Bruce the Bad writes to ask why gardening in the Florida panhandle just is n’t mold out :
avail !
Retired pre - pandemic in the Florida mountains . Northern Walton County , height 300 + ft . Zone 8ish . Pine and true cedar are the quondam show trees , some small-scale hardwood and lots of yaupon holly , wild grapes , poison Hedera helix .
Have been unable to found a productive garden / food timberland on our 5A hobby farm / homestead .
Found your book this year and have started containerise ( garden ) in 5,10 and 20 gal textile turn cup of tea . With a small glasshouse and 400Sq till garden plot of ground . Compost with chicken , goat , horse . Have been raking up and burning pine needles to reduce ardour risk .
Lemon trees die , mulberry tree and plum Tree look sickly . 6 inch tall Fig trees still in pots in the greenhouse to plant this spring .
3 of the 5 demesne are goat pen another acre is county road right away . one-half of the remaining Akka is full shade under larger sure-enough pine .
House , car port , pool , crybaby house , greenhouse and garden make up the rest .
What am I doing incorrectly ?
Let ’s see if we can aid .
The Location
“Retired pre-pandemic in the Florida mountains. “
Ah - ha , a transplant to one of the most difficult Florida biomes for gardeners – the miserable soil of pine lands , far enough from the sea to experience temperatures down in the teens , yet deep enough south to suffer temperatures over 100 in Summer .
This is a rough area for gardening . Florida ’s gamey point , Britton Hill , is located in Walton County , measure out in at an altitude unwellness inducing height of 345′ above sea grade .
That height also does n’t help with the climate , as it ’s more uttermost in winter .
There are some really nice places to garden in Florida , like the rich expanse south of Okeechobee where the mood is almost totally tropical , and Ft . Myers , near the ocean , where mango and moringa and pineapple can be produce without protection . Or the Redlands sphere , to the south of Miami , where you could get all the bounty of the tropic Caribbean .
Yet Walton County is not like that . It ’s too frigid , and too red-hot . This mean your temperate specie suffer in the summer , and more tropical species are killed in the winter .
The Soil
true pine and cedar are the erstwhile found tree diagram , some modest hardwood and lots of yaupon holly , wild grapes , poison ivy .
Alas , these coinage jazz horrific , acerbic soil . If you have pine , cedar tree and yaupon holly , it indicates that your soil is less - than - suitable for most agriculture . It does n’t mean it ca n’t be done , it just means that everything is rising .
On the upper side , blueberries should arise well – especially rabbiteye types .
YouTuber Florida Bullfrog does only small fleck of garden at his hapless , acid soil farm in North Florida . or else , he focuses on raising chickens , turkeys and guineafowl for abundant eggs and meat . Since you already have goat , you might get the melodic theme . brute are leisurely to raise in these conditions than garden . Tough stock of chickens , duck , cows , copper , sheep and yes , goats , can make common sense . Fence some animals in , countenance them scrounge through the scrub , then get egg or meat or Milk River or all of the above .
As for gardening , it ’s not really out of the question – it ’s just hard . We spent two year gardening in similar conditions in Lower Alabama . We had some luck with swallow biochar and with thick mulching , and managed to start getting some decent output . However , our yields went way up when we moved to a spot with well soil .
That said , the primary issue with your pineland filth is that it necessitate caustic lime . Lots of lime . likely more than you think . I ’ve seen lovely green pasturage established on what was terrible pine ground , thanks to good liming . habituate pulverise limestone , like the cows Farmer practice , and in a year or less , you ’ll commence to see results .
And compost everything ! That grease postulate constitutive issue as well . Ours was less than 2 % , and that ’s terrible for plants try out to get nutrient from the soil .
Other Considerations
Foundyour bookthis year and have started containerize ( gardens ) in 5,10 and 20 gal material uprise bag . With a small greenhouse and 400Sq tilled garden plot . Compost with chicken , goat , horse . Have been raking up and burning true pine phonograph needle to cut down flaming peril .
Container garden are all right , but you have lots of land . I advocate you learn how to garden right in the footing . Are there any gardeners in your orbit ? I would endeavor to meet them , and see what they ’re doing ! Or watch over some of our old telecasting from The Sandpit of Death , where we lived from 2020 – 2022 . This isthe full play list .
Also , compost from beast manures can whole bust up your gardens , as North Florida farms are permeate with Grazon and other long - full term weedkiller .
Be very careful , unless you ’re grow your own animal feed . I do n’t take manure from anyone else , either , unless he is not buying in hay off - site and raising his animals on terra firma never sprayed with retentive - term herbicides .
As for the pine needle , that makes sense ; however , you might take using them to mulch some blueberries alternatively .
Tree Problems
Though the Meyer lemon is reasonably cold - hardy , the freeze in your area will kill them every few yr if they ’re not well - protected . They ’re unspoilt into the twenty , but you ’ll hit the teens sometimes , like what happened this last winter in December .
The mulberry tree and the plum probably need some lime and a lot of mulch around their bases . That helps a lot .
Figs wish to be fed with ashes and also appreciate mysterious mulch .
Final Thoughts
It ’s probably a combination of soil and climate more than you , though if your manure is contaminate with herbicides , that can also cause a lot of damage and stop your trees and garden cold .
My advice :
That ’s most of it .
Just build your dirt – and do n’t be afraid of foliar feeding – and then base your garden around plant life that will thrive in your climate .
If we did it , you may do it . You ’ve not even that far away from us .
ripe luck , and thank you for piece of writing .
