Robert from Middleburg, Florida writes, “Where can I find a calendar for when to plant seeds?  Most things I find are when to plant small plants.  I just built a hot bed and would like to know what seeds to plant and when.”

A seed-planting calendar for north Florida would certainly be a great way to remind vegetable gardeners when it’s time to start seeds indoors or under glass. It’s so easy to let the time slip by. I’ll have to develop one and post it. Thanks for the idea.

In general, you’ll want to start most veggie seeds 6 to 8 weeks before you plan to set the seedlings out in the garden. For some of the faster growing plants, such as some summer squash plants, seeds are started 4 to 6 weeks in advance. Seed packets usually detail how far in advance seeds should be started before moving outdoors.

So, when you start your own seedlings, you really have to think ahead!

I am often asked what growing medium I use to start my seedlings. I have tried several peat-based starting mixes and have had good success, however, my favorite starter mix is not a peat based mix at all. It's a combination of worm castings and coir fiber (coconut fiber), such as Natural Beginnings seed-starting mix available from Gardens Alive and Garden Solution First Start Seed-Starter from Gurneys. The worm castings/coir fiber mix costs more than most peat-based mixes but it gives my seedlings a wonderful start. Use my custom search engine to find a variety of seed starting mixes and formulas.

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Happy New Year! A fresh new year of food gardening lies ahead of us.

This time of year conditions are not always comfortable for working in the garden, but if you plan on growing a spring garden, now is the time to begin preparing and feeding the soil. Feed it with compost, shredded leaves, dry grass clippings or other such organic materials. Turn it into the soil to a depth of about 6 to 8 inches.

Working the soil in my garden areas and developing new beds this time of the year serves as a nice exercise regiment for me to help work off those extra holiday calories. Better than wasting all of that energy in a gym!

Also, this is the month to order your seeds.  In some instances, you’ll need to start seeds before the end of the month. You’ll find a much greater variety of vegetable seeds available on the Internet than at local stores. My custom search engine will help you find seeds. You’ll have the greatest success if you grow the varieties recommended by the University of Florida (see my gardening guide) but don’t be afraid to experiment with new or different varieties of veggies. I always add in something new with my old favorites each year.

Many of you from all over the state have used the Front-Yard Farmer contact form to let me know your garden plans, ask a question or otherwise make a comment. Thanks for that. I greatly appreciