Category: Garden, Growing Vegetables

Growing vegetables and herbs in a Florida backyard.

February Garden Planting

It is the end of February and here in Florida I am getting some seedlings and sweet potato slips into the raised beds.

Finally I have filled my long raised bed. This took some real effort. The metal bed is from Vegega and is 17 inches high. It had 12 pieces to assemble and it was a hot day. It actually took me 2 days to put it together, and then it was time to fill. That took many days and a couple of trips to the Yard Shop.

The last push to fill it took 8 bags of purchased soil. I also mixed in some perlite, compost, and fertilizer. At last it was full.

Vegega raised garden bed
Garden bed set up and leveled with cardboard
metal raised bed being filled with dirt
Filling with cut plants, paper, and soil
metal raised bed is filled with dirt.
Filled to the top
light green Vegega raised bed
Sweet potato slips are planted

I’ve had some sweet potato slips growing on my windowsill for a few weeks. I kept finding sweet potatoes buried in the yard that were rooting. They really needed to get into the ground. Our weather is not super hot yet, but I figure the plants are better off in dirt than in water in my house. Also, we have an upcoming camping trip. The goal is to plant things before I leave.

sweet potato slips

Originally, I had planned to order some sweet potato slips. When companies send out the slips, they do not specify when they will come. We have a couple of camping trips coming up and I’m afraid I will not be home when the slips arrive. Also, I found so many potatoes in my yard that were already growing, that I don’t really have room to plant more.

I have one more raised bed to set up. It could take me a while. I’m feeling good that this one is planted and hopefully I will have sweet potatoes to eat in a few months.

Peppers and Eggplant

Both pots of peppers were doing nicely. I have not tried to grow either type before. I planted the seeds for the Sweet Banana and Ubatuba months ago. The seedlings were thinned to 2 in each pot. Have you ever heard that peppers like to touch each other? I remembered this so I left 2 together. I’ve always had a very hard time getting peppers to grow, so I don’t have high hopes for these.

Now they are safely planted into the round metal bed. I had to set up my umbrella because it was very hot and sunny. I’ll let them have sun all day once they are adjusted to their new grow space, or if it cools off a bit. They will definitely need this shade every afternoon during summer.

Seedlings
Seedlings with peppers
peppers planted
4 pepper plants
eggplant seedling in ground
Long purple eggplant
umbrella to shade the garden
Shaded

In Hindsight

I’ve written about growing peppers often. Last year I had many plants that looked great for a while and then suddenly died. One had waterlogged roots, so I knew the cause of that. It made me empty my grow boxes and drill holes for drainage.

The other pepper plants were in fabric bags. I think there is a problem with these bags. First, I moved the plants from one area to another. I suspect the roots were damaged when I did that. Also, fabric bags dry out fast. I’m learning this from emptying them now. Even though I water like mad, there is lots of dry soil in every bag. I plan to write more about this.

Happy gardening! … to those who are lucky enough to be able to do it in February.

garden vegetables divider
Thanks for reading!

Final Word on Growing Daikon Radish

I’m done growing the Daikon radish. It grew so well in my garden over the winter, but I just can’t handle the taste.

When Fall arrived, I planted some daikon radish seeds. They began to grow right away. After a while, I planted more. I was really hoping I would like them. I tried. I don’t. This is my final word on this vegetable.

Daikon radish growing in garden bed
Daikon radish and new dirt section for planting
Daikon radish seed packet
Seeds planted Sept. and Oct.

They are milder than a regular, small red radish. But they are still radishes. I tried numerous times to eat them in salad, or as a slaw mixed with carrots and sugar.

I would mix up the grated carrots, Daikon, sugar and oil, then let it sit for a while. This slaw mix ended up being okay mixed with greens as a salad. But not great. Honestly, it wasn’t worth my time and effort.

Daikon radish and carrot slaw
Daikon slaw
Daikon radish slaw in jar
It lasts about 3 days.

Now it is almost February. This means Spring planting is right around the corner. It was time to pull up the Daikons to make space for something more edible.

Growing Daikon Radish in Zone 9B

I had great luck growing the Daikon radish in my garden. The first seeds were planted September first. It is still very hot here and they grew. I planted another variety in October. Both types seemed to taste exactly the same, but the Miyashige White grew bigger. I bought the seeds at Annie’s Heirloom Seeds.

Some plants were a bit close together, but I don’t have a lot of space. They grew without any problems, through heat in early Fall, and cold, drought, and rain in January. Figures. All the foods I DON’T LIKE grow super well here. (Okra is on my mind.)

Many radishes became quite large, but others were still small when I pulled them. It is amusing how they push upward out of the dirt.

It might be a fun crop for kids to grow. Be aware that the leaves are a little bit prickly.

