The Accidental Smallholder Forum

Community => Introduce yourself => Topic started by: nug on June 24, 2010, 04:32:30 pm

Title: Hi from Florida
Post by: nug on June 24, 2010, 04:32:30 pm
Yorkshire guy, been living out here for around 7 years, 5 acres just over 2hrs north of orlando, 3 miles from the Suwannee river. IN THE WOODS!
Title: Re: Hi from Florida
Post by: Wizard on June 24, 2010, 05:14:35 pm
Hello Nug Welcome from Wizard in Grimsby Do you see the space vehicles go up from your house? I often wonder how much noise do they make when the go. The TV pictures are spectacular but I think the sound is reduced some what.Anyway enjoy your self with us all on TAS :farmer:
Title: Re: Hi from Florida
Post by: HappyHippy on June 24, 2010, 06:44:09 pm
Hello from me in South Lanarkshire  :wave:
Welcome to the forum  ;D
Wow - you'll be growing lots of lovely stuff out there in the sunshine state, soooooo jealous  ;D Though maybe I wouldn't fancy having to deal with crocs  ;)
Hope to hear lots more from you,
Karen
Title: Re: Hi from Florida
Post by: Hilarysmum on June 24, 2010, 07:18:16 pm
Hi welcome, love Florida. 
Title: Re: Hi from Florida
Post by: nug on June 24, 2010, 10:44:10 pm
I am 180 miles from where the shuttle goes up but i did take a ride down & got to see it go up first time, seen it go up from here at night which was fantastic, Very hot at the moment, 97 & 75 at night. Gardening here is hard, white sand is what i have for dirt & in the winter it can get down to -8 which it did this year, which kills a lot of tender plants.
Title: Re: Hi from Florida
Post by: Wizard on June 25, 2010, 07:05:34 am
Morning nug .It's nearly 6.00 am GMT here in Grimsby and the temp was far to hot for me yesterday 27 C I did wonder about you soil because several Pals have been and they tell me of the variation in the ground.I know it can be cold because they stopped a rocket from going because it was iced up.The other thing I don't know if they live in your part but I really don't fancy Alli's in me pool cool cooling off. ??? ;D It is a bit cooler this am clouded over but that might make it humid and thats worse.All my boxes are doing well I had new potato for Sunday lunch plenty of leaves for salad, pickle onions look well and the kidney beans just starting to form there are several 1" long Looking forward to them. Plagued with those little black ants at the moment though There you are a report from East of England,and no I am not a football fan  :wave: :farmer:
Title: Re: Hi from Florida
Post by: Rosemary on June 25, 2010, 07:58:44 am
Hi and welcome! Doesn't sound like the gardener's paradise I would have imagined  ;D
Title: Re: Hi from Florida
Post by: Hilarysmum on June 25, 2010, 08:02:52 am
Do you grow citrus?  We do here in Brittany, but in pots as they have to be bought in during the worst part of the winter.  -8 in the very worst weather.
Title: Re: Hi from Florida
Post by: chriso on June 25, 2010, 11:25:18 am
Hi nug, what livestock do you keep? What do you manage to grow?

Been to Florida many times but I now feel I need to see more of the state than the usual tourist areas.
Title: Re: Hi from Florida
Post by: nug on June 25, 2010, 10:02:28 pm
Tangerines do the best with it getting cold, last year i had a bush loaded with large easy to peel very sweet tangerines, my inlaws live less than an hr from us but at the coast, cedar key, & they have an orange tree that produces hundreds of sweet oranges every year. One fruit that does really well here is the persimmons, they used to sell them in Tesco's under the name of sharon fruit & they are very nice. you can grow citrus & apples side by side here if you pick the right type, apples & pears all need to be low chill hrs eg 450hrs to set the fruit. I also have loquats which flower in november & fruit in march-april, these are like small peaches. Friend over the back as trees loaded to the ground with peachs & hes the one with all the animals, i only have a few hens but am looking at the hair sheep for meet. Sweet potatoes grow like weeds here, cant kill em lol, very hard to grow tomatoes thru the summer, too hot! spring & fall is the time for them, grow greens thru the winter. We have deer, wild pigs, turkeys all come thru the yard, then i only have a 30 minute run to get to the gulf for fishing!
Title: Re: Hi from Florida
Post by: Daisys Mum on June 25, 2010, 10:23:20 pm

Hi and welcome from the Scottish Borders  :wave: Your place sounds great but I could not cope with the heat.
Title: Re: Hi from Florida
Post by: nug on June 26, 2010, 12:16:11 am
Yep the heat at this time of the year is brutal, just jumped in the car & went to pick up the keys which is all metal & did i know about it, steering wheel toooooo. The pool helps ALOT! Then we have loads of springs around here, i can launch the boat in to the suwannee, which is just across the road & 2 miles up river is a really nice spring where you can go up the flow from the spring in your boat, park up & fish, snorkel, sun bath ect. Theres even a shallow spot in the suwannee where people sit in their chairs with a beer & ali gs on the bank! The heat starts to go the middle of october & then its great until mid may.
Title: Re: Hi from Florida
Post by: Sandy on June 26, 2010, 12:20:53 am
 :wave: Hello from Clackmannan!!!
Title: Re: Hi from Florida
Post by: Hilarysmum on June 26, 2010, 09:23:22 am
Sounds idyllic.  Are the alligators and crocodiles a genuine problem, or just tourist scare stories?
Title: Re: Hi from Florida
Post by: sheila on June 26, 2010, 02:47:30 pm
hello from Lincolnshire (ex yorkshire). I have fond memories of my husband and I breaking into song (you can guess which one) as we drove over the suwannee river. I think you will struggle to grow english type crops where you are I bet the okra and sweeet potatoes are good. Do you have any Pecan trees? I look forward to hearing of your adventures.
Title: Re: Hi from Florida
Post by: knightquest on June 26, 2010, 07:17:47 pm
Hello and welcome from Birmingham  :wave:

That's the one in England by the way and it's soooo much different to where you are  :)

It's good to hear about what you can grow and the conditions etc. Look forward to hearing more.

Ian
Title: Re: Hi from Florida
Post by: nug on June 27, 2010, 03:38:08 am
Alligators are no problem at all, see plenty on the banks of the river & never heard of any attacks, I witnessed an accident on sep 14 2006 when a guy ran his boat into a bridge support at 40 mph & shot clean out the water up the bank & me in skates on the bridge! I had difficulty getting the skates off when i heard the guy shouting my wifes in the water, when i got down to the water i could see her floating face down with no life jacket, I used to dive back in Britain & trained in recover & so threw off my big baggy shorts & swam out & rescued the woman who was cut up pretty bad, she had been on the front of the boat sun bathing! so the prop did a job on her, both had broken hips & internal injuries & i never heard of em again but never so any alligators even with all the blood.
I don't have any pecan trees, too much work lol but the wife loves sweet tates & ocra.
Title: Re: Hi from Florida
Post by: Hilarysmum on June 27, 2010, 09:04:00 am
Thats heroic ! 
Title: Re: Hi from Florida
Post by: knightquest on June 27, 2010, 09:38:17 am
Well done Nug!
Title: Re: Hi from Florida
Post by: nug on June 29, 2010, 03:21:37 am
Cheers! going to a 4th July party at weekend, will be wearing my t shirt with union jack lol see how that goes down!
Title: Re: Hi from Florida
Post by: Wizard on June 29, 2010, 08:13:34 am
You should be ok nug they left the field before we did  ;D ;D :farmer: :wave: