You will like it here most people are friendly....I only have one neighbor that I do not like...And it is because their dog is always in my yard.(no leash laws)And, One night I let my dog out...I always go out there and watch him...Went back in for a SECOND to get a cigarette...I smoke on my porch...When I came out he was running across the street to the neighbor over there...They were having a wild loud party...He never goes over there but he must have heard the noise and went to investigate..He LOVES people. My front yard is long; by the time I got to the bottom of my yard I saw them (the neighbor across the street) taking MY DOG into their house..I didn't have his leash so I went back to my house to get it....By the time I got back down my LONG lawn he was running back home. When I got him in the house he was shaking and looked like someone took his best friend..THEY HAD STABBED HIM in the shoulder with a steak knife...I did call the Sheriff and filed a complaint...Took him to the Vet and he is okay...The Sherriff wanted to charge them but I did not press charges because they are my neighbors..I would never think to do something like that to their dog or any dog...I just think that is crazy...So I do not talk to them...And my dog never goes out in the front yard anymore. Other then that all my neighbors are nice.. When you get here you could find a Nursery and ask them about citrus.. Another thing I thought of is it can get WINDY here so put your trees in an area where they can be moved easily to shelter them from the wind or are sheltered somewhat from the wind. I think the horses running around keep the fire ants down in my yard..I only have one horse now...Sold 2 recently...Maybe it is their manure in the pasture, not sure exactly why I have no fire ants in my horse pastures..Fire ants are not bad for your yard..just their bites BURN and HURT..I have never had allergic reaction to their bites. I have seen on animal planet that their bites can actually put some people in the hospital. One of my neighbors puts gasoline on her fire ant hills, then lights it...Hummmm I just put the poison on new hills and that works... Ask your husband what color the ground was on the ant hills that should help...I have mostly red clay...Recently I started clearing a semi wild area to turn it into a flower garden...Mature trees and thicket, the ground is light brown in that area. So I think I will find someplace to test the dirt to see what it's composition is. You can find cotton hulls for sale at any Farmer's Co-Op. Some cotton gins will give them to you for free or a small fee (dollars) in the fall. It does take a few years of tilling and adding aeration to make the ground easier for veggies to grow. I have a lot of HUGE oak trees. I also till those leaves into my garden in fall. I always get good yields...I usually just plant 2 or 3 of each veggie...I end up giving veggies away because I get so much yield...I have had no luck with carrots, potatoes, onion, or corn (not sure why) ...Yellow squash, tomatoes, green beans, Zuccinni (spelling) melons, okra, broccoli, peppers, and cabbage have all done VERY well for me. I think nothing tastes better then your own home grown veggies...

Hi hard to believe Florida is the second largest producer of strawberries in the world ,isn't it?? lol I've had the best luck with June bearers in winter aiming at production in Jan Feb. Last year I had both "Fiesta" and Ozark Beauty " actually make it through summer . I grow them in Strawberry jars in a mix of Coir and pine bark fines transplanting the offsets . I erred again in transplanting too early (too hot) and lost half of them lol. You might check out the UF website they have all kinds of info for the different methods with a list of the most produtive varieties for the different zones in florida. GOOD LUCK!!! gary

I used to never use gravel in the bottom of the pots. Until I started fighting root rot every time we get a week of rain. ProMix holds a lot of water and unless your pot is pretty much root bound, it's going to stay soggy. Even then, plants don't take up enough water when it's cloudy and raining. When you use a couple of inches of gravel, then put the window screen on top of it, you are creating an air pocket under the potting mix. Also, along with the air, the entire bottom surface of the potting mix can drain. I like that, I can flush my pots out a lot faster and better. You can't flush out the area dead center in a pot without elevating the potting mix. Your link is talking about adding gravel to the bottom of a pot - without - covering the gravel with window screen to elevate the potting mix. What you link is talking about is that gravel is denser than the potting mix and will not drain or aerate as well - when it is mixed with the potting mix. Elevating the potting mix above the gravel with window screen is two different things. From your link: "Some have suggested the placement of gravel in the bottom of containers improves drainage. In fact, the gravel decreases the total volume of medium with favorable aeration. The pores at the interface of the container medium and gravel must be saturated before water will move down into the gravel. This means that a layer of medium with near maximum water content is positioned above the gravel rather than on the container bottom. Therefore, the effective height of this container is reduced by the depth of the gravel in the bottom." What I'm talking about is creating a bottomless pot. Because of the window screen, the potting mix is elevated off the bottom of the pot by a couple of inches. There are no pores at the interface of the container medium and gravel, because the gravel and potting mix are not touching and are not mixed together. Make any sense? Corrie

i was excited to find someone who had these tubers at the end of their tumeric roots. i searched the internet for information on this to no avail until i stumbled on this. first year of growing my tumeric from tubers the plant had flowers and i harvested them after the plant died down and i got orange rhizomes. I planted these and this time the plants did not flower and the rhizomes colour ranges from yellowish to orange and i have lots of tubers at the end of the roots. could this be because they did not flower. i am going to try and plant them as someone suggested and see what happens