Don't throw the baby out with the bath water. I have had bad years and less than stellar years but something usually works out. Last year I had record beets, This year, Lacinato Kale and cabbage galore. Couldn't get a tomato to grow to save my life but in years past, enough to process and can. I am in 9a too. I rarely spray anything but do fertilize and use my backwash pond water. Just give it a rest and think about it another season. You probably need a break and that's okay, too. Not crazy or lazy, just tired.

Maybe a season of eating commercially grown veggies will re-inspire you.

You could always buy the things you have the most trouble with and plant the other stuff from seed. You have to do what works for you sanity and time-wise. I buy eggplants and stuff like rosemary and some other herbs. Sometimes I buy bell pepper plants. If it is more work than fun it probably isn't worth it lol. I fertilize stuff but I don't spray anything anymore.

I do grow edibles, but things like tomatoes and squash just don't do well for me. I love cherry tomatoes, but I usually don't get more than a dozen or so off of a bush. They grow tall and spindly and have no fruit, then some fungus kills them.

I can grow edible ornamentals and tropical vegetables like mad, but regular veggies and I just don't get along down here. I so miss my veggie gardens in SC. They were so easy. Just stick the seeds in the ground and gather the produce. It's like going to war down here! It's completely worn me out. I get all excited about growing things, then they get fungus or insects eat them or something else and I just want to jerk them all up and say "screw it!" You have no idea how much I miss fresh cucumbers, but I can't grow them down here. I used to grow so many I pickled and ate and gave away until frost. I'm lucky now if I get one or two off a vine.

The things I can grow, I don't especially like, such as lettuce. I am not a salad person, nor do I like kale or cabbage especially. I like collards, but that's about it, and after one or two pots of them, I'm done for the year. Not a lot of the winter crops appeal to me, and summer crops are just too hard. Sweet potatoes make beautiful vines, but no potatoes, and I don't especially like the cooked leaves, so they're just ground cover for me.

And I actually am NOT an organic food fanatic, and have spent a lot of my life eating store-bought veggies, so not a real problem. Honestly, I don't see much difference in the taste, except for tomatoes. Maybe I'll just grow one Cherokee Purple tomato and some Everglades and be done with those. Squash too. In fact, after these I have planted die, I'm not planting anymore.

And I actually am NOT an organic food fanatic, and have spent a lot of my life eating store-bought veggies, so not a real problem. Honestly, I don't see much difference in the taste, except for tomatoes.

That's interesting. I don't grow organically (hydroponically, so it can't really be organic), but I don't think there's any comparison between celery, eggplants, squash that are homegrown and just picked fresh and the sad cold storage stuff in the store. You must have access to very different produce than we do down here.

writersblock - See, this is what I'm talking about. You are insulting me because you find homegrown veggies better. I'm not a connoisseur of vegetables or any kind of food. I eat to stay alive, and tend to overseason everything, being raised in the South, so no -- I don't see a real difference. My digestive system has been so ravaged by lupus that it doesn't absorb nutrients well anyway, so I have to take mega doses of about 20 different vitamins, amino acids, etc daily, so I don't care about nutritional value. I eat what I like, probably overcook it, and definitely add too much butter and salt, but that's what I enjoy, so I'm gonna keep on doing it.

Anyway, I can see that I won't win this fight against the foodie zealots, so I'm not going to try. I have better things to do than argue.

I'm very sorry if you took it that way, DG. I had no intention of insulting you at all. It's just that to me it's worth the hassle for certain things, that's all. I apologize if it came across otherwise to you.

I'm certainly not a 'foodie zealot". You should hear what they say about hydroponics. Believe me, I am lower than a dropped fork to those folks.

If you're tired of growing veggies, you should definitely take a break. I'm just saying that maybe someday you'll want to try again.

And I meant it when I said that perhaps you have access to better produce. For all that I live near the area that is one of the nation's biggest producers of vegetables, all that comes to the stores here (and usually to the greenmarket, too) is stuff from CA and South America, never local. I know that's not true everywhere in FL.

Some of the farmers markets are pretty good. The one I go to has a lot of very fresh veggies and fruit. Im sure its not organic but it looks better than a lot of the produce in the local grocery stores.

Does Gainesville still have a community garden? I walked through it one time and it was nice.

