January in Florida is a time when many gardeners and farmers are enjoying the winter's bounty of crops.Things like strawberries and blueberries are just coming into season. I can actually taste the strawberries getting sweeter! I cannot wait to go to some u-pick farms with my kids and show them where our food comes from.
Since I missed the fall/winter crop planting (sniff!) I am taking January to get my garden beds ready and make a plan for planting. Wednesday the hubby and I will completely de-weed the two garden beds we have, and put some rich organic dirt on top. Hopefully this will mix with the native soil within the next month and make it great for growing things. We are also going to prune my magnolia tree and rose bushes, and mulch the roses, blueberries, apple tree, magnolia tree, plumeria, and crepe myrtles. Maybe we can get our oleander under control, and weed the front garden beds. We only have from 9-2 until we have to get our son, then any focused involved work is not easy.
Come the beginning of next month, I will plant the seeds for the veggies I want. I won't be doing many from seed this time around. I am planting pumpkin, watermelon and two types of green beans, pole and bush. Our bush beans last year yielded a lot of beans, but they do not continue to produce. Once you pick the beans the plant is done. I will do those again, since they were so successful, but we enjoy beans so we would like to have them all summer. The two crops I will buy established and just plant are tomatoes and peppers. Last year the ones we bought from the University of Florida's green fest did very well. They withstood the summer heat and produced a lot of veggies. Whereas the ones I tried from seed did not make it. So I will not have tomatoes or peppers until late March.
As for herbs, those proved extremely hard to grow from seed too. I will go to a local nursery, Willow Tree Nursery, and buy lavender, rosemary, oregano and thyme. We have planters made from PVC pipe that we hang from hooks on our porch. We will keep the herbs in pots there. They will be easy to water there, and every time someone walks up to my door the rosemary and lavender smell great. Plus they love the evening sun my porch gets. I am thinking about buying them at the end of this month.
So that's my plan! What is everyone else planning on doing?
Thanks Jen. I want so bad to garden, but, I donot have a green thumb at all. I do want to do tomatoes for sure, if I did any thing. Where is the best location, here in Fl? I want to used side West of house. SO, de-weed, then lay down rich organic dirt. Should I wait a month? Im worried about bugs? I'll be keeping close look as usual on your progression, as a friend and a fellow floridian. Gardening is so dif in Michigan ...4 sure!
ReplyDeleteHi Sue! Tomatoes are super easy to grow in Florida. They love the sun and heat. Your biggest problem will be bugs, mainly tomato hornworms and aphids. I usually surround my veggies with herbs like basil and oregano. I guess the smell of the herbs is enough to drive the bugs away. Also, spraying the leaves with a mixture of dawn dish soap and garlic. As for placement, west is good. They need a lot of sunlight, and the evening sun should be great for that. Tomatoes are easy to start from seed, but take about 8 weeks before you can plant them into the ground. I like heirloom seeds, so I start my plants in January to plant in March.But you can easily go to a nursery and buy sprouts and plant them right into the ground. Just make sure they have plenty of sun and water (water the ground, not the leaves, and don't handle the leaves when they are wet) and you should be alright. Good luck!
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