My recommendations: cassava, chaya, true yams, sweet potatoes, Everglades tomatoes, Seminole pumpkins, yard-long beans, okra, Okinawa spinach and longevity spinach. Those all do incredibly in Florida, and make gardening super easy. Also - you are right on seasoning peppers!
I could grow all of these. I am growing sweet potatoes, long beans, and okra. I actually also grow a sweet potato that is grown only for its leaves, and it is a spinach substitute. The other tomato I would recommend especially for the south is Creole from Louisiana. Chaya, I can get in trade and I don't have the space for pumpkins. Other perennial crops for me would be eggplant, kale, and hot peppers. Sweet bell peppers are hard to grow but the bull horn types of sweet peppers are more prolific and tolerate heat and humidity much better. Kale is a biennial. It tastes sweeter in cooler weather, but it actually does well all year. It is better for smoothies in summer because it has a stronger flavor and is more bitter in summer. I did have gynuura, Okinawan and Malabar spinach, but they are slimy, and sweet potato leaves and NZ spinach is less so, so it is more palatbable. They all run wild, so I can only contain one, and I picked the sweet potato leaves.
SUCH a helpful video. Almost every plant you mentioned, I've tried and failed to grow or get a good harvest from. Shifting to these alternatives seems like working WITH the grain instead of against it. LOVE IT!
I don’t know where are you located, but if you are in the north, everyone starts crops out there after the frost, but if you are in the South you start around October!! Wishing you have the pleasure of having a great crops!
BEST video yet! Just what I wanted to see. Info on plants I’ve never heard of, and want to try. I’m in Land o lakes Fl. I’m excited to try these. Keep these type videos coming. Thx again.
thank you for your advice! I'm a novice gardener in florida and I've been struggling to find heat-tolerant plants for my limited space on my apartment patio. I'm growing bush beans now (it's mid-may and they're just flowering) and we'll see how long they survive LOL I will try long beans next time. Would love to see a video on things to grow with limited space, and what plants grow well together.
I am in central Florida, every year I grow all kind of tomatoes, big, medium! I start my crop in December, by by April and May I am picking tomatoes, squash, peas, carrots, green beans, onions, potatoes, celery, drying my herbs, canning! By the rainy season I am done! That’s my time to do other projects!!! I grow Marconi peppers,very prolific, I have grown bell peppers from ALDI seeds! Peppers, potatoes they are very heavy feeders.
I can't grow much of that stuff in the spring as they're all eaten by moth caterpillars starting in late winter. Also during rain-free periods ( typically of late winter through spring) there's always an outbreak of spider mites which weaken the plants. But those moth caterpillars are the worst. They seem to mate and lay eggs most during rain-free periods. I refuse to ever again spend so much on sprays to kill the caterpillars. I used Bt last spring weekly in addition to picking the pests off by hand. I still couldn't keep the caterpillars from devouring my plants. Every single morning I would wake up and spot hundreds of more freshly laid moth eggs. I quickly ran out of Bt and patience. it was so much cheaper to just buy the produce. Green beans however were very easy and hardly bothered, as where bell peppers (which were never attacked by caterpillars. Celery was surprisingly easy too. My big pot filled with celery lived for nearly two years.
I planted mini sweet pepper seeds and tomato seeds from Aldi and they sprouted very fast! ALDIs produce doesn’t have the growth inhibitors as other grocery stores do so things like potatoes and ginger will sprout fast from Aldi. Aldis items are supplied by the same distributors as Trader Joe’s, they just label them differently.
Nice, I started my garden in August 2021 in Cape Town, South Africa, lots of mistakes. I use square foot in the back yard and started a food forest in the front yard. I have noticed micro climates in different places so I still have to adjust for this still. Also learning about what goes in the food forest and what in the square foot parts. From grass to what I have now, from tree less to 3 small trees. This is a mediterranean climate, not a lot of Utube input.
I grow cucumbers here in NE OK where it's routinely over 100 degrees and 70-80% humidity and have never once had squash vine borers on them as they do not have a large enough stem for the vine borer to borrow into.
I'm wanting my first FL garden after living in CA for most of my life. In CA, it was almost impossible to not have a good harvest of zucchini and tomatoes. But I will need to think of the Squirrels as well, didn't need to worry about them much in California as they were all ground squirrels, as opposed to tree squirrels. I like them so I don't want to relocate them.
I never would have thought swiss chard would be a substitute for celery, I will definitely have to try this. Just started growing long beans this year and have been very happy with the results. Your garden looks really good, working to make mine as productive but I put off improving the soil for so long I'm trying to make up for lost time. Florida sand is no joke.
Swiss chard esp the fordhook kind is truly a prolific green. But I find celery grow fantastic for me here as well. Either from seed if you start it enough ahead of time or transplants. Harvest one stalk from each plant at a time and from about 10 plants I get a full bunch of celery every week from late nov/early dec until sometime in May usually. Just need a bit a of shade and lots of water/mulch.
