Is New York really that different from Central Florida? Geesh, I thought I had a little bit of a green thumb. I mean, I can keep houseplants alive, what the heck happened to the garden? Turns out that humidity, nematodes, mold, mildew, fungus, wilt and blight diseases team up against the Florida gardener. I have to admit, a girl that can describe at least 10 different snow conditions, has no weapons against these buggers. I had no idea that any of this stuff even existed let alone how to look for it or treat it. Many of these problems don't have time to build up in zone 6b to become a problem. But in the sunshine state, it's like a hot tub cesspool and these diseases and bugs live all year long and build up to critical levels. Give me slugs and snails, please! I know how to deal with those. You know how many slugs and snails I've seen......none.....zero.....zip. Deep Breath.
So what did I learn? Our first mistake was planting anything in the ground. More experienced gardeners might be able to grow that way, but it didn't work for me. So we gotta build some raised beds. Or, rather, the hubby needs to build some raised beds. Then we need to line the bottom with weed fabric and boxes. Boxes? Yep, boxes my friends. Regular old cardboard boxes which apparently will keep the weeds from growing up into the raised bed and keep the bad nematodes out of the raised beds as well. Who knew there were good and bad nematodes? I'm not sure I even have that straight since youtube is my "expert" but I'm just going with it for now. Nothing like a hot cesspool to take the fun out of growing some veggies. But I'm still into it, so let's get building! Hubby where are you........
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