Claudia, I think that's a fantastic idea. Reminds me of the WWII Victory gardens of my childhood. EVERYONE, nation-wide, was urged to grow their own. Perhaps each county extension agent could/would be willing to speak to groups as the seasons changed. I could see master gardener and rain barrel classes becoming much more popular. The possibilities are endless. Wonder if we could get something like that started up here in NE Florida?
cora

I am in Miami close to coral gables. I am not sure where you are located as I am not very familiar with Florida. Your project sounds quite interesting. I have been planting fruit trees and herbs in my yard. Hubby and I plan on moving hopefully soon so we would not be adding any more to our gardens. I haven't even planted most of my trees in the ground as yet. We have a peach tree, pomegranite (seedlings), lemon, avaocado, mango, passion fruit, kiwi, peas, herbs, dragon fruit...and I'm sure others that I just can't think of right now. I also would like to be able to eat from my yard.....its one of the best things about gardening. I have not had luck with cucumbers, melons and many other things so your learn as you go thing sounds great. Maybe you can even trade cuttings and seedlings with each other....it would take much longer of course for the fruits of your labor :-) but it would be cheaper than buying full grown plants. Right now I have about 30 pomegranite seedlings. I am very interested in the design and planning stages of a new edible garden. I've been curious about the layering of many different edibles in one area....I'm not sure what the proper terminology is....but isnt there a way to garden with little space?

im located in NE Dade County. Southwest Ranches isnt too far away - thats by Pembroke Pines correct?

i would most definitely be interested in attending a meeting.

i currently have a papaya tree, a young mulberry tree, i have 4 strawberry plants, a tomatoe bush, about 10 onions im experimenting with, a butternut squash, a couple green peppers....not too many, but this is my first season trying a sustainable garden and i did not want to overwhelm myself.

im looking to add Loquat and blackberries.

Survivalism is the reason I started gardening in the first place. I saw this economic situation coming years ago. I've been trying to make every foot of my property produce something edible.
I also have another "ace in the hole". I live on the Myakka River and chum the water behind my house with fish food pellets. A few hours later I throw a castnet over that spot and often come up with huge tilapia and mullet.
Yesterday I saw tilapia fillets for $7 a pound at the grocery store. I've been eating home-caught tilapia till I'm sick of it.
I live near Venice, and meeting with like-minded survivalists seems like a great idea!

Count me in. I'm in NE Miami (miamimiami we must be close, I'm just inside the city limits, east of the Boulevard and north of 79th)

I'm not too worried about the Depression-style apocalypse just yet, but I feel an environmentalist pull to try to grow more of my own. And I do think the WWII victory gardens are a wonderful model for getting away from industrial food and becoming personally more sustainable, and self-sustaining.

It may turn out that I'm the most central. If so, I could host a meet, as long as y'all are willing to suffer big dogs who love everyone and would like to smell you, and won't laugh at my various projects in various stages of development. (and I have cats, in case anyone is allergic. no carpets, so the place isn't one giant ball of cat fur, but I like to warn people.)
I'm doing tomatoes, herbs, broccoli, beans (tho they're not happy) and lots of arugula. Hoping to see some cukes, squash and melons soon, but nothing to speak of so far.

And I'm sure if we could get a critical mass of a dozen or so people, we could get an extension agent or master gardener to come talk to us about something we want to learn. Might be a couple meetings out before we can do that, but at least in my neighborhood, I could probably recruit a few neighbors to join for something like that, even if they aren't long-term interested.

susannah

I really like where everyone is going with this. I would like it to be a somewhat floating meeting so that in put could be had by all.

the victory gardens concept is right on. I live on a small farm and decided when I purchased it that I wanted as many edibles as possible. I have mangos for all seasons, I have tamarind, rose apples, surinam cherry, barbadoes cherry, I have very unsuccessfully tried citrus, lychee's, papaya, avacado. I also have bananas, miracle fruit, and some plants I eat and don't even know what they are to be honest. I had a great run on tomatoes that eventually got something that started eating them before we could. Strawberries grew but the soil they were in seemed to kill them. Same with watermelon, it got rot of some type. Don't know if I fertilized at the right time, wrong time, etc.

now that I see I am not alone in my interest I am going to call the extension office in broward, and a local plant expert from the rare fruit and tropical gardens and see if we can start out with 2 mindsets.

