Tag Archives: fall garden

Oct20

Four Reasons to Start a Fall Garden in North Florida

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Fall is truly here. We have been enjoying very beautiful days, crisp mornings, and cool evenings. Did you know this is also a great time to garden? There are four great reasons to get started on your garden now.

1. Cooler Weather- I think we can all agree; gardening is much more pleasant without high temps and heavy humidity.
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2. Fewer Pests- The fall garden is not plagued by hordes of caterpillars, borers, or even  powdery mildew. Even the mosquito population seems to be diminished.

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3. Less Weeding- During the summer, the weeds keep pace with the vegetables, then overtake them in a blinding fury mid-July. During the fall, usually what you plant is what you grow, with minimal weeding, especially if you mulch.

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4. Less Work!! All of these advantages add up to less work overall. If you think you don’t like gardening, give fall gardening a try. For some, this is actually their favorite gardening season.

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Scatter some turnip seeds, poke a few kale starts in the ground, and enjoy gardening this fall!

Those bags are just some of my harvest from last year’s fall garden!

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Aug19

Time to Plant the Fall Garden!

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For us in North Florida, spring is here again! Many of the spring crops can be planted again, and many of the fall crops can be started this month.

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I really want some green beans, so I am planting some of them, and a few zucchini plants. I saved seeds from my prolific ‘National Pickling’ cucumbers, and I hope to make some more homemade pickles.

I am only going to plant a few tomato plants. I have some cuttings rooted in water on my windowsill. I just clipped some cuttings off the plants before I pulled them. For more tips, read this post.

Many leafy vegetables can be started next month. Collards and kale did well for me last year, so I plan to grow them again.

For now, my garden has quite a few plants that will keep producing for a while: peppers, okra, sweet potatoes, and pink-eyed purple-hulled peas.

For a spectacular Florida Vegetable Planting Guide, visit the University of Florida site. If one of your spring crops failed, chances are that you can try again!

Gardening in Florida is awesome!

What are you doing in your garden now? Are you relaxing in the air conditioning or sweating in the summer sun? I confess, most of my gardening is done before 9 a.m. or after 5 p.m. Florida sun can be brutal!