Great to have you!

Have you picked a house yet?

Most folks here w/lots of clay and a finite checkbook do their gardening on top of the clay, 'cause digging into it just makes a waterproof, root-killing bathtub. If you can, get friendly with farmer-types that have lots of organic matter, leaves, manure, straw, etc. that'll become great soil for raised beds.

Then again, you might be far enough south that you still get enough sand, which would be nice!

And watch out for Ty Ty Nurseries, located just north of you. Don't give 'em your money!

Thanks for the warning about Ty-Ty. I think they're grossly overpriced anyway, so I wouldn't buy from them.

So raised beds are the thing there? I can handle that. I'm going to try to get as far out in the country as I can, so I'm sure I'll be friendly with the farmer types. They're my favorite people!

Haven't picked a house yet, but I'll be going up before it gets too cold to find a place to live. I probably will rent for awhile and check out the area really well before I buy. I may actually never buy again. I'm tired of the responsibility, and as long as I have a place to plant a few things, I'm happy.

As soon as I can get rid of all this stuff (Goodwill, here I come!) and sell this house (not a hard thing to do down here right now), I'm outta here. I want to get rid of it all and start all over someplace new with new stuff and new memories to make.

Hi Bruggirl 100

I moved from Valdosta (45 mins from Moultrie) recently up to Atlanta and really missed that area. Depending on where you live around Moultrie you may not have to deal with the red clay. Most of that area is still sandy with some clay veins. In Valdosta there was not any red clay - but as you go north and west you run into clay. What red clay you do run into in that area will have a high sand content making it easier to deal with. Up here I am dealing with the "red cement" kind with no topsoil. Finally pound out a hole and plant something and the rain just drowns it cause it will not drain. Really missing that good rich sandy loam of south Georgia that you can grown anything in.

Moultrie is a big farming area year round with many huge (area) family/agribusiness farms. Renting may be tricky as the farms depended on a large farm worker community that snaps up any rental housing. Rental housing usually ends up being apartments or trailers so check it out.

I'm actually looking for a trailer to rent, then maybe buy, with some land attached where I could eventually build a small farmhouse type cottage. I don't mind trailers. I'm not high-faluttin'! ;) Just a little country girl wanting to get back to her roots.

Oh boy! Farmers! Manure! Free food! When I lived in SC, I made friends with a truck farmer who had two small fields down the road. He let us glean and we took lots of stuff to the local soup kitchen, plus had plenty left over for us and other friends. I hope they have a livestock auction somewhere close, because I can't wait to grow some chickens. I miss my livestock so much!

I also had a dairy farmer's wife as a friend, and they used to give us meat when they butchered. Of course, I had a real need then...two kids to raise...but farmers are so terribly generous. I just love farm country. Had one chicken farmer who brought me the ones that got out when they were loading them. White rocks are great for eating bugs!

I know I'll really be happy there. :)

If you are wanting to meet farmers then this is the event to go to http://www.sunbeltexpo.com/

You can spend days there. Not a big fan of agri-business farms but this gathering is pretty amazing. Tractor demostrations, livestock veiwing....you name it. It will be packed.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sun Belt Exp

Not a big fan of agri-business either, but it is amazing how efficiently they operate.

Thanks for the link! I can't wait to get there. I'm getting so excited! LOL

Is Moultrie zone 7 or 8?

Welcome to this part of the world..I live about 40 miles north of Moultrie where gardeners can grow even more semi-tropical plants than here. The soil is ok. Tobacco used to be grown a lot in Moultrie area, and there are many truck farms so veggies are readily available in season.

Thanks for the info. I don't want semi-tropicals anymore. Had my fill of them. I'm wanting to get back to my azaleas and dogwoods. I miss spring so much! Green is nice, but after looking at it all year long, it's just boring. I miss the change of seasons, but don't want the ice storms, etc., that we got in SC. I know there is an occasional one in S. Georgia, but not many, so I'm thinking that's the place for me. I also miss my stone fruits and pears, apples, etc. Tropical fruit is nice, but fighting the bugs and critters to be able to have any isn't.

I was looking at real estate online and found some possibilities in the area, but of course, I'd have to go there to find out exactly where they're located, good side of town, bad side of town, whatever. I'll probably head outside of town, because I want at least an acre, maybe two, so I won't find that in town.

Moultrie is either zone 8 or 9. I never remember which it is in the new zone map. It's not that far from Tallahassee, so you can probably grow a lot of stuff you're used to growing in Florida. Hope you enjoy it.

Hi,I'm like maybe 2hours from Moultrie,its a hour to Valdosta from Blackshear or maybe a tad over.Our soil is not clay in this area and it is a rural area with lots of farmers and farms.Tobacco was grown a lot but it seems like cotton is whats being planted now.Here in my area we have a somewhat long growing season.I usually garden up to Thanksgiving and sometimes past and then start again by early March depending on the weather.Welcome to Georgia..

Pick up a copy of the soil survey of the county you plan to move to from the county NRCS. The soil survey will tell you lots of info on obviously the soil species and condition, recommended crops, type of suitable structure, construction capabilities, etc.

Here in Baton Rouge where we primarily have poorly drained clay soils, I use both raised beds and "sunken beds". Sunken beds are when I dig out approximately 14 inches of clay, replacing the void with a good mix of compost, soil, and worms. Haven't had a problem with water logging other than when a Cat 4 hurricane kicks our ass.