1. One get someone to come and speak to us as a group: Any ideas I like the rain barrels

2. We can try meet ups put our cooperative heads together house by house if that is feesible and see if we can problem solve issues.

I would love to come up with THE ULTIMATE SURVIVAL garden of staples. Kind of A Floor Plan of sorts. Maybe one with more logic then luck. I tend to be too hit or miss

I know every time I picked a bowl of tomatoes or fruit from my garden I got excited. But more than knowledge I had luck. I up until this past year also had lots of luck with passion fruit. This year not so much.

I also have raised cows and chickens in the past for food. I would love to self sustain myself for the pure pleasure of knowing I can. Really I just don't want to get caught unprepared for whatever life will throw me. The more I depend on myself and my family the more secure I feel.

As to meeting place. I am also open to using my home. Susannah sounds like you and I have similar household animals to contend with but I also have Miniature donkeys who are currently training to cart pull. More for giggles than anything.

this sounds like fun.

susannah, im pretty close to you. im East of 95, off of 135 Street.

my home is also open. my garden is a "newborn"....i have one cat, an oriole that is hanging out in our yard and a 1 year old daughter. she is not scared of animals at all, in fact, she scares them with her complete glee and excitement.

i became interested in growing some fruits and veggies because i make my daughter's food from fresh produce....

keep me posted on this!

Sounds like a great idea !
Too bad I am in zone 9. It seems to me that a great bunch of people sharing the same interests are going to learn from each other and progress as they go along.
Keep us posted...
Susannah, I know what are you talking about. I also have 3 dogs. When we have visitors, the guests end up playing with the one that likes ball catching (a mix of Shnauzzer-Jack Rusell)

ibelieve, your Miniature donkeys sound adorable!

Willy

if y'all are serious about this, you should without fail consider a hajj to ECHO in n. ft. meyers. it's a faith-based cooperative specialized in developing low-cost, low-tech solutions to marginal agriculture in the 20-20 zones. consider esp going during their farm days this spring. it's also far and away the best place to get fruit trees appropriate to the tropics/sub-tropics. the people there are passionate, smart and a little crazy. listening to one of them lecture on compost, i realized that for them there wasn't much difference between organic material and jesus... finally, their tech notes are my personal bible for veg and fruit gardening--all the material's available on site. i suggest giving a donation--i do every year.

google it.

Count me in! I've been growing my own fruits and veggies for years. I have over 400 fruiting trees/shrubs/vines and 2 large raised beds, and 2 small, for veggies.

Having a group to share with would be great, since we will be overwhelmed with fruit at some point. I plant most of my fruiting plants together, in groups. It is fun to design the areas so the deciduous trees are hidden in winter, the colorful plants stand out, and the fine-foliage plants and tallest ones make a pleasing barrier behind the smaller plants. I planted shade-lovers such as Coffee and Cacao under the tall Bananas. Close planting of fruit trees is discussed in detail on Dave Wilson's website.

Right now we are harvesting Citrus, Carambolas, Muntingias, Macadamias, Barbados Cherries, Figs, Papayas, and Bananas.

Ripening are Tamarinds, Black Sapotes, Sapodillas, Mamey Sapotes,Pineapples, more Figs, Ambarella, and Plantains.

In spring we get Mulberries, Blueberries, Peaches, Plums, Nectarines, Apples. In summer Mangoes (I have all the dwarf varieties available), Blackberries, Longans, Sugar Apples, Atemoyas, DragonFruits, too many Bananas, Lemons/Limes, Cherry of the Rio Grand, Pitombas, and I'm sure I'm forgetting plenty(G).

Our large flock of free-range hens give us fresh eggs daily.
They eat any flawed fruits, so nothing goes to waste.

