Florida Vegetable Garden Construction - Fun for Kids and Adults! (Mostly for the Kids. Those cement blocks look heavy.)

Laura and David Hatt of Haines City were kind enough to send me some pictures and information about their Florida vegetable garden.

Haines City (Florida) Raised Vegetable Garden

The Vegetable Hatt is a small garden located in Haines City, Florida. We grow many different types of vegetables and fruit year round. Our gardening area is a half acre in size with, at the moment, just over 100 square feet being dedicated to the raised bed vegetable patch. We are a firm believer in compost, recycle and reuse, so we try not to add to the landfill. We teach our children how to grow foods they like, recycle things, and above all else share in the bounty. Our plans for the future are to add more plants (Florida friendly and veggies alike) to our land and to find more ways to help the earth grow. We have been growing vegetables for over 20 years, with three of those years in Central Florida. With our blog we hope to keep an online journal of our garden, learn new things, meet new gardeners, and help other people understand that gardening in Florida can be done. We invite you to take a look at our blog and offer up any ideas and thoughts.

Below are some photos of The Vegetable Hatt.

This photo is of our Kentucky Wonder Beans which love to run and get about 6-8in long. We love planting these beans, since we can eat them fresh or freeze them until another time.

We planted one strawberry root in each cinder block. They grew well, but small. So this year we are growing them in a large tiered slotted pot. They seem to be doing good so far!

Here we have our sweet corn and early corn. Both types did well but we did have a few problems with squirrels. We hope to plant some more this year.

This is our Midnight Hot Pepper, after the rain, which we got at a yard sale. We got it for one dollar and was able to make three large pepper and vinegar bottles with it.

Tomatos, Cucumbers, Peppers, Beans - It All Looks Great!

Beautiful Vegetable Garden!

I really like that the Hatt raised vegetable garden was made out of cinder blocks instead of wood. No chance of rot there. It also gives them secondary containers in the brick holes. That could be a really nice decorative touch. Put your marigolds there!

Join me in giving that Hatt family a big thanks for sharing their garden with us. They have so many wonderful garden photos.

I Show You Mine – You Show Me Yours

I’m interested in seeing what your Florida raised vegetable garden looks like. Comment below and let me know about your garden. If you have pictures, I’d love to feature you on Watch My Food Grow.

— Farmer Matt

Vermiculite Found at Atlantic-FEC in Miami

Lawrence, a Watch My Food Grow reader, mentioned Atlantic-FEC as a potential vermiculite supplier in a comment. I emailed them yesterday and got a quick response back from Frances Corona. Here is what she has to say:

Good morning ….. We do have vermiculite our price is $8.30 [for a four cubic foot bag] we gladly sell to the general public. Rather it be walk-in or delivery.. you can buy as many as you need …… for more information that you need please feel free to email me back anytime…… we also have a product book so again feel free at anytime….. have a wonderful day.

While I haven’t done any business with Atlantic-FEC (yet), I’m impressed at how quickly they responded to my email. Based on their web site, it looks like you can get just about anything fertilizer-related you need from them. Miami is a bit of a drive from Palm Beach Gardens where my garden is located but it might be worth stopping by the next time I’m down there for other reasons.

How to Find Vermiculite and Atlantic-FEC

Tell Me About Your Florida Vegetable Garden

It is prime planting season. The freeze is past and we’re ready to grow. Let me know about your garden. Also, if you do purchase from Atlantic-FEC, please let me know. I’d hate to recommend them and not have my readers have positive results.

— Farmer Matt

As you may have heard, South Florida was hit by a very un-Florida like cold front at the first of the year. Instead of planning on New Year’s Day as I had planned, I waited a few weeks. Last night, I got home unusually early and put two tomatoes and three pepper plants in the ground. Not much to see yet but I wanted to let you know I’m on the job…

What to Plant in My South Florida Garden?

Last year the crowd favorites were broccoli and green beans. No one (except Florida Food Writer, Jan Norris) liked the fairy tail eggplant. I hated the herbs. The peppers, both hot and green, we great since we eat a lot of southwestern style meals. The lettuce was good on BLT sandwiches. The Sun Sugar tomatoes were great but the bigger tomatoes didn’t do so well.

Trip to the Nursery Soon

I gotta stop by the nursery this weekend and see what is available. I’ll be updating this gardening blog soon with more details. Please keep in touch and let me know what you’re growing.

Long story short, it’s hot here in South Florida and our growing season is pretty much over until October.

Coming soonish… a review of the LinkSys webcam that is powering the live garden video feed.

Cycling buddy George asks a great question about the amount of rain my Palm Beach Gardens raised vegetable garden has been getting lately.

I know the weather has sucked for cycling lately. But I’ve been looking on your blog for news on how it’s been treating your garden. Are the tomatoes bursting from too much water, or flooded out and drowning? Has all this wet crap helped or hurt things?

Usually, Not Enough Watering

I’m lousy when it comes to watering.

Previously, whenever it has rained, my raised vegetable garden has exploded with new growth and record vegetable production. That makes me think the plants were not getting enough water. In fact, I’m pretty sure I killed three of the four varieties of tomatoes I planted thanks to my lack of watering.

My Vegetables Are Getting Too Much Water

This last batch of rain (a foot in the last week?), however, has been bad for the garden.

