Growing vegetables/fruit in Tampa area? (University: condo, university, mold)

[TootsieWootsie]

How long is your growing season? And is it so hot that you have to water 2X a day there? How often do you water your gardens there?

[stevecybo]

I start in late summer and can make it through the winter with several types of veggies. A break in mid summer is good for the soil.
Here's a helpful link from UFL Garden Almanac from the Hillsborough County Extension

[aninaction]

honeybee steve is that you?

[TootsieWootsie]

If you take a break in mid summer then do you not grow anything then because of the heat? Up north we plant in May and it's over by October. Just trying to figure what your schedule is, but it seems as if you don't plant until late summer????

[Angler]

two seasons- plant in early spring for summer (beans, sweet potatoes, hot peppers, etc.)- plant right now for winter (black eyed peas, long beans, collard greens, broccoli, etc.).

[TootsieWootsie]

Wow, looks like you can grow veggies all year around there?

[TampaKaren]

As another poster said, there are two vegetable growing seasons in Central Florida. Cucurbits and a few others such as corn, beans & pease are planted & harvested twice each year. The University of Florida has a pretty good growing guide here --> SP 103/VH021: Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide.

I don't know too much about growing fruit, but we do have a lemon tree, a lime tree and a blueberry bush.

[TootsieWootsie]

OMG, that sounds fantastic to me! I would LOVE to grow things all year almost. Unfortunately, I'll be getting a condo most likely and container gardening just normally doesn't cut it....maybe it's different down there, tho?
TampaKaren, thanks for that great vegetable table you posted!
If anything is still growing during summer months like June thru August, do you have to water 2 times a day then? Nobody answered that yet.

[TampaKaren]

Tootsie, June-August is very hot with a lot of rain. If the vegetables can endure the high temps, they can get mold from too much water & humidity. You may be able to do some container gardening, but we just don't bother. This time for of year is better for blooming annuals and herb gardening.

[Nav]

The biggest problem is the summer heat. The soil in Florida is primarily sandy and doesn't hold water very well unless you do a LOT of enrichment. You can flood the garden at 7:00amand scorching August temps will turn it to sugar sand by 3:00pm. Its not uncommon to walk out and find everything wilted in the late afternoon. Local watering restrictions make it difficult if not illegal to water a garden on a sprinkler system so you are forced to water by hand.
Can you grow year round, definitely yes, but you will have to figure out what grows best in your area.
I know the farmers in Plant city grow Strawberries from Nov till February. Then they go for a quick crop on onions, then on to summer squash then assorted melons. Some do peppers in the late summer but its pretty much random crops till fall.

You can grow vegetables in the summer if you protect your garden with white shade cloth. Light colored Shade cloth will let the light in but keeps the heat down so water loss is not as much of a problem. If you are serious about gardening, contact the hillsborough county Agriculture Extension office. They are extremely helpfull and have all kinds of very usefull information (free). They run a "Master Gardener" program and are willing to hook up with people who can answer specific questions.

Nav