On 6 Jan 2006 10:06:08 -0800, "Boxwood" wrote:

Out of curiousity, among those who are the more experienced gardeners,
where, would you say, in the United States, will you find the place
that as, overall, the longest growing season and the best soil? (For
what we used to call "truck" gardening - vegetables, fruit trees and
flowers).

I'm thinking the southern United States somewhere, but I don't know.

Thanks!
Connie

Some interesting replies.

"Overall" is a flexible concept, methinks.

The question could be asked WHICH "vegetables, fruit trees and
flowers".

For example, here in So. Calif coastal I grow things all year,
but different things, depending if it's our "winter" with its shorter
days, or our summer, with its longer days and somewhat more heat.
This year -- global warming?? -- it has been in the 70's and 80's
in January!

We can't grow crops that require winter chill, like apples [1] and
blueberries [2]. So the same might apply to Hawaii, which probably
has the most lush, tropical growing climate. They can grow some
things that Alaska [3] can't, but not crops that require winter
chill.

As to soil, depends on whether it's naturally good or has to be
modified. Soil in So. Calif is "naturally" adobe, but can be, and
in my case has been, modified to yield great crops. The people I
bought the house from had diligently modified the soil, so all I had
to do was carry on.

[1] Amazingly, I have friends that live 10 miles inland where it
can get hot, but they have an apple tree that yields the most
delicious, huge apples. Go figure.

[2] Didn't they develop a strain of blueberries that *can* be
grown in a mild Mediterranean climate such as So. Calif coastal,
where there is no frost or winter chill? (Though there can be frost
in the inland valleys, I hear.)

[3] Alaska's very short growing season is balanced by 24-hour
sunshine. I remember my first visit to Anchorage, where I was
blown away by the huge flower baskets suspending from the
utility poles.

Persephone