we have two distinct growing seasons, spring (the dry season) and fall (the rainy season). some of the plants you grew up north can and will survive the winter, like cabbage, carrots, strawberries, and onions. but its better to work with (and eat!) plants that do grow well here, like peanuts, cowpeas, sorghum, sweet potatoes, and other long-season things that like heat.
a lot of the growing information
online for south Texas/Louisiana/Mississippi/Alabama/Georgia is true for Florida as well.
Do not trust Lowe's and Home Depot. they will put northern varieties of fruits next to, or without including, the southern varieties, and it is very easy to pick up a plant that won't grow here.
Forget about apples/crabapples/most pears/most peaches/plums/apricots/most pawpaws... These wonderful fruits tend to require more chill time than we get, so while they will grow beautifully, they will not set flowers.
There are a ton of other things that make up for our lack of apples... like Loquats! Gingers! Cannas! Oranges! Limes! Blueberries! i make a tasty candied orange peel. Muscadine grapes are not like up north grapes, but make a great wine (
http://www.lakeridgewinery.com/ ).
Where abouts are you located? My mum has a place in port charlotte (just south of Sarasota). She can grow avocado, bananas, kiwi, and papaya where she is. There is a great nursery there in port charlotte called MRT. It's huge, and has a large variety of fruit
trees. I have my eye on a barbados cherry tree from that nursery. Also the USF botanical gardens have spring and fall sales, and the spring sale is right around the corner. It's worth the drive for a day trip.
check out this website for some ideas of
permie plants for your place
http://www.floridasurvivalgardening.com/
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