Plan Your North Florida Fall Vegetable Garden in July

GROWING VEGETABLES, BERRIES & FRUIT TREES IN NORTH FLORIDA

PLAN YOUR NORTH FLORIDA FALL VEGETABLE GARDEN IN JULY
POSTED JUNE 30, 2010

Like a Jackson Square fortune teller, vegetable gardeners in North Florida spend a good deal of time looking into the future. Of course, we don’t use a crystal ball or some creepy deck of cards. A seed catalog and planting-date guide will do the trick.

July is one of the months when looking ahead fills more of our time than actual gardening. Much like December. Too hot to plant most veggies now; just as it is too cold in the days leading up to Yuletide.

So this is when we look ahead and plan what we are going to grow – and where – beginning in August and continuing into November.

Planning is important because we have such short windows in North Florida in which to plant crops. Missing a window greatly hurts your chances of success.

Amelia tomatoes growing in Niceville.
Tomatoes can be planted again in August.

Here in North Florida, we plant many of our fall garden vegetables as early as August. If we don’t, they may not mature before the weather turns cold and we are hit with an early frost.

When you are digging in the garden and planting crops in August, cold weather will seem like ages away. Just remember that come fall, North Florida sometimes cools off quicker than a night watchman’s coffee. You don't want those warm weather veggies caught out in the cold!

Crops we plant in August in North Florida include tomatoes, sweet corn, snap beans, summer squash, winter squash, broccoli, collards, turnips and cauliflower. By September, we can plant more cool season vegetables, like lettuce, beets, cabbage and carrots. You’ll find complete planting dates in my Vegetable Growing Guide

Of course, it isn’t as though you cannot plant anything out in the garden in July. Eggplant, okra, southern peas and watermelon all do well when planted in July in North Florida. And each will taste superb when eaten fresh from the garden in the fall!

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