Mary Laird

Hi there!  I garden in 8b/9a.  We have our intense weather in the summer months, very few things will grow here.  As a result we concentrate on annuals that are short term, 70 days or less, then plant them at the end of February and again in August.  This may work better for you also.  I start all my veggies in the house for moderate weather conditions, put them in 6-8 hours of intense sun, and also add an aster family and dill family flower/ herb to attract good guys.  I am constantly adding refuse to each bed and burying it as in our climate it breaks down very quickly.  When I was having the same problem as you I ended up getting much better results when I added irrigation and included a soil drench made out of refuse that I soaked for 24-48 hours, then watered at the base of plants.  We get plenty of rain here (65 inches), but it is not spread out and the heavy rain washes food away while the dry weather stresses the plants.

I am on the Gulf Coast so my habits may sound odd.  For annuals, I have a box of seed for each month.  I grab it when I go to the garden and use it for direct seeding, or for starting seeds on the porch.  I also carry a bucket for harvest with my hori and clippers plus some alcohol and a wipe.  This way I can take clippings, get rid of diseased parts, and make room for transplants or cut down weeds.  In spring and summer I carry a peanut butter jar full of soapy water and/ or a dust buster to gather and kill squash and leaf footed bugs.  I have a blend of amendments and fertilizer in a five gallon bucket on the porch as I do this more frequently ( but less heavily) due to the sandy soil and 60 inches of rain.  My downtime is actually in July, August, and half of September when it's simply too hot for anything but bugs, cowpeas, peanuts, yams, and sweet potato.  I mulch very thickly in June and use the summer months to grow those staples without input, replenish supplies, and start second "spring " transplants for our long fall inside the house.  I do glance at the fruit trees and will water if they get less than an inch of rain, but that is all I do in summer; I don't even mow the lawn because it is counterproductive. My habits are not very detailed and are made to get the most bang for my buck as I am disabled and also work part time.

Ulla Bisgaard wrote:

Jen Fulkerson wrote:Hi Ulla I'm zone 9b and have managed to grow comfrey. It was a struggle, but I finally got a true comfrey crown to grow for a couple of years now. I planted it under an apricot tree with a tree collared on the side to provide shade from the afternoon sun.  Last year I started true comfrey from seed. Two grew One lived through the miserable hot summer. So if you're determined, keep comfrey watered well until it's established, then it gets easier.

If you don't want to go to the trouble borage is from the same family as comfrey. It has a lot of the same benefits like being a dynamic accumulator.  I find it super easy to grow. It isn't a perinatal, but will reseed itself like crazy.  You will find it popping up all over. It's easy to pull unwanted plants.  It's pretty, tastes like cucumber, but the fuzzy texture isn't very appealing. The flowers also tastes like cucumber, and pretty in salad.

Thank you, I think I will try borage, I have tried comfrey before and it just can’t survive here. The trees in our orchard isn’t super large yet, except for the avocados. So there really isn’t any place I can put it, where there is shade, though I do grow tree collards. I only just started them this winter. I do have two old orange trees, growing on their own next to the driveway. Maybe I can try comfrey there. Those two trees needs some TLC anyway. Rf
I did order rock roses, which I hope will live in the orchard. It’s a crazy good medicinal plant, and taste great in tea too.
So far I have bananas, peaches, apples, plums, avocado, elderberries, tangerines and lemons growing there. I think I need something with a big wide canopy to help bring the temperature down. We also have nettles, mallow and mustard cress growing there wild, plus  a mix of difference grasses. I am trying to add in some wild flowers and other species to get some diversity. I want to move at least some of it, to use as living mulch, but my husband isn’t happy, because he feeds it to his rabbits.

