My friends have all asked, are you growing food in your garden. My answer has been a hesitant yes, because my first focus in making a garden was to build the garden structure. Now that I am nearly complete with my projects for this year, I am relieved to report that I have found a few edible plants and am growing them to see how they test out. I will likely add additional plants as I figure out the planting season in Florida. So what grows well that is edible?

Grow Citrus Trees in Florida

We have two orange trees in our backyard courtesy of the former owners. Oranges grow fairly easily in Florida although if we get to heavy of a freeze it affects the fruit. To maintain our orange tree, my husband pruned out dead wood and branches that might have disease. He fertilizes it with citrus food and waters when it goes a week without rain. We planted a grapefruit tree even though they will suffer worse from frost since certain varieties do okay in a protected area near the house. To plan it, we raised the area around it by several inches so that water would drain well.

Lemon and lime are cold intolerant so I hope to get a planter with a small, planter grown trees which I can move inside in the winter, but haven’t bought them yet.

Grow Herbs in Florida

My first plant I bought was rosemary, which grows very well and is wonderful when cooking turkey. I love fresh basil and grow it in hanging pots because basil is sensitive to cold, but does okay, I think, indoors in a bathroom with lots of light. I’m also growing lemon balm because like all mints, it will take over the entire yard if you’re not careful. Other herbs that I have planted in the gardens include sage (many varies but also common sage), thyme, oregano, parsley (which looks like a fern and loves heat).

Grow Spice in Florida

My spice crops include anise, but they are new plants and have not flowered yet. I tried one fennel and it didn’t do well so I will try another spot. I found garlic chives and planted them. I’d like to find onion chives also.

Grow Vegetables in Florida

Because we have many creatures that visit our yard, my husband and I are considering using a terrarium style planting area that we would use to grow peas (my favorite), beans, strawberries and other crops where the squirrels, rabbits and raccoons wouldn’t get them all. For now, I’m trying a hanging pot grown jalapeno pepper because I like to cook with them

Grow Other Fruits and Nuts

My neighbor has a very large established oak tree that provides a healthy crop of nuts, so I didn’t plant one. We are thinking of adding one of the fruiting vines like kiwi or starfruit and have planted a native plum tree which I hope will survive. I’d like a pomegranate tree but its like the lemon and lime and would require a move indoors and to grow in a pot.