First Post

Intro and first post, I will post this in Fruits and Nuts too. I've been watching numerous gardening sites for years, but never chime in. A little about myself. I live in North FL zone 9a. Throughout my yard I have peaches - this is the first year the biggest tree is finally bearing (a lot), I've had to strip around 200 because they were so crowded, plums, muscadines, blackberries, raspberries, citrus, persimmon, loquat, pear, Asian pear, bananas, cherries, apples, crabapple, apricot, alpine strawberries, and lots of tomatoes in containers and in ground. Wow, looking at this list looks like I live on a farm, I don't, I live on a 1 acre lot in town. Many of the fruit trees are first year so it will be a while before there's any fruit. I wish my yard was bigger or had fewer big trees so I could put in even more.

I would be remiss if I didn't also mention my one big fig tree, it's a Celeste. I've never tasted a ripe fig so I'm hoping it will get a few this season, first season was last year and the few it had dropped off before they were ripe. This tree was a pick my daughter made when we took a trip to Just Fruits and Exotics. I also have a tiny TC Italian Honey and a Petite Negri. Last fall I bought a bunch of cuttings and kept them outside with covers over the winter, they did fine through the winter even started growing roots and a couple of leaves - until the squirrels discovered them. The squirrels took every cutting out of the container and ate every bud off, then threw the stripped sticks on the ground. I tried burying all the sticks to see if any would sprout, all but one has basically rotted. I purchased a fake owl that I move around every few days that seems to be working for now.

I won several auctions on ebay, and everyone has been very generous with cuttings. One person sending an already rooted extra cutting, and one sending a bonus variety I didn't even order plus lots of extras. Some cuttings are already getting roots and will be potted up outside soon. So far for cuttings I have Panache, Black Mission, Texas Blue Giant, Salem Dark, Longue D'Aout, Paradiso (bonus), Bataglia Green, LSU Purple, and others I can't remember at the moment. My future plan is to do an espalier of several varieties on the backside of a blackberry trellis (the blackberries have a limited lifespan if they don't taste better this year).

Now for a shameless plug. I have recently finished my first book and am trying to get a publishing contract through Kindle Scout. There are lots of fruits and vegetables mentioned in the book. It's about a group of mutant teenagers, in a post-apocalyptic world, trying to save their colony from early death due to residual effects of radiation. If my book is selected from the campaign everyone who nominates it will get a free copy. Take a look and see if you like it. I appreciate any support. Link https://kindlescout.amazon.com/p/3LSTJE2E75R5Q?token=191-8180153-7118311_668010011_1_0&ref_=ks_h_crsl-668010011_pc

If the link doesn't work you can just do a search for kindle scout and it should pop up, my book is under the sci-fi section - THE RAD MISFITS

Welcome mar9lina, how on earth do you fit all those plantings on 1 acre. All the fruit trees sound delicious. Hope they do well for you.

I love St. Andrews state park in Panama City. I used to work for park system but down this way. Was dist. mgr. sec. for 12 years until they closed office and moved it to Wekiwa Springs.
Your beaches up that way are just beautiful.

Much luck with your garden.

Bonnie

BonnieGardens, thanks for the welcome.
Any spot that looks like it might get enough sunlight is a candidate for another plant. I plan to keep all the trees trimmed so they don't get too out of hand...that's the plan anyway. Most trees are planted fairly close together, but seem to be doing ok with close spacing. We also have a mini horse and a big in-ground pool - the pool may have to come out so I can fit some more plants :-)
I agree St. Andrews is awesome, even better if you have snorkel gear and snorkel by the rocks to the right of kiddy pool area. There are tons of tropical fish that will come right up to you, the blennies are the most fun - they think if they hold really still you can't see them.

Does anyone else think Jeremy has a new persona?
Welcome Mar9lina,
Sorry you live so far away. You can grow more fruit up there than down here in the tropics.

Sidney

Welcome mar9lina, sorry to be so late on welcoming you. I've been reading a bit on peaches in FL, and how they may be grown more and more here since oranges have been on the decline. I had an orange for many years, it died a few years back and is now a fire pit area. I do miss those oranges.

I have one fruit tree, a loquat and I have to beat the squirrels every year to get the fruit, the birds too. You're lucky to have the room for all those trees.

Sherri

I have a pitiful small nectarine tree that had 7 on it and they all fell off. Hope it does better next year.

Welcome Mar9lina! Who knew I would be welcoming new people after only living here 3 months myself!
I have a small yard here in Oviedo and consequently only have 1 lemon tree that was given to me by a friend in MA who started it from a lemon seed from the grocery store. I guess it is about 5 years old and lives in a pot in the back yard. If it should happen to bloom in my lifetime, I will likely have to be revived. The rest of my garden is mostly in containers as I continue to observe the light and temp conditions in both the front and back.
My Mr. Stripey tomato has managed to set some tomatoes as the night time temps have been decent thought the days have been in the 90's.
The variegated ginger that I got from a yard sale here last month has actually flowered!
I wish you good luck with your mini-farm.
Martha