Fall is a great time to start your garden!

So you’ve survived the endless heat and rain of summer in Florida and want to finally establish that vegetable garden. September is the ideal period to do just that. Part of the reason is that you can grow both cool and warm season crops.

Does location matter? 

• Absolutely.
• Florida is a big state and it’s important to grow the right crops in the right zone. There are four general hardiness zones (8-11) designated by the U.S. Department of Agriculture for Florida. (We’ll discuss zone 11, the Florida keys, in a separate post.)

South Florida (zone 10)/Central Florida (zone 9): Beans, beats, broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, collards, corn, cucumber, eggplant, kale, lettuce, mustard, onions, peas, peppers, pumpkin, radish, summer spinach, summer squash, tomatoes, turnips, (watermelon in zone 10)

North Florida (zone 8): Beans, beats, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, collards, corn, cucumber, kale, lettuce, mustard, onions, radish, sorrel, summer spinach, summer squash, turnips.

If you want more information on how to prepare your vegetable garden for the fall, this blog post does a thorough job at explaining the ins and outs.