Days are getting shorter and nights are getting colder, but that does not stop front-yard farmers in north Florida.

This month I will be planting carrots, beets, cabbage, lettuce and onions. My December harvest will include green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, oranges, tangerines, lemons and kumquats. If you are not yet a front-yard farmer, it’s not too late to begin in 2008!

I have already planted most of the onions I intend to grow in my front-yard garden but I have a set of Texas Grano onions arriving by mail this week (I could not find them locally). They will go into a prepared bed as soon as they are delivered. I will be planting carrots, cabbage and beets this coming weekend. I would have done so this past weekend but I don’t yet have the garden space available. I will have after I take out the green beans, which I will do following one more harvest this week.

I already have lettuce and cabbage growing in the garden. I am making additional plantings to extend the harvest.

Here are some of the cool season vegetables that can be planted this month in north Florida: beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, Chinese cabbage, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, mustard, onions, parsley and radishes.

Lettuce planted this month will have to be protected when temperatures dip into the 20s. Onions are best planted by mid November but those set out in December should still develop medium to large bulbs by May.