Growing Your Own Food, 365 Days a Year

Conventional wisdom holds that there are two seasons for home vegetable gardening in Central Florida:  spring and fall.  The summer heat is too brutal on anything that’s not a weed.  The winter freezes kill off virtually every fruit and vegetable in existence.

So is there any way to have a garden that provides fresh produce throughout the year?  And how do you do it in a very inexpensive way, where your produce actually costs less than what you would pay at the supermarket?  I set out to find those answers a few years ago.  While I don’t pretend to have all the answers, I have learned a few things over the years through trial and error.

The first lesson I learned is that you should try to make nature your ally.  Don’t attempt to grow something out of season and don’t attempt to grow it in the wrong place.  Garden organically so you can establish and maintain a natural balance in your yard.  Take full advantage of what nature provides:  whether it’s harvested rainwater, compost or natural types of fertilizer. 

The second lesson I learned is that “making nature your ally” does not apply to our local sandy soil.  Violent summer downpours wash any rich topsoil straight towards the nearest river.  Our sandy soil sheds water when it’s too dry and it suffocates plant roots when it’s too wet.

Unfortunately our soil is full of nasty little beasties called root-knot nematodes that can literally form knots on the roots and choke off the plant’s ability to absorb nutrients.  They love to prey on some of the most popular vegetables, such as tomatoes, peppers, eggplant and okra.  You could solarize the soil to get rid of the root-knot nematodes but that destroys the organic balance.  You could place trap crops of marigolds all around your vegetables as a line of defense but that’s not very practical.  The only practical solution (short of hydroponics) seems to be to grow all the vegetables in raised beds layered with different types of organic soil amendments or in containers with quality organic potting mix.  Don’t even think about setting those containers directly on the ground or the root-knot nematodes might sneak in through the drainage holes in the bottom!

The ultimate lesson I learned for year-round produce is that you need to acquire a taste for a whole lot of food that you never tried before.  Temple Terrace has a unique climate that is full of extremes.  You really require crops that are appropriate for the local conditions.  If you want to be able to harvest in the middle of the summer then you have to be willing to grow vegetables suited for the tropics:  amaranth, boniato, chaya and yard long beans.  While not exactly staples of the American diet, they adapt well to a hot, humid climate and they taste delicious.

Make sure you don’t overlook the edible wild plants that are all around you.  You might be surprised to discover that some of your most pesky weeds can add amazing flavor to a tossed salad.  Once you learn to identify the wild edibles and where to find them they will be available to you, free for the taking, year after year.  This might be a good topic for a future blog….