This was a wonderful video! Especially for experienced gardeners that retire here. Knowing what plants can substitute for familier plants but grow better in this climate is a game changer. I have a lot of favorite recipes, I have to buy ingredients for because I no longer can grow those ingredients myself! Our food bill tripled the first year living here because I was used to growing so much more of our food. There only my husband & myself but still I was surprised at the cost. Summer squash is one of our favorites, it good to know there is an alternative that grows better here. I'm tired of working so much for such small yields. 👍
Great video and very helpful, thanks. yes, hard to have a garden in Florida. Needs to be watered a lot, and fertilized. harvested some delicious cucumbers and One day I went to pick again and 😮 eaten from green worms. 😢 I will try again this year and try out neem oil or dish soap
Trombocino makes a great Summer squash alternative. Pick it when green and cook like zucchini. Let it age on the vine until creamy tan color and save to eat as a Winter squash
Good morning Elise. The garden is looking lovely. Thanks for sharing. Just like you, I'm looking forward to turning my yard into an urban garden. 🌼🌼🌻🌻🌹🌹
Love this video! I live in Puerto Rico and would love to have a video like this but more fine-tuned to the PR climate. I'm borrowing almost all these recommendations and will see how they perform in PR. Thank you so much!
Thanks for the tip about seasoning peppers. Southern wilt wipes out any sweet peppers I try to grow. Also, I pretty much solved my nematode problem but now it's pickle worms attacking the cuikes and army worms attacking the tomatoes. Thanx for your videos.
This was so interesting! I didn’t know about that type of radish. I was also really surprised about your struggle with cucumbers. I’ve never had a trouble with regular cucumbers but those Mexican cucumbers I’ve never been able to get to grow well. I think my microclimate might just be a little different where I am, which is fascinating 😀
Great list. I'm in northern Florida and bell peppers do okay here I've even over winter a couple of plants in the ground no protection. But of course that depends on the winter season. I grew rat tail radish in Indiana and they did great, I haven't tried them here yet.
They do great down here. North Fl can help, nematode pressure is a bit lighter up there. Give these seasoning peppers a try and I think youll find them even easier!
Excellent video Elise, I have everything growing you mentioned except for the last two you mentioned, always enjoy watching you from my small backyard garden here in Pasco County 🌱🌱🌱
I really enjoy your videos. Thank you so much for the information. I grew green yard long beans last year and loved them..even as a raw snack. I'm now growing the red variety. Tasty and beautiful! Also have enjoyed growing okra and roselle hibiscus.
I am growing green beans (bush) in my garden and pots and they are do wonderfully! I have been picking beans everyday for almost 3 weeks. I also got 3 zucc plants growing and they just started producing for me. The zucc is very tricky indeed. I have to use copper spray very frequently. I am definitely going to try all of your suggestions however. Thanks for this! By the way, I also am growing grape tomatoes and so far they are doing good but are requiring a lot of care. We haven’t had much humidity yet which is why I think my garden is still doing well. Even have cucs for the first time that are growing. I think it’s the copper fungicide that is helping the most. I also have a lot of homemade compost in my beds if that makes a difference. I have tried cucs in pots and they did awful. Just like the last time I tried. I think I will only try growing them in my garden and not that many of them. I definitely want to try the one you mentioned. The cuc variety I have is space master. They are very small ones. I have another variety and it’s market something or other.
I personally have, and it grows well here, but its muciligenous, (sp?) which I hate! But if you don't mind that, its an excellent crop for our climate.
Yes I have. I grow it every summer. But while it has spinach in the name and it is a leafy green I don't find it to be an actual substitute for true spinach. Its mucilaginous and cooks different. This chijimisai (or tatsoi) are almost identical subs.
I grow bell peppers no problem and large heirloom slicers in December it’s not a normal tomato time like the north but around November, and you can do it
For people who can pick up live plants in St Petersburg, Urban Harvest offers some seasoning peppers, like suave numex, cap 455, habanada, and aji sazonar for sale, so you can skip the slow germination and go straight to pepper production. Some of the other plants mentioned in the video as live plants are chijimisai, garlic chives, and Fordhook Swiss Chard. Elise also has varieties of sweet potato slips, which will provide a green vegetable option in the summer as well as tubers later. Happy growing!
@@TheUrbanHarvest I live in SRQ, but my daughter lives in St. Pete. I may see if she can pick a few of these up for me. Do you have a stand somewhere, or how does one go about shopping for plants?
@@hfrench789 You can get seeds mailed to you or you can place an order for live plants for local pickup. All orders are placed through my website. theurbanharvest.com/
@@Anne--Marie Hi! I just closed it a minute ago for next quarters shipment. It was open in the month of may. If you email me directly today 6/1 at elise.pickett@theurbanharvest.com I can get you in.
Growing in a subtropical climate, is very different from growing in a temperate climate. Temperate crops do not like heat or humidity so they do grow and taste better grown over the fall and winter. Summer is the most challenging months to grow anything. It is better to just harvest from June-August or spend the time on solarizing or improving the soil. Things that do grow through the summer are things like upo ( long green squash), sweet potato, shiso, roselle or false roselle, hot peppers, bull horn sweet peppers, chaya, kale grows year round with summer shade, but will be bitter in summer, NZ spinach or tropical spinach like Okinawan or Malabar spinach, green onions, ginger, turmeric, luffa is Chinese okra, but it is very prolific one plant is more than enough, citrus, chayote, wing beans, yard long beans, heat tolerant tomatoes and heat tolerant cucumbers.
I grow plenty of large tomato varieties here in central Florida. You can put up with a little struggle, or you can get your tasteless slicers from the supermarket. Cherokee purple is my favorite so far. They'll go dormant in the summer heat and come back during the fall. If we have a mild winter, they'll come back the next spring. So, I made it to about 4 minutes and moved on.