The veggie gardens provide herbs, Tomatoes, Peppers, Onions, Lettuces, Eggplants, Chard, Bok Choy and Cabbages. Have not had good luck with cukes or squashes in the past few years.

We use greywater for the Banana/Bamboo beds, and I LOVE my rainbarrels!

I think a basic survival garden should be veggies/fruits *you* enjoy, grown in enough profusion that you can preserve the majority to use throughout the year. I'm learning to can/preserve, and will try this year. In the past I froze my fruits/juices/veggies, but knowing that electricity is not reliable, canning is a better choice.

Lisa N
Jupiter

Here is a link that might be useful: Backyard Orchard Culture

This is just what we were looking for. I have been to Echo and it was very informative. We have some acreage that we are planning for our sustainable living. We are, at the time, located in E. Ft Myers. Our lot is in borderline zone 9/10 So, if this groups takes off, please count us in!
Jo

It sounds like there is alot of interest. Maybe now we should pick a date sometime after the holidays to get together. (I find that with a set date things tend to actually happen :-))

I only have one dog right now, but when we get more settled I want to start rescuing dogs so I'm sure my home will become a zoo in time :-) A little while ago there was a post on chickens and I like the idea of having some around too. And what about a goat to mow the lawn :-)

I am looking forward to hearing how this goes for you. Keep us posted. By the way, here is an interesting link.

Here is a link that might be useful: Plants for a future

Sounds like fun... I'm in Hollywood, so you're not that far... I'm in for any day of the week but Saturdays, those don't work for me...

Expensive, tasteless vegetables got to me this summer, and we started playing with the vegetable garden (currently a failure, didn't realize how little light I got there in the winter), but other things are starting to work.

Hi. Sounds like an interesting and practical idea...and enjoyable of course as we all love gardening. I'm in East Fort Lauderdale so am about 12 to 14 miles from you.

Would like to hear more about this proposal.

Sheri

I'm in North Florida rather than South, but I've been reading your thread with interest. This last year or so I've been seeing more vegetable gardens in places I've never seen them before than any other year that I can recall. I've been putting more effort into my cool season garden this winter than I have in a long time and it's doing well.

I really don't know if we're going to slide into a serious depression such as the one we saw in the 1930s or not, but I do know that we're already in a for-real recesson that's not showing any signs of getting better in the near future. This has impacted quite a lot of local businesses in Gainesville. I think it's causing a booming interest in people producing at least some of their own food to become a little more self-reliant in case they need that money for other areas. This means learning how to grow the food at a cost that is lower than what it would have cost to buy it. If you're spending big money on inputs are you really saving any over what it would have cost to simply buy it at the supermarket?

Nutrient retention is a big deal in our sandy Florida soil. The less you have leaching away the less you have to come up with from some place else. Low cost is good. Free is better. Not losing what you've already applied better still.

My garden is never going to make it into Southern Living, but the shredded paper and cardboard mulch I've been using has worked very well for me. I use only non-clay coated paper (no slick shiny stuff) without a lot of colored ink. Cardboard is plain brown stuff or paper feed sacks. Lay down the cardboard like you're laying tile, but with an inch or so overlap then cover it with shredded paper. Soak it all well with the sprinkler then walk on it a few times and it turns into papermache. No weeds, much less water loss, less nutrient leaching. If you want it to look nice cover it over with a more natural looking mulch. In my case I'd simply rake up leaves and pine straw from my property.

There has been some interesting research done these last several years on the use of biochar (natural charcoal, NOT briquettes) in nutrient retention in the soil. It would be worth your while to do some searching on the subject. There have been many posts about this here on the GardenWeb and Google will turn up a lot more as well.

Fertilizer - synthetic or organic - is expensive if you're having to buy it. A lot of what is put down is lost to leaching so it's not only money lost, but sometimes becomes a pollutant when it gets into places where it's not wanted like waterways. Research ways to lessen your nutrient losses and you'll spend less to grow your vegetables.

This has been an interesting thread. I'm looking forward to reading more of it.

.....Alan.

