Low-Effort Backyard Gardening in Central Florida

I am not actually *doing* any of this yet. I'm just taking notes for when I have time, and I thought you might like these notes, too.

People teaching others how to grow stuff in Central Florida:

Jerra's Garden - https://www.youtube.com/@JerrasGarden - Based in Orlando, also has a garden shop where you can buy plants.

Mama Snow - https://mamasnowcooks.com/home/

From Mama Snow's About page:

"I am a lifelong teacher, photographer, gardener, recipe developer, crocheter, wife, and mama of two munchkins. As a lifelong teacher, my greatest passion is teaching children how to read, write, and draw. As a mommy teacher, I focus on teaching my children bilingual English-Vietnamese, gardening, cooking, life skills, and most importantly, teaching my children how to show respect and appreciation since I find that’s something most children do not know or show in today’s society.
My family fled the communist Vietnam in 1983. Our boat floated on the vast South China Sea for four days and nights, not knowing where we would end up. A rescue ship spotted us and took us into a refugee camp in Indonesia. In 1984, my family came to the United States. Mom is my inspiration to improve my Vietnamese cooking skill. One of my goal in life is to master all the Vietnamese cuisines she cooked for me growing up. [...]
I do not like to embed any third-party advertisements on my blog sites. That’s just annoying and very distracting to the readers and me. 😂 But to help me earn money to maintain this blog site and my gardening hobby, I do sell and ship seeds and some plants to promote edible gardening and to help me feed my garden."

Fruits and Berries

Native to Central Florida

Muscadine Grape

Muscadines are low-maintenance and produce many pounds of fruit per plant. Hooray!

Great guide to muscadines - https://jerrasgarden.myshopify.com/blogs/monthly-growing-guides/muscadine-grapes-everything-you-need-to-know-about-growing-muscadine-grapes

The U-Pick muscadine place: Owned by wife-husband couple Guda and Dave Taylor. Like Mama Snow, Guda escaped a communist regime (in Bulgaria) and is now a grower and educator in Central Florida. https://www.ocala.com/story/news/local/2016/09/06/muscadines-not-your-average-grape-remains-favorite/25505108007/

Elderberry - Requires vigilance because the plant itself is highly toxic.

https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/HS1390

Florida Persimmon https://blogs.ifas.ufl.edu/hortsciencesdept/2023/10/19/persimmons-a-florida-fruit-treasure/

Red Mulberry - https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/fr326

Red mulberry trees grow very large and take many years to start producing. If you want fruit, make sure you get a female tree. Also, the males produce large quantities of pollen that is highly allergenic for humans, exacerbating asthma and other respiratory issues.

The fruit will stain concrete, such as sidewalks and paved paths. Birds will enjoy the fruit and then drop mulberry-stained poops far and wide, including places you thought were safe because the tree doesn't reach there.

I love them, but I don't think I'm ready for the commitment of a mulberry tree.

Sea Grape - The fruit is mostly pit and has such a low yield that it doesn't make sense to grow them for food. Many lists of Florida native edibles include the sea grape, but it doesn't sound like a good investment.

Passionflower - From University of Florida: "Passion flower's ovoid (egg-shaped), green fruits are edible, but not very tasty. The fruits you may know as "passion fruit" come from another species. Retailers sell the pulp of passion flower's South American cousin (Passiflora edulis) as "passion fruit juice." Unfortunately, P. edulis is predicted to become invasive." https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/plants/ornamentals/passion-flower.html

Native to the Americas, but not to Central Florida

Jaboticaba

Jaboticaba: A Fruit Worth the Wait "I have had this growing for over 10 years now, and it has recently begun to fruit profusely, sometimes twice per year. [...] Although a slow growing tree, if you have patience, it will reward you with beauty, fragrance and fruit. It is suitable to plant in a large container, as it rarely gets taller than 8- 10 feet even in the ground."

https://mamasnowcooks.com/gardening/growing-jaboticabas-in-florida/

Jamaica Cherry - SO GOOD

There are a couple plants that are sometimes called "Jamaica Cherry". The ones I'm talking about are not acerola cherries. Acerola cherries are tart. Jamaica cherries taste like magic unicorn dust. If you tried Coke Starlight, one of the first of the weird new Cokes, it tasted like regular coke plus Jamaica cherry.

Low-Effort Backyard Gardening in Central Florida

Fruits and Berries

Native to Central Florida

Native to the Americas, but not to Central Florida

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