Deep South Gardeners Thread - Page 2

[makinleesmom]

Thankfully we got 1.5 inches of rain yesterday! Now our garden will take off. I've been watering but it's not the same as rain. It's been so dry here.

[FoxintheSnow]

Originally Posted by sapientia

Give it a shot but from many years of experience and growing up farming-old timers are usually right, over any almanac or weather schedule. btw I'm in central florida.

Im in cfl too. What part are you?

[ms.shell]

I'll be in the gulf coast south ( zone 9) in a few weeks and I'm just starting my garden planning for our new house. My priorities are replacing the mint, rosemary and sage that I am leaving behind in our current place.

Arduinna, not sure what zone you are moving from, but you might be amazed at how well rosemary will do down here. They grow to the size of a man!
I have a lot of trouble keeping (regular garden) sage alive, though, because it is so wet down here. I just got a beautiful little crown to try again, and this time i planted it in the top of a strawberry pot and put that in my garden; i am thinking this might be the best way to grow this, as the clay pot will keep it drier than it could be in the ground. Other salvias, especially pineapple sage (which is our absolute favorite plant in our garden, followed by our rosemary bush) grow really amazingly well down here though.

[Arduinna]

I've been stuck in the desert southwest for the last 10 years. I am so thrilled to be going back to green, water and HUGE trees and dense foliage. I'm so glad to hear that rosemary does great there because my current shrub is easily 4 feet across, but it's in the ground.

I just picked up Gardening in Lousiana Month by Month to study up. I'm going from 5 inches of rain a year to 60 and our new house has a bunch of dense foliage and tall trees.

[BettinaAuSucre]

I am in GA and have quite the garden started, i must say. I am very proud of myself for getting more than just weeds to grow!

Last weekend, I planted a raspberry bush! I got it for $10 at Lowe's!. I also found a tomato plant WITH a tomato already growing. And I got some flowers for my window box and a bay leaf plant.

I have about 15 plants total and I cannot wait until my swiss chard is hearty enough to harvest. I have other plants waiting for fall to be germinated, like spinach and onions.

I am sad though, as we will be moving next year, and I fear all this hard work and love will be wasted when I won't even be able to enjoy the "fruits" of my labor.

[sapientia]

Originally Posted by FoxintheSnow

Im in cfl too. What part are you?

Polk county-sorry it took me a while to respond!

[mrstim]

We're growing as much as we can this year. We've always had a large garden, but I'm going to be canning/freezing as much as I can to help my obsession with organic/local. Can't get much more local than the back yard.
Link to our garden photo0

We are in North alabama.

So far we have:
okra
tomatoes
squash
banana peppers
bell peppers
jalepeno peppers
pink eye purple hull peas
cucumbers
zucchini
onions
radishes
2 kinds of lettuce
turnip greens/turnips
collard greens
sweet corn
watermelon
canteloupes

I can't WAIT!

[surrogate]

Ok I am new...can anyone tell me what I can grow for fall if I plant in the next couple weeks? I am in South Ga (zone 8 i think). I just ordered from vicotry seeds kinda based on what they listed as fall and got some for spring too...I got corn, carrotts, broccoli, Onion, watermelon, lettuce and I will buy some tomato plants from lowes. I have never really grown anything before, but my parents grow a garden every year. HELP! What can I plant?

[Arduinna]

How is everyones garden doing? We got moved into our new house and I got mint and sage planted so far. I need to get ready for fall too.

[Autumn Breeze]

I want more to plant. My garden is so tiny compared to last years small garden. I haven't planted anything else, and now it's really too hot. I don't really even know where to start looking for anything else.

But today I'm meeting with a guy who is going to take down a big oak tree

[TulsiLeaf]

Hi!

I live in Florida and I was given some plants the other day. I was given a squash plant, strawberry, thyme, tulsi and a banana tree by a friend of ours. We gave the banana tree to my fil because we don't have anywhere to plant it that my dog won't get to while it is still little, but we kept the rest. So far the tulsi is a tiny tiny seedling that for some reason didn't get very big ( it looks like it just sprouted and it's weeks old. So I am thinking it is bad) and the rest are like the size you would get at the store.

So, the strawberry doesn't have flowers or fruit and i know the seaon is done, will it continue to grow all through the year and produce next spring? Do I need to plant it in the ground or can I keep it in a container? The thyme I am good with, but the squash, can I keep it in a container and then just let it grow up something? Will it produce fruit this summer?