I am definitely interested. One of the main reasons that I bought my home is to grow lots of edible plants "just in case". There comes a certain empowerment and confidence with being self-sustaining, and I have a lot to learn about gardening (but I'm a quick study!)

I think that we may need to consider breaking into regional groups. I would love to join with some SW FL members to share ideas and knowledge.

Heather

I agree with trinigemini, let's pick a date. I'm also unavailable on Saturdays, but a Sunday afternoon in mid-January would work great for me.

Susannah

i may not make it to the first meeting as im due with my litle sprout beginning to mid january. im currently 37 weeks pregnant..hopefully he will arrive sooner than later!

i can volunteer to host in february. im a stay at home mom, so any day is good for me.

If anything gets started in Southwest Florida, count me in.

I'm in....Trini

Sounds like our first meeting should be on a Sunday in January? Anyone want to pick a date and volunteer a house definitely? I have a postage stamp lot right now and I know some of our members have much better places to start....you know who you are :-)

How does Sunday the 25th of January sound? I have a big event at my home the weekend of the 17th so my days are crazy until then.

I know we are not crazy when the front page of the Sun-Sentinel today was about the new frugality. Speaking not only of people who can't afford luxury, they are having to go from organic to "simply price conscious".

I can not tell you how pleased I am to find so many people who can put their heads together. Unfortunately it is 2 a.m. and this is the first I could even look at email today so I won't be able to look at the sites that have been mentioned. But I will certainly will tomorrow. Echo sounds facinating. I will be googling away. I am going to search out at least one expert who can try and give us a start or direction from the ground up so to speak. then we can find a variety of issues.

I'd like to ask everyone to put a quick down at least one subject you want to learn about. Then each of us can go back to the list when it is your time to host so we keep it interesting. i'm sure if you don't know where to turn we may even have someone in our midst who can share.

I know a landscape architect from Jamaica who is a professor at FIU who might be right on track and a rare fruit expert here in Davie.

All ideas welcome. The more ideas the better we can see how we want this to go. I know my knowledge of soil, acidity/alkalinity is almost non existent. So ... it might not be a subject for a whole meet but it certainly is the base for all plants so i would have soil does and don't for part of first meeting.

List all your ideas.

I will certainly welcome learning and sharing from anyone.

A cooperative in this area would be cool but that is another day another subject.

If anyone wants my email let me know. I like letting everyone see the thoughts and ideas but as we get closer to meeting everyone I will certainly give my detials.

Claudia

Claudia, I won't be driving over to the east coast for your meetings. However, I will take part in activities in Sarasota, Charlotte, and Lee Counties here on the west coast.
This soil PH/acid subject is confusing to a lot of people, including myself. Another survival subject that I feel should be thoroughly explored is non-refrigerated preservation of our garden produce. Most modern people have absolutely no experience in canning, dehydration, or anything else.
Also, until we do have the experience and confidence to grow and preserve a large portion of our food needs, it might be a good idea to invest in storable freeze-dried or canned foods to fall back on in an emergency.
"Emergency" is the key word here. Us Floridians know how quickly one hurricane can turn our world upside-down. It's starting to look like we're about to experience an economic and social "hurricane". I believe our nation, and maybe even the world, will soon experience hardships unlike anything that has occurred in modern times.
Years ago I bought a water filter that supposedly can convert nasty ditch water into something drinkable. I haven't actually tried to drink ditch water yet, and I certainly hope this thing will work when I actually need it. I sort of look at it like owning a handgun: It's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it!
While I've always been a rod 'n reel angler, I never had any interest in castnetting. Last year, it occurred to me that one of these nets would be a good food-gathering tool in hard times.
So, I bought one and learned to throw it. It has long since paid for itself by providing many tasty fish dinners.
Like me and my net, maybe it's time we all explore new survival options.

I will try my best to be there on the 25th! coincidently, that week there is a lecture at the FAU-Jupiter campus that seems very interesting and related in subject matter.

i received this email from my mother in law. she works at FAU and they have a lecture series going on thats fantastic. i went to the first one with Dr. Robert Micheal Pyle. it was defintely a drive for us from Miami, but well worth it.

here is the info i received:

Please join us on Wednesday, January 28 at 7pm for Uncertain Peril: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Seeds presented by author Claire Hope Cummings.