The raised vegetable garden planters have turned into swimming pools. Normally, thanks to the specialized weed control cloth under the beds, the raised vegetable garden drains slow enough to hydrate the plants but quick enough that they don’t get root rot. However, the beds can only drain water so quickly when it is coming down at more than an inch an hour.

Causalities of Rain

I lost several cucumbers to mold and rot. My cucumber and watermelon vines are turning yellow. My Sun Sugar tomato plant — a steady producer since day one with always several tomatoes on the vine — is empty and looking pretty sad. (Part of that could be we’re getting near the end of growing season but, mostly, I think it is too much water and a good beating.)

Mulberries Trees Lose Their Fruit

The torrential downpours we have seen in Palm Beach County have also desecrated my mulberry trees. It used to be I could go outside and pick a gallon or more a week of ripe, black mulberries. The trees are now bare. All the ripe fruit has been washed off the trees. It’ll be a week or more before I have another crop.

Ask the Farmer

If you have any questions about my garden or gardening in South Florida, comment below or contact me directly: farmer (at) watchmyfoodgrow.com. No correct answered guaranteed but I do read my garden email.

—Farmer Matt

I had no time to shop as I was taking care of our son while she was gone.

What to do?

Fortunately, Amanda is a Tree-Hugging Vegetarian

But wait! I have a raised vegetable garden and Amanda eats vegetables pretty much exclusively. While she tends towards fake vegetables, the kind you buy in stores, I’m sure she’d appreciate real vegetables, too.

What I don’t have, however, is any talent at turning a bunch of random garden vegetables and mulberries from my raised garden into something worthy of presentation to a birthday girl.

Stefani, Palm Beach Organizer and Present Stylist

The conversation went something like this…

Me: ‘Stefani, save me. Sarah is out of town. I have to make something look pretty. I realize it’s early on a Saturday morning and I’m calling you at the absolute last minute but I need organizational presentational magic.’

Her: ‘No’.

Me: ‘Please’.

Her: ‘No’.

Me: ‘Please’.

Her: ‘No’.

Me: ‘I’ll promote your organizational, bookkeeping and personal assistant business in my world-renowned raised vegetable garden blog.’.

Her: ‘Okay, but you owe me.’

And, thus, the best Organizer for Palm Beach and Jupiter, Stefani made present magic happen.

Amanda Liked the Basket of Garden Goodies

The jar of picked-that-morning mulberries were gone even before the party was over. Much of the broccoli was eaten, dipped in ranch dressing. The sunflowers were admired by all. All in all, the present was well received. The backyard raised vegetable garden, once again, saves the day.

—Farmer Matt

Want a cheap Mother’s Day gift? Plant sunflowers. Here is what Malcolm’s Mother is getting this year…

Don’t Tell Sarah About the Sunflowers

We want it to be a surprise.

—Farmer Matt

Ah, Matt. Good luck with the melons. Tried to tell you that it’s not the right time to plant the melons, or the right way, but you wouldn’t listen. [W]ait till April, replant with dry cakey soil and on mounds that are mulched with plastic gunk. (SOURCE: Jan Norris)

Former Food Editor Doubts My Ability to Grow Watermelons

In late February, I planted watermelons seeds in my garden annex. Immediately, the hating started. Jan Norris, a self-proclaimed expert in Florida Food said there was no way in hell I’d get watermelons. She laughed in my general direction and mocked my seeds.

I didn’t have to water the first couple weeks, what with all the peeing she was doing on my garden parade.

Patience is a Farming Requirement

When I caught the first glimpse of my nugget-sized watermelon last week, I was not yet ready to declare victory. It was still too soon.

Today, however, with watermelons just about six inches tall, I’m here to say I have crushed Norris. She shall not repress my watermelon.

Even if the watermelon stops growing today (it has about 15 days left), it is still edible and, probably, tasty.

Here is the Watermelon Jan Norris Will Not Be Eating:

Who Hates Your Raised Vegetable Garden?

Are you, too, suffering the slings and arrows of outrageous vegetable fortune? Tell me who hates your garden and why.

I think Norris is just jealous.

—Farmer Matt

Broward Farm Bureau Supplied the Seeds

I picked up this pack of ‘Marketmore 76 Cucumber’ seeds from the Broward Farm Bureau booth at the South Florida Fair. They were promoting this variety of cucumbers because they are resistant to scab, mosiac, downey mildew and powdery mildew. I don’t really know what that means but it sounds good.

These will have white spines and dark green skins. I have never seen a cucumber with spines before.

—Farmer Matt

For weeks I have been watching the little yellow flowers hoping they would turn into something that even remotely resembles a watermelon. Nothing, nothing then more nothing. Finally, yesterday: pay dirt.

Tiny but a Watermelon Nonetheless

It Looks Like a Watermelon

It’s just a bit smaller. About an inch tall. Maybe an inch and a half. But, it clearly looks like a real watermelon. Here is a picture that can help you better get a feel for the size of these little watermelons

You can see at the tip of the watermelon where the yellow flower is about to fall off.

82 Days to Harvest?

The melons have been in the ground for nearly 60 days. Does that really mean I’ll have watermelon in another 22 days?

—Farmer Matt