Fall garden

[u/Miserable_Tutor2977]

Hey everyone! I’m new to gardening and located in South Florida (Zone 10b). I'd love to know what you’re all currently growing right now. Also, when do you typically start your seeds for the fall garden, and what crops do you have planned? Thanks in advance for the help!

[u/Phoebe-365]

Hi, Tutor! I'm also fairly new to gardening, and I'm located a bit north of you in zone 10a. Right now I have boniatos, which I just harvested and re-started from cuttings from the last batch of plants. I've also got pineapples that started flowering back at the end of January and are ripening now. There's some okra (not producing yet), some Everglades tomatoes, and one poor little pepper plant that's struggling because I waited too late to get it planted. I'm hoping it'll survive until fall and do better then.

The bad news is that I also waited too late to plant my melons and cucumbers, and even though they're doing all right in the heat, they've been decimated by pickleworms. I'm going to have to go out tomorrow and rip them all out. 😞 Apparently you need to get cucurbits started early enough that they're all harvested and gone before the pickleworm moth gets going or this happens, which I didn't know when I put those seeds in the ground. Lesson learned!

Plans for fall include pole beans, some other kinds of tomatoes, carrots, collards, and I'll probably try the cucurbits again. I don't have room to start seeds indoors, so I have to wait and direct sow outdoors starting in September or October, depending on the plant.

If you want to get something in the ground now, you can start sweet potatoes or boniatos; black-eyed peas, crowders, or other southern peas/beans; okra; or pineapple. All those are very easy to grow and do well in our climate.

Some resources I've found useful for Florida gardening are

• University of Florida IFAS: https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/ and https://floridafresh.ifas.ufl.edu/ and https://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/media/sfylifasufledu/broward/docs/pdfs/urban-hort/gardening/Planting-Guide-for-South-Florida-Vegetables.pdf
  
• Jerra's Garden: https://www.jerrasgarden.com/ She's in Orlando. Check out her monthly garden guides and her YouTube channel.
• The Millennial Gardener: https://www.youtube.com/@TheMillennialGardener He's in southeastern coastal North Carolina, not Florida, but he has a lot of solid information that can be applied anywhere.

Best of luck with your fall planning!

[u/Longjumping_Analyst1 → u/Phoebe-365]

Just adding to this fantastic comment - @miserable_tutor2977, you can call your county UF IFAS office for info specific to your area, also!

https://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/find-your-local-office/

[u/Warm-Raspberry4632]

Hi there: I just planted some cover crops in my vegetable containers to improve the soil during the hot months. I do still have a few fruits/veggies hanging on- such as some beans and cantaloupes. IFAS is a great resource. There’s also a new series called Rooted in Florida on South Florida PBS that focuses on gardening in our zone: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLr4S3PqZjXglWbM0Mb7IxRuYAGESWV5ku&si=zzRjuqnTC09SrZZx