Food Forests & Edible Landscaping
For Northeast Florida Gardens
Edible Landscaping in the Jacksonville and St. Augustine area is a rewarding experience. There is so much that will grow and thrive with little effort to reward our dinner tables with both traditional and exotic fruits, vegetables and herbs, that sometimes it can be a bit overwhelming. I know that I personally was overwhelmed by it, in fact I avoided growing food and fruit plants like the plagues of Moses, and for years contented myself with pretty flowers.
The gardener in me just had to try it, so of course, off to the library I went, only to be sadly disappointed with the ‘fruits of my labor’! Some of my first attempts were miserable failures. But as all good gardeners know the key to success is try and try again. So, with the help of some neighborly advice, I finally figured out that those rules I had been reading about while they may be helpful to most people in the huge land mass that is the United States of America, they just didn’t apply to my Northeast Florida garden. That was when I decided to narrow my search down to help specifically targeted to our unique subtropical climate zones. I found that most of the information available to us is so often targeted for the rest of the United States and does not apply to our subtropical zone 9A gardens that are wrought with heat and humidity.
I will admit that learning to grow your own edible landscape in Northeast Florida took some time, lots of winter reading, learning to look for those key words like ‘loves the heat’, or ‘great for the south’, etc. in my seed magazines, scouring old library sales and used book stores for gardening books with the word Florida in the title. Even with that there have still been a lot of trials, and most of all, a lot of help from local edible landscape gardeners and farmers. So if you have tried and failed, or struggled like I did to adapt the knowledge in their heads of how to grow your own food to usable solutions for Florida’s climate, don’t give up. It will be well worth the effort when you finally get the right plant growing in the right season, and in the right location, edible landscaping in Florida turns into very enjoyable” sit back and watch it grow time!” Because grow they will, and fast!
Herbs for Northeast Florida Gardens
Fruit and Food Forest Trees and Shrubs for Northeast Florida Gardens
Specialty Food Plants for Northeast Florida
Vegetable and Fruiting Plants for Northeast Florida Gardens
Planting schedule… a place to start for Gardeners new to Northeast Florida