I am
zone 9 also.
You can not beat hands on and learning from your mistakes.
My husband taught agriculture for many years. I drove into the Ag department one day and before I could leave my car, he and his aide asked me how to spell mimosa. The aide had the Bible in his hands (Sunset Western Gardening Book, I call it my Bible). I spelled it for them and told them they may as well go straight to Albizia. That is where it would send them. They both looked stunned. My husband was an animal science major. He was much better with animals.
So I am well read but the most learning I have gotten has really been from actual doing.