I tried the yard long bean this year. It really didn't last and we didn't like the taste of it. I grew blue lake beans until this month and now the black eyed peas are taking off. Most people don't realize you can eat the young ones like green beans and they are SO good! We mix those in with the bigger ones we shell and they are called "field peas and snaps". Those will be our go to after green beans fizzle out.
Thank you for all your hard work and putting this video together for us. Growing in zone 9B can be a big challenge. This video has definitely given me some ideas to work with for the summer but will you be doing any videos of this nature for growing in the winter time for those in more of a tropical environments? happy gardening the Nanas from Central Florida growing in buckets
The links to events and seed shop are broken in the description btw. Thanks for the awesome vid! I am new to gardening in south florida and really like your content for noobs. If I wanted like a comprehensive guide for beginners that covers end to end like: building/filling a garden bed, first vegetables to start with, germination process, transplanting, watering, sun, etc. in an Explain Like I'm 5 fashion, where can I find that in your channel? Thanks again!
Excellent video and very educational as it can be hard to find people that focus on the unique climate we have in SW Florida. I think some of these crops we will have to wait until fall to plant, but I believe the pepper, radish, and everglades tomatoes can be grown now. Are there others plants on this list that can handle the crazy hot summer months?
I have a what to plant when cheatsheet on my site broken down by zone to help guide you. You can plant garlic chives too. The fordhook is on the cusp. It can handle heat if given afternoon shade but it may be easier to wait to get it established easier.
All the seeds in my shop have guidance based on region of Florida, you would be central. I'm border of 9b/10a but everything I have in there will apply for you (just on a slightly different planting schedule).
Thank you for the info! I'm surprised about celery not doing well here since that was Sanford's big crop for a long time. (I don't try to grow it because I don't like it). But I think I may try the swiss chard version 🙂
Celery has indeed been a big crop in Florida. However, it thrived on reclaimed peat land in one specific area of the state, land which has degraded to the point that the farms probably can't compete with other sources. When you drain and expose peat soils to air, they break down very rapidly, the carbon being mostly lost as CO2. They also release nitrogen as they decay, and are very water-retentive, both ideal conditions for growing celery, but ultimately very destructive to the soils themselves.
Good alternative to beans or peas are the pigeon peas. I have some available if anyone is interested in buying seeds or plants let me know. Do great in Florida and warm tropical climates.
Love this video! Lots of useful information, but I actually recognized all of the plants you recommended, so I feel like I have progressed since I first found your channel. Now to be able to consistently grow them....that is my next goal. Would you mention some specific varieties of the seasoning peppers that will do well here in Florida. And, personally, garlic chives have been impossible to grow from seed; however the live plant I got from you IS growing like a weed in spite of regular trims, and has turned into a large clump that will need dividing soon. Thanks!
Thanks for the list, some I have grown, others I am excited to try. Are the peppers actually “seasoning peppers”, or are there other names? I am trying to locate some. Thank you!
Are you familiar with the company Kitazawa? They are in Japan and specialize in seeds of Asian varieties of vegetables. Where typical American seed companies might offer one or two long beans, for example, they currently list ten! They offer 13 unique varieties of gourds and luffas grown as vegetables in Asia. Ten entirely different types of bunching onions, several of which will produce here all year long and which will form permanent patches which in my experience require only periodic weeding and appreciate a bit of nitrogen-containing fertilizer from time to time.
Great video. Did you ever grow New Zealand spinach? I direct sowed a bunch of seeds to have a raised bed of just that plant a couple of weeks ago. Still waiting for them to come up but I understand they are slow to germinate. The benefit is a long harvest of maybe multiple seasons. My okra is killing it this year!
hello, my name is Rosemarie and I have been watching your Chanel and so nice to get all kinds of information in growng veggies and trees. I live in Jacksonville FL and I would like to plant a jujube tree. Do you sell Jujube plant? or recommend a nursery to buy it. thank you so much and look forward to hear from you.
Florida is a big state and has different Hardiness Zones. You didn't mention of the hardiness zones, that becomes more confusing as what to follow/grow or not? 🤔
All of these plants will do good at some point in the year here in Florida. I have a free what to plant when cheat sheet that breaks the state down into 3 regions which will give you specific guidance based on your area for these veggies. I also list the region breakdown on my website in each product description. Hope that helps!
we have it available to mail in our trio pack. theurbanharvest.com/collections/root-veggies/products/perennial-vegetable-trio?_pos=1&_sid=2676f85eb&_ss=r
I love your videos and follow what you say a will as ordered many seeds. I did order the rat tail radishes and they didn't do well. Any special tips? Like shade, or heat or water requirements other than the usual? Orlando area.
What happened in particular? They like garden soil over sandy so definitely a bed. Consistent water like many of our other veggie crops. Heading into summer some afternoon shade can be helpful. They can also be a bit slow to form pods so if it grew but didn't seem to flower could have just been a time element.
I where can I get seeds for planting? I was able to grow butternut squash, it keeps flowering and it does off. I managed to get a big fruit, but that's it and plant died.
Listen.. I need this answer too. I use cayenne pepper. I get the restaurant size of the cheapest kind. It works till it washes away. Non toxic. Keeps the cat honest too lol
Amaranth, okra, beans, nasturtium, swiss chard, cocks comb, etc. Most things that can be planted in a garden can grow in a greenstalk. check out the what to plant when cheat sheet on my website!
We grew up planting gardens in Ohio and it fed all 9 of us. I can't grow 1 cucumber, not 1 tomato. It's frustrating. So disappointed. I've been trying for 6 years. I'd cry but it won't help. I so love plant life.