Daikon radish growing
Daikon radish growing
very long Daikon radish pulled
A big guy
Daikon radish growing
Daikon radish growing
Daikon radish growing

I began a new compost pile with all the radishes I wouldn’t be eating. Nothing goes to waste. These will break down and provide rich soil to put back into the garden.

Daikon radish plants in compost pile.
New compost pile, and Fontana
New compost pile begun
No waste gardening

I think that the only thing I can say about growing these big radishes is that they help to break up the soil. The roots are very long. Because they are so large, with bunches of greenery, they add goodness to compost. It’s not a good reason to grow them, so I am done.

vegetables divider separator

New Vegetable Added to My Winter Growing List

Winter vegetables in my Florida backyard garden are mostly doing well. I’ve found that cabbage will be something to add to my planting list.

After gardening for only a few years, I’m still learning what grows best when. We can grow year round, but winter is a good time to grow the things that are normal. Carrots, onions, beets, broccoli and herbs do best in cooler weather. I’ve had success with all of these.

Cabbage

This year I planted a few cabbage seeds. I don’t have a lot of garden space, so I only grew a few. Now I am wishing I planted more! They took a long time to sprout. Once the cool air arrived, the big leaves began to show up. Now they are growing like mad. That is borage you may see amongst the cabbage leaves.

Next winter I will be adding more cabbage to my garden.

Cabbage and a few Borage leaves poking through

Although I had loads of Tatsoi and arugula last year, I’m struggling to grow it this year (photo below). I have been looking forward to having fresh greens, but I only have tiny little plants.

The Urban Harvest sells Tatsoi seeds and I didn’t get mine from them this year. I think they were sold out.

Small Tatsoi in grow box
Tatsoi greens

The Rest of It

Cherry Tomatoes

The Apricot cherry tomato plant is giving me a few tomatoes. I struggle to grow tomatoes so I’ll take what I can get. They are yellow, not red, but yummy.

Tomato plants may grow in summer here, but no tomatoes will form. This plant was begun in late summer from seed. It kept growing, in a fabric bag, and is now full of little tomatoes. I have one more cherry tomato plant I will put into the ground in February.

cherry tomatoes
Apricot cherry tomatoes

Squash and Zucchini

I am not fooled by this tiny squash and flower. Squash (of all kinds) and zucchini don’t amount to anything in my garden … ever. I won’t grow them any more. I threw some leftover seeds in just for fun. That little squash has since died.

flowering squash plant

Seminole Pumpkin Replaces Squash

In my sub-tropical garden, the Seminole pumpkin replaces squash. I love orange vegetables and need them to help my old eyes. The Seminole pumpkin tastes a lot like a butternut squash.

Alas, I had only one to eat this year. That doesn’t mean I will give up. The vines are long, and they trail all over the yard but I don’t get many squash. I will definitely try for more of these this summer.

Seminole pumpkin cut in half
Seminole pumpkin
Seminole pumpkin baking in the oven
Seminole pumpkin cooked
Yum

Loofah or Luffa

Loofah is a crop that is grown in summer here, I think. I planted seeds in summer and they did nothing. So, I took a chance and planted some seeds this Fall. One plant grew and I have one loofah on it. Supposedly, you can eat the young gourds as a replacement for zucchini. It doesn’t sound appealing.

The bees love the big, yellow flowers and it would be fun to have some dried loofah to use. See how to use homegrown loofah in this video. With any luck, I will have seeds from this one. I need a good trellis if I plant more.

Loofah gourd on the vine
Loofah

Healthy Beets, Even If I Only Get Greens

Beets grow very slowly but are worth the effort. They never get very big in my garden, or maybe I am too impatient. I love that I can use the greens as well as the root, so I will keep growing these. They are perfect for planting in a shallow grow box.

golden beets pulled up in garden
Golden beet

Looking Forward to Spring Planting

January has been a pretty cool, gloomy and windy month. We went camping for a few days in the beginning of the month and after that the weather went downhill.

We haven’t had any freezing temps yet, but it’s been dry. While the rest of the country is getting deep freezing temperatures and ice and snow, we are safe with temps in the 40’s for lows here. So far.

As most gardeners do, I am looking into the future and planning my Spring and summer planting. I have two Vegega metal raised beds to assemble. Then they need to be filled. I’ll have to get this done soon so I can plant seeds and seedlings. There is a lot of clean up and planting planning to do.

Florida backyard winter garden view
Winter garden & Skittle the Cat

Meanwhile the seeds I started a few months ago are growing – mostly. I’ll have a few things to put into the beds. First I need to harvest that broccoli.

green divider leaves long

Yay, It’s Time to Cook the Garden Beets!

A simply and healthy way to use beets from the backyard garden. Use the whole beet to get all the nutrition they offer.

