Watch My Food Grow ~ A South Florida Raised Vegetable Garden

Florida Backyard Raised Vegetable Garden

End of the Growing Season in South Florida

June 21st, 2013 by Lila Steinhoff

End of the Season

The growing season in Florida is from October through the end of June. That is enough time for planting some things twice and is plenty of time for the tomatoes, okra and poblanos to provide a substantial amount of produce.

However, when it hits 90 + degrees and the sun is unrelenting, everything that is left in the garden begins to dry up and ceases to produce. My garden has gone from being …

Green and Bushy

lush gardenRaised Garden

To Spindly Stems and Sparse Leaves

end of season gardenEnd of Season Garden

The green beans, shallots, zucchini and yellow squash already have been pulled up. We still have poblanos, a few bell peppers and the herbs. The vines have lots of green tomatoes, but nothing like a month ago. It’s time to pull up the okra, and the baby carrots are just now getting to be the right size for picking.

Meager Harvest

Earlier in the season, I had so many tomatoes I was giving them away. I would have okra several times a week. There were so many poblanos, we were putting them on the grill to char them, so we could peel and freeze them for later. The poblanos are still producing, but everything else is slowing down.

Over three days, the pepper and tomato harvest was barely enough for a salad, and there was barely enough okra for supper… for one, if you eat as much of it as I do.

poblano and yellow bell peppersPoblano and Yellow Bell Peppers

OkraOkra

yellow pear tomatoesTiny Yellow Pear Tomatoes

Romas and Better Boy tomatoesVarious Tomatoes

In another week or so, it will be time to pull up whatever is left, cover the boxes with clear plastic and let them bake until October to sanitize the soil.

 

 

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Leave a Reply to Terry Hopkins (Cancel)

3 responses so far ↓

  • Looks like you had a pretty good summer! Funny I think up north in Missouri the Tomatoes are just getting started good. let us know what you do to get ready for the fall season.

  • BTW: what is a “poblanos” ?

    • Poblanos are peppers. There is a picture of one next to a pair of very small yellow bell peppers in the post… 5 or 6 inches long and dark green.

      When they are dried, they are called ‘ancho’ chili. Green, they are fairly mild. If they stay on the plant until they turn red, they tend to have a little more heat. Really good southwest taste, but not as much heat as a jalapeno. If you’ve ever eaten chile rellenos, you’ve had poblanos.