I would recommend planting your tomatoes in pots. Just from reading here on GW it prevents a lot of the problems you are experiencing with them. If you need to move them you can. I use Miracle Grow with three months feeding in mine, and have not ever had a problem. People here on the forum recommend Al's potting formula with pine fines. You can search for the "recipe" here on the forum.
You're in cool weather gardening season, so it's a good time to plant cool weather crops like beets, carrots, onions, kale, broccoli, brussel sprouts, peas and lettuce.
I planted my cucumber in early October when the temps were warmer and kept it watered. While the leaves are beginning to decline, I continue to see blooms and fruit forming. It is an early variety which means it takes a shorter time to harvest, especially for this time of year. You can read the days to harvest on the back of most all seed packets. I don't expect to see it continue to grow if the weather turns much cooler, but for now it's holding on.
You have watch the weather to determine when a good time to plant after the first of the year. Last year was unusual because we had over a week of freezing temps. Normally February is a good time to plant, but last year it was still cool.
Continue to follow what Silvia, Tom, Lou and Bamboo Rabbit are doing and you will be sure to have success in your garden. Another thing, I started everything in my "lasagna" method raised garden. Everyone here will tell you that you need to grow your soil. Amend it with green like compost and grass clipping, and brown like dried leaves or coastal hay. If you tend your soil, you will not have problems with your plants.
Good Luck!

All I can say is you are quite ambitious. From your post, I counted tomatoes, peppers, winter squash, strawberries, corn, brocolli, lettuce, and cukes.

I am fighting all of the same problems you are. The green beans are producing as well as the peppers (peppers are from spring plants), carrots are growing along with sugar snaps, arugula, radishes and other stuff that likes the cooler weather. All the cool weather stuff I planted late and is still pretty small. The tomatoes, beefsteak and red clusters are just forming fruits. Good luck to all of us.

Don't give up, but it is a challenge. Don't curse your sandy soil, either, we had sand in Tampa and now we have clay and it's worse than sand any day. You do have to make sure the watering is enough in sand, in clay it stays moist longer but when it really dries out it's like gardening in rock and is hard to keep enough nutrients in it. I was able to grow squash and cucumbers in sand and still after 5 years in the clay I haven't produced one yet.

You should probably take a soil sample to your county extension office and see if you need to add anything to it.

The black plastic bags you put around the strawberries should be removed. The water can't get to the roots through the plastic. You need a ground cover that allows water & air to reach the roots. If you can't find that, newspaper alone is better than plastic.

As for your last question, "Do I really have to learn all this stuff the hard way?!" yeah, pretty much. We trade experiences here but what works in one garden doesn't always work in another. I've been gardening for most of my 65 years and still plenty of failures. The fun is in the attempts!

Gardening in Florida may be hard but shoveling snow up north in my estimation is a lot harder. I prefer the month or two of occasional light frost here over the month or two of occasional light summer up north. Seeds are cheap, chiropractor visits for busted backs are not.

Lou

FWIW, not all vegetables are the same - some varieties are more resistant to pests & diseases than others - some seem to have NO resistance @ all. Some will do well w/ less sun than others. Some thrive in our high humidity.

I've learned the right variety can be your key to success - everything else being equal - that is, if soil amendments, mulch & fertilisers, season & location have been done properly.

Also, good garden soil can take time to build; the 1st season may turn out to be a wash, but subsequent seasons should improve over time if you continue to build the soil (& your knowledge/experience).

Ditto to all the previous good advice you've gotten. I'll try to add a couple more things. It IS hard to garden here but you can do it if you're willing to accept that not everything is going to go well. I sympathize about your neighbors trees blocking the sun. I have the same problem and didn't realize when I planted it, that my prized avocado tree would get no sun in the winter.

I don't grow any vegies directly in the ground any more. Eventually the nematodes will do them in. Raised beds or containers are better by far. Your sprinkler system may also be a problem as the plant leaves will not like it. Cukes are not easy - it took me a very long time to get them to grow. I finally did with a variety called Sweet Success from seed. They have not fallen prey to mildew as the others did. Heirloom tomatoes are harder and you may want to start with a few of the more resistant varieties until you get the hang of it. A few plants such as porter weed that attract bees will help with pollination. It is vitally important that you plant things at the right time so as not to have them freeze or burn up. I have a one page sheet listing what to plant each month that I would be happy to send you if you're interested.

Hope you'll soon have a great and productive garden!

The more I read about your garden the more I thought it would be a great place for insects. Composted manure? Organic amendments? About a dozen types of vegetables? Frequent water. Yum, Yum. It sounds like the Golden Corral for bugs.

Good thing insects can't read. They can't, right?

pawsnplants, if your what to plant list is only a page, would you be willing to share it here? I've been experimenting and learning too and would love to see it.

I'm in Miami/10B. I tried in ground tomatoes in 86. The first year went well, after that, each year went down hill. Now I use LARGE containers, from 18 to 25 gallons with a few smaller ones for seedlings. Down here we rarely get frost let alone a freeze. Usually we get some leaf edge burn in a heavy frost. I have never lost a plant to a freeze, but then the distance south here makes a difference. You may need to protect your plants in case of a freeze.

Sun ... I have the page as a pdf file for anyone who wants it, but I don't know if it can be posted in that form. I'd be happy to do it if anyone knows how. The information is in Ton MacCubbin's book "The Edible Landscape".

I agree Tina. Last year I had great soil because I used bagged organic and black cow, then everything but the sugar snap peas died in the freeze. They were awesome though!

This year we decided to triple the garden beds and needed lots more dirt so I got a planting mix from forestry resources and layered it with T&A hay and compost. Planted everything; everything sprouted, but then never grew!!! I was sooo disappointed but after reading another thread on here I figured that there just must not be enough nutrients. I was going to get the soil tested but decided to shovel out the top 6" of soil mix and added a bag of organic garden soil and 2 bags of black cow to each bed. Had to dig up most of my sprouts but saved some and put them back. Now it is a waiting game to see if they grow!!!

Everyone here is so helpful and I've learned a lot but I think that the most important thing I've learned so far is that every season seems to bring different results for almost everyone...so I'm going to have to learn to roll with that as I go and not give up and just enjoy the successes.

Good luck! :)

pawsnplants - yeah, I doubt you can legally post that here. You don't have email turned on, but if you go to my page you can send me an email. Also, as a matter of interest, how do you like the book as a whole? That is one I haven't read yet.

Sorry, I didn't realize my email was turned off. It's on now. I use the MacCubbin book all the time. If anyone knows a better one, please let us all know.

Thank you all for the support! I'm still finding caterpillars - even after spraying. Today I sprinkled with Seven.

Never fear - the strawberries have a sprinkler hose under the plastic and they have survived so far. See the garden here: http://photo1.walgreens.com/walgreens/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=5087296001/a=6838538_6838538/otsc=SHR/otsi=SALBlink/COBRAND_NAME=walgreens/

Yes please - I'd like the list.

Does anyone live near the Largo-Seminole area?

Tina

BTW - I used the florida vegetable gardening guide where it tells you exactly what to plant (varieties that do well) and when to plant it http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vh021 so at least I have that down. :)

This morning I raked up all the pine bark from my front garden bed and dug in some dung. Then I showed my 9 year old son the list from the link above and took him to Lowe's where he choose cabbage, carrots, beets, onions, and lima beans (despite the list as it's really too late to plant these) and let him plant his own garden. I put in a timer and a sprinkler hose. I guess despite all the trouble and hard work - I am truly addicted!