Or better yet try Tromboncino, which is a 2-3 foot long trumpet shaped winter squash that can be harvested small and young (10-12”) tastes like summer squash. I grow them in Central Texas and can grow all summer. Anything in the Cucurbita moschata species like Seminole and Cherokee pumpkins, butternut squash or Tromoboncino should grow well in Florida during the summer and are highly resistant to the vine borers. Their vines are not hollow so the borer larvae have nowhere to go, plus each leave node will put down its own roots if touching the ground for additional redundancy.
Tahitian melon is another great one! But I still have to pick caterpillars to get them big enough to take care of themselves. Ive got more details on squash in florida here: ua-cam.com/video/2izmpVV2lvE/v-deo.html
Chard stalks taste nothing like celery and celery is added to dishes fir savoury flavour and saying it is the same just makes me doubt your other substitutions
I grown vegetables in Central Texas with very similar challenges. I would add the following recommendations: for cucumbers, take a look at Armenian cucumbers. They are actually melons so they do well in the extreme heat and humidity and grow all summer when traditional cucumbers die or get bitter. They are also huge, like at least a foot before they get too big and seedy. For garlic, try Elephant garlic over winter. They are actually an onion, not true garlic, and don’t need the cold weather time. For squash, look at Cucurbita moschata varieties which do well in the heat and are extremely vine borer resistant. Examples would be butternut squash, Seminole and Cherokee pumpkins, and Tromboncino squash, which can be harvested either as summer or winter squash. Finally, on green beans if you can’t trellis but have room for bush beans, plant cowpeas in the summer. Most people harvest them when they dry out for the beans (like black eyed peas), but if you harvest them green and thin, they taste like green beans with a nutty flavor, like the foot long beans.
My recommendations: cassava, chaya, true yams, sweet potatoes, Everglades tomatoes, Seminole pumpkins, yard-long beans, okra, Okinawa spinach and longevity spinach. Those all do incredibly in Florida, and make gardening super easy. Also - you are right on seasoning peppers!
For sure! These are all annual veggie swaps. I have list for more of perennial food forest type gardens.
I could grow all of these. I am growing sweet potatoes, long beans, and okra. I actually also grow a sweet potato that is grown only for its leaves, and it is a spinach substitute. The other tomato I would recommend especially for the south is Creole from Louisiana. Chaya, I can get in trade and I don't have the space for pumpkins.
Other perennial crops for me would be eggplant, kale, and hot peppers. Sweet bell peppers are hard to grow but the bull horn types of sweet peppers are more prolific and tolerate heat and humidity much better. Kale is a biennial. It tastes sweeter in cooler weather, but it actually does well all year. It is better for smoothies in summer because it has a stronger flavor and is more bitter in summer. I did have gynuura, Okinawan and Malabar spinach, but they are slimy, and sweet potato leaves and NZ spinach is less so, so it is more palatbable. They all run wild, so I can only contain one, and I picked the sweet potato leaves.
Do you know of one source that sells the seeds for all of these plants, or does one have to buy from a dozen different obscure sources?
Thanks for sharing. Florida has different zones. Namely 9 2011. Can you say where in Florida you are growing these vegetables
@@Sojourner24_7that’s a great question. So far, I haven’t found a one stop source. But I have more success with Texas and Florida nurseries.
wow ur videos are so helpful and ACTUALLY geared towards florida heat gardening THANK YOU! subbed.
SUCH a helpful video. Almost every plant you mentioned, I've tried and failed to grow or get a good harvest from. Shifting to these alternatives seems like working WITH the grain instead of against it. LOVE IT!
You can do it! These should make a big difference!
I don’t know where are you located, but if you are in the north, everyone starts crops out there after the frost, but if you are in the South you start around October!! Wishing you have the pleasure of having a great crops!
I live in SE FL, and this is the best 'what to grow instead' video for subtropical climates that I've seen. Thanks for all of these ideas!
BEST video yet! Just what I wanted to see. Info on plants I’ve never heard of, and want to try. I’m in Land o lakes Fl. I’m excited to try these. Keep these type videos coming. Thx again.
Awesome! Glad it was helpful!
thank you for your advice! I'm a novice gardener in florida and I've been struggling to find heat-tolerant plants for my limited space on my apartment patio. I'm growing bush beans now (it's mid-may and they're just flowering) and we'll see how long they survive LOL I will try long beans next time. Would love to see a video on things to grow with limited space, and what plants grow well together.
also, my lacinto kale is 2 years old. this video is fulllll of gems!!!
I have some three years old. Shocking how long it is lasting
I am in central Florida, every year I grow all kind of tomatoes, big, medium! I start my crop in December, by by April and May I am picking tomatoes, squash, peas, carrots, green beans, onions, potatoes, celery, drying my herbs, canning! By the rainy season I am done! That’s my time to do other projects!!! I grow Marconi peppers,very prolific, I have grown bell peppers from ALDI seeds! Peppers, potatoes they are very heavy feeders.
Summerfield here.
I can't grow much of that stuff in the spring as they're all eaten by moth caterpillars starting in late winter. Also during rain-free periods ( typically of late winter through spring) there's always an outbreak of spider mites which weaken the plants. But those moth caterpillars are the worst. They seem to mate and lay eggs most during rain-free periods. I refuse to ever again spend so much on sprays to kill the caterpillars. I used Bt last spring weekly in addition to picking the pests off by hand. I still couldn't keep the caterpillars from devouring my plants. Every single morning I would wake up and spot hundreds of more freshly laid moth eggs. I quickly ran out of Bt and patience. it was so much cheaper to just buy the produce. Green beans however were very easy and hardly bothered, as where bell peppers (which were never attacked by caterpillars. Celery was surprisingly easy too. My big pot filled with celery lived for nearly two years.
