Florida Gardening for Beginners – Grow an Amazing Veg Patch from Scratch!
The hot, humid environment and sandy soil of Florida aren’t always ideal for gardening, and for a beginner gardener, it might seem like an impossible obstacle. But take heart, green thumbs in training! We have a few tips on Florida gardening for beginners that will have you – and your veg patch – budding in no time!
There’s actually a veritable variety of veggies (say that five times fast!) that can be planted and successfully grown in the Floridian climate. If you start your vegetable garden with good soil prep and a selection of the right plants, you’ll be well on your way to taking a bite of a big, juicy tomato!
Follow this beginner’s guide on how to start a vegetable garden in Florida, and you can be enjoying fresh homegrown food in 30-40 days. Yum!
Start With The Soil
The key to Florida gardening is learning to live with the land.
While we love digging our toes into the sand, it’s not quite as enjoyable for garden plant roots. Unfortunately, sandy soil doesn’t hold water, which means poor little plants dehydrate quickly. The large, solid particles of sand also let valuable nutrients slip right on through, so garden plants simply can’t survive.
Well, not without a little TCL from you, that is!
Sandy soil is best amended with plenty of compost or well-aged animal manure so it can retain water and be fertile. Peat, perlite, gypsum, and/or vermiculite can also be added to sandy soil to increase its ability to retain water, however, these additives will not add nutrients. You’ll still need to add nutrient-rich compost or animal manure to help your veggies grow up big and strong.
To create an in-ground garden from scratch, apply 4-inches of your selected amendment on top of the soil and turn it under. If you are creating a raised-bed garden, fill the bed with a mixture of equal parts compost, animal manure, and potting soil.
Your work is done! For this year, anyway. Amending sandy soil is (sadly) not a one-and-done thing. Every year before planting a vegetable garden, more nutrients will need to be added to keep the soil fertile. Continue to add compost, animal manure, leaf mold, grass clippings, etc. to the garden soil for better plant development. It’s what we like to call a labor of love!
Garden Location
Real estate is just as important in the plant world as it is for us!
Curb appeal for food-producing plants is 6-8 hours of direct sunlight each day. However, the Florida sun is so intense, that a little shade will actually be beneficial to your vegetable plants!
(Photo: Unsplash)
Select a garden location that will receive morning sunlight and semi-shade in the afternoon. This will give the plants a needed reprieve during the hottest part of the day.
If you don’t have a location that provides shade, plant the tallest growing plants on the west side of the shorter growing plants. Tall-growing corn, sunflowers, and/or okra on the west side can help shade the shorter-growing eggplants and peppers.
You can also build a frame using PVC pipe over your new garden and spread the lightweight fabric over the frame during the heat of the day to shade the garden. During the cooler months, clear plastic can be spread over the PVC pipe frame to create a mini hoop house for growing vegetable plants during the winter months.
Plant Choices
Vegetable plants are divided into two categories: warm-season and cool-season.1
Warm-season plants are the only ones that will survive in the semi-tropical climate of Florida. A few of the cool-season plants may survive if they are planted in early spring or late fall, but Florida gardening beginners should start with a few warm-season plants for the best results. As you gain experience, you can experiment with the cool-season plants to discover which ones are best for your green thumb!
Warm-season plants that are ready to brave the summer heat include tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, okra, sweet potatoes, cucumbers, corn, sunflowers, and black-eyed peas. Choose your favorites from this list of heat-tolerant plants for your new vegetable garden! (Note: tomatoes do not automatically grow in the shape of Mickey Mouse just because you’re in Florida – you’ll have to figure out that gardening secret at EPCOT!)
If garden space is limited, you can choose dwarf plant varieties and use hanging planters instead! Dwarf plants (also known as bush plants) will grow the same sized vegetables, just on smaller plants. How nifty! Cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, and black-eyed peas grow into vines and thrive in hanging planters.
Planting Time
With mild winters, you can start a vegetable garden in Florida with early spring planting of warm-season vegetables. Get your seeds or seedlings into the soil in March or April; this will allow them to acclimate to the heat slowly and be productive during the summer.
If you have some type of frame over your garden that can be covered with plastic, you can plant your vegetable garden in late winter. The mini hoop house will protect tender plants from potential frost and warm the soil enough for seed germination.
If you’re feeling ambitious, a second crop of vegetable plants can be planted in the late summer after the first has been harvested!
Find the first predicted frost date of fall for your USDA growing zone, then find the number of days it will take for a vegetable to go from seed to harvest. Count backward from the frost date the number of days the seed needs, then you’ll know exactly when to plant your fall garden.
That might sound a bit confusing – full disclosure, I was confused at first – so here’s an example! Eggplants need 70 days from seed planting until harvest time. If the first predicted frost date in your growing zone is December 1st, the seeds should be planted around October 1st to allow ample time for plant growth and food production. Ta-da!
Those trickier, cool-season vegetables will thrive in early fall. Plant radishes, carrots, spinach, kale, and salad greens for a vibrant and tasty fall harvest. It’ll be like having a farmer’s market in your own backyard!
Plant Maintenance
The heat and humidity tend to dehydrate plants while allowing garden pests to (annoyingly) thrive. Check plants daily for signs of heat stress and pests! Here’s how you can prevent your vegetable garden from drying out or getting eaten up – by things other than you, that is!
(Photo: Unsplash)
- Water at soil level early in the morning when the plants are best able to absorb water – this way, they’ll be well hydrated when the sun shines on them!
- Plants grown in containers may need to be watered twice a day during the hottest part of summer. Look for signs of heat stress, like drooping leaves, then water immediately.
- Hand-pick pests off of plants when possible. If the pest infestation is too severe for hand-picking, create an organic pest spray with 1 tablespoon of dish soap, 1 tablespoon of cooking oil, and 1 tablespoon of hot pepper flakes. Pour this mixture into a small spray bottle filled with water and spray on infested plants.
It’s like bear spray for insects! Use as needed. - Mulch the soil with organic material like hay, wood chips, or compost. This will help keep the soil cool, retain moisture, and prevent weed growth. As the mulch decomposes it will add nutrients to the soil.
And that’s all there is to it! Now you’re primed and ready to tackle Florida gardening. Let us know what you grow in the comments below!
Stay hydrated!
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Photo: Unsplash
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