Alas ! A damsel in suffering !
“ Dear David ,
Thank God I find your email . I live in Naples , FL . I am having NO success horticulture . I have tried for geezerhood . I am from IN and had fabulous success grow , canning etc there ? Ca n’t do anything properly in FL .
My first tomatoes were beautiful but no fruit . Every crop after that gave me small stinky hard fruit . I watchedyour compost everythingand have done so . bang everything you do by the way .
I put my Modern dirt with waste Natalie Wood , egg shield , worms , and all onto pot . I tried plant bean this metre . Well , when I go out to verify if I have emergence I am attacked by flying ants coming out of my potbelly and all over the ground . I ca n’t even get near my garden sphere now as the ants are biting like disturbed .
Put some cornmeal around and go for it exploit . Why wo n’t my garden produce?I require to have a pretty productive garden in SW FL . IS it potential ? Can you recommend anyone here that can help ?
Fire ants are a huge problem in Florida
Desperate in Naples , Jennifer ”
Thanks for authorship , Jennifer .
First of all , Naples is a beautiful place to dwell . I admit to being somewhat jealous .
Lots of history …
Plus , you ’re right near the ocean , which is great :
I ’ve always want to inflict Pompeii , which is right in the area .
I in reality did n’t realize there are fervor ants in Italy . Ca n’t get aside from those horrible little barn … .
… oh …
… wait …
… you said NaplesFLORIDA !
Ah , that piss more sense .
I was actually just in Naples a few weeks ago . you may grow nifty garden there once you know how . I ’ll get you start and in a year or two you ’ll inquire how it was ever so hard to do .
The soil is the key in Florida , I ’d say even more so than in most areas of the country . Our sand does n’t require to bear water system or nutrients so we always have to compost and sum up mulch and fertiliser of all sorts .
Before I get to that , though , let ’s talk about those nasty ants .
Dealing with Fire Ants
Fire antsaren’t native to Florida , but like many animate being ( and quite a few people ) , they moved to the state of matter and take up messing it all up . What you came across was one of their spring swarm where scads or even hundred of queen regnant head for the sky to lead off new fire ant colonies across your thousand and vicinity .
I admit to having done some objectionable things when I see them pour , such as dousing the whole swarming pile in alcohol and lighting it on blast . This does n’t work well around your plant , however .
backbone and corn repast unfortunately wo n’t do anything but eat the ants .
Fire ants are a huge problem in Florida
There are some honest ways to get rid of fire ant in and around your gardens . First , there’sthe chemical method acting : Amdro hook . It work really , really well and is n’t supposed to be persistent or toxic . I like constitutive methods the expert , but Amdro kills the ants quick and keeps the yard and garden safe for you , children and pets .
ardor ants are a huge problem in Florida
Another method that I ’ve used with some success is to quetch piles unresolved and sprinkle them withdiotamaceous earth . I also dust it around pot , window and door where ants are getting in , on ant trail and sometimes I ’ve even put it on my compost pile when the emmet have gotten really out of ascendence .
Yet another method acting that works is to moil a pot of water and take the air around pouring it steaming hot right into flame ant piles . you’re able to roast the queen in a lot that path and shut a nest down quick , yet , like torch the piles , it can also wipe out plants nearby .
Florida Gardening Success
If you do n’t have my bookTotally Crazy Easy Florida Gardening , go get it on Amazon .
In it , I outline just how to grow lots and lots of food for thought here without killing yourself .
You do n’t have to take my word for it , though :
I spent years testing harvest varieties for this state , as well as discover methods that work .
The top way you ’ll have winner in Florida is to pick the plants that grow well here .
These five vegetable crop will outgrow everything else :
Chaya
Seminole Pumpkin
Sweet Potatoes
Yard - tenacious Beans
Yams
Get those in first .
If you want love apple , ward off all the freehanded types and go for cherry tomato plant . The good minuscule cherry tomato for Florida , in my experience , is the “ Everglades ” tomato ( they arefor sales agreement on Amazonif you ca n’t find them locally ) . Everglades tomatoes taste outstanding and will often reseed and come back for year .
Where Florida really shines , however , is n’t in the vegetable garden : it ’s in the populace of trees and perennial .
you may grow century of incredible fruit tree in your surface area , including jaboticaba , mulberry tree , mango , banana , hog plum , papaya , Jamaican cherry , chocolate pudding yield and more . If I lived in Naples , I ’d be loading my yard with comestible yield . Heck , you may even raise macadamia tree egg and cashews there ! Acerola cherry red is another must - have tree in my book .
As for perennial , chaya , manioca , katuk , surinam cherry , KwaZulu-Natal plums , water spinach plant , recurrent cucumber ( AKA ivy gourd ) and other vine and shrubs can be tucked around trees . There some well ideas in my little bookCreate Your Own Florida Food Forest , too .
The George Sand in a vegetable garden dries out and lose organic matter so apace that planting trees and shrub and mulching hard makes a peck of signified . Florida plough into hobo camp if you leave any part of it alone – so why not engineer your yard and garden to do the same , albeit in a more delicious way ?
If you do want to vegetable garden traditionally , I ’ve had the estimable luck with compost - rich twofold - dug garden beds that are n’t raised much above the rest of the surrounding soil .
Containers are fine , but I care them to be deeeeeep so they do n’t dry out . Once you kill the ants you ’ll probably have more success there , too .
undecomposed employment on composting and getting good poppycock into the ground . I trust today ’s billet has give you some unspoilt ideas .
Once you start growing the correct things , you ’ll be a solid gardener again in no time .
One last affair : ECHO is near you . Go visit , take the circuit and be sure to get some plants from their baby’s room . commit me – it will inspire you with a million theory .
Beyond that , quit on by and ask Florida horticulture questions whenever you care – I ’m glad to help .
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