[ms.shell]

Wow; I have never seen tulsi at any store.
That's "holy basil," (which has completely different properties, uses, and taste than basil and is not in the same genus) for anyone who is wondering. They are supposed to bring blessings and luck when planted by your back door, and I have found this to be true. I grow 3 varieties of tulsi and I have noticed, especially with the annual variety that they take a while to get growing and then all of sudden -bam- they take off. The perennial variety takes even longer to get very big, but I am watching all the tulsi seeds I planted in my herb garden this year really start to shoot up and become much better established. This growth spurt has occured in the last week or so, and I believe I planted the seeds in April.

If you plant your strawberries in the ground and give them room to spread, they will send out runners, daughters and granddaughters throughout the summer, which will root and become new plants and by spring, you could have a whole patch of strawberries.

Good luck!

[Autumn Breeze]

Originally Posted by TulsiLeaf

So, the strawberry doesn't have flowers or fruit and i know the seaon is done, will it continue to grow all through the year and produce next spring? Do I need to plant it in the ground or can I keep it in a container? The thyme I am good with, but the squash, can I keep it in a container and then just let it grow up something? Will it produce fruit this summer?

Originally Posted by ms.shell

If you plant your strawberries in the ground and give them room to spread, they will send out runners, daughters and granddaughters throughout the summer, which will root and become new plants and by spring, you could have a whole patch of strawberries.

Good luck!

:

I'm not in nearly as far South as you are, but I just harvested two perfect strawberries yesterday. I would definitly put them somewhere they have ROOM. Our runners have "granddaughters", and they're sprouting again!

Honestly I'm not quite sure what to do. Can I clip them and plant the new roots. (not all are rooted) But here is my 'problem' Last night dh and I agreed 100% (FINALLY!!) on changing the garden. We're going to containers, and that means I need to pull it all up.

So do I need to wait to pull them up or can I do that at any time? I know I risk shocking them, but I want them to be able to hibernate. Also...can I leave my containers out all winter, or will they need somewhere more protected? If so, we have a shed, no heat, but 4 walls. I can probably move them in there if I have to.

I guess I have a good bit of research to do!

See, my tomatoes are just in pots this year, and I love it. I can move them, spin them, and protect them when the weather gets bad.

Ack, the kids are ready to go, gotta cut this short.

[ms.shell]

Welcome home, BTW, Arduinna. Do you love your new home yet? Welcome to the Deep South!

[brittneyscott]

Joining in... I'm in the deep south, way south Mississippi. I haven't done any gardening this year because we've been planning a move. I'm wanting to plant some veggies this fall here and maybe start some other things in containers so they can be moved to the new property when we move. Doing some research now to figure out what I wanna plant.

[Arduinna]

Originally Posted by ms.shell

Welcome home, BTW, Arduinna. Do you love your new home yet? Welcome to the Deep South!

sorry for the delay getting back to this thread, got distracted in other forums. I'm loving it. The tree frogs are going crazy. I'm still organizing and unpacking though. I have been too busy to hit the nursery. I still need to get some rosemary and thyme planted and work on my fall garden plans.

[Arduinna]

Anyone doing anything new? I need to get some melon seeds planted and I want to get some pumpkins and okra going. I got most of my herbs in, but so far haven't found any rosewary.

[Autumn Breeze]

I just bought a hydrangea I couldn't resist it again.

I just don't know where to put it yet.

I finally decided where to move my garden to next year...and I find myself wondering if it's too soon to start working the soil. And if so, what can I do.

[jenfl]

Hi! Central Floridian with a black thumb here!

I've been wanting to start a garden for a while. Well, a couple years ago we tried a good-sized garden, but I was still new to Florida and on the northerner's schedule -- planted everything in the spring and barely got anything by the time the heat of the summer wiped it out.

We're thinking of trying again this fall (see, I learned!). I'd like to do a small square foot garden, since that seems like the easiest to get started with.

I have a few questions -- like where do you get seeds for varieties that will do well in this odd climate? I look online and get these lists of varieties that do well in Florida, but I can't find them at Lowe's or the big seed suppliers.

How early do you start them indoors? Should I even start them indoors if I don't have a sunny place (the sun doesn't some into our house much -- good for keeping A/C bills down, bad for sprouting plants)?

Thanks!

[Arduinna]

Originally Posted by Autumn Breeze

I just bought a hydrangea I couldn't resist it again.

ooo I was so tempted when I was at the nursery today and saw some.

We planted some lemon grass, rosemary, black eyed susans and had to replant thyme something ate our little one we had. DH went crazy planting melon seeds awhile ago and they are all sprouted and going.