Ahh ... I like your name! I'm on Daytona's barrier island about a block from the beach. I can't grow tomatoes or peppers or cucumbers, but can grow herbs and snow peas. My recommendation is you want to grow veggies would to live more inland. At least west of the intercoastal waterway. Good luck!

Hi! I do all my growing in Earthboxes and I too am on Daytona's barrier island about a block from the beach. I have very good success with tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers planted early in the spring. I am not familiar with Brevard county though however just wanted to let you know that EB's area great way to grow! Picked these this weekend:

I spent my first 26 years in melbourne. it's a great place, but that town has a special kind of crazy, that you won't find anywhere else. it's nothing really scary, but everyone there is at least a little bit weird, myself especially included. don't say I didn't warn you.

in terms of gardening, the salt is a big consideration. if you're looking for something where you can get a big yard for a garden, I would say look at the lake washington area if you're looking for like an acre or so. west melbourne is another great place to look for a good yard away from the ultra salty air of the beachside. what specific areas are you looking at?

Not an expert on that area, but we did seriously consider living on the mainland close to the water in the immediate Melbourne area about 20 yrs ago.
We decided, after 18 mos renting there, to look elsewhere for various reasons, the '' weirdness' factor " was one, possibly not evident to some, but not the main reason we moved to the west coast.
Another aspect, realize that you'll be in hardiness zone 9b, - not bad for growing plants. But we had no luck with tomatoes or lettuce for some reason. If living there is paramount, then I'd head inland a bit from the salt water.
My last area to look into would be what flood zone you will be in,..but only if you will have a mortgage. Flood Ins rates are ready to skyrocket, especially in Florida,..so if you'll have a mortgage make sure the home has no flood zone issues.

Anyone hereabouts, ( SW coast ), trying to sell their homes that are close to salt water with borderline flood issues are now being forced to find an all cash buyer,..so the new owner will not be forced to buy flood insurance.

Just a new wrinkles to think about for people looking for a home there. Good luck !

Here is a link that might be useful: GardenWeb

This post was edited by jofus on Tue, Apr 29, 14 at 12:37

I lived in Vero Beach area for 17 years. I visited several stores and the flea market there. I never noticed any weirdness. Great beaches. Great fishing at the Sebastian Inlet and treasure hunting with a metal detector. Lots of old ship wrecks happened off shore there. Mel Fisher's crew found the mother lode a few years back near there. Lots of stores and lots of traffic.

Hi! I live in Palm Bay, which borders West Melbourne to the south. I grew up in Melbourne and we always had a garden growing up. For a lot of acreage in Melbourne, consider the Turtlemound, Post Road (West of Wickham Road), Lake Washington (West of Turtlemound Rd.) areas. We lived on a smaller lot, about 1/4 acre, and roughly 10 minutes driving to the beaches; We never seemed to have problems with salt, etc.

Now, I live on about 1/2 acre in Palm Bay where the lots tend to be larger than in Melbourne. Our garden is just starting, but it is doing well. We opted for a raised bed garden and containers for things like our tomatoes and peppers because we rent . We have to worry more about things like raccoons and possums, etc. than in Melbourne, but they are obviously likely in that area as well. Also towards palm bay and worth investigating, depending how large you want your lot to be, is Malabar. It is growing, but has all the big stores you might need, hospitals, etc... but much larger lots depending where you look.

If you look towards West Melbourne, lots of land can be found off of the main road, Minton Rd. (which turns into Wickham rd. in Melbourne, further north).. Neighborhoods off of Heilde Rd. (where there are a few farms) or Michigan Ave. have large lots while being close to city stuff.

Hope this helped somewhat, and if you do decide to move here... Welcome! :)

Hi, thank you all for the responses. We are still looking at the Melbourne area. It just seems the good schools are in areas with tiny lots. The neighborhoods with bigger lots (1/2 acre or more) are zoned for terrible schools :(

I wonder if some of the stricter HOA's even allow veggie gardens?

I never saw a veggie garden in a place that was an HOA. Why would you want to live some place with so many rules?

It's likely going to be a trade off....land vs. good schools. I'm in Melbourne (Viera actually). Unless you're planning a move to Summer Lakes, $1M homes, finding land and A schools is going to be challenging. You can always opt to go the private school route or apply for one of the good charter schools. Freedom 7and West Melbourne School of Science are consistently ranked the number one and two elementary schools in the state.

I'm not sure what "weirdness factor" the others are referring to. If you live in a good area, you'll be fine.