Well, what herbs do you want to grow? Many mediterranean herbs will need a lot of drainage in your area, they don't like too much rain in the summer. Any herb could be started now in your zone, as far as that goes.
Unless the papaya blocks sunlight, it should be fine... cept for one thing, the papaya would probably need more water than the herbs.

Thanks, The papaya will be a bit behind the herbs so I can water it more than the herbs, I'm just couriuos if all herbs can be grown together or if they interfer with each other.
I'm going to order seeds tomorrow, really getting excited!
Jan

Janelle, what part of Florida are you in? What kind of soil do you have?

An established papaya will not need any additional water, so planting them out once they're a couple of feet high would eliminate that problem. Shade shouldn't be an issue unless you're going to plant many. If you are, just plant the herbs on the South side. Many people choose to fertilize their papayas often, and that would not be good for the herbs, but I never fertilize mine with good results.

The potential problems would include hurricane damage, because papayas don't fare well in them, and making sure no fruit fall to the ground and rot next to the herbs. Also, be sure to leave room to dig up unwanted papaya trees (males or spent females) without disturbing the herbs.

I live in Hialeah (Miami) There are lots of papayas growing around here.
The soil here is a bit sandy, but my papaya trees will be behind my herb garden trust me by the time summer rolls around everything here gets enough sun!
Are there any rules about planting herbs together?
Are there herbs that do not grow together?
Thanks Jan

Well... sun in Florida is a lot different than sun in California... the humidity cuts down on a lot of the UV or something. For example, papayas in Sacramento can only take morning sun, or they fry. AND, since most culinary herbs are mediterranean and not tropical nor sub tropical, sun will be a factor for you. Your herbs like rosemary, thyme, sage and such, not basil, will want unobstructed sun all day for the best results for you. It's good that you have a sandy soil, because said herbs will need drainage if you get rain in the summer. Where they come from, rain just doesn't happen much in the summer.

Thanks. All the latins grow papaya & banana trees here.
We haven't had a big rainy season in years. It's good & bad.
We need the rain for our lawns, I'll have to baby these hern plants and pray that NO hurricanes come!
Thanks Jan

Janelle, I'm in Kendall/South Miami, so we're in a similar area weather-wise. As long as you don't get flooding in your area (it'll depend on the local canal systems and such), you will have plenty of drainage. I don't have any problems in my area with drainage, but if you do then a raised bed is in order.

Like Heathen said, rosemary and thyme won't need water once established. My particular sages appreciate a little water every day, though. I also water the basil, mint, parsleys, oregano, etc., but you can tell just by looking at them once you're used to it. There is a forum on here about companion plants and it would be the best place to figure out what should and shouldn't be grown together--I can't think of any herbs offhand that don't do well near eachother. Personally, I've never paid much attention to that.

Heathen, I'm thinking it's either the kind of papayas you're growing or something else. There have to be other factors involved, our UV index will be significantly higher than yours (exceptions are the higher elevations). NOAA has monthly averages maps at http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/stratosphere/uv_index/uv_annual.shtml if you're interested.

I've never had papayas fry, but papayas are naturalized here and grow in hammock borders where they don't get full sun all day. That said, mine get full sun most of the day just fine, and because they are often grown in mountainous regions throughout the West Indies I'd think they fare well to UV naturally. Your summer highs might be another factor, because highs here usually don't go over 98* in the worst areas (I don't know what kind of highs they're exposed to naturally in Central America). The water thing could be another factor--in Florida, it makes sense that they wouldn't need more water but it's always possible that in California they do. Peninsular Florida has underground water sources that many large dicots take full advantage of. My guess is they don't like your afternoon sun because of the heat.

Thanks Tetrazygia,
Guess i'm ready to start now that I know herbs can all be grown together. I've already unloaded a truck load of soil to raise my garden bed. I love the scent of an herb garden early in the morning!
What type of papaya do youy grow?
Jan

Tetrazygia... it's not only papayas that fry here, it's all tropicals. Bananas kind of look ratty here because they are sunburnt. It's sort of hard to get gingers to flower, I can barely get them enough sun, it's a balancing act between burning and flowering. Californians always have this argument with tropical people.... our humidity averages %15 to %25 in the summer, sometimes lower. nary a cloud in the sky for 5-6 months. Not quite a desert, but a sub desert. For some reason, tropicals just can't take our full sun with humidity levels like that. Phoenix is worse, there, tropicals can take even less sun. But you go down to coastal Southern California, where the heat is less, and they can take more sun.

Janelle, I don't grow any papaya cultivars. We just plant the seeds from our own fruit or let them reseed themselves, and it has been so long that we have done this that I could not track down where they came from. And there are wild papayas near us that must probably provide some pollen, too, and influence each subsequent generation. There is usually variation between plants, especially with fruit size, but they all taste pretty similar.

