Who wouldn’t want a bountiful harvest from their garden like this. Ripe cherry tomatoes, green beans, peppers, onions, and she still had time to can her salsa. Oh how I imagined my first attempt at gardening would look like this.
However…
I could have used some Florida gardening tips before I started that could have helped me get bigger sweet onions – that looks like the exact same thing I took out of the bag as a starter – and better formed carrots and red onions. I won’t complain about the red potatoes. I got eight small potatoes, and we ate them all roasted in olive oil with Italian seasoning and parmesan cheese, so YUM.
Florida gardening tips I wish I knew before planting
Watering
I started my plants in January, but it doesn’t take long to get too hot, so I don’t think I watered them enough. I also tried to feed them, but I don’t think I did that enough either, which might explain the mutant carrots. Even the rabbits didn’t want them.
Soil
I used the right garden soil, but it doesn’t hurt to check the soil. I started everything in those little compost pots and let them dissolve in the earth. They don’t do that. They kinda clump up and just stick out of the dirt.
Shade
Too much sun? Not enough sun? What is the right amount of sun? I read the package, but still either didn’t get it right or gave up. It’s hard to say, but my beans looked like dried up toothpicks barely hanging from the stem. I put the plants in pots, so I could move them around the yard as the season changed. I don’t know if I didn’t move them around enough.
Pests
I can say that I didn’t have any trouble with pests. Of course, there weren’t any vegetables to eat, but still, I will take a win when I can get one.
Florida gardening tips using raised beds
I chose to raise the beds for my garden, and this book is an excellent source of information on creating a raised bed garden.
Raised Bed & Container Gardening Handbook For Beginners: Successfully Growing Your Own Self-Sufficiency Garden with Healthy Vegetables and Fruits – Gardening Tips
- 150 pages
- #24 in Amazon Gardening and Horticulture
- Available on Kindle Unlimited
Most people found this really helpful in building and maintaining a raised garden, and while it may have some grammatical errors, people liked that the book covered vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers.
OLLE Galvanized Raised Garden Beds Outdoor Plant Boxes Outdoor Garden 17″ Tall Metal Raised Garden Bed
I am fortunate that my guy built me two big wooden beds for my potatoes, lettuce, milkweed, peppers and herbs, but if he hadn’t this is the type of bed I would have bought. Kinda looks like a horse trough to me.
- Comes in five colors
- 17-inches tall – lots of room for those root veggies like carrots and potatoes
- Rust resistant
- Safety edge – not cuts on your arms from leaning on the edges
- Stays cool in the sun, so no burning yourself on a hot metal
People did find it a bit harder to assemble than others, but the color options made up for the complaints, and it’s very sturdy. It is not as high of quality as the Vego bed, but better colors. It comes with a plastic coating on the sides, and it’s a pain to take off. Leave the inside plastic coating since it is a pain.
COOLJOB Gardening Gloves for Women and Ladies
- Multiple sizes and colors
- Available in multi-pack
- Breathable
- One-size-fits all, but they have some weirdo finger lengths
- They keep your hands clean, but they are a bit thin, so you might feel thorns if you’re weeding
- Don’t use harsh cleaners on them because they react to strong cleaners by degrading the plastics making them sticky
I hate having dirty hands, so I go through a lot of gloves trying to find something that will keep my hands clean and dry while breathing.
Other Florida gardening tips include knowing your zone, doing a lot of weeding, use the proper fertilizer, and getting to know your local nursery and gardeners. Good luck, and I hope you get carrots that are not oddly shaped!
