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Green Thumb Advises To Plant Vegetable Gardens Now

Adah Weitzel, master gardener, is already preparing her spring season garden. She shares advice on how you can make your garden grow.

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By SHERRI LONON

IN THE LOOP

Published: February 18, 2009

Growing vegetables in Florida can be an exercise in frustration for Northerners who are used to tossing seeds in the ground and watching them sprout. Thanks to sandy soils, pests, overly hot days and different growing seasons, the ballgame is completely different here, say experts from the Pasco County Cooperative Extension.

"The seasons are probably one of the toughest things to adapt to," said BJ Jarvis, director of the extension office. "Summer is just way too hard of a time in Florida."

Despite the obstacles, Jarvis and Adah Weitzel, a certified master gardener, suggest residents interested in backyard vegetable gardening get moving to take advantage of the spring growing season that is now in full swing.

"This is definitely the time to be thinking about warm season vegetables," said Jarvis.

Weitzel said the time to grow vegetables from seeds has passed, but that seedlings can still go into the ground. She suggests gardeners who want to try growing completely from scratch keep in mind that seeds should be started about six weeks out from recommended planting times for future growing seasons.

Since Pasco County's soils tend to lack nutrients and are often affected by nematodes - microscopic worms that can damage crops - the pair suggest would-be vegetable gardeners take steps to compensate. Two of the best ways to get around these issues and still get plants into the ground before the St. Patrick's Day planting cutoff Jarvis recommends involve container gardening or creating raised beds for the spring season. Both options involve the use of richer soils and can help growers overcome the nematode problem until more stringent steps can be taken during the summer months. To avoid nematode contamination in containers, gardeners need only to raise them an inch or two off the ground and provide proper drainage, Jarvis said.

Fertilizer can be very important, as well, Jarvis said. She often recommends the use of slow-release brands simply because they take a lot of the work and worry out of vegetable gardening.

Gardeners who do want to plant directly into the soil are urged to wait until after the summer season, Jarvis said. To prepare, they can "solarize" the soil in the summer months by covering their intended vegetable patch with black plastic sheeting topped off with clear plastic sheeting. This enables a gardener to make sure soil "cooks all summer long," she said. This might not kill off all nematodes, but it does control their numbers.

"It works great for a fall garden," she said.

As prices in the grocery store climb, Jarvis said requests for information about vegetable gardening are going up. While there are some challenges that go along with growing in Florida, she said vegetables can be quite rewarding and they do fit into many landscape schemes.

"You can tuck vegetable gardens into so many places," Jarvis said. For example, parsley can be used as a border in other plant beds, tomatoes can hang and many other herbs and vegetables can blend in well with a landscape without taking up a tremendous amount of room.

Weitzel's vegetable garden takes up a small plot outside her home. She also grows a variety of other plants in separate gardens, a greenhouse and open spaces. Weitzel said she enjoys vegetable gardening not only because it feeds her need to grow, but also because it gives her a chance to give back. Her crops are typically shared with neighbors.

While her winter garden is still producing cabbage, broccoli, onions, romaine lettuce and more, she agrees the time for beginners to get started with planting seedlings is now. She recommends using raised beds and remembering that the soil here needs work and tends to benefit from heavy composting.

For the best chances of success with any kind of planting, she says it's important to avoid putting them in the ground when the conditions are stressful - too hot, too cold, too wet or too dry. "We have to take care of them and make them happy."

For more information, visit the extension service's Web site at pasco.ifas.ufl.edu or call (813) 996-7341.

Florida Vegetable Growing Information

The Pasco County Cooperative Extension recommends backyard vegetable gardeners plant vegetables by March 17 for warm season, spring crops. The following vegetables are recommended:

•Beans

•Peppers

•Sweet potatoes

•Cucumbers

•Tomatoes

•Squash

•Okra

•Southern peas

Other crops, such as eggplant, corn, pumpkins, cantaloupes and watermelons also can grow well in Pasco County.

Editor Sherri Lonon can be reached at slonon@mediageneral.com or (813) 948-4287. Editor Sherri Lonon can be reached at slonon@mediageneral.com or (813) 948-4287.

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