RSVP to scrippsinstitute@fau.edu.
Download the invitation at: http://www.ces.fau.edu/scripps/CummingsInvitation.pdf

About the Lecture: An environmental journalist reports on the food system in a time of declining resources, growing populations, and economic and social unrest. Ms Cummings offers a critique of industrial agriculture and asks where we go from here: What do we need to feed ourselves? What do we need to know and what technologies will support sustainability?

About the Author: Claire Hope Cummings is an environmental lawyer, print and broadcast journalist and the author of Uncertain Peril: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Seeds. She is a former U.S. Department of Agriculture attorney and food and farming editor for public radio and writes for national environmental magazines as well as newspapers, online publications and blogs.

There will be a book signing immediately following the lecture on Wednesday. The campus bookstore will have Uncertain Peril: Genetic Engineering and the Future of Seeds available for sale. You may purchase this books in advance by calling the bookstore at 561-799-8538 and they will be available for you when you arrive at the lecture OR you may just purchase after the lecture.

Directions: Take Interstate 95 to Donald Ross Road (exit 83) and go east to the second light. Turn left onto Parkside Drive, then take the second right into the campus parking lot. The auditorium is in the first building youÂll encounter as you leave the lot walking towards campus.

I'm in and marking my calendar. Ideas that I'd like to learn more about:

organic and cheap pest control (do my grandmother's solutions work better or as well?)

organic and cheap soil amendment (do my eggshells do any good in this soil?)

fruit trees in small spaces (so I can have more!)

the truth about mulch (is cypress mulch really bad for the environment because people are compromising wetlands to sell it to me? is eucalyptus mulch really better to ward off termites? does red mulch really leak chemicals into the ground?)

summer edibles in South Florida (is there anything that will grow here through the summer?)

edible natives (beyond purslane, what can I eat from my lawn?)

A lot of this info is available online at sites like ifas, so when we can't get experts we could do it like a book club and assign someone to research a topic for the next meet. Hopefully not the host, since that would be putting too much on one person.

And I agree, canning is an interesting idea. I'm hoping to do some this year. Seed saving and sharing is important too. Gardening from seed is cheaper than buying the plants, but saving your own seed is cheaper than buying the seeds.

Personally, I'm hoping a group like this could in some small way substitute for the community that my grandmother grew up in, where people she knew taught her what worked and what didn't. We've lost so much of the oral tradition when it comes to gardening. And with something as local and trial and error based as gardening, that oral tradition is irreplaceable. Parks Seeds doesn't know what will work in my yard. I need to rely on my neighbors for that.

So I'm looking forward to meeting some new South Florida neighbors.

Susannah

CHANGE OF DATE: I Will have to change the date for the first group to the following weekend as I just realized that the Chili Cookoff is on the 25th. So the new date is Sunday Feb. 1st. In the meanwhile I have started making some calls.

Interesting to confirm for myself how much it helps to have input from other people yesterday a friend who also gardens came over and without even realizing he was teaching me something he looked and said I'll bet your citrus never bears any fruit. I asked why he said because the house casts a shadow on the trees. You never plant fruit or vegetable bearing plants on the north or south side of a house where the house mostly leaves it's shadow. So... It gave me fruit for thought as to where I want to start a new vegetable garden.

Yesterday I also went in my back corral and realized that my donkeys are having a hey day on some of my plants so I will need to shore them up and put barriers so i can be productive.

It sounds like we need to do some traveling and see each others gardens if possible.

Lisa, sounds like you are way ahead of me. I'm also interested in learning to preserve as well. My neighbor is from Hungary and she grew up preserving and would be more than willing to teach us if there is interest.

Susannah you had some great ideas.

