I have live in North Florida , South Florida , Tennessee , and the West Indies and garden in each of those positioning . This geographically diverse agricultural experience had proven utile in my garden writing career , though it has n’t always been easy on my family or our homesteading ideals .
Back in 2019 I was asked about start a food forest in Tennessee andI wrote this post on the subject .
Yesterday Angela asked an interesting question on that article :
“ If you had to equate between Florida and Tennessee which would you say is better for growing food ? ”
In the post I wrote :
“ Tennessee is a modest , temperate climate . The ground is broadly speaking decent , though often jolty , and the clay is deep . Much of the rain falls in winter and leaping , then the summers tend to become more teetotal . I used to live a little alfresco of Nashville and was astonished by how green bound was and how much life sprang from the dirt . In Tennessee you could rule wild comestible and utilitarian flora everywhere if you know what to look for . There are black cherries and blackberries , hackberry and dandelions , wild violets , mullein and ring of edible puffball mushroom .
If you savor a soft clime , with casual snow and very green springs , Tennessee if beautiful . Especially Eastern Tennessee .
Generally , the land is good to bully , though you do get some clay and some slight , rocky field .
As for perennials , you may well produce everything from smasher to shameful walnut in Tennessee , along with sour cherries , gooseberries , hiss , blueberry , pawpaws , pecans , figs , pears , apples , plums , Jerusalem artichokes and most herbaceous plant . It ’s a secure gardening climate without sulfurous winters .
In our vegetable garden we could grow an abundance of beets , love apple , potatoes , moolah , collards , okra and more .
Florida ’s climate is much milder in winter , of course , which is great if you are interested in more tropical specie , but not good for your assortment of temperate crops .
It ’s concentrated to evaluate Florida as a monolith , however , because the Northern portion of the state can actually get quite stale in short snaps . I once evaluate 12 arcdegree out in our yard a small south of Gainesville . The lowest I measured during our year in Tennessee was 14 , though it does get colder in Tennessee sometimes – and it stay cold a lot longer than in Florida .
If I had to choose between gardening in Tennessee and South Florida , I would choose South Florida hands down . the latter climate leave you to grow almost all the amplitude of the tropics .
From jabuticaba …
to mango …
to coconuts …
to jackfruit …
Tennessee can not contain a CANDLE to the mixed bag of great yield and vegetables you may grow in South Florida .
South Florida is an awesome gardening zona , despite its lack of full soil . I do not understand masses who whine about not being able to raise apples or blueberries , when there are literally hundreds – or even thousands – of diverseness of tropical fruits that can be grow instead .
As for North Florida , I would also put it ahead of Tennessee as well since you ’re able to zone - push some audacious tropical specie there , like yams :
Cassava :
banana :
And so on and so on .
It ’s harder to develop great Pyrus communis , and it ’s too far south for smuggled walnut , but you’re able to arise a decent amount of temperate species , like persimmons , chestnuts , sand pears , Carya illinoinsis and black cherries .
Still , Tennessee acquire on tomatoes . We had great tomato harvest there and we ’ve never been able to pull off great yields in Florida .
So that ’s my answer : Florida wins , but especially South Florida .
Speaking of South Florida , if you want to unlock the amplitude of South Florida horticulture , you really shouldpick up a copy ofThe South Florida Gardening Survival Guideand start maturate like a title-holder . I wrote that book after a transplanted gardener in Ft . Lauderdale necessitate for my advice on South Florida horticulture , then I had my friend Tom Sensible illustrate it . ( It ’s worth get just for the common iguana illustrations . They ’re screaming . )
