I live in Florida, too. The sand is awful!! I'm following your thread to see if there are any other Floridians out there with successful gardens ...

I am actually getting depressed over trying to garden here. The sun,
heat and humidity makes it so difficult to grow anything. The heat and
sun is oppressive.What are you trying to grow? Often the problem is that a gardener is still using the same planting practices that they used in their previous location, trying to grow the same plants.

You'll have to give up the roses and other cold region species. but there are other plants that give the same effects. You can have your vegetable beds, but the timing of the plantings will change, and you can have the wildflowers, but the species will be different.

Here's some resources. If the links are busted, delete the odd characters after the HTML part and try again. Houzz screws up links.

http://infohouse.p2ric.org/ref/05/04274/plantlist.html

https://www.swfwmd.state.fl.us/yards/

Florida Plant List

http://www.floridayards.org/

http://www.fnps.org/plants

Tell you what. Let's get a truck and I'll fill it with MO heavy clay and send it down to you. You fill it with sand and send it back. Boom! :-D

Thought I add some quick pictures, just took them with my phone.

Amazing! Genius!

I like your comment about preventing sunshine on the soil. I think people don't understand how damaging direct sun can be.

Florida roses grown in heavily mulched soil without chemicals

Thank you all!

Valrose, beautiful photos. My husbands roses have hung on. He's lost a few each year. The climbers seem to do better but probably because of the thick wood chips.

Looking at your photos your property appears to have some shade.

I live in south Florida, zone 9-10. The heat is intense and the sun never quits. I wish I had more trees and have thought about planting some. There are trees, Guavas, which have thick leaves. I have a large Loquat which has leaves so thick it takes forever to decompose.

I have told our lawn people to not blow the leaves. I leave them. Problem is they truly suffocate. The areas are weed free but it is in the shady areas where I don't grow.

I primarily try to grow flowers to attract butterflies and bees. Only the native tropicals seem to survive the heat and sun. This week I planted some coneflowers again, marigolds and lots of daisy type flowers. Some native, some prairie type. Haven't had luck with anything but native. Hoping this time it might work. Crowded the plants close together to protect the roots. Lots of leaves and wood chips. Heavy dose of Plant Tone. Lots of watering.

Nematodes are a big problem here as well. Non natives do not last long. Nematodes do not organic material.

I've done cardboard, newspapers, etc. No luck. Everything breaksdown very fast. Very aggressive weeds which are hard to pull or smother.

Toxcrusadr, send that truck down. I'll pay for the gas!

Jane

I live in North Central Florida, I have some shade areas but mostly full sun. People around here have the same complaints, heat and humid is unreal, soil is pure sand and the weeds never give up. The main difference is that we also have to contend with more freezes in the winter time.

Sounds like you are on the right track with your garden and you are absolutely right about mulch and nematodes. You need to think of the top layer as mulch, dry and not much composting going on here. Next is semi composted material, then fully composted, then final native soil. The idea is trying to mimic what happens on a forest floor. If you want to cheat, use 4" pinebark mulch. Bark breaks down very slowing and is good for inhibiting weed seed germination.

Natives are great, but a lot of times they require a very specific microclimate. You provide that climate and they grow like weeds which essentially they are.

Perennials that are for hot humid climates will also do well. Since you are into butterflies and bees, here are some plants that you should have success with. Perennial types of salvia for hot humid climates, for instance varieties within these species guaranitica , van houttie and coccinea, but there are many others. You can't beat lantana, you want to go for the seedless more dwarf varieties. Nothing is a better than Hamelia patens Firebush as a hummingbird attractant. Shrimp plant is another good sturdy plant.

Cone flowers can be hard to establish, if I can get one to survive and then it seeds, the seedlings are what become longer lasting. I don't have success with store bought marigolds. As far a daisy like plants, you need to use Florida adapted varieties, I have Rudbeckia goldstrum (but you might be too far south for it), beach daisy, perennial sunflowers. Summer can be our down time for flowers. Many northern annuals, we grow in the winter and spring.

For roses my favorites come from the old rose classes of Chinas, Teas, and Noisette. Just a word of warning, the further south you go, the faster these grow. For instance the variety Mrs B.R. Cant may exceed 4 ft in all direction in just the first year and should be almost not stop blooming. At the end of 2 years it could be 6'x6'.

Most of the plants that I use are Florida heirloom varieties. Plants that have proven hardiness by the test of time. Just because they sell plants in local stores doesn't mean that they will grow in your yard.

Once you figure out what works for your garden, you will love Florida gardening. Its year 'round and you should always have something in bloom.

The grass is always greener Tox?

Giving us a idea of yard size would also help us give you some tips. A lot of gardeners that grow in hot sunny climates use shade cloth to protect their gardens. A lot of edibles you grew in New York may do better during your winter months. You will also want to plan a little differently as any annuals you grew up north may turn into perennials.

As for your soil (sand). I would build raised beds and mulch the rest of your yard you plan on gardening with wood chips. It takes more than a few years to change your top layer of soil. The advantage you have is you can grow 12 months a year so you can grow your own compost and mulch. It would take a investment in a small chipper/shredder.