Easy South Florida Gardening Hacks (You Really CAN Grow Tons of Food Here!)

I live in Missouri and my mother-in-law lived in Miami Fl. She grew orchids for extra income and grew some really rare and beautiful ones. She used to come up here and get the wood that was washed up on the lake shore for the orchids because it would not rot. She said everything in Florida rotted extremely quickly and you could not grow the orchids on something that rotted before it could really attach itself. I can remember her flying a extra suitcase full of dead wood from Missouri to Miami Fl

Great points about not wasting yard waste and letting it work for you.

Do what God does and leave it on the ground. Haven't thought of it that way. 😄

I was land surveying a couple weeks ago on the north side of the Caloosahatchee in North Fort Myers and stumbled upon 1 massive Surinam Cherry tree. It had only one cherry hanging off it just for me. I planted the seed and said a prayer. Hoping to add it to my food forest! Speaking of food forest: Ian knocked down some massive trees in my yard. My dad bought us a chipper and now i have about 4-5 inches of mulch throughout my food forest area. It also knocked down some over grown palms that i wanted removed from that area to make room for edible canopy trees. Win Win

I like that you didn't turn away that young man's small upstart YouTube channel. Good work. And thanks for meeting me too back in the day.

I like when you just say "Yankee Hellhole" when you talk about the north 🤣🤣🤣

You really are David the Good, not just Good at gardening and teaching, but really by being a great example to all. Thanks for introducing Emmanuel, I noticed his channel made it over the first milestone of 3000 subscribers. Wishing you the best to reach your 1/2 million subscriber mark. Lets DO it in 2023!

Thank you David for all the support you are amazing! These memories are sticking with me forever!🌿😊

😆It's the gigantor iguana's down there, that you have to watch out for. I'm not a transplant...Some of us that were born here, still do exist.. although we are facing extinction..Can you put us on a watch list? 😂😂

This is SO south Florida. Not much out there for us. Such a unique area. Good work dude

The soil don't lie! I can see a definite difference in the soil in the wilder areas of our place as opposed to everywhere else. Me and my husband will be looking at that soil like "That there's some fine dirt" in our finest southern twang.

Can you make a video on sharpening a machete? I love your videos! I just can’t seem to get my machete sharp! ❤️🤍💙

Boy Emmanuel is lucky He's getting first-hand information from the best

Florida is a pretty crazy place to adapt to gardening if you came from someone else. I've had to re-learn a lot. I've managed to get tomatoes growing every year now, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower, greens, potatoes, even asparagus! You just need to learn how to adapt. The only things I still have issues growing are squash and eggplants still due to nematodes and disease/pest pressure on cucurbits. You can have your squash eaten overnight by moth caterpillars! I haven't given up and wlll find out what will grow. I still need to get a hold of seminole pumpkin seeds to try those. I've found going against common knowledge of not wetting your plants down when watering to not work where I'm at near the coast due to the salty air. Getting that salt off the leaves has helped tremendously! Tomatoes I only grow late fall through early spring and I string them up on a support I built out of 10 foot conduit pipe hammered into the ground with a crossbar I hang string from. Cutting all the lower leaves off and keeping them single or double stem keeps them hardy and much more disease resistant. I don't fool myself into thinking they will last a long time though. I do have tomatoes that thrive in the summer heat that grew from bird droppings I've kept the seed over the years and they produce a ton of tasty grape style tomatoes that even the everglades can't compete with. Asparagus I've managed by waiting for cool weather then putting ice over the spot at night and covering it to keep it cool to simulate winter. I don't get a lot of it like up north but even managing to grow something you are not supposed to here is something. Sweet potatoes, yard long/asian beans especially the red sorts, chayote, okra, and purple and japanese sweet potatoes are my biggest growers by far. Florida broadleaf mustard and lacianto kale last well into summer for greens. Gotta adapt and learn what works and remember most gardening knowledge out there is for places no florida. Don't trust home depot places either for your plants, Bonnie doesn't send plants seasonable for florida and you'll get them the wrong time of the year, and often plagued by viruses and diseases. Local plant stores and even ace hardwares in the state get local plants for the seasons and failing that, start your own. Its taken years to adjust and learn this stuff but its worth it when you can stock your pantry and freezer with stuff for the entire year. I STILL have greens, okra, sweet potatoes, and beans from last year's spring harvest in the freezer/storage!

I'm in south east GA n having same problem,,, sandy soil... Just bought very old house. Property,, neighbors laughing at me,,, collecting all their leaves n twigs.....

Just join Emmanuel’s channel Love seeing young generations working the trade

David, thanks for introducing us to Emmanuel. What a smart young man. It does my heart good to see younger people like him teaching the younger generation about gardening, this is so needed. I am amazed at his knowledge .

I live in Vero Beach, I'm scabbing yard waste from the side of the road when I see it. I've also planted assorted trees and trying to tun my sand into fertile land.

I am not from Florida but I will subcribe and watch his YouTube videos to support his gardening channel. Emmanuel is almost at 3 thousand subscribers 🙌😀😄👍❤

Thanks DTG. Appreciate all your work. God bless you and yours.