I think Mimosa is wonderful for lowering temps with light shadewhile providing nitrogen fixation; it grows quickly.
I live in Mobile, Al and although it is listed as 8b on maps actually has 9a temps.  I have used The Planting Wheel for Mobile, AL which was developed by a local grower many years ago.  It is accessible on the web and lists when to plant what, including starting transplants, for most veggies that we grow annually.  We can grow food here all year round but I have very limited items that will grow during our summer heat and humidity; hibiscus do well and field peas have perennialized themselves in my garden.  We also have short windows for tomatoes as it gets too hot too quickly after being cold.  Kale is perrennial in my garden, fennel lasts many years if I do not harvest all of it, and mustard self sows.  Blackberry, dewberry, blueberry, raspberry, strawberry all do well with little input as do muscadine grapes.  Citrus that can tolerate light frosts ( satsumas, meyer lemon, blood orange) all do well but require lots of food; I plant comfrey at the base of each tree on the north side and it does well once established ( extra water first year and since I have to feed the citrus the first two years I can keep an eye on it).  Elderberry, loquat,, pear Japanese persimmon all producing.  Still waiting for figs, pomegranate, peaches, plums, hazels, chinquapin, fejoa, mulberry, and a couple other fruits to start producing.  Diascorea are great here; very simple to grow as well as cold tolerant ginger and taro.  

Your children are adorable; love how busy they are!  Also love the ideas; hope to have grandkids at some point and will use this as a jump off ( pun intended)!

The most food in the least amount of space?  Sweet potato (leaves while growing and roots when done), true yam, and peanuts for roots.  Dewberry, blueberries and grapes for fruit.  Broccoli (leaves, heads, shoots for months), kale( dies back during hot weather so you can plant around it but then comes back in fall), field peas : they just grow right up my ornamental trees, and when I harvest them I make sure to drop a few for next year.
Things that take up too much space for the output but are worth it; peas!  They rarely even make it into the house because they taste so good!  Tomatoes; really have to work hard for tomatoes here but they taste so good that I spend a lot of time knocking leaf footed bugs and stinkbugs into a glass of soapy water and cackling madly!

My home is on a slight slope and we get about 60-70 inches of rain per year, with 2 separate months that get very little rain, 2 that get a whole lot, then the rest spread out.  The moisture has caused damage to the joists and crawlspace as well as the subfloors.  I am encasing the crawlspace; will use it for storage.  In addition I need assistance planning and executing a way to assist the water to go around the foundation rather than sitting on it.  I also want to incorporate water storage, be it in tanks or in ponds, and also grey water use.  Thank you for your response!

I am wanting to hire a designer for rainwater catchment and grey water use.  Does anyone know if anyone like that in the lower Alabama area?  

Thank you: I will look into the attic fan!  I have a crawlspace that is having to be enclosed due to moisture damage to the subfloor.  I am thinking that it will end up being cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter so want to use it for air too; maybe a fan to pull the air upward. Also thinking it may be good for some food storage. I did have trees growing over the house and had to trim them back in order to get homeowners insurance; as soon as I have it they will encouraged to grow back as I have noticed how much they moderate the temperature.  Sounds like you may not have that problem with your property!  

Hello permies in my area!  I live on a 3/4 acre lot in a suburban area in Mobile.  I am really excited because my Loquat is blooming for the first time ; hope to have fruit late March.  It is an integral part of my plan to have fresh fruits and veggies year round.  My next big project will be directing and saving rainwater, then starting a chicken coop in Spring.  
I am wondering if any of you use anything but air conditioners to manage the heat down here?  I have an old system and am looking into geothermal but it is pricey!  I have considered a shade house on the north,northeast with a house fan also.

Hey there!  I grow manihot ( must be boiled),, bamboo., Yams. Cranberry Hibiscus
sweet potato, peanuts, southern peas, cilantro, fennel, carrots: can eat any of their greens as well as roots plus drop some seed on the top of the ground, ease them under with your toes, and they will spring up the next year
I grow sunflowers and amaranth, but have to save and bury the seed or it gets eaten; usually the birds miss some and it resupplys them
I have ginger, but am looking forward to adding taro and canna Lily to the perennial vegetables for their roots.