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

[heavynleigh.livejournal.com]

go to the library and get books on Square Foot Gardening. I hear it's awesome and uses space much more effectively.

Or google Square foot gardening. It rocks.

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

Thank you for reminding me of this term: I knew it was something like that I was looking for. I think I've basically been doing that whenever I've gardened in the past, but I didn't know any specific strategies for it other than "planting things closer together" :p