By Andre the Farmer (aka Dr. Andre Baptiste)
Hey guys, Andre the Farmer here, and it’s my favorite time of year. The flowers are blooming, baby mangoes are being born, and Earth Day is fast approaching.
If you live in central Florida, this is the second best time to plant a fruit tree. The best time was 20 years ago. So, I want to talk to you and encourage you to get your first, second, or even 100th fruit tree. We have the best climates for growing subtropical and many tropical fruit trees. Apopka is kinda the mango and avocado borderline. Once we get north of Apopka for the tropicals, it becomes much more of a gamble.
I’ve been growing fruit trees for almost 10 years now, which isn’t that long, but I have over 100 fruit trees. About a quarter of them are different varieties of mangoes. My advice to new gardeners in central Florida is to plant everything you can get your hands on. That's how you learn. Too often, I see people planning for years while they could have already been enjoying the fruits of their labor.
Dr. Andre (Andre the Farmer) gives a Food Forest Tour
If I were starting today, I’d start with a mango tree and an avocado tree. I would buy it from a nursery to know it’s a grafted tree that can bear fruit within a year or two or sometimes immediately. I recommend you buy the biggest tree you can afford and can fit your garden because you are essentially time traveling or what I call time skipping. If you can get a 3-year-old tree for $20 or a 5-year-old tree for $40, you must determine if a year of waiting for fruit is worth $10.
Related: Ready to start a Spring Garden?
For mangoes, you have many options.
Pickering or a Carrie if you want to grow in pots or have a smaller tree that will produce without getting big. There are so many local nurseries with very knowledgeable staff in the Apopka area: HOA’s Nursery, Green’s, A Natural Farm, Julie’s Tropical Fruit, etc.
So celebrate Earth Day by getting in the dirt and planting your fruit trees. One warning, though... once you eat a homegrown mango or avocado, it may ruin store-bought fruits for you. Proceed with caution.
Interested in meeting Andre the Farmer and learning more? Visit AndretheFarmer.com for gardening tips, seeds, tools, and more. You can also follow Andre the Farmer on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube. And you can also meet him at his "day job", where he's known as Dr. Andre Baptiste, your local orthodontist!
Extra Earth Day Fun:
Dr. Baptiste will be hosting a booth focusing on Permaculture Life/Andre The Farmer at the Central Florida Earth Day Celebration in downtown Orlando. The celebration will be held at Lake Eola on April 19 from 10am to 6pm, and Dr. Baptiste will be doing grafting demonstrations. He would love for you to stop by the booth and say "Hello!" if you get the chance. Here's a video on last year's celebration:...
Dr. Andre (Andre the Farmer) Baptiste gives a quick tour of last year's Central Florida Earth Day Celebration:
