[runer616]

I have never had a garden before but I am wanting to learn and begin as soon as I can.

I live in NE Florida and am curious to know when the best time of year is to plant a garden. I would like to ideally have tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, peppers, cabbage, carrots, and maybe some strawberries as well.

I have thought about trying it out by planting the vegi's in pots but I'm not sure if that is a waste of my time.

Any help would be great!

 

[Emerald]

I know that when I lived in Florida normal garden stuff did better planted in the fall and thru the winter... but I lived way down by Ft. Lauderdale. We had big problems with nematodes in the soil so we planted pretty much everything in giant pots that one of the neighbors made for us.
But you could try the bag method-buy good potting soil, lay it down on the grown so it is nice and "flat" and then cut a rectangle out of the top side and poke down thru the soil a few drain holes and just plant in the bag. If it goes ok for you then make some big pots or troughs.
Now the tropical stuff grew like weeds and I didn't' have too much trouble with bugs. Bananas, grapefruit, oranges, mangoes, papayas and my very favorite thing-Key limes... I even have lemons and key limes here in pots that get dragged in and out every year.
Now be a good buddy(or is it buddette?) and go eat some fresh from the sea SEAFOOD! I miss being able to run over to the fish market or the docks and just pick up fresh steamed clams or oysters or even going down to the keys and going lobster diving! We need a drooly smiley!:2thumb: OMGoodness I just remembered the grilled gator! Maybe I just need to move back to Ft. Lauderdale!

 

[Meerkat]

Here in north florida you can pretty much grow something all year round.
I'll be planting more okra,tomatoes next week.Right now I'm working on covering the groud and building new beds.
Raised beds are what we always use but not good for some plants.

If your soil is'nt ready I'd take Emaralds advice and grow in bags until I did a soil test.Be careful with manures,they can have harmful bacteria in them.I stopped using them for this reason.I'd just use garden soil.
Later on once you get your beds made you can pour the soil into it to condition it.