The UF Gardening Guide-What Every Florida Gardener Needs!

If you’re anything like us, finding ”plant people” can sometimes be hard to find. I’m pretty sure our friends occasionally roll their eyes at us, because there’s always a plant story waiting to be told. This is why we are part of many various gardening groups, especially on Facebook. ”Addicted to Gardening”, ”Central Florida Fruit and Vegetable Gardening”, and ”South Florida Butterfly & Hummingbird Gardening” just to name a few. Lately in these groups there’s been a lot of discussion from new gardeners on when to plant vegetables and what to plant. As you may know, there’s a lot of opinions in gardening groups or any group for that matter, because everyone has different experiences. What works at one person’s house, may not work at another because of many different factors. Could be soil type, pH level, sun exposure, etc. Whatever you do, don’t let all of that scare you. Gardening is about learning and exploring, trial and error if you will! What we want to share with you is one of UF’s best kept secret, The Gardening Guide.

The University of Florida is an AMAZING resource when it comes to Florida agriculture. From goat management, wildflower planting, common chicken illnesses, and more, UF provides so much information for Floridians to utilize. The UF Gardening Guide provides information such as planting dates in Florida, how many days from seed to harvest, how far apart of plant, how deep to plant, and beyond! The biggest thing to know is where you are located. North Florida is considered anything north of State Road 40. Central Florida is the section between State Roads 40 and 70. South Florida is anything below State Road 70. This reference is ONLY for using the UF Gardening Guide so keep that in mind. Once you’ve figured out if you’re North, Central, or South, it makes the guide easy to use.

Look for the crop you want to grow and it will tell you when to plant it! So what’s growing in April? Well I’m located in Central Florida, so right now we could plant:

• Bush Beans
• Pole beans
• Chinese Cabbage
• Sweet Corn
• Southern Peas
• Sweet Potatoes
• Summer Squash
• Winter Squash
• Swiss Chard

As it gets hotter, you’ll notice less and less vegetables are on the list. Unfortunately, our Florida heat and humidity makes it a little more challenging to grow vegetables in the summer months. Usually what we do is grow a bunch of beans, squash, and SUNFLOWERS! They aren’t on the list, since they aren’t a vegetable, but feel free to plant them throughout the summer. They make a fun addition to any garden! Come September, everything vegetable starts to crank up again.

The last thing to note about the UF Gardening Guide is it does give great information on soil preparation, composting, fertilizing, irrigation, pest management, no-pesticide approaches, using pesticides wisely, and recommended varieties of vegetables. All of this is great information for the first time gardener! You can find the UF Gardening Guide here! Print it out or save it to your files, because this is certainly a gem you don’t want to lose! It’s a guide that will hopefully lead you to your first harvest! Happy Planting!