I want to second what Sultry said. A few weeks ago, she turned me on to La Salsa Market (an Asian market with an Hispanic ring, LOL!) I am loving that place - as well as three or four other Asian and Hispanic "groceries" (read markets) in small, strip-stores close by. I searched them out after Sultry got my hamster up on his wheel (read "thinking"). The fruits and vegetables are good, plentiful, tasty, and cheap. I love these little stores and prefer them over flea market stands because prices are posted. (In the flea market, none of the prices are posted. I get tired of saying, "How much is this? How much is this? How much is this? And how much is this?" Crazy. Like a broken record.) Any way, if you have any small markets in your area, check them out!

Carol in Jacksonville (who has never grown a fruit or vegetable - except citrus)

DG I feel your pain I pretty much gave up Growing veggies Myself a few years ago . Every sucess was followed by my Wife saying Im tired of eating xyz,,,, Now I let my Everglades and sweet 100 tomatoes reseed them selves so I have salad tomatoes nearly all year and concentrate on growing fruit, Brugs and Bromilliads....

I do have the intention of doing one raised bed next year with a no-till living soil just to see if I can do it without all the work of a full garden

There is something you may be interested in ... do you use any humic or fulvic acid in your garden well it does the same thing for people with auto immune problems it just makes things work better , do a little research if your not aware of its benifits

I'm just going to turn my courtyard into a tropical jungle, complete with bananas, papayas and whatever will grow up them. It will give me the shade I keep craving and some food too. I'm actually very good at growing ornamental edibles like Hibiscus sabdariffa, malabar spinach, and such. I'm pretty good with herbs too.

I apologize for getting snappy. It just makes me angry that I can't grow my summer squash. Not too crazy about tomatoes, as I have said before, but I'd like to be able to have just one that does well. I do love yellow squash and zucchini, and they are absurdly expensive in the stores.On the upside, the angled luffa that I planted on a whim in the corner with all the rocks seems to be doing well. Go figure. Everything else is dying and something planted in rocks is growing. Geez.

Yes, we have a farmer's market, but it's a ways away by bus and I just never made it there this winter. It's held at an insane time - 3 p.m. on Wednesday - so going in the summer is out for me due to the heat. Lots of community gardens, none close to me. I was in the one where I used to live, but never got to harvest anything before I moved. Well, a few green beans, but everything else was summer crops. It broke my heart to leave it, but I hope whoever got it enjoyed the harvest. Everything was growing really well. Okra, peppers, malabar spinach, sweet potatoes and eggplant. Whoever inherited that had a ready-made garden.

We do have some small markets but they are insanely expensive too. No cheap veggies here in yuppieville, except at Save-a-lot, which is a 3-hour round trip by bus. Not worth it.

I guess I'm also frustrated because I moved her for the horticulture and such, and the gardening community just isn't what I thought it would be. In fact, Gainesville in general isn't what I thought it would be. I feel isolated and alone and my plants are the only real friends I have, so when they won't cooperate, it makes me sad.

O.K., enough whining. I'm going to hibernate for awhile and reconfigure again.

.On the upside, the angled luffa that I planted on a whim in the corner with all the rocks seems to be doing well.

Well, you can use those as summer squash when they're young, so maybe that will work for you. I think the tropical jungle sounds like a lovely plan.

I hear you about the small markets. We used to have one Asian market that had good prices on Asian-style veggies, but some smart person bought it out and now everything in there is just as much as it would be in Publix.

ETA and throw some Seminole pumpkin seeds out and let them go. They also make a summer squash substitute when they're small.

Sometimes gardening can be ultra frustrating, but some years might still have something tasty. I understand the need for a break sometimes too.

In Gainesville you might still be able to grow cukes in pots in a four hour sun spot. My brother and his friend live there and had some luck with the big fake whiskey barrels and a bush cucumbers.

DG, I was just at the dentist's office and the only thing to read was the April issue of Better Homes and Gardens. I thought this tutorial on creating a vertical tropical garden with basic plumbing parts was interesting:

http://www.bhg.com/blogs/better-homes-and-gardens-style-blog/2016/04/20/this-vertical-clay-pot-garden-can-move-with-you/

That's a good article. I need to construct something like that for growing herbs so the chickens can't gobble them up. They especially like to eat chives :/

That's interesting, but not for me. First, I wouldn't have a clue how to build it, neither do I have the tools, and I could not afford to have it built. It is interesting, though.

Oh, sorry, DG, I thought that included the whole tutorial. You don't need any special tools. Basically you screw together eye bolts, threaded rods and plastic test plugs from the plumbing department to hold the pots and then hang it up. The folks in the photo in my post built a frame, but all you really need is a hook. If your library gets the print edition there's a step by step tutorial. No big outlay, no power tools needed.

