hi jen,

i'm looking to move up to N.C. just cuz of the heat. I am curious about gardening up there too.

be careful not to say all of us in florida are rude, some of us are very kind and friendly. you might give people the wrong impression. most rude ones are not florida natives.

How did you settle on kershaw?

michelle

I'm from Florida, moved up here ~25 years ago but still have family in FL so I get back fairly often. In my experience, gardeners are fundamentally the same. It's just the climate and soil that differ. I still try to grow tropical FL plants, though, part of my 'roots'. My area of NC doesn't have the nematode problem you find in FL, but I don't know much specific about the Rock Hill area.

Thanks for responding!

Michelle: Forgive me but I did not intend to say that EVERYONE in Florida is rude. I know that normally life is what you make it but here everyone seems to be in a hurry all the time. Most people drive as if they don't really care if they have an accident- as long as they get there the fastest.

For instance - at the Wendy's drive-thru yesterday I paid for my meal and received it with out a single "thank you" or any other word except a hi and thank you from myself! No smiles, nothing - just basically 'here's your food, goodbye'.

This is exactly how people act all the time around here and when I travel to Texas or the Carolinas, it is such a nice change to see common courtesy actually be common and to be welcomed with 'southern hospitality'.

Excuse me for being so frustrated about it but you're right there are a lot of nice people here too, it just seems to be a lot harder to find them.

I do look forward to making new country friends up there and hope to see you when you do move. We have relatives in North & South Carolina and Kershaw is one place of many around there that seems to have a lot of good cheap country land that's not too far of a drive from a busy city.

Karen - I was thinking about taking some tropical plants or trees with us when we move, as long as I could be absolutely sure I wasn't bringing the nematode problem there. How's it going? And don't you love the milder climate? From my research it looks like there's so many more delicious things you can grow easier there (like peaches, pears, plums) so I'll probably just start fresh.

I can't wait to get goats! There is SO much extensive info online to prepare me for them and I'm 'zoning out' on the computer so much reading everything I can. We're spending about $80 a month just on milk right now so it should be well worth it.

Thanks,
Jen

hey jen,

I agree that customer service has gone down the toilet. I was trained years ago as a federal express customer service agent and it kills me when, even on the phone to other states, I dont even get a hello....just come on the line and say, what's your account number. I get so upset that I force them to acknowledge me as a person before I give them my information....hehehehe.

I am also looking for affordable land with mild summers. on the florida gardening forum, someone there who used to live north, suggested I look for elevation to relieve my hatred of these summer temps....are there any big hills in kershaw?

michelle

jen,
I forgot to mention that I saw on an older post someone say that kershaw had bull tallow soil. how do you find out what areas are on bull tallow? and would it matter if you were gardening on old land that still had it's top soil?

michelle

Hey Michelle,

From what I can find, the land is sloping and even with small hills I'm sure my ears will be popping since I've been down here so long!

I've gotten conflicting info on the elevation. One place says the altitude is 506 feet and another says it's 140 feet above sea level. The altitude of my area is 12 feet!

So far all I can find on the bull tallow soil is in spots of North Carolina. It seems you have to dig it up & replace it. I was planning on getting a soil analysis and amending the soil as needed anyway.

Just as long as I don't have to deal with nematodes PLEASE! My 1st garden got ruined by a hurricane and the second one was mostly devastated by those root-knot nematodes before I figured out what the problem was.

Here's a link to a good thread on the advantages & disadvantages there.

Here is a link that might be useful: Carolina thread

jen, when I lived in zone 10 pompano beach, I had no nematode problems I was aware of and I think it was because my entire garden was planted on "mushroom compost" that I had delivered from a mushroom grower. I understand they hate organic soils/compost. I did however have the same problem as you with my garden up here in zone9b. I have since dug up all of my plants and they have recovered nicely in pots with potting mix and no natural sand from the yard. I guess that's why only natives do really well down here. when I go, I plan to only take things in pots/potting mix so that I dont take those hateful nematodes too.

i'm shocked to hear how low the elevation is. even 506 is not that high. I have to escape this heat. it dawned on me this morning that I am experiencing a reverse growing season than northerners just cuz I cant tend the garden in summer. that's a disappointment.

when do you plan to move?

michelle

Michelle:

It sounds like you want to be near the mountains. I was thinking about N. Carolina but one thing that helped us decide on S. Carolina is the fact that my thin blood doesn't want to go to a winter that's too extreme. I'm hoping that the area around Kershaw, SC will be a smooth transition but when it gets down to the 40's I'll be taking advantage of a fireplace!

