We’re in the home stretch as far as the summer gardens go. Anyone who has held out to this point and is still producing vegetables really understands how and what to grow in Central Florida in the summertime.
In our Laureate Park Gardening Workshop, we harvested some beautiful petite white eggplants. Eggplants really thrive in the Florida heat, just like okra and peppers. Those are all a safe bet to grow through the summer. These vegetables are all heat-tolerant.
The next major challenge in the summertime garden are the pests. All the rain pushes the ants up from underground and into our garden beds. Remember our ant psychology – only place the organic granules around the mound and not in it. Anything placed in the ant mound is automatically a foreign object and will not be brought to the queen for food.
Ants are just one of the many bugs you might find in your garden this time of the year. From mealybugs to aphids, an infestation can happen before you know it. The key to treating bugs is getting to the root of the issue. A plant will only have bugs when it’s under stress, which typically leads to three basic causes: water, fertilizer and seasonality. Either over-watering with all the afternoon rainstorms or under-watering because of the hot days. In the summertime, the garden typically needs to be watered every day. Use organic fertilizer every six to eight weeks. Be sure to use a fertilizer specifically for vegetable gardens. Also, periodically amend the soil with compost. Finally, make sure the vegetable plant is intended to be grown in the heat of our summer season.
No matter how hard we try to give our plants what they need, it is all too common to have plant stress in the summer garden. Be observant and a plant detective to get to the root of your plant’s issues. Notice leaves wilting or browning. This is typically a sign of under-watering. The plant can literally burn up in the summer heat. Over-watering from the afternoon showers can also cause browning of leaves and yellow spots on plants like tomatoes. You’ll have to know what has been happening in the garden to properly diagnose these types of issues.
Most herbs really struggle in the summertime. Continuing to grow basil, parsley, thyme and oregano will be a challenge during the summer. The way to extend the growing season as much as possible is to plant these herbs where they will be in partial shade from other plants in the garden. Herbs like rosemary and mint are also heat-tolerant and can grow all summer long. The good news is fall is right around the corner, and there will be no limits to choices of herbs that we will be able to grow.
The growing seasons in Florida are different than anywhere else in the United States. We can typically grow all year round. Summer winds up in the month of August. The first week of September is typically when fall planting can begin. Our fall season lasts six months. When everywhere else in the country is closing up their gardens in December and January due to all of the snow and hard freezes, we are harvesting our fall veggies like broccoli, cauliflower and carrots. Let’s hope this year we don’t get another hard freeze like last year that takes out our eggplants and tomato plants. That happened last year for the first time in seven years. Then, we will continuously harvest our vegetables from September clear through February.
Amber Harmon is the Owner of My Nona’s Garden, an organization with a mission to bring health, promote growth and provide education to local communities, one garden at a time. Visit www.MyNonasGarden.com for more information. “We make organic vegetable gardening easy!”