Brute I looked up ECHO and it is really informative.
You are right on with the issues you brought up. We are also on the same thought process. I do believe we are going to face some things in the very near future that Americans never thought could happen here. I HOPE we are very wrong. As a rule I am a planner so not being prepared would be down right stupid. Whether I grow it or purchase it one thing I am sue is my family will continute to need food, today, tomorrow, and in the future so anything I can do today to insure that is not a problem would be stupid.

Everyone sorry for putting this off the extra week but I look forward to the cookoff every year and my favorite Country Music Singer is playing. I will update everyone as it gets closer.

Also, I want to say those links you all have sent are great.

Clauidia

As far as meetings go, I will not be able to attend on the E. Coast either, so if one were to be held in the Lee County area, it would be ideal for us. As we now live in a tiny house with vrtually no lot, I have no garden, but with 7 acres in Charlotte county, there is lots of potential. Unfortunately, it would all be from "scratch". Right now it is fallow/wild pasture land. If there is anyone from my area who wants to swap ideas you can E mail me at nikkers390@yahoo.com
Jo

It occurred to me that once we've established "our mission", there are two good ways to get the message out. The local newspapers' gardening column, of course, and the Florida Gardening magazine, which is a bi-monthly. Both are always open to story ideas. Just a thought. cora

Am I too late to join in? I love this idea! I live on the east coast in Cape Coral but am willing to travel.

Hi, Keiki! I think that we have a number of us in SW FL interested in this whole concept. Unfortunately my place probably wouldn't be suitable for a little while yet. Being new to me, the place still needs a lot of work. I am a pretty good organizer of data and information, though, and am happy to help organize and research in any way that I can to prepare for a get together!

Heather

I don't mind hosting in Southwest Florida if you all don't mind a messy old house inhabited by a cranky old bachelor who doesn't give a damn how he or his house looks.
I live on the Myakka River, across from North Port. I've been very busy and got a lot of tropical fruit trees and two pretty good vegetable gardens.
I've also been a lifelong hunter and fisherman. There's not much I don't know about these subjects.
If you bring a cast net, I'll give you a throwing lesson. If you are planning to buy your first cast net, I'd recommend a six-footer. That means, if you hold the net by the horn (the plastic ring) with the weights resting on the ground, it should be six feet tall. When spread out after being thrown, it will spread into 12' circle. If you're a beginner, don't buy a bigger size.
WARNING! These cast nets are difficult to master until you've had a LOT of practice!

the new date is actually better for me.

Yes please have a cast net demo/lesson. The vid's seen on utube are good but hard to master in real life.

We are still trying to catch a fish for dinner :-) but would settle for catching baitfish with a net at the moment.

LMK date/place/time for Charlotte/Lee/Sarasota meetup.

imagardener2, How does one send private messages on this forum? I can't seem to figure it out.
Englewood is about a five-minute drive from here. If you want to bring your net over, I'll give you a lesson. I could toss some chum in the water and you might even go home with a live tilapia.
Here's my e-mail address for you (or anyone else who feels like it) to get in touch: fiddleharp@yahoo.com

nfmgirl,imagardener2, brute and anyone else in our area lets work something out, this sounds like fun. We can start a post of our own so we don't take over ibelieve's. I have a messy but established garden filled with mangos, bananas, oranges, peaches, dragon fruit, sugar apples, papayas, mulberry, jabotacabas, pineapples herbs, veggies etc and many ornamentals. To email someone from GW you click on the mypage link then on send me an email (or something like that) feel free to drop me a line.

I felt inspired by the positive response to ibeleive's post regarding "survivalist gardening", and I felt as if there is a need out there. I thought that it would be good to have a central location for people to learn about meeting dates and times, and to have a resource of information about gardening and being self-sufficient.

Hence I decided to start the Survivalist Gardening blog. I thought it might be useful as a hub for meeting dates and times, articles about vegetable gardening and tips, information about lectures and classes of interest, and the like.

I hope that it might be useful. Please let me know if you have any info that you would like included.

ibeleive: Let me know how people can reach you, and I'll put a link on the hub to contact you for directions, etc.

Thanks!

