Gardening Questions and Paige Alert

[altarflame]

I want to garden at our new house, For Real. Like I want to actually cut our food costs and have a plan and not waste any of what we grow and all that. I've been trying to google with very little effectiveness...can someone more experienced that I (cougherincoughmizzycough) point me towards:

-Good all encompassing lists of native food crops by region...basically I want to know all of what is good to grow and bad to grow in South Florida, as the national chain stores with garden centers seem to just stock it all indiscriminately. I know some already, of course, but some I'm not sure about and I'm sure some I'm not thinking of at all.
-Guides to getting started with really growing FOOD, not just having a little hobby garden...timing your things to be ready for picking, seasons to get started in, if applicable, how to organize it properly, all of that
-EFFECTIVE organic pest control options, as we have major pest problems down here. I mean this needs to be serious.

And, tell me anything else you think I should know, like why canning maybe isn't as big of a pain as I think it is, what freezes well, and so on.

I am only going to have...I don't know, I guess it will be something like 30'x20' at maximum, depending on how we set it up. But I also have a narrow little side yard that's mostly paved, where we can set things in pots, and a built in window-box garden in the kitchen that I'm already thinking of herbs for...How does one go about drying herbs? Is there any other way to preserve them?

We also have a great mango tree that's currently loaded with fruit, and a couple of banana trees that look like they need some tlc and may also get transplanted based on where the fence is going up O_o

We've been fairly successful with a few tomato plants and basil, if you call letting it all run wild until it goes to seed and dies but being able to go and pick whatever we wanted for a few months before that happens success :x "Success" also involved a lot of things rotting where they fell. I am hoping that with the baby factory closed and Elise more independant, as well as A and A being of real "helping age", this will be a more practical option for us now.

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PAIGE IS BACK!! Paige being greatestislove who used to be corin13, that is. She is now likeinabook and asked me to spam you all with that, as many of her former friends read this.

Sorry it took me so long, Paige.

Comments

[carriede.livejournal.com]

Hi! You don't know me. I'm a friend of Bobby Jones. :)

I took a veggie gardening class at UF, and we used a book called "Vegetable Gardening in Florida" by James M. Stephens. It's got chapters on selecting a plot site, succession planning, climate effects, insects, diseases. charts on seasonal produce... Anyway, it's a great resource for everything Florida.

You can probably by it on Amazon or Half.com, or I can send you my copy since I've recently moved to Kansas, so this book isn't much used to me anymore! :)

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

Thanks, that sounds good...if you really don't need it, sure, I can send you my address. My email is altarflame@yahoo, if you email me I'll email you back my address.