South Florida Gardening

“The Year of the Tomato”

by , on
Jun 29, 2021
Basket featuring red tomatoes

We sometimes dub a growing season, especially when its harvest is peaking, as “The Year of…” – depending on what did really well that year. I remember quite vividly our Year of the Nasturtium as our garden was blanketed with their flowers in a variety of colors and the bees were quite happy to visit!   Other crops in contention for the title have been kale, fennel, cabbages, green beans, and sweet potatoes – all bringing a particularly abundant and joyful harvest in a given year. Here are some key points that got the tomato this past season’s (20-21) royal title: continue reading »

Fall Gardening – Action!

by , on
Nov 6, 2018
Young brassica family plants in pots

It’s early November here in South Florida, prime time for planting our organic garden for the new season. We have just gotten a real break in the weather, with some cooler mornings last week (not quite cool enough for us South Floridians to get our boots and scarves out, though it’s tempting, right?) This cooling does make us enthused about being outside and getting our garden going! So, to give a rundown on how we’ve started with either seedlings or direct plantings, here goes: continue reading »

Transplanting Seedlings: Our “Winter” Crops

by , on
Jan 7, 2018
Chinese cabbage seedlings

Our fall and winter crops here in South Florida are basically the same. Most of the things that we start in the earlier part of the growing season (fall), we can start another rotation of in December or January. Much of our work is planning what seeds need to be started when. We will either direct seed some of our crops, such as carrots and beans directly into the beds. Or, with many other crops, we will be getting them going in flats, and then transplanting seedlings as they mature into four inch pots and/or directly into the beds, and then watching them grow! For a list of what we can grow in the fall/winter here, please see our post http://www.soflagardening.com/fall-planting-beds/ continue reading »

Fall Planting: The Beds are Filling Up!

by , on
Dec 3, 2017
Tomatoes growing in bed

Our fall gardening is going strong here in South Florida as we head into December. Though we had a late start this year due to weather events, we are well on our way to filling up our beds with organic veggies that can be grown now and into the spring. “Winter” is not worth mentioning because we don’t really have one here. We consider the winter solstice (December 21-22) as the transition time for us from fall to early spring when it comes to gardening. continue reading »

Seedling City – Where It All Begins

by , on
Nov 26, 2017

We’ve described how we prepare the soil in our beds for planting – now it’s time to discuss how we get our plants started. Because we are in South Florida, our prime time for cultivating seedlings is in the fall.

We basically have three methods for starting our plants in the garden:

  • Planting seeds in flats for transplanting seedlings later
  • Planting seeds directly into the garden beds to sprout there
  • Buying small starter plants to put directly into the beds

We definitely prefer to start our plants from seed, for a number of reasons. First, when you purchase seeds as opposed to starter plants, there’s a much greater variety to choose from. We also like cultivating them from their very beginnings in our own organic soil and supplements. And it’s much less expensive than buying plants. There is also the chance of introducing pests and/or diseases that are brought in on starter plants. Last but not least, who doesn’t love the hands-on experience and good feeling of engaging in a plant’s growth every step of the way? continue reading »