"when I go, I plan to only take things in pots/potting mix so that I dont take those hateful nematodes too. " -good idea.

My nematode problem started because I was thrilled to get free dirt to fill the raised beds with since the city was digging up my yard for sidewalks. I amended the soil but I've read recently that adding kitchen scraps directly in can escalate the problem. I've been clearing everything out in order to 'solarize' the soil for a few weeks during summer to burn them up.

Is there a mushroom grower around pompano? That compost sounds like a great idea if we're here long enough. I'm ready to go now but we'll be talking to a guy next week about our options - refinance for another year or take the money & run. The taxes & insurance are too much to keep up with.

-Jen

jen, the taxes and insurance are killing us. I am so afraid to choose the wrong city and have just as big a tax/insurance bill. I checked out the average temperatures of kershaw area and the summer heat seems around the same as here, so I would be unhappy. it's pretty bad in my opinion when it's so hot outside that you can only garden a few months out of the year.

as for the compost, I called up Sunshine Mushroom Company in pompano beach. they deliver. the compost is sooooo heavenly. it is soft like velvet and smells like a pipe tobacco shop.....yum. what a great smell. after I put my plants in the compost, I never even once had to use fertilizer and I grew plants twice their normal size and the plants seemed to live longer than they were supposed to also. I think I ordered their smallest amount that they would deliver and it was 3 yards. back then, maybe 7 years, it cost $35. what a bargain.

michelle

Michelle - thanks so much for the info on the compost! If I don't take advantage of it here I'll definitely look for a mushroom grower in the Carolinas.

We haven't actually decided on Kershaw but it looks appealing for what we want. We're mainly looking around the North/South Carolina border, possibly further west and closer to the mountains like Greensville.

And by the way - there was actually an article today in the Sun-Sentinel about how so many families are leaving Broward county since the cost of living is so ridiculous.

I don't think you should worry about the taxes & ins. up there - the house prices are SO much lower in most places there & you can get so much more space. And a fireplace!

It seems like the prices go up though the closer you get to the mountains.

-Jen

I am in upstate SC and the soil is very different from the Greenville area and Kershaw. Here in Greenville, it is a very orange clay soil. We are in zone 7 a-b. In Kershaw it is more sandy loam and the zone is more towards zone 8. I noticed in Camden, I see many more palm trees and more Low Country plants.
Good Luck with your decision. Any place in SC is beautiful.

Hi Jen! I'm originally from Lee County in SC, right next to Kershaw. My parents still live there, and my mother can grow ANYTHING in her soil! Both Lee and Kershaw have large agricultural areas, and in the past were almost totally made up of farms. The best advice I can possibly give you, whether you settle in the upstate or in Kershaw, is to contact the Clemson Extension office (here's a couple of links: http://www.clemson.edu/extension/ AND http://hgic.clemson.edu/index.htm). You can call them, also... the folks there are really friendly. Good luck and welcome to South Carolina!

Claudia

Thanks for the encouragement and advice everybody! From another thread I've found that there are a couple of mushroom growers around Columbia and whatever condition the soil is in, I plan on starting a raised bed with the mushroom compost while I amend the soil in another area for the next season.

We're taking a ride up there to check out a couple places in a couple of weeks. I can't wait to see some wide open space! And hopefully the 7 acres we're looking at may be perfect for a good family farm.

And yes, Claudia I was planning on contacting the Clemson ext. office, having my soil tested, and getting info from them. They seem to be very helpful.

Jen