Here's one version of the tutorial:

http://thehorticult.com/turn-your-clay-pots-into-a-vertical-garden-our-dark-ryewhole-foods-collabo/

Winter thanks for posting the link. What a great idea. If some day we move to a condo, I can see myself having several, for herbs and flowers on my balcony!

DG no special tools needed other than a drill to drill drainage holes - maybe a neighbor can do that for you. BTW here is the direct link for the project with lots of photos. Scroll through several recipes for some interesting drinks to get to the DIY project. Winter I hope you don't mind that I'm posting this link.

https://web.archive.org/web/20140911024456/http://www.darkrye.com/cultivate4/

I think you guys have a different idea than I do of what "not expensive" and "easy to build" means. First, that's a good $300+ of materials. God bless you if that isn't expensive to you, but I live on about $1200 a month net, so something like this is way out of my budget.

I don't use power tools. It's been so long since I used the cordless power drill I have (20 some odd years) that the battery is now completely dead, and it is out of production, so it can't be replaced. I don't see myself ever needing one again, so it's going into the dumpster.

Also, those of you with yards don't seem to realize how small an 11 x 14 foot courtyard actually is. That thing, while beautiful, is HUGE.

But bless your hearts for trying to solve my problem. I love you all so much. <3

Actually, I also live in a townhouse. My courtyard is a tad larger at 14x20 but then I can't use all of it because there are a couple of shrub beds next to the fence that I can't change, so yes, I do know about small space gardening, which is why I posted the article.

I don't understand how you figured the materials cost. At my local HD a single row of pots would be $16.39, (eye bolt $1.39. threaded steel rod $5.24, 2 test plugs @ $4.28, coupler $1.20), which is still not nothing, I agree, but it's far from $300.

Anyway, it doesn't matter if you don't like it.

Vertical becomes even more important in small spaces, which is why I posted the article. I grow vegetables in a hydroponic tower, but I didn't suggest that because you would be looking at north of $100 to get started with that.

So here's another way to make use of vertical space, but this time you would need someone to help you with the drilling and putting up the brackets. The shelves are just boards. (Doesn't someone do maintenance where you are? You could always ask them to drill holes or let you borrow a drill, if so.) Of course, this would depend on your being allowed to attach things to your walls. I can't have these because I'm not allowed to do that here.

These are veggies but it could be anything, really. Ignore the rain barrel and the fact that it's organic vegetables, since you don't want vegetables. Just watch enough to see how the boxes are attached. It could be really pretty with some trailing kind of flowers, too:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-4TsSmSl_U

Thanks, everyone, but I'm not interested in building anything elaborate. I just don't want to grow veggies anymore, and I'm probably going to turn the courtyard into a sitting area with some potted plants around. I'm tired of thinking about what to do with it. I was really excited about it when I first looked at the apartment, but it's gotten to be a source of stress now, so I'm just going to forget about trying to turn it into any kind of edible garden.

writersblock, my courtyard isn't paved, except for the walkway to the gate, which is a porch of sorts. I'm using it mostly as a potting area now, and it won't need to be that for long, so when this crop of tomatoes is done, I'm going to mulch it and use it as a sitting area. The air circulation is just horrible for growing anything. The fungus takes over too quickly, and I don't have the time or the interest in spraying things.

I've had a hard time accepting that my big-time gardening days are over, but it's time. I just need to get over trying to plant so much stuff and just relax a bit.

So please, y'all, no more plans on how to grow veggies in the courtyard, and no more trying to change my mind. It's made up. I'm done. Just accept that, please, because after awhile, no matter how helpful you are trying to be, it gets annoying.

I apologize for irritating you.

No apology necessary at all! I know you meant well, and it's hard to understand sometimes when someone really has no money to spend on their garden, but that's how it is and that's how it's always going to be. I used to spend TONS of money on my yard for plants, mulch, fertilizer, tools, seeds, whatever. Now I have to do with what I can afford. I've actually learned so much from having nothing that I feel like I'm rich! Still, elaborate building projects are not in my budget, nor would I want to do something like that in a rental. Still, I love you for you trying.

I've actually learned so much from having nothing that I feel like I'm rich!

That's a great attitude, DG.

Thanks. I know my gardens aren't the prettiest with their ratty leaf mulch or old, half rotten limb borders, nor are they the most well planned, but I don't grow to impress anyone. After 60 years gardening (yes, started when I was 4), I still consider it all an experiment.