Heather

Here is a link that might be useful: Survivalist Gardening

Hi all, I love everyones ideas. Keep them coming. I'm glad to hear there are a bunch of you in SW Florida. If it is okay, why don't we keep this link going from both coasts so we can still learn from each other. We are all on the same path. I was on craigslist or freecycle somewhere yesterday and a girl wrote in asking for seeds as she lost her job and has no idea who she is going to feed her family. I don't think we are so way out.

Heather I love the blog. Incredible. I have a number of links I look at for ideas. Take a look at http://www.mysquarefootgarden.net/ don't think I say that one.

Brute: you are right on. Take a look at
http://www.abysmal.com/LDS/Preparedness/Preparedness.pdf. It is off the main topic of gardening but it is probably the most indepth "emergency preparedness manual" that is put out by the LDS or Mormon church. It is written with facts and humor but it covers everything up to and including growing your own garden. I am not LDS but I have many friends who are and I have learned a lot from them. When I was looking for the above link i came across this site which had a lot of info some of it very scary but staying on our topic I liked this link. http://www.shtfblog.com/how-to-build-a-concrete-block-raised-bed-garden/

I really like the concrete block raised bed idea. I have my veggie garden raised and a timer on a hose that has kept things simple. I need to redo my bed as I am down to basil and 0regano. I bought a lot of seeds last week but to be honest I have never grown anything from seed except for watermelon. This will be a great start.

My email address for anyone who wants to contact me privately is: IBelieveKandC@yahoo.com.

I am not as good as Heather on Blogging. If one of us gets a great meeting or speaker going this is a good place for us to see if we have an interest. We could always do a fieldtrip. Literally.

Lets try and keep the ideas between east and west going together for now. It's all good. The more info the better.

Claudia

Thanks, Claudia! I put your email address as the contact for the meeting on Feb 1st on the calendar. I also added the website you mentioned. Thanks for the info!

Hi,

This is great topic. But I live in the South of Florida (Delray Beach) so I cannot attend but I will certainly following this topic. I have a very small fruit and nut tree collection myself, but all plants are too young to fruit yet except passion fruit, pineapple, cape gooseberries, and Ambarella (dwarf).

Tomas

Hope everyone had a happy new year. I am working on lining up our first get together. I have been looking at my property and trying to think how I should move forward. I think I am going to take a 1/4 of my corral and designate it as edible only. Unfortunately I did discover I have what I think are grubs eating a lot of my plants. so far not my edibles but whatever it is it is doing a bunch of damage. It ate the roots of one of my vines. I also realized to my dismay that a ornamental plant called bleeding heart overtook all of my passion fruit vines on my gazebo. As soon as this event at my home is over, out with the bleeding heart in with passion fruit or??. Does anyone know of any other vines that can grow in zone 10 for me to grow over my gazebo.

I think I am going to try to get someone to speak to us about planting a garden in a raised possibly concrete garden bed. This way anyone who doesn't necissarily have a lot of land can start a garden.

I also decided I am going ot try and plant a garden in my front yard as well. I will have to be a bit more creative for esthetics sake but I have a lot of yard.,

I wish everyone a Happy New Year

Claudia

Heather I really enjoyed your blog but spent way to much time checking it all out :0) I am still interested in getting together with others on the west coast, anyone else?

Thanks, Keiki! I'm definitely interested. My only problem is, as I stated in an earlier post, I'm not in a position to host a meeting right now. I just recently moved into my first home, and the place was abandoned for about a year, so I am trying to get the yard under control. But I'd be happy to attend if someone else was up for playing host/hostess. And I'd help them organize however I could. As I've said before, I'm a good researcher and organizer of data, so I'd be happy to help someone do research on a topic, do brochures or flyers, website announcements, etc. (same offer is extended to the east coast as well).

Heather

I need to know if I still have an interest in a get together here in SW Ranches on Feb. 1. I have a garden expert who is ready willing and able. I am finally done with my daughters party so GARDEN HERE I COME! I have started my tomatoe plants but I am going to put in a new raised bed to start with expert advise.

Claudia

I'm still interested. Its in Broward right?

Broward is right. I am going to get a flyer together.
Claudia

I'm still interested....