Fruits and veggies?

[DirtyCoconuts]

I assume there are some gardeners in here lol

I am terrible at veggies and anything annual in general. I think it has to do with the climate here frying almost anything not under shade cloth but I just don’t have much success with veggies.....

Fruits in the other hand, well I do well there

Granted, any A$$hat can grow tropical fruit in south Florida but I am that A$$hat!!

I have a Kari carambola, a Florida peach, a brogdon and florida hass avocado, several passion fruit vines, a lychee (I forget the variety but it has not fruited in six years....climate change much?), and a patch of dwarf bananas (cavendish I think), a patch of purple sugar cane, and my absolute favorite, a huge ever-bearing mulberry. The berries are divine, like a plum crossed with a blackberry, and quite large, about the size of a AA battery

A few new blackberry vines just were planted but I have no experience with them and they don’t seem compatible with this region. I’m thinking if I plant at the beginning of the cold (lol) season they might establish before they get cooked??

I’ll add some pics when I get to my computer


What do you grow?

[Subrosa]

Alpine strawberries, blueberries, huckleberries, choke cherries, bush cherries, blackberries, goji, and paw paws for permanent plantings. Seasonally tomatoes, peppers, melons and corn.

[DirtyCoconuts]

Wow Subrosa! That sounds delicious! I had to look up a few of those

---------- Post added at 09:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:35 AM ----------

here is a fun pic of my starfruit tree right now...these are still green and you have to look acrefully to discern the fruit from the leaves.....

Carambola and more by J Solo, on Flickr


and up a bit closer

Carambola and more by J Solo, on Flickr

[WaterWitchin]

Perennials: Trees peach, cherry, apple, pear. Blackberry, raspberry, strawberry, asparagus, Jerusalem artichoke, goji, garlic, chives, oregano, sage, currant. Plenty of mulberry and persimmon trees, but they don't count in my book.

Seasonal: tomato, green beans, cucumber, squash, lettuce, corn, nastursium, sometimes melons, peas, cabbage, onions, peppers, eggplant, spinach, Swiss chard, etc.

Don't even get me started on landscape trees, bushes, plants. I get tired thinking about it.

And if I could grow avocado and artichoke here, I'd have a field of each!

[Subrosa]

Originally Posted by DirtyCoconuts

Wow Subrosa! That sounds delicious! I had to look up a few of those

---------- Post added at 09:29 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:35 AM ----------

here is a fun pic of my starfruit tree right now...these are still green and you have to look acrefully to discern the fruit from the leaves.....

Carambola and more by J Solo, on Flickr


and up a bit closer

Carambola and more by J Solo, on Flickr

I could almost give all mine up to be able to grow starfruit! Most of the ones in supermarkets here are underripe, and still not bad. But on the rare occasion when I can smell them as I walk by, they're like heaven on Earth!

[DirtyCoconuts]

If you are ever down in Florida (or know of a cheap way to ship) I will load you up with deliciousness.

They are so good!

[Subrosa]

Originally Posted by DirtyCoconuts

If you are ever down in Florida (or know of a cheap way to ship) I will load you up with deliciousness.

They are so good!

Careful what you wish for, I'm trying to get down to visit a friend in Pompano Beach during the Redlands show next spring!

[DirtyCoconuts]

i'll have a bushel for you!

i also did not know the Redlands had a show...must be amazing with the growers down there.

Pompano beach is frisbee toss from my house

[kvet]

Dude. My parents have a few mulberry trees in their yard, holy crap they are delicious. We tried growing passion fruit as kids, but they never caught on for some reason, even though they should grow like weeds.

You should look into cherimoya.. they are are absolutely delicious, and I think might do well in your zone. I currently have a few I'm growing from seed, along with avocados and pineapples. The avocado and cherimoya are short-term houseplants with no expectations for fruits, and once they get too big I'll have to give them away; my HOA has "rules" on tree heights and my yard doesn't get enough sun. I plan to repot the pineapples in spring and move them outside, wish me luck for pineapples in 2021

I've been planning out my first "garden" in this new house, sadly I don't have much actual yard or sun. Apparently blueberries grow well in containers. They sell "low chill" varieties here in California, therefore as an experiment, I just planted a couple into self-watering pots. If they fruit, great! If not, hopefully they will survive and make a nice "privacy" barrier to my neighbor's kitchen window.

And lastly, in spring I'll plant veges in a variation of the double-bucket system: beans, calabrian chili peppers, cucumber, garlic, and tomatoes. Oh, I also picked up some alpine strawberry seeds (white and yellow), but I don't have high hopes, it may be borderline too warm where I live.

Seed investment is cheap, but the soil holy cow that stuff gets expensive!

[DirtyCoconuts]

Do you have any room for a compost bin? It can make the cost of soil drop to next to nothing.

I am looking into that cherimoya. Thanks