Growing Spring Vegetables in North Florida

GROWING VEGETABLES, BERRIES & FRUIT TREES IN NORTH FLORIDA

TIME IS SHORT FOR PLANTING SPRING VEGETABLES IN NORTH FLORIDA
POSTED APRIL 24, 2010

For vegetable gardeners in North Florida, spring planting time is much like Christmastime is for children: eagerly anticipated all year long and once here, it’s over way too soon.

As April draws to a close, so does the window for planting most warm season vegetables in North Florida. I sowed the last of my spring veggies, a couple of rows of bush beans, earlier in the week. If you have not put out your spring vegetables yet, you should make it a point to do so very soon; the sooner you do the better your chances for success.

Once we get beyond April, it is best to give up planting most spring vegetables and instead look to those vegetables that will grow and thrive during the summer months. For example, lima beans, Southern peas and okra can be sown all summer long in North Florida. Eggplant can be successfully planted through July and sweet potatoes can be planted into June.

You don’t have to wait until next spring to plant traditional spring vegetables, though. One of the greatest benefits to gardening in North Florida is having two seasons in which to grow warm season vegetables – spring and fall. So, if you miss getting your spring vegetables in the ground in April, you will have another opportunity beginning in mid August. For vegetable gardeners in North Florida, Christmas does indeed come more than once a year.

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Deborah from Tallahassee, Fla writes:
I would greatly appreciate it if you could steer me in the right direction for instructions on how to build your own earthboxes. I saw some this weekend on a garden tour and want to get it right! Thanks in advance for your help. I’m a master gardener but vegetables have never been my strength.

Thanks such for reading my blog and subscribing. Here's some info on homemade Earthboxes. Good luck!

James from Jacksonville, Fla writes:
I’m interested in trying to grow apple trees in Jacksonville, Florida. Seeds of Change, a mail order nursery, has heirloom apple trees on sale. I contacted them and was told that any tree that they have indicated growing in zone 10 would grow well in Florida, providing it wasn’t near the beach. I’m not as I’ am a couple of blocks from the St. Johns River. I was interested in the following varieties:

Cox's Orange Pippin Apple Tree

White Pearmain Apple Tree

Bramley's Seedling Apple Tree.

All three apparently grow in zone 10 according to Seeds of Change. I see that you make some recommendations on your site as to trees. But, do you think that these would grow well in Florida?

Thanks for visiting blog and for your question. The trees that are recommended for Florida are low chill hour varieties that are also very disease resistant. While the varieties you list may grow here, a quick Google search indicates they are very susceptible to disease. So they may not grow here for very long. And, while they may grow here, if they require more than 600 chill hours, they won't produce fruit here. It's hard enough to grow fruit in Florida -- make it easier on yourself and get an Anna and/or Dorsett Golden and a TropicSweet. Highly disease resistant and only 250-300 chill hours. Good luck -- please let me know how you do with your apple trees.

Cindy from Destin writes:
Last year I planted my first-ever garden. I grew cherry tomatoes, Big Red tomatoes, squash, green bell peppers, eggplant, string beans, zucchini, parsley and green onions. I also tried to grow watermelons and strawberries in a container but to no avail. I was able to garner a yield or two before nearly everything was overcome by virus or disease. I LOVE gardening but am fearful of starting another vegetable garden this spring with the possibility of losing everything again. Any advice? Also, where would you recommend I look locally to find virus/disease resistant starter plants to purchase?

Have no fear – you can do it! I think most newbie vegetable gardeners in North Florida have had the same or similar experiences; I know I have. In the end, these setbacks make you a better gardener. I have a feeling at least part of your trouble comes from timing. Cool weather vegetables such as strawberries, parsley and green onions naturally die when the weather gets hot, usually by the end of May. Plant them in the fall for better results. Bush beans generally begin dying when the weather gets hot (mid June) or not long after the first or second harvest. They don’t continue to produce like pole beans. Try growing Amelia tomatoes. Fertilize as suggested by Larry Williams in my current blog post -- choose a fertilizer that uses a nitrate form of nitrogen. Ammonium nitrogen should be only a minor component because excess ammonium ions reduce calcium uptake. This leads to blossom-end rot. The same holds true for peppers and egg plant. I add calcium to the soil by adding a bit of garden lime to the upper few inches of the soil around the plants when I put them in the ground. I mix in maybe a half cup or so scattered around each plant. Earthboxes call for 2 cups. As far as the squash goes, no matter what kind you grow, it will very likely develop powdery mildew a short time after it begins setting fruit. Knowing this, begin applying a fungicide before then, following label directions. Reapply as suggested on the label. I use a copper based fungicide and spray every week and after every rain. Your plants are still likely to develop powdery mildew, but if controlled, there is no reason they cannot continue to produce fruit well into the summer. For best success, plant your warm weather transplants in the garden as soon as you can between now and the end of the month.