Me too I grow heirloom large varieties and start same time before even spring temps and I also grow bell peppers
Same
I planted mini sweet pepper seeds and tomato seeds from Aldi and they sprouted very fast! ALDIs produce doesn’t have the growth inhibitors as other grocery stores do so things like potatoes and ginger will sprout fast from Aldi. Aldis items are supplied by the same distributors as Trader Joe’s, they just label them differently.
Nice, I started my garden in August 2021 in Cape Town, South Africa, lots of mistakes. I use square foot in the back yard and started a food forest in the front yard. I have noticed micro climates in different places so I still have to adjust for this still. Also learning about what goes in the food forest and what in the square foot parts. From grass to what I have now, from tree less to 3 small trees. This is a mediterranean climate, not a lot of Utube input.
I grow cucumbers here in NE OK where it's routinely over 100 degrees and 70-80% humidity and have never once had squash vine borers on them as they do not have a large enough stem for the vine borer to borrow into.
I'm wanting my first FL garden after living in CA for most of my life. In CA, it was almost impossible to not have a good harvest of zucchini and tomatoes. But I will need to think of the Squirrels as well, didn't need to worry about them much in California as they were all ground squirrels, as opposed to tree squirrels. I like them so I don't want to relocate them.
I never would have thought swiss chard would be a substitute for celery, I will definitely have to try this. Just started growing long beans this year and have been very happy with the results. Your garden looks really good, working to make mine as productive but I put off improving the soil for so long I'm trying to make up for lost time. Florida sand is no joke.
it all starts with the soil, you'll get there!
Swiss chard esp the fordhook kind is truly a prolific green. But I find celery grow fantastic for me here as well. Either from seed if you start it enough ahead of time or transplants. Harvest one stalk from each plant at a time and from about 10 plants I get a full bunch of celery every week from late nov/early dec until sometime in May usually. Just need a bit a of shade and lots of water/mulch.
Me too! I have good luck with celery central Fla.
@@CLacy great to know! I have some planted here in Pinellas for the first time. so far so good. using transplants currently.
Thanks for putting this together.
This was a wonderful video! Especially for experienced gardeners that retire here. Knowing what plants can substitute for familier plants but grow better in this climate is a game changer. I have a lot of favorite recipes, I have to buy ingredients for because I no longer can grow those ingredients myself! Our food bill tripled the first year living here because I was used to growing so much more of our food. There only my husband & myself but still I was surprised at the cost. Summer squash is one of our favorites, it good to know there is an alternative that grows better here. I'm tired of working so much for such small yields. 👍
I’m here to help! You’ve got the skills already just need a little guidance on seasons and varieties. You’ll be back to normal here soon!
Thank you for these helpful ideas. I live in St. Augustine and I will remember the substitutions.
Great!
Great information. I'm still learning what works and doesn't work in my climate so this video was really helpful!
Great to hear!
Great stuff lady!
Great video and very helpful, thanks. yes, hard to have a garden in Florida. Needs to be watered a lot, and fertilized.
harvested some delicious cucumbers and One day I went to pick again and 😮 eaten from green worms. 😢
I will try again this year and try out neem oil or dish soap
Great video
Trombocino makes a great Summer squash alternative. Pick it when green and cook like zucchini. Let it age on the vine until creamy tan color and save to eat as a Winter squash
ive grown it! i like tatume as well. but they still get worms and such. i find these other 2 to be even easier to grow!
Oh, it's on now. You got me motivated to grow in Kissimmee 😊
Wonderful!
Good morning Elise. The garden is looking lovely. Thanks for sharing. Just like you, I'm looking forward to turning my yard into an urban garden. 🌼🌼🌻🌻🌹🌹
Hurrah!
Love this video! I live in Puerto Rico and would love to have a video like this but more fine-tuned to the PR climate. I'm borrowing almost all these recommendations and will see how they perform in PR. Thank you so much!
send feedback. i imagine many will transfer great.
A must have tree for almost evert filipino home, you can be sure that if theres a moringa tree, its a filipino household.
Amazing and very helpful. You give me hope! Can't wait to document what I grow!
Thanks for the tip about seasoning peppers. Southern wilt wipes out any sweet peppers I try to grow. Also, I pretty much solved my nematode problem but now it's pickle worms attacking the cuikes and army worms attacking the tomatoes. Thanx for your videos.
This was so interesting! I didn’t know about that type of radish. I was also really surprised about your struggle with cucumbers. I’ve never had a trouble with regular cucumbers but those Mexican cucumbers I’ve never been able to get to grow well. I think my microclimate might just be a little different where I am, which is fascinating 😀
This was spectacular! Thank you!
Great list. I'm in northern Florida and bell peppers do okay here I've even over winter a couple of plants in the ground no protection. But of course that depends on the winter season.
I grew rat tail radish in Indiana and they did great, I haven't tried them here yet.
They do great down here. North Fl can help, nematode pressure is a bit lighter up there. Give these seasoning peppers a try and I think youll find them even easier!
Thanks for the info.
You bet!
awesome vid, thx!
yes agreed!
