Hello! I’m in central inland Florida, zone 9b. We have about a third of an acre but mostly stick to the front yard for growing. This is my third year gardening on my own, my first year where things are actually growing decently. My focus is edible plants. I’ve got a mix of GTS and commercial variety grexes (swarms?) of tomatoes, squash, peppers, corn, peas, cowpeas, beans, and a few random others. I currently water around every third day, though I may have to water more frequently as the summer ramps up, with temperatures already soaring into the 90s with max UV exposure. The native soil is basically dirty sand for the first foot, then a compacted clay mixture that I assume has nutrients but is difficult for roots to penetrate. I’ve been composting the last few years by digging random large holes in the garden area, filling them up, moving to a new spot. I’ve also begun mulching (i.e., shading the ground) with commercial mulch and grass clippings, which combined with the composting, seems to be improving the garden soil bit by bit while encouraging earthy critters. Recently I decided to try spot composting small holes, just enough for the coffee jug I toss kitchen scraps into, in areas that most need it. Every so often, I add fish emulsion to select heavy feeders that have yet to produce in my yard (corn, bananas). Finally, I tried to do a no-dig no-weeding approach to the garden this year, but it has failed miserably and I regret it. There used to be four large trees in the immediate area, and their roots spread out all over the front yard (where my garden is). So the combination of cruddy soil, tree roots, and all the other selection factors, means that it is visibly clear the areas that I implemented no-dig. There are simply too many other stress factors already, and I need to produce something. So I’ve gone back to manually tilling with a shovel about a foot and a half down, mixing the dirt and clay and loping out the tree roots. The weeds, well, it turns out that I really, really enjoy being able to look at my garden and actually see my growing plants.
My planting method has been 72-cell trays for germination out on the porch (part shade) or sidewalk (full sun), watered daily. I was transplanting as soon as I saw little explorer roots poking out the bottom; my thinking was that I didn’t want to select for genetics that encourage an immediate root ball, I wanted them to spread out quickly searching for sparse nutrients and moisture. However, as explained further below, one tray of seedlings is doing phenomenally well relative to any others of all species I’ve transplanted; they were also the only ones I let sit in the trays well past the seedling root ball stage. I don’t know if it will last, I’ll update periodically, but for the time being I’m inclined to let the rest of my seedlings sit in their trays as well.
Here is an overall picture of my edible garden area
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Okay so first up, tomatoes. The first picture shows the abundant growth of a few varieties, including from the GTS Promiscuous mix. They look a little sad right now, yes, but a week ago they were bright green all over, and more importantly, they are still producing. They exploded with growth, which completely surprised me. I’ve already saved numerous seeds from each plant and have been able to actually eat a bunch too, something I’ve never been able to do with my own tomatoes. I have less than zero interest in trellising, so they are rambling wherever they wish. I saw one tomato hornworm, left it, now it’s gone-- perhaps the wasps got to it (I’ve begun allowing them to take up residence around the sides of the house) or maybe it’s a cocoon somewhere. Squash bugs (they are prolific here) seem to love the tomatoes; I leave them be, to see what tolerates them. I don’t mind a few ruined fruit, they just get chucked across the yard.
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This second pic shows seedlings that are taking off. I can’t remember if they’re GTS or a commercial variety mix; I figure I’ll tell later from their stigmas. This patch was recently tilled and I believe that’s what’s aiding them; the unpictured seedlings I transplanted on the opposite side of the above-pictured large tomatoes have almost all died; that area hasn’t been tilled for over a year and wasn’t mulched until recently, so I’m sure the soil underneath is somewhat crappy again.
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Next up is corn, they’re all GTS if I remember correctly. The ones on the right are already producing tassels, something they’ve done all years previously. I don’t know if it’s the intense heat or a lack of nutrients; I’m not always on top of my fertilizer game. Considering they usually never produce a single cob, I need to fertilize at least a bit, but eventually I hope to develop corn that isn’t fertilizer-dependent. The corn on the left is-- was doing well, but after this pic there has been an infestation of some sort of wormy things eating them all up in the center. To be seen if this wipes them all out. So far, the left has not produced tassels yet, a good thing. They were planted a week or two after the right side, and they’re the same seed mix, so I’m not sure why they’re developing differently; perhaps I’ve been accidentally negligent on fertilizing the right side.
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Up close of the tassel.
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Here’s a GTS Grab Bag of what I think is a watermelon. It’s doing fantastically; since this pic was taken, it’s over doubled in size and has set flowers. I’m stoked except that I don’t have any other mature watermelon plants to cross-pollinate it with. I’ve got seedlings up and growing now though, we’ll see if the timing works out, but I don’t have high hopes unfortunately. Maybe I can self it and at least have some seed to save from it.
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Here are GTS beans and cowpeas that are doing phenomenally well; drought doesn’t even faze them. I’ll havta update the pictures soon as right now they are tall and bright green, they look so gorgeous.
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Potatoes! Got them as seed tubers from Lowe’s, as none of my GTS TPS has germinated for me (I assume they might prefer cooler temps). The darker ones at the top are all sporting beautiful white flowers now, I’m really hoping to get berries.
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GTS squash and muskmelons. They’re all a bit taller now but still growing slowly, especially the muskmelons. I planted closely because I expected a much higher failure rate, but they’re chugging along fine, so I guess I’m also selecting for competition ability.
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A second area of just GTS muskmelons. Not doing as well, but hey, even one fruit would be a success, so we’ll see.
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A happy GTS squash plant. As a side note, that little daisy-like flower to the left and top is a weed, they grow absolutely everywhere, taking the place of the sparse grass I’ve systematically done away with. The pollinators love them, I mean a full-on love affair, so I try not to weed them out too aggressively but as soon as the flowers are pollinated, they produce extremely stick-y seed pods that claw onto every available clothing surface and scratch the heck out of you-- socks, pants, shirt-- they come off in groups of 3 to 15 and you have to pick every single one out while it’s trying desperately to cling onto individual fibers. Gah.
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This is a volunteer vine from a buried compost pit; some kind of squash I think. It’s grown even more since this pic and seems quite happy, throwing off flowers too. Usually my compost volunteers die off rather quickly but this one’s still going the distance.
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And that’s it for now. Like I said, I’ll havta update the pics soon. I’ve got trays of assorted vines, peas, and tomatoes all going; the peas are ready for transplant, the vines need another week or two, and the tomatoes still need to sprout. Unpictured, I’ve also got a row of peppers I’d like to show, and a few winter crops I started just as a summer proof-of-concept (cabbage, carrots, onions, etc.). Additionally, I have a few fruit trees (mulberry, avocado, citrus, fig, banana, olive, peach, etc.) and bushes (blueberry, raspberry, blackberry) as well as a few flowers and herbs. Thanks for reading!