Actually, Baton Rouge lucked out. Although I still have no power three days after Hell arrived, I have a generator, ice for the cooler, propane BBQ grill, a half bottle of rum, couple six packs of hard cider, and we are not surrounded by water contaminated with raw sewage, gas, oil, snakes, mosquitos, gators, etc as the case of 80 percent of New Orleans. Had the eye moved 60 miles further west, Baton Rouge would have been erased from the face of the earth.

Kind of wish I was back in northern Georgia!!! I much prefer snow storms over my first hurricane.

Hey Bruggirl, does having "your fill" of the tropicals include Brugs as well? Will you be changing your screen name to "Stone-fruit girl" ? :) Just curious. I've enjoyed your posts in the Brugs forum and hope you haven't sworn them off.

As for your questions about GA clay, if you have to deal with it, it can be rough. I typically have resorted to digging a really wide and deep planting hole (about 4-6 feet deep). In the very bottom I put 2-3 feet of some cheap sandy soil to provide drainage. Then, over that I put the soil I actually want the plant to grow in.

It is a lot of work to do it that way, but I prefer the natural look to the raised bed look. Hopefully, you won't have to deal with clay too much down that way though.

I hope you enjoy your move and that you find what you're looking for here in GA. I moved to Atlanta from the D.C. area about 3 1/2 years ago and have really grown to love it.

I live in Nashville, ga, about 24 miles from Moultrie. My soil has no clay. There is a great herb farm just over the Florida line, O'tooles herb farmwww.florida-secrets.com/Florida_Gardens/Otooles.htm

Hi Bruggirl 100,
I hope you are able to sell out fast. You sound exactly the way I did before I moved from Central Florida to Central Georgia a few months ago. Believe me I know how you feel. After 17 years we had seen more than our share of hurricanes, job loss, rising prices, but not rising paychecks and heavy traffic. Bye Florida! Hello Georgia!
I haven't attempted gardening in this area yet, but will in the Spring. It will be so nice to have the 4 seasons again!
Best of luck with your house sale and I hope you find your "little piece of heaven" here in Georgia. Keep smiling it'll all work out!
IveyRose

Hi! I am moving to Moultrie this fall too! I am in Athens, Georgia right now, but because of a career change, I am headed down to South Georgia. I am having a horrible time trying to find rental housing. Have you found any valuble resources?

Do the mountains interest you at all? S. GA would still be too close to FL for me. Too flat.

Moultrie is zone 8 unless its been changed recently. I grew up in that area and loved it. I'm now 2 hours west of Moultrie and recently went back there for family reasons on a visit and couldn't believe at all the business that were closed down. The older section of town looks like a ghost town compared to what it once was IMO. There are a lot of small surrounding towns that you may want to consider as far as housing it may be cheaper.

Its been awhile since I've plant shopped there as well, but the nearby town of Pelham (30 min. drive) is a nursery called Laytons (a family run business) that I love going to. Very nice folks, good selection and prices. Also in Thomasville there are several nurseries to check out, another 30 min. drive from Moultrie. After all these years of being away from there, I've always called Moultrie home.

P.S. Your brugs will grow just fine there as well as long as they are mulched well in the winter. Also you can garden year round there. trudyjean

Goingsouth,
You said that you moved from Valdosta. Any thoughts on Valdosta? Did you like living there? Why did you move? Can you grow plumerias there? My parents live in Jacksonville,Fl and I'd like to get closer and find a cheaper place to live. Are the people friendly in Valdosa?
Thanks,
Mickey

I'm in upper/middle Georgia, just southeast of Atlanta. I'm with HoneyGum_SugarBush, South Georgia is too flat, too hot, too humid, and too many gnats. My experience is there is a whole lot of VERY GOOD Southern folks down there though. I just love 'em. That might make all the baddies tolerable. But I'm here to stay, so I'll deal with the clay, which incidentally is not all that bad to grow veggies in. Just takes a little more work.

South Georgia is not totally flat, especially on the west side. Along the Georgia/Florida line near Chattahoochee, FL it's very hilly at the lower end of Lake Seminole. There's red clay there. The upper end of Lake Seminole, in the Spring Creek area is quite flat, but there are subtle grade changes and rolling land. Going north between Blakely and Ft. Gaines on Hwy. 39 there are some scary ravines.

The heat, humidity, love bugs and gnats are offset by the plants that thrive here in sandy soil that are not reliably hardy above the gnat line and by the lack of prolonged cold spells in winter and inevitable ice storms. I've lived and gardened in Atlanta and In My Opinion South Georgia is better, garden-wise.

Nell

I am from Thomasville, about 20 miles from Moultrie. As said above, Moultrie is kind of dying. You won't have to worry about clay here. Most of the soil is fantastic. It's kind of like the best of both worlds. You can grow some sort of tropical stuff. it usually dies back and then returns in the spring. It is hilly here and lush with old oaks and shrubs and flowers. How did you decide on Moultrie? Is it set in stone? I much prefer my town to it.

In between where I am and where Georgia Belle lives is a delightful little place, Cairo, in Grady County. It's just full of plant ladies and rose growers. I'd say that Moultrie is in transition since the new highway brought commerce away from downtown and it's all spread out and confusing, or is that just me? I've found things to like in Mitchell County, too.

It's the people and their plants that make all areas so attractive. You can work around the heat and humidity and bugs and snakes. Oh, did I mention the black snake on my carport on Sunday? He slithered away before DH got a chance to see him. I should have screamed.

Nell