I am becoming very impatient with my beets. They were planted back in September and it is now January. The tops are beginning to break off so I decided to pull some of the bigger ones. Haha… they are not very big.

I love beets, and have had a bit more success growing them this year. Even the small beets can be eaten, along with the green tops.

beets pulled from garden grow box
Fresh pulled beets

The beets are small. The Golden variety grew larger than the red. I had tags in the beds to differentiate the red varieties (Detroit red and Lutz), but they have disappeared. I blame the raccoons who love to mess with my things. I wanted to know which ones grew best, but I think the Golden are the winner!

If you are curious about the healthy benefits of eating beets (and especially fresh from the yard!), read this page at Heart.org.

Easy Peasy – Simply Boil Them

There are many ways to cook beets. From boiled to roasted, you can find many recipes online. I immensely dislike all the pop up ads on cooking websites, so I cooked my beets the way I always do. Simply boil them in good water. I always save my vegetable cooking water.

To cook the beets I cut off the tops and roots. Then, I scrubbed them with a brush under water. I did not peel them, except for the really dried up areas around the top. After that, I thinly sliced them. After boiling in water for about 30 minutes they were tender. Freeze or use the water leftover!

I didn’t get many, and the yellow ones turned red, but they are good. There is nothing like fresh picked garden vegetables.

sliced cooked beets in a jar
Cooked beets

The beet greens were rinsed and finely chopped. The beets, greens and red water will be part of the slow cooker soup I am making tomorrow.

More beets are still growing in the yard and I’ll leave them to get larger. I don’t need the dirt space this time of year. Our Central Florida January has been pretty cold so far.

More small backyard gardening stories

Growing Beets in Florida Zone 9B

Beets are a cool season vegetable that can be grown in central Florida gardens. Last year at this time (November) I tried growing beets. I ended up with a few small ones. They didn’t grow very well, and I ate more of the beet greens than the root.

This Fall I planted beets a little early (September) to see what happened. Some of the seeds did grow. I bought a few varieties, including golden, Lutz, and Detroit red. The first planting was done in grow boxes. The boxes were recently overhauled to improve drainage and make space for crops.

Beets will grow in little clumps of 2 or 3, and need to be thinned. I cut off the extras, leaving the roots undisturbed.

beet seedlings growing in a clump

Now, it is December. My beets are looking good. I’ve eaten a few leaves with my salad greens.

Golden beet pushing up from the ground
Two beet varieties. One is the Detroit red.
Lutz beet seedlings in fabric pot.
Growing beets in grow boxes during the winter months in Florida.

My later planting of beet seeds was done in the ground. Those are still very small.

Cooking My First Beets of the Season

Some beets look ready to be pulled, so I pulled two golden beets. I cooked them, with the greens, for supper. The taste was pretty good, but they were small.

Golden beet
Small beets

Challenges of Fall and Winter Growing

It’s funny trying to grow Fall crops in Florida. The beginning of “fall” is very hot. September and into October can be too hot for winter crops. But if you miss the warmer planting time, then the cold can move in and seeds won’t want to germinate.

Check out this December planting guide (UF IFAS) to winter vegetables and herbs. REMEMBER – they don’t say growing from seed. I believe this guide is referring to transplants.

Early planted seeds don’t do much. They slowly push up and then seem to stop growing. Once the cold hit us in November, most of my Fall crops seemed much happier. My growing plan is to have decent size seedlings already growing when the cold arrives.

backyard garden in December
Winter garden view

Keep reading the blog…

Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.

Smelly and Weird Stinkhorn Mushrooms in the Garden

Pictures of the Stinkhorn mushrooms growing in my garden.

I did write about the unusual looking stinkhorn fungi in the past. Suddenly I am seeing lots of them in one particular area of the vegetable garden. You can’t help but be curious about this smelly and weird looking mushroom.

Yes, they smell, but I don’t find them to be overpowering. I began seeing them pop up about a month ago – in November. They seem to be confined to one area.

To begin with, they look like a round white ball that is mostly buried. Then they expand and become a bizarre, open-sided orange thing.

They are growing alongside flowers and bean plants, eggplant, dill, and broccoli. I was hoping they were not “bad”. I couldn’t remember from the last time I investigated.

I have rediscovered that they are not bad to have growing in the garden.

According to the IFAS site, they are pink to orange colored here in Florida. Stinkhorns break down material, such as mulch, to make it easier for plants to use. This fungus is helpful, as most are. They are visible for a short time, once or twice a year in Florida.

More About the Stinkhorn Fungi

Don’t worry if you have these orange things in your yard. They won’t last, and they don’t smell that bad – especially from a distance. This fungi is working to help the ecology of the location, so let it do it’s thing!

Keep Reading the Blog

Something went wrong. Please refresh the page and/or try again.