My new garden project...
 

Alright gonna post the process as I get things going. Putting together a new garden area full of veggies, banana's, blueberries, pineapples and whatever else I can squeeze in there!

My 19 year old and I spent a day getting 2 loads of mushroom compost from the mushroom farm in an F350 and unloading it with 2 shovels. Never do that again next time we are renting a truck with a dump bed!!!!!

Also including pics of 2 of my pineapple plants that are starting to fruit! :woohoonaner:

Re: My new garden project...
 

Looks as though you have a lot of room for your project.:bananas_b

Re: My new garden project...
 

Looking forward to seeing the progress!

Re: My new garden project...
 

Blue berries do good there ? Wow I wounder if they would do good here ? I just planted some black berries.

Re: My new garden project...
 

Thats interesting, blueberries so far south, I always thought they are a
North American thing and need some degree of cold to produce. We have growers
here in Holland and I suppose Belgium but I don't think they grow in Spain.
They need a very low PH of the soil too.

Ron

Re: My new garden project...
 

Agreed with all that you've said, but there are many varieties that require only a certain amount of cold. They could (at least according to me) be also grown in many places of southern hemisphere, most notably in southern South America. What they surely require is good humidity, enough shade and enough sun... Maybe that's why they are succesful in Florida. They would certianly suffer in Italy, Greece or Spain. Not only because of the drought.

Re: My new garden project...
 

University of Florida has a great horticulture program and over they years have come up with all kinds of varieties of fruits, vegetables and berries that do well in florida.

Here is a list of the varieties I will have growing there. Once I get the irrigation set up next week I will put my plants out. Gonna keep them in pots though grown in pure pine bark as thats how all the professional growers do it.

Southern highbush - I have the Emerald, Star and Jewel variety. They produce mid April through mid May. The late season plants (Mid May to early July) are called rabbiteye and I have Woodard, Bluegem, Homebell, and Briteblue.

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There is also 3 varieties of apples that need less than 200 hours of chill time and do very well in Florida.

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Wish I lived closer.....I would bring my little tractor over and we would have fun playing in the dirt!!!

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:woohoonaner: I would too would be fun to have all that land :woohoonaner:

Re: My new garden project...
 

That would be awesome.

Kinda sucks where I am as I know no one that does gardening in my area so its just me and my 19 year old and the little ones when they feel like it getting the work done... But I am thankful that my oldest son has taken such as interest in it!!!

That piece of property that we are doing the garden is actually my neighbors property he is a Doctor and has a huge estate right across the street from me. He said we can do whatever we want there as long as they get do enjoy some of the fresh produce. My 14 year old daughter is best friends with his 2 twin daughters. They used to own horses many years ago and that soil has had years of horse manure decomposing in it so I am sure it will be great to grow in. Even though we are building all raised beds filled with Mushroom compost 12 inches above their dirt.... doing 6 12ft x 4ft beds. then 4 8ft x4ft beds. Banana plants all long that back brickwall.... I also have 7 tomato towers built out of Cattle panels that are 7ft tall and a 20ft long trellis.

The space we are using runs 75ft north to south and 60ft east to west.

There is more space to either side that my 19 year old is going to put small planter boxes in various locations and fill them with flowers he wants to grow.

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Thats great that your son is showing interest ,working in the land is good medicine. Its good for the spirit. My parents and granparents taught me,im very thankful for that.

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ya it is! He has changed a lot in the past year. He is outside right now practicing making arrow heads out of obsidian to make necklaces out of. He learned how from his GF's grandfather...

He has taken up a lot of arts and crafts as well. My father in law is bringing a ton of turkey feathers and he is making some things out of that as well to give away as presents.

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Great, Apples and Blueberries in Florida, looking forward to the pics
once they set fruit.

Good Luck

Ron

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I'm not gonna actually be growing apples, just used it as an example.

But here is a good link about some of the varieties that can grow in the south.

Growing Apples in Florida: It can be done

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Well Martin good luck with that. Looks like plenty of space... I wish we had space to plant this or that :^)

Re: My new garden project...
 

Sorry I haven't been around for a while. Had some family issues come up cause much disruption in my household and kept me from getting much done. Its gotten a little better and hopefully it will get much better soon.

I haven't been able to put a lot of time into my garden project but now am motivated to get back on it and thought I would share some pics. Its a mess right now and not organized like I had planned but I will remedy that soon.

Going to have a total of twelve boxes and then we are also going to set up a hydroponic system so we can learn a little bit about that as well.

I also included some of my bee hive pics...

WARNING PIC HEAVY POST! :-)

Re: My new garden project...
 

Oh, yeah, bees, that's great. Anything and everything that lives is perfect in the garden. I hope your neighbours are not complaining. My grandfather had to stop bee-keeping because his neighbours were against any bees in their vicinity.

I loved the smell of freshly harvested honey though. Nothing better than that. Maybe the sweet, slowly lingering flavor on your tongue... sweet memories. Literally. Good luck with your projects!

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Property is zoned agricultural so even if they complained doesn't matter. HAHA

But none of my neighbors are ever outside anyways except in screened in pool patios every once in a while. Think they would of complained about my 12 chickens way before they even noticed I had bee's. :-)

Now that I have the bee's my squash harvest went through the roof!

I am now officially a Bee Guardian!

"A Bee Guardian is interested, in aiding bees as a species in order to recapture their genetic vitality and diversity. Bee Guardians utilize beekeeping methods that respect the honeybee and oversee the local environment, ensuring it to be safe for the bees."

backyardhive.com - BackYardHive.com - Top Bar Hive, Beekeeping DVD
BeeGuardian.org - Honey bee, Pollination, Bee Guardian

Re: My new garden project...
 

Happy your back ! Missed ya was woundering about you. Wow your plants look really good. I like the bees too ! My chickens are growing like mad. Soon they will be ready for the coop. Thanks for the update. The only bad things about you posting is that I want to start doing all the things your doing ! :woohoonaner: My worms are doing great too !
Thanks again