QUESTION:

Growing Zone: 9

Hello,

I'm a Michigan transplant now living in Florida. I’'ve always grown a garden up north but have limited success in Florida.

3 years ago I purchased a house on 1/3 acre and have lots of room to grow vegetables. I’ve tried tomatoes, peppers, squash, and corn all purchased from the local home depot. all have limited yields and die early from disease, and fungus. Iwould like to purchase some disease resistant hot weather maybe self pollinating seeds. Any suggestions would be much appreciated,
thank you.

ANSWER: Gardening in the heat of a southern summer is difficult. Florida is even more tropical. You will have to rethink the way you raise your vegetables. Many of them should be grown during the fall or winter months rather than summer.

Here is a site with a growing calendar for Florida:

http://bradford.ifas.ufl.edu/vegetable_planting_calendar.shtml

If you visit the University of Florida Extension site for your county, or call them, they will have even more specific information for your area.

Open pollinated varieties are often not very disease resistant. Here are a few open pollinated veggies from Park Seed:

Tomato Cherry Sweetie (Organic); Organic Eggplant Black Beauty; Pepper Bulgarian Carrot; Squash Cornell's Bush Delicata; Bell Pepper Gusto; and heirloom Tomatoes Brandywine and Costoluto Genovese.

There is a list of tomatoes that do well in Florida and have some disease resistance at this site: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/VH028

Thanks for visiting The Plant Coach!

Coach Anne

Begin by soaking a floral foam block until it is heavy with water. Then secure the brick of Oasis® in a vase with florist tape. If the foam block fits tightly enough, you can just jam it into the container.

If a foam block will show through a clear vase, just use floral tape, crosshatched on top, to make a grid to hold flowers. To hold a large heavy arrangement, with many woody stems, use chicken wire formed around the Oasis® and taped in place.

Cut the blossoms and greenery you want to use in your display early in the morning. This is when they are freshest. Hold them in a deep bucket of water out of the sun until you are ready to assemble them. Pull or cut off any leaves that will be below water in your vase. Anything below the water level, other than the stems, will foul the water and speed up the decline of the floral arrangement.

A good rule of thumb is to build the height of the arrangement about two thirds more than that of the container height. Just don’t get caught up in rules. Do your own thing. Make your arrangements wide, tall, narrow, or short. Whatever pleases you is the correct way.

Consider whether the bouquet will sit against a wall or if all sides will show in the center of a table. Start with greenery, such as camellia branches, tall canna stalks, grass plumes, Japanese cedar branches (Cryptomeria japonica Radicans), and even feathers. You might find that a simple mixture of greenery used to establish the arrangement’s form would make a striking bouquet by itself. Use this technique in the winter. Flowers aren’t necessary for a colorful display. Just choose different shades and textures of leaves and needles.

Some garden dwellers work better than others do. Caladium leaves work but elephant ear leaves wilt. Aucuba and nandina make good bases. Queen Anne’s lace is a good filler flower. Daylilies are true to their name and only live one day. Remove them as they die. Zinnias, White Swan purple coneflower, alliums, and Japanese painted fern fronds are sturdy and have staying power. Harry Lauder’s Walking Stick (Corylus 'Contorta') adds some twisty drama whether in leaf or bare.

Hydrangea Wreath

Fill small containers, found around the house, with little bouquets of garden flowers to brighten the kitchen, bath, or a side table.

Think outside of the vase. Use a tin coffee pot, unusual watering can, a teapot, or even a teacup. Anything will become a focal point just by filling it with greenery and flowers.

For the fall, hollow out a pumpkin or squash to use as a pot. Line it with a plastic bag to hold water. If you are having a sit down dinner, pull out a crystal or silver bowl to use as a vase for a more formal arrangement.

Most garden bouquets will last two to three weeks if you change the water in the arrangement every day. If some of the branches or flowers begin to look droopy, re-cut the stems on an angle and dunk the whole branch or stem in water to revive them. To keep your arrangement looking fresh, be ruthless. Toss any permanently wilting flowers or greenery onto the compost pile.

---Posted by Coach Anne September 3, 2008---