We moved out of Florida, to Virginia – Climate Shock!

Tomorrow, we officially close on our new home in Virginia.  We lived in Virginia before, and then we moved away because we wanted a warmer climate.  While you can indeed grow food all year long in Florida, it is warm there – super hot actually, and you sweat yourself to the point of dehydration for about 9 months out of the year and then from December till March, you have seasonably cool spring-like weather which coincides with the growing season for most of your vegetables. Starting in about May, the temperatures increase to uncomfortable, humid and hot. From that point on, most of your vegetables, herbs, and plants will suffer, because they just wither. The trick for the summer is to plant plants that are more tropical in nature, like banana, who love heat, as well as tropical spinaches, such as Longevity spinach and Okinawa spinach. This climate also lends itself to food forest plants such as Chaya and katuk which thrive in this climate. Amaranth and squashes also love the heat. So as long as you Are not expecting crops of lettuce and tomatoes mid summer in Florida, you should be ok.

Growing in Virginia

I have convinced myself that I can continue to grow food all year long even in Virginia, with some adjustments. Initially, I thought about just buying a huge greenhouse to grow in for the winter, though that still makes me needing to move stuff in and out of the greenhouse depending on the season and I cannot fully enjoy the plants I would like to enjoy them. One of the plants I enjoy growing is Citrus. the blossoms have such a nice tropical scent when the citrus is flowering and they are so pretty! Same for dragonfruit and Persian apples.

Instead of a greenhouse, I am now planning on building out something that more or less resembles a Conservatory, a large live-in four season room that is climate controlled but made out of glass so it is nice and bright, and just really cozy, when you add these tropical plants to the room. In the winter, you just have it as a hot house so your windows are closed and in the summer you can open the windows and have it as a tropical screen room. This is my dream greenhouse. Add a small pond for some peaceful clatter, add a nice sitting area or even a dining area, and voila, tropical paradise!

The reason I am talking about a conservatory to still be able to grow my tropical plants, is because these plants would suffer under the harsher frosts and winters here in Virginia. Virginia does know winter and snow, the summers are cooler, and I am definitely looking forward to these cooler summers because the salty sweat that comes with Florida heat makes you prone to heat rashes, chafing, sweat rashes, and even fungal infections. It is just nasty when you come outside and you come in drenched because you just walked to the mailbox, try gardening in that heat, with all the sweat combined with sand and you have a recipe for disaster.

What am I looking forward to with Gardening in Virginia

• Gardening with less heat, and a more normal season for vegetable gardening – I mean, when it is a nice summer day, this is the time I want to pick that tomato and make a nice salad, in Florida, you may get cherry tomatoes till June but then, good luck!
• Being able to grow herbs and vegetables that need frost to germinate or thrive – many herbs require stratification, such as Lavender. Once stratified, the seeds readily sprout. For other plants, such as Rhubarb and Brussels Sprouts, they just seem to do much better in a cooler climate.
• The soil is clay in Virginia and full of Minerals, but it will naturally hold more water-you do need to amend the soil in Virginia to make it more workable but it is richer soil Florida is all sand and it has a serious water phobia so you are always watering to keep your plants alive unless you amend your soil with compost. Even in Virginia you need to amend your soil but not as much. You amend the soil in Virginia more to make it workable and to improve it so that roots do not need to work as hard. Florida sand is also very prone to root knot nematodes, a tiny creature that burrows in the roots of your plants. These things were my nemesis and the only way to get rid of them is to solarize the soil and add a ton of compost, and even then, good luck.
• Fruit trees! Apples, pears, Cherries, plums, peaches, nut trees, all of these guys will be happy in Virginia!
• Berry bushes like blackberry, blueberry, gooseberry, lingonberry, and even red currants, are delightful and they love the Virginia climate.

What I am Dreading about Gardening in Virginia

Deer! Regardless of whether it is Florida or Virginia, there are deer, these guys are always a challenge, and I could have filled my freezer with some very well-fed with organic vegetables kinds of deer, but they are too pretty… in my mind I stuffed my freezer Many times over though!

In Florida, I had raccoons, armadillos, deer, coral snakes, wild turkeys, cranes, water turtles, gopher tortoises, bald eagles, squirrels, opossums, bobcats, coyotes, scorpions, lizards, and a whole slew of other creatures, who all may or may not help themselves to a snack out of the garden. Most of these creatures are beautiful to see though! I hope we do not have this much wildlife here in Virginia. Deer and Raccoons are on the top of the list of “Ugh another creature that ate my garden”.

Fall will be a lot of work but free mulch or leafy gold is falling from the trees. I hope I can teach my husband the value of leaf mulch!

Winter and especially snow will be pretty but unless I have my conservatory, I will just be sowing seeds and starting stuff and not much will be happening then. Perhaps though, I can start a tower garden and keep it inside. This is a hydroponic system that you set up so you can still grow your veggies inside.

Conclusion

All in all I am looking forward to gardening in a new climate as it opens up a ton of new opportunities for things that I can grow, and hopefully I can make it a scenario where it becomes a situation of being the best of both worlds.

I will post more updates soon about the differences in Climate as well as the progress of how I am helping my Florida Flora adapt to the Virginia climate. Stay tuned!