Disa from Crestview, Fla writes:
I live in Crestview FL and am interested in receiving your blog posts. I listened to your seminar at the EcoNomic Living Expo and always end up at your site throughout the week. As a child my father has (and still has) gardens. Some have been large enough to use a tractor to roto-till and a well irrigation system. Problem is that is in West Texas and Eastern New Mexico. SO DIFFERENT. Last year I got very little tomatoes to come up and yellow cucumbers and small bell peppers. So this year I am doing container planting only and very excited about how good things are looking. Because I am used to watching my dad water EVERY night because of how dry our area was, then I think last year I just really over watered. I keep looking for tips about that from your web site, but don't see any. If you in a blog coming up soon could talk about that and what the signs are that I am over watering that would be fantastic! Thanks and I enjoy seeing your pictures and reading your blogs.

Thanks for subscribing! And thanks for the suggestion about writing about watering -- I will do that. In general, I water twice a week if we don't get rain; three times at best if it is very dry and/or windy, or if I have the plants in very sandy soil that does not hold the moisture.

Debbie from Pomona Park, Fla writes:
I have been doing a lot of research on growing a Florida garden, and found your site! So glad I did! I was raised in Ohio, and having a garden up there is SO easy...not to say here in Florida... I live in Pomona Park, FL (which is South of Palatka, FL). We are about 1 1/2 hrs. South of Jacksonville. Would you say all the "name brand" veggies and fruits you produce grow well in my area too? We are zoned 8B or 9A. Please keep sending me your info!

First, thanks for subscribing! You are so right about gardening being different here. I have grown vegetables in Southern California, Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada and Nevada, Iowa, as well as here in Niceville, Fla. While the growing conditions are vastly different, no matter where I lived I was rewarded with the same joy of gardening and raising my own food. You can successfully grow the same veggies in Pomona Park as I do here. State Road 40 is the dividing line between the north and central growing zones in Florida, so you are in the north growing zone. But because you are so close to the central zone, you may want to slightly alter your planting dates to account for this -- I suspect it gets warmer sooner where you are and stays warmers later in the year than here in the Panhandle. Best of luck with your garden and thanks again for subscribing!

Mary Lou from Fort White, Fla writes:
I am SO delighted to find your website with information on growing veggies in North Florida! Books and magazine articles are all geared for a northern climate, and we are sooo different here. Florida is even incredibly different from north to south. Thank you, thank you! My garden has 9 raised sections approximately 4 X 20, not including the back row of blueberries & blackberries which measures 6 X 50. Herbs and asparagus line the 2 east sections. Interior sections include salad garden, coles, bush beans, tomatoes/peppers, squash (yellow & zuchini), potatoes, and pole beans. I would like to know where I should plant sweet potatoes: in the sections where the coles will be in the winter, which has pH6? Or could I plant them among the blueberries & blackberries which has pH 5 (maybe lower) and is heavily mulched with pine straw? You mentioned that your cold frame is 4 X 4's and a window. Could you describe it in a little more detail? Lastly, what is the best way to store root vegetables in Florida? Not having a root cellar, what else would be the best environment? I have read that refrigeration is too cold. Is that true? My garden is in Fort White FL. along the Santa Fe River. We get 8 hours of direct sunlight. With four horses, I have lots of manure to compost!

Wow, it sounds like you have a terrific garden! I think your sweet potatoes will do best in your coles section (that’s where mine are). Plant them soon so they will be ready to harvest before your coles are ready to set out this fall. In reference to cold frames, I put a quick one together using 5 gallon buckets on one end (the high end) and put a 4x4 across the buckets. The low end was just a 4x4 placed on the ground. I then placed spare windows that I have on the 4x4s and added sides using wood or plastic sheeting. You can also use plastic sheeting instead of windows. In reference to storing root crops, we just keep them in a dark, cool room. But at best many, such as onions and potatoes, only keep for about 2-3. Garlic holds up for several months. Thanks for visiting my Web site and for your email.

If you would like to subscribe to my blog and receive an email letting you know each time I post an update, simply send me an email by clicking here. Please let me know where in Florida (or elsewhere) you are gardening.

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