Heathen, so it sounds like it is the heat. Keep in mind that heat is not the same as UV... that's just what burns us :) And really, since most popular tropicals are rainforesty-types, hardly any should do well in full sun. Most probably don't naturally get much sun or much heat and require high humidity to thrive. Thank goodness for palms and cycads when it comes to this!

Thanks Do you think I should just buy a papaya and if it tastes good use those seeds? My neighbor said she started her trees from seeds and they grow fast. Do they need to be grafted?
Jan

Uh no... since I was in Mexico, and papayas thrive in 120º summers there, and Sacramento never gets to be 120º it's not the heat. It's the humidity and how it affects sunlight... like it refracts it. Take my word for it, I have had this discussion for years...

Jan,
I used to live in Miami (a native!)and I grew herbs, bananas, and even avocadoes (from seed). My herb garden contained mints, oregano, basils, lemon grass, bay leaf, lemon verbena, marjoram, sage, Cuban oregano, cilantro and chammomile. I found some did much better than others with the wet season there, and I used raised beds to help with drainage.
Good luck with yours!
Rosemary

Heathen, I only said it was probably the heat... because it for sure isn't the UV. If not the heat, then, sure, humidity... but not UV. It could be lots of things, possibly even the daylight hours in your latitude. I don't know why they burn where you live, I only know it isn't the UV.

Janelle, papayas will grow very fast. I think you should take seeds from a neighbor's fruit, since you don't really know where the supermarket fruit came from most of the time. If the neighbor's trees don't have ripe fruit yet, then go to a local farmer's market and try fruit from there. Plant them in potting soil and then into the ground once they're about a foot high. You can plant them right into the ground, though, with pretty good success. No grafting.

Rosemary, you grew bay leaves here? I've always read they need cold winters, but it's not something I've ever tried. What area were you in that did not have good drainage? It's amazing how varied Miami is in that sense. As far as fruit trees go, right now I also have bananas and plantains, avocado, sapodilla, mamey, longan, carambola/star fruit, and a young key lime planted after the canker ban was lifted.

I was anticipating a hard road to growing papaya's but you just took all my stress away! Can't wait to plant the seeds and what a double wammy, they grow fast so I'll see results soon! THis is so great! Thanks

Tetrazygia,
I lived just West of FIU, practically in the Everglades LOL!
Oh, I used to have a Key lime, but the "authorities" came and tore it right out of the pot - during the canker scare.
Bay leaf was grown in a pot on my patio and did well. I still have one up here in NC, and bring it inside for the winter. Had it over two years now. I still miss the tropical plants and especially the fruit that I used to grow in FL.
Took 7 years for an avocado planted from seed to bear fruit. And of course, it was the year after I moved up here that it finally bore avocados! My neighbor said they were delicious!

Keep in mind, when planting your herbs, that mint can be very invasive. I've been told mint is best grown in containers to, well, contain it.

Good point, mommie rose. Curiously, I'm propagating some mint now to put it into the ground for that very reason... I need something to blanket over a portion of my backyard it would be very happy in. I want the mint to compete with the weeds that like it there now, but you reminded me I should put a barrier underneath the soil to contain the mint to that area. Secretly, though, I'd like it to take over the grass :)

Janelle, the papayas are super easy to grow here. I'm not familiar with Hialeah, but they're all over Kendall hammocks... they love it. There is debate whether or not they are native or naturalized, although I think it's safer to say they are naturalized. The only problem you might have are those papaya wasps, really. Growing up, I remember them spoiling a lot of papayas, but I haven't seen a single wasp-spoiled papaya here in years... don't know what changed, but I wish you the same luck I've been having!

Rosemary, you'd be surprised to see what that area looks like now! So much development. It's crazy, and quite sad. But there are plans now to reverse a lot of the drainage, and bring back natural water flow through the historical Everglades... I'm quite happy about it. Of course, I'm on the rock ledge and won't have to deal with any flooding :)

Uggh, I remember the canker epidemic. I had a tangerine tree, the best lemons on the planet, key limes, and a grapefruit. They all eventually caught canker and had to be cut down. They didn't lift the citrus ban until this past year, and I need me some Florida lemons. I don't like the ones from California, unless it's for candy, and have to go out of my way to find lemons that are acceptable for lemonade or sauces. I've found some obviously illegaly grown ones being sold at roadside and bought them, even. I miss them so!

But what really pissed me was how the "canker officials" would regularly make their way to each house, each yard, and each tree to check for canker. Infected trees would be cut down, or trees close enough to orchards were automatically cut down, and a replacement tree was usually given. But when it comes to the invasive exotics that are destroying the environment there isn't any money to go door to door. People are still landscaping with Melaleucas, Brazilian Peppers, Australian Pines, etc. It's awful.