Excellent video Elise, I have everything growing you mentioned except for the last two you mentioned, always enjoy watching you from my small backyard garden here in Pasco County 🌱🌱🌱
Wonderful! Something new to try! Good to hear from you : )
I grow garlic in sw Fl. I just vernalize it for an extended time.
I grow both peppers; to grow bell pepper 🫑 in Florida is plant them in the shade or put up a sun shade over them.
Fantastic information!! I am so thankful I found your channel!
Glad it was helpful!
I really enjoy your videos. Thank you so much for the information. I grew green yard long beans last year and loved them..even as a raw snack. I'm now growing the red variety. Tasty and beautiful! Also have enjoyed growing okra and roselle hibiscus.
Wonderful! Love roselle, its my thanksgiving cranberry sauce every year!
Love all these tips.I too love cucumbers and will try the variety you mentioned in the video
Wonderful!
I am growing green beans (bush) in my garden and pots and they are do wonderfully! I have been picking beans everyday for almost 3 weeks. I also got 3 zucc plants growing and they just started producing for me. The zucc is very tricky indeed. I have to use copper spray very frequently. I am definitely going to try all of your suggestions however. Thanks for this! By the way, I also am growing grape tomatoes and so far they are doing good but are requiring a lot of care. We haven’t had much humidity yet which is why I think my garden is still doing well. Even have cucs for the first time that are growing. I think it’s the copper fungicide that is helping the most. I also have a lot of homemade compost in my beds if that makes a difference. I have tried cucs in pots and they did awful. Just like the last time I tried. I think I will only try growing them in my garden and not that many of them. I definitely want to try the one you mentioned. The cuc variety I have is space master. They are very small ones. I have another variety and it’s market something or other.
Greetings from sunny SW Florida. Thanks for this! Have you tried Malabar spinach?
I personally have, and it grows well here, but its muciligenous, (sp?) which I hate! But if you don't mind that, its an excellent crop for our climate.
Yes I have. I grow it every summer. But while it has spinach in the name and it is a leafy green I don't find it to be an actual substitute for true spinach. Its mucilaginous and cooks different. This chijimisai (or tatsoi) are almost identical subs.
Great video. So helpful & informative. Thanks for sharing.
I grow bell peppers no problem and large heirloom slicers in December it’s not a normal tomato time like the north but around November, and you can do it
For people who can pick up live plants in St Petersburg, Urban Harvest offers some seasoning peppers, like suave numex, cap 455, habanada, and aji sazonar for sale, so you can skip the slow germination and go straight to pepper production. Some of the other plants mentioned in the video as live plants are chijimisai, garlic chives, and Fordhook Swiss Chard. Elise also has varieties of sweet potato slips, which will provide a green vegetable option in the summer as well as tubers later. Happy growing!
thanks for sharing your experience! theurbanharvest.com/collections/all-products
@@TheUrbanHarvest I live in SRQ, but my daughter lives in St. Pete. I may see if she can pick a few of these up for me. Do you have a stand somewhere, or how does one go about shopping for plants?
@@hfrench789 You can get seeds mailed to you or you can place an order for live plants for local pickup. All orders are placed through my website. theurbanharvest.com/
@@TheUrbanHarvest Did you discontinue the seeds club? I'd live to give that as a gift.
@@Anne--Marie Hi! I just closed it a minute ago for next quarters shipment. It was open in the month of may. If you email me directly today 6/1 at elise.pickett@theurbanharvest.com I can get you in.
Wow wish I would have found your channel earlier! Great information. Thanks :)
Growing in a subtropical climate, is very different from growing in a temperate climate. Temperate crops do not like heat or humidity so they do grow and taste better grown over the fall and winter. Summer is the most challenging months to grow anything. It is better to just harvest from June-August or spend the time on solarizing or improving the soil. Things that do grow through the summer are things like upo ( long green squash), sweet potato, shiso, roselle or false roselle, hot peppers, bull horn sweet peppers, chaya, kale grows year round with summer shade, but will be bitter in summer, NZ spinach or tropical spinach like Okinawan or Malabar spinach, green onions, ginger, turmeric, luffa is Chinese okra, but it is very prolific one plant is more than enough, citrus, chayote, wing beans, yard long beans, heat tolerant tomatoes and heat tolerant cucumbers.
Great info. I learned many of these lessons the hard way.
Glad it was helpful!
This was so helpful! What are the best fruits to grow here in Florida? I’m a diabetic and we are gonna be starting up our own farm.
Fantastic information! Thank you so much! ❤
You are so welcome!
Great information. Thank you
Thank you very much for sharing your experience.
My pleasure!
Great video! I just started some Everglade tomatoes. I'm really looking forward to see how they do.
Hope you enjoy
I grow plenty of large tomato varieties here in central Florida. You can put up with a little struggle, or you can get your tasteless slicers from the supermarket. Cherokee purple is my favorite so far. They'll go dormant in the summer heat and come back during the fall. If we have a mild winter, they'll come back the next spring. So, I made it to about 4 minutes and moved on.
I tried the yard long bean this year. It really didn't last and we didn't like the taste of it. I grew blue lake beans until this month and now the black eyed peas are taking off. Most people don't realize you can eat the young ones like green beans and they are SO good! We mix those in with the bigger ones we shell and they are called "field peas and snaps". Those will be our go to after green beans fizzle out.
