Get your green thumb going and Start Gardening in Central Florida
Yes it gets pretty hot here but having a thriving vegetable garden in Central Florida is possible. Here are some vegetables I was able to successfully grow and what it took to make my garden Successful.
Prep your space
Weather your planning a container garden or right in the ground here are the things that will get your space ready for planting!
Grow bags are a great way to garden if you are low on space. I like to fill mine 1/4 with mulch and the rest with a mixture of compost and nutrient rich potting or raised bed soil.
Miracle Grow has several varieties of soil perfect for your needs. When I plant with grow bags Ilike to use their raised bed soil. To keep my plants healthy during all stages.
When planning to grow directly in the ground my first step is to break up the soil before I add compost. The Garden Weasel Claw Pro 4 Tine Steel Hand Cultivator is what gets the job done for me with minimal effort.
Black Kow - Cow Manure Compost Is my go to when reviving my soil in both in the ground planting as well as grow bag planting. I simply mix with the soil of choice a day before planting. I usually use about 5 scoops of soil to 1 scoop of Black Cow.
If you want to try and keep the weeds away in your garden you can always use a durable weed block before you add plants. This tends to work better if you are going to plant established plants rather than seeds.
Figuring out what you want to grow first is a good idea. If you live in Florida the Gardening Calendar by The University of Florida is a fantastic resource.
Many vegetables can suffer from blossom end rot and one way to fight that is to add calcium. I found that when prepping the garden adding egg shells keeps most of the rot away.
This small green house is great to get your seeds started without taking up space on your counters or kitchen tables. My husband made sure he got one for me real quick when my seed trays started taking over.
You will find that your gloves will become lost and end up running around looking for them. Save yourself some time and get a bunch. I did and have not ran out yet… I will soon though.. LOL
Don't feel like going through the hassle of building your own Garden box… I like that this kit has everything you need without having to run through the store looking for each individual board and nail. Tool free assembly!!
Grow little one Grow
Weather you decide to direct sow seeds, use a seed starter tray or buy established plants these are the products and brands I use the most. They never let me down!
Bonnie Plants are tried and true for me! They have an amazing selection both online and in store. Weather your looking for multiple packs or just a single plant you will not be disappointed with the growth rate and the harvest yield.
When it comes to seed options that cannot be found at your local store I like to see what mail order companies have to offer. Seed Savers seems to be the most affordable option and the one my local library uses for their seed library.
I purchased this set this year and have been very pleased with everything. I love that the starter trays come in three pieces making watering easier without creating a mess. The success rate of my started seeds is way better this year than last year ...
If using seed starter trays the Peat Pellets are a simple and less messy way to get things going. Just a bit of warm water and you have a fluffy blend to grow your seeds in that drains well ensuring that your seeds are never overly moist causing mold...
From time to time furry garden pests will arrive so be prepared to defend your garden. These Critter Cage Plant Protectors will deter the nibblers and keep your young plants safe.
If you will be leaving your seeds inside to sprout make sure you have some sort of grow lights to ensure proper growth. You don't want you seedlings getting leggy!
Now Gardening has a great video explaining how to try and fix leggy seedlings as well as how to prevent it from happening in the first place!
This is a great bundle of seeds to get your garden started. All of these are simple to grow and the variety is really nice.
It was a success!
Here are the Vegetable Varieties I successfully grew here on the Space Coast. Let's keep our fingers crossed that the list will continue to grow.
California Wonder Bell Peppers grow really nice for me. Make sure to snip early flowers so your plant can grow strong. Stronger plants lead to bigger peppers.
I planted a few seeds last year because my 23 year old son wanted something spicy in the garden and we ended up with way too many. There were salsas, jams, and hot sauce made and of course we gave a bunch away.
Clemson Spineless Green Okra will provide from Summer through Late fall. I must say the flowers are absolutely beautiful before the baby Okra is born. On another note some get so tall that I couldn’t reach to pick them.
The De Cicco Broccoli variety has grown well for me this year. I was able to continue to get florets after I harvested the main crown. I will definitely be planting again this Fall.
This eggplant has a more mild flavor than the black beauty variety and grows to a medium size. You can prepare this the same way you do with any other eggplant.
My favorite canning and all around sauce tomato. To prepare these for sauce simply boil in water for a minute, place in ice water, easily remove the skins and core!
I just tried this Organic Cherokee Purple Tomato variety this year and have had great success! They are still growing well even in this Late June hot heat. I got large and heavy tomatoes that were perfect for slicing!
Wenk's Yellow Hot Peppers grow fast and can get spicy. We never grew these before until this year and hubby just pulled one off and ate it whole. All I can say is the hiccups came fast and he learned his lesson.
Fertilize, Treat, and Protect Your Garden
All gardens need some help every once in a while and I have had my share of issues. Here were some of the solutions.
Bonide Rot Stop Was the saving grace of my tomatoes. They were suffering from a Calcium Deficiency and spraying the plants down from top to bottom every other week kept the blossom end rot from coming back to destroy the future tomatoes.
Need Oil is a effective multi-purpose insecticide, fungicide, miticide and nematicide. In other words this magic in a bottle that will keep most of the bugs away. It will also prevent powdery mildew from forming on pumpkin, squash, and cucumber leave...
Coffee grounds have a lot of nutrients that can help your garden in a big way so don't just toss them out… save them for your garden! They contain beneficial nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium, and micronutrients, such as calcium, magnesium, copper, iro...
Diatomaceous Earth is a great all natural option to help keep the pests away. Say goodbye to earwigs, caterpillars, ants, and aphids, slugs and snails.
If you got critters trying to get to your plants this netting is a good option to try and deter them. Honestly if they are set on it they will get what they want. Oh and please keep the week whacker away from it if you don't want to keep taking it ap...