A Florida gardenerd wrote in recently:
“I live in Orlando, Florida and I know that every place has its season to grow vegetables. I am interested in growing tomatoes and green peppers to start. Don’t know anything about it, and want to know how to grow them organically. Thank you for your help.”
You’re smack in the middle of the ever changing Zone 9 over there in Orlando. According to several sources, that area has been shifting between zone 10, 9a, and 9b for the last 50 years. Sandy soil, tropical heat and sudden frosts, right?
I did some research and found that your question had several suggestions posted on the iVillage Garden Web Forum, including suggestions about which tomato varieties have done well for someone in that area. The basic idea is that you will need to continually add compost and fertilizer to your soil, and use mulch to help prevent those nutrients from leaching out. Suggested varieties include:
Indeterminates (meaning these produce fruit over a period of time, rather than all at once like determinate plants)
Great White
Matt’s Wild cherry
Hillbilly
Black Plum
Polish Linguisa
Grandma Mary
Hybrids:
Veronica
Viva Italia
Big Beef
Sungold
Sweet Chelsea
Lemon Boy
For the full thread on the forum, visit: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/organic/con020939012412.html
As far as peppers go, they have many of the same requirements as tomatoes. I would suggest (and so would the research I’ve seen) that you grow peppers (whether you grow green (bell) or hot peppers), eggplant and tomatoes in pots if your soil is really sandy. That way you can build your growing medium from scratch and control the moisture content more easily.
Here is a nice website that goes into detail about growing peppers: http://howtogrowhotpeppers.com/. At the bottom of the article are some suggestions for bell pepper varieties to try out.
I know I refer to Gardener’s Supply a lot, but they have some great self-watering containers that might get you on your way if you’re a first-timer. Check them out:
Self-watering Planter
Self-watering containers
Tomato Success Kit
Finally, I would also recommend reading a previous post on the Gardenerd Blog that includes some great tomato advice: http://blog.gardenerd.com/2008/02/29/ive-got-the-tomato-blues.aspx
I hope that helps you this spring with your tomato and pepper adventure. Keep us posted on your successes and trials. Thanks for writing in!
Yes it’s true, there are nematodes in the soil that can harm or stunt the growth of tomatoes and some other veggies. The best way to know if you have nematodes is to look at the roots when
you pull out the plants. Usually this happens at the end of the season, so if you didn’t notice any on your plants last year, you might be okay.
You can prevent nematodes in a couple of ways. Nematode-infested plants will have galls (or
lumpy nodules) on the roots. This podcast will give you a few suggestions that should help you on your way.
http://www.gardenerd.com/Podcasts/Gardenerd_Tip_of_the_Week10-08-10.mp3
Hope this helps!