Thank you for all your hard work and putting this video together for us. Growing in zone 9B can be a big challenge. This video has definitely given me some ideas to work with for the summer but will you be doing any videos of this nature for growing in the winter time for those in more of a tropical environments? happy gardening the Nanas from Central Florida growing in buckets
Loved it! Thank you! 💚🌼
So glad!
Excellent information.
Glad it was helpful!
The links to events and seed shop are broken in the description btw. Thanks for the awesome vid! I am new to gardening in south florida and really like your content for noobs.
If I wanted like a comprehensive guide for beginners that covers end to end like: building/filling a garden bed, first vegetables to start with, germination process, transplanting, watering, sun, etc. in an Explain Like I'm 5 fashion, where can I find that in your channel? Thanks again!
Loved this video! 🙏🏻
Glad you enjoyed it!
Great information thank you for the excellent presentation!
Glad it was helpful!
Thank you. 😊
Excellent video and very educational as it can be hard to find people that focus on the unique climate we have in SW Florida. I think some of these crops we will have to wait until fall to plant, but I believe the pepper, radish, and everglades tomatoes can be grown now. Are there others plants on this list that can handle the crazy hot summer months?
I have a what to plant when cheatsheet on my site broken down by zone to help guide you. You can plant garlic chives too. The fordhook is on the cusp. It can handle heat if given afternoon shade but it may be easier to wait to get it established easier.
@@TheUrbanHarvest Thank you
What zone is all your advice for? I want to get seeds but im in 9a.
All the seeds in my shop have guidance based on region of Florida, you would be central. I'm border of 9b/10a but everything I have in there will apply for you (just on a slightly different planting schedule).
Thank you so much for information ❤
My pleasure 😊
Thank you for the info! I'm surprised about celery not doing well here since that was Sanford's big crop for a long time. (I don't try to grow it because I don't like it). But I think I may try the swiss chard version 🙂
It grows ok here but super short window. Chard is great for length of season!
Celery has indeed been a big crop in Florida. However, it thrived on reclaimed peat land in one specific area of the state, land which has degraded to the point that the farms probably can't compete with other sources. When you drain and expose peat soils to air, they break down very rapidly, the carbon being mostly lost as CO2. They also release nitrogen as they decay, and are very water-retentive, both ideal conditions for growing celery, but ultimately very destructive to the soils themselves.
Good alternative to beans or peas are the pigeon peas. I have some available if anyone is interested in buying seeds or plants let me know. Do great in Florida and warm tropical climates.
Hi. Thnk u for this video. Can you make more of these videos. Thnk u again
I enjoy growing Chinese spinach (amaranth greens). I will need to post a video the next time I have them growing.
This is awesome. Thank u!
Glad you liked it!
Great information
Glad it was helpful!
Love this video! Lots of useful information, but I actually recognized all of the plants you recommended, so I feel like I have progressed since I first found your channel. Now to be able to consistently grow them....that is my next goal.
Would you mention some specific varieties of the seasoning peppers that will do well here in Florida. And, personally, garlic chives have been impossible to grow from seed; however the live plant I got from you IS growing like a weed in spite of regular trims, and has turned into a large clump that will need dividing soon. Thanks!
Yes you have!!! Aji dulce, suave numex, cap 455, etc. Anything that looks like a hot pepper basically. They will be smaller than a true bell.
Thank you so much!
You're welcome!
garlic can be grown here. you need soft neck variety and you need to pre chill them in your fridge for 6-8 weeks and plant in dec
Ive done it but the heads are small. Not an easy one and subpar yeilds.
Thanks for the list, some I have grown, others I am excited to try. Are the peppers actually “seasoning peppers”, or are there other names? I am trying to locate some. Thank you!
Aji dulce, suave numex, habanida lots of variations. As long as it’s bred from a “hot” pepper they usually do pretty well here.
Are you familiar with the company Kitazawa? They are in Japan and specialize in seeds of Asian varieties of vegetables. Where typical American seed companies might offer one or two long beans, for example, they currently list ten! They offer 13 unique varieties of gourds and luffas grown as vegetables in Asia. Ten entirely different types of bunching onions, several of which will produce here all year long and which will form permanent patches which in my experience require only periodic weeding and appreciate a bit of nitrogen-containing fertilizer from time to time.
Is there a link to that vendor, kitazawa?
Great video. Did you ever grow New Zealand spinach? I direct sowed a bunch of seeds to have a raised bed of just that plant a couple of weeks ago. Still waiting for them to come up but I understand they are slow to germinate. The benefit is a long harvest of maybe multiple seasons. My okra is killing it this year!
I am in SW Florida and I have tried numerous times with NZ Spinach. It just doesn't grow for me, reaches a few inches then dies.
hello, my name is Rosemarie and I have been watching your Chanel and so nice to get all kinds of information in growng veggies and trees. I live in Jacksonville FL and I would like to plant a jujube tree. Do you sell Jujube plant? or recommend a nursery to buy it. thank you so much and look forward to hear from you.
Just started leafing out so will likely list in next couple weeks. But we are local pick up in St Pete only.
Sweet Scotch bonnet or
cachucha is the actually name for the seasoning peppers
Good tips
Great!
Luffa tastes just like asparagus to me!
nice! I do enjoy some asparagus (especially grilled)
Florida is a big state and has different Hardiness Zones.
You didn't mention of the hardiness zones, that becomes more confusing as what to follow/grow or not? 🤔
All of these plants will do good at some point in the year here in Florida. I have a free what to plant when cheat sheet that breaks the state down into 3 regions which will give you specific guidance based on your area for these veggies. I also list the region breakdown on my website in each product description. Hope that helps!
Tell me youre a mom without telling me youre a mom..... "Ants on a log" LOL! completely forgot about those 🙂
hahahaha you got it 😂
I would like to grow yucca. Do you have any to propagate or a way to help me? Thank you
we have it available to mail in our trio pack. theurbanharvest.com/collections/root-veggies/products/perennial-vegetable-trio?_pos=1&_sid=2676f85eb&_ss=r
Bananas are the best Tropical Vegetable.
I love your videos and follow what you say a will as ordered many seeds. I did order the rat tail radishes and they didn't do well. Any special tips? Like shade, or heat or water requirements other than the usual? Orlando area.
What happened in particular? They like garden soil over sandy so definitely a bed. Consistent water like many of our other veggie crops. Heading into summer some afternoon shade can be helpful. They can also be a bit slow to form pods so if it grew but didn't seem to flower could have just been a time element.
Rat tail radish is called dragon bean here in COMMIEFORNIA
Greetings from Free State of Florida
and mexican cucumbers has a spikes, so not very plesant to eat, but pickle, yes
Bell peppers are among the easiest veg I grow here in Florida.
Might you recommend a beginners book for gardening in W Central FL? Also any recommendation for companion gardening here? Thanks
Ive got several of my faves here: theurbanharvest.com/pages/education-library
How do I find seeds for the seasoning pepper
theurbanharvest.com/collections/seeds
Do you have native swamp milkweed seeds or plants I can buy?
What area of FL are you located in? I'm in N. Center Florida, just 10 miles from the GA line.
Where can I get rat tail radish seeds? Would love this to be a part of your seed club. ☺️
we have it on out website! theurbanharvest.com/products/rat-tail-radish?_pos=1&_sid=de715bce4&_ss=r
I where can I get seeds for planting? I was able to grow butternut squash, it keeps flowering and it does off. I managed to get a big fruit, but that's it and plant died.
theurbanharvest.com/collections/seeds
Your link for buying seeds is not working for me.
sorry about that! ill check on it. in the meantime here is the link: theurbanharvest.com/collections/all-products
I ordered some seeds from your site but didn't see the seasoning pepper seeds. Do you have a source you can recommend for those?
I think the aji dulce and suave numex sold out fast! Ive got more coming. Check back in a week or two.
Every time I grow something, rats just eat it. How do you keep rats away?
Listen.. I need this answer too. I use cayenne pepper. I get the restaurant size of the cheapest kind. It works till it washes away. Non toxic. Keeps the cat honest too lol
What do you put in your greens talk now
Amaranth, okra, beans, nasturtium, swiss chard, cocks comb, etc. Most things that can be planted in a garden can grow in a greenstalk. check out the what to plant when cheat sheet on my website!
We grew up planting gardens in Ohio and it fed all 9 of us. I can't grow 1 cucumber, not 1 tomato. It's frustrating. So disappointed. I've been trying for 6 years. I'd cry but it won't help. I so love plant life.
Look into Seminole Pumpkins as an alternative to squash. I think it taste even better then buttermilk squash and its super easy to grow.
Or better yet try Tromboncino, which is a 2-3 foot long trumpet shaped winter squash that can be harvested small and young (10-12”) tastes like summer squash. I grow them in Central Texas and can grow all summer. Anything in the Cucurbita moschata species like Seminole and Cherokee pumpkins, butternut squash or Tromoboncino should grow well in Florida during the summer and are highly resistant to the vine borers. Their vines are not hollow so the borer larvae have nowhere to go, plus each leave node will put down its own roots if touching the ground for additional redundancy.
Tahitian melon is another great one! But I still have to pick caterpillars to get them big enough to take care of themselves. Ive got more details on squash in florida here: ua-cam.com/video/2izmpVV2lvE/v-deo.html
Have you tried tahitian melon? I think they are even more productive than seminole pumpkin.
Chard stalks taste nothing like celery and celery is added to dishes fir savoury flavour and saying it is the same just makes me doubt your other substitutions
I grown vegetables in Central Texas with very similar challenges. I would add the following recommendations: for cucumbers, take a look at Armenian cucumbers. They are actually melons so they do well in the extreme heat and humidity and grow all summer when traditional cucumbers die or get bitter. They are also huge, like at least a foot before they get too big and seedy. For garlic, try Elephant garlic over winter. They are actually an onion, not true garlic, and don’t need the cold weather time. For squash, look at Cucurbita moschata varieties which do well in the heat and are extremely vine borer resistant. Examples would be butternut squash, Seminole and Cherokee pumpkins, and Tromboncino squash, which can be harvested either as summer or winter squash. Finally, on green beans if you can’t trellis but have room for bush beans, plant cowpeas in the summer. Most people harvest them when they dry out for the beans (like black eyed peas), but if you harvest them green and thin, they taste like green beans with a nutty flavor, like the foot long beans.
all great recs. suyo is another cuc that does pretty well. thanks for sharing!
Thank you for this. I'm in North Texas. Hopefully they work for me too :D
Did elephant garlic this year in Florida in addition to my normal garlic and it was ready a month earlier with my onions. Definitely will do it again.
Thanks!
Thank You 🙏 very much! If you would like to try green pigeons, I read they have 11 grams of protein! Most of my garden I start it in October!!
Do you have a preferred vendor for buying seeds for Florida that you listed?