Does the entire lot become flooded or only the part closest to the lake? Or all low spots? You can always plant without digging too I think...when you get something you just lay it on top of the ground and put your soil and mulch on top. That will help raise your land little by little as well....I think it would work...it's how Ricky says he plants and his yard is gorgeous....plus you don't have to dig :-) I'm sure others will chime in here with plant suggestions.

Look up lasagna gardening or sheet composting to learn more about the no dig gardening. Main thing is you need to bring in large amounts of organic matter for that type of gardening but this does not have to cost much, mainly time, effort and hauling.

As far as what grows hum. Sweet potatoes like a long hot wet season but I don't think they really want much standing water. They are cheap and easy to try though for most of the year.

As far as stuff that would do well in standing water, hum, you might look for information on Taro or rice?

It might be useful to grow something in the wet spots that might provide you with organic matter for composting and improving the soil. Perhaps cattails or reeds or some other aquatic or bog plants.

In order to raise the low spots, you might just need to expand or deepen the pond a bit to get more dirt.

Does your location get freezes? If not there may be some tropicals worth growing but most of them that I know (other than the taro) won't like to be in standing water.
Papaya and banana like lots of water during the hot season but they need drainage. I'm not sure how tolerant Moringa is but probably the same as papaya.

Good luck

Here is a link that might be useful: TCLynx

I must caution you when you do start to build, they will tell you the elevation that your house pad ( and septic)
must be at. And then there is the driveway ! All that will change the high / low areas in your yard. I would not plant yet.

You didn`t say how many acres you have. I would dig a bigger pond . When we moved into our house we actually got a rebate from allstate for having one.......... That way they can fight a house fire with one of the suction hoses LOL !

TCLynx........ are you the CEO of dome homes ?

jupiterplants,
Nope, I don't even have a thinshell home of my own yet. Will have to see what the economy does over the next few years to know if I'll ever get to built it. For now, I'm growing lots of sweet potatoes so we at least won't starve this winter even if paying the bills might be difficult.

Yes, good point on the fact that the landscaping will change when construction comes. You can still work on building your soil where you hope to have the garden. Add lots of organic mater and perhaps plant some cover crops. Don't spend lots of money on any plants that might not do well or might have to be removed for construction. There are lots of seeds you can get by the pound pretty cheap for cover crops or there are other planting materials you can build up by getting a few cuttings or divisions. Sweet potatoes can be started from a root from the store thought it is a little late in the season to be just starting those.

Here is a link that might be useful: TCLynx

We have 7 acres, We had a survey and they said 42+ inches for septic and house pad. We still need a perk test. We still have a piles of fill around the pond. We plan to expand the pond considerably. It is now about 10' D x 20' W x 50' L mol. We're planning on using some of the fill for pad. septic. drive, filling low spots, whatever. The water stands only in the low spots and they are not deep, just enough to cover your shoes and over the ankles, throughout the lot. It's actually drier around the pond. Not surprisingly, he highest places are huge fire ant mounds. (can you say OUCH?)
I'm sure there are occasional frosts. We are only a couple of miles E of a tropical nursey (Tropiflora??)
We have volunter cattails and pickerell plants in the ditches. We may just transplant some around the pond; not a big loss when we expand the pond.
The lot is covered with grasses and wildflowers some palmetto clumps and a few very small pines.
We already had plans to add lots of organic material to the land. We just hope we can find some tree trimmers who want to unload truckloads of wood chips on our lot.
This is going a lot slower than we expected, but the upside is, we have more time to plan.
All the advice is much appreciated.

Look up Moringa, you should be able to get some seeds from Echo in south florida. It grows really fast (faster than payaya.) It might die back to the ground if you get a hard frost but it is supposed to grow back. I only planted mind in the ground a couple months ago and some of them are already over 6 feet tall. Keep them cut at about 6 feet tall and they can make a great edible hedge. The leaves are edible (good source of iron and vitamins as well as being rather high in protein. I've only just cut the top off the tallest of mine so I don't know yet if the cuttings will root easily but it is supposed to be pretty easy to root cuttings of the stuff.

Since winter is coming, you should be ok to plant a variety of annual things in the low places as it would provide some extra moisture if you are not there to irrigate regularly.

You might look at something like white clover as a cover crop to help improve soil. White clover would be good to plant before the wet season ends but should do well during cooler weather. A dry hot spring could kill it off but it could be perennial if it gets enough moisture.

Check into if there is free compost or mulch available from your county. You might also see if there are any mushroom farms around your area (if so you might be able to get mushroom compost cheap if they don't bag and sell it) the mushroom farm near us will load you up for like $5 a scoop (that is like a 3 cubic yard scoop of their big equipment.)

I've also heard of some types of radish that can grow really big and have been used for breaking up hard clay soil or adding lots of organic mater to sandy soil. I don't remember the type now but might be worth doing some googling on the subject.

Good Luck

Here is a link that might be useful: TCLynx

I live on a lake and the water level has fluctuated 10'. Bottle brush will live in water or without water. You can't loose them to drought or flooding. Queen palm trees will take flooding too as will saw palmetto. We have both and they grew like mad while sitting in water. I think most palms like water.

The one suggestion I have for you that may save you the most time and trouble is to plan your yard before you plant anything....Fawnridge had a great little handout at his last swap that you should try and get your hands on....if you want I can try to scan it in and email it to you but you might be better off just asking him for it. When I moved in with hubby his yard was all grass....after a swap I just planted things anywhere....now as I see how they grow I want to move so much stuff.

+1 on the planning for anything that is perennial or especially for shrubs and trees.

As to the veggie crops/garden type stuff, I believe that stuff should travel the yard like giant amoeba, but that is just my personal method.

You can grow Gumbo Limbo, Bananas, Bamboo, Corn, Watermelon (when it is hot outside), Blackberries, Onion, Garlic, Walking Onion (may cross pollinate with onions, so be careful), I even heard you can grow apples, but they have to be watered A LOT! I would start with some gumbo limbo or bamboo because they are so easy to start.

Jo, congratulations on your wonderful seven acres! I know you will have fun trying all kinds of things and playing with it. Your pond sounds great too.

I certainly am no expert, but we used to have acreage east of town that we planned to build on. Circumstances happened and we ended up moving in town. Our property had a large pond and many undulations of dry and wet spots. You are lucky to have lots of time to observe your property during all seasons, and be able to plan well.

Do you know where on the property the house will be? If you do, steer clear of planting anything even remotely close to it. Think construction trucks and workers that don't care about trees. Many, many of them. As the seasons come and go, plan what you will want to do with your land, and sketch it on paper if you can. Start planting trees in areas far away from the home to be built. Perhaps on the property borders where you might want screening from a neighbor. Every time it rains, mark the low points. Don't count on remembering. You won't with 7 acres. Mark the wet spots, or the consistently dry spots and start there. Remember that fill is expensive, and there are regulations about how much fill can be brought in. You won't be able to bring in fill for all your property.

When you have a good idea of high spots you will want to plant trees, think native first. Florida Native Plants nursery in Myakka, east of Sarasota is a great native nursery that is probably 45 minutes from you. There may be one closer. Large oaks will help the house look in scale with such a large property. Plant some as large as you can afford in areas where there is no danger of heavy equipment coming close to them. A clump of native slash pines look great in the distance, and is great for wildlife. Some possibilities for low areas you determine you'd like to plant in are cypress, sweet bay magnolia, sweet loblolly bay (I think) and wax myrtles. I'm sure there are others.

Just keep observing and marking, and things will become clear to you. When your home is built, then you might want to do some tropicals close by it, some flowering trees?

As far as the pond. Talk to your county extension agent about what not to put in it. Cattails may find there way into it, and I'm not sure about this, but I think they can get to be a real pain. Find out about what marginals and submersibles are native and won't become an invasive nuisance to you. A large stand of pickerel weed can be really pretty. There are native waterlilies that are lovely.

Time is your friend. Use it wisely to mark your best and worst areas. Get some screening and shade trees going, and plan, plan, plan! Most of all, have fun with it!

Anna

Some help is here.

I want to thank everyone for their input. The information was invaluable and the encouragement was uplifting.
It is our intention to have fun with this land. Hard work is just hard work if the results don't give you pleasure. We have a vision and we plan on taking our time. We're retired so time is not money. Besides we have lots more time than money LOL.