v2.0.32 (Pro) - vBulletin Mods & Addons Copyright © 2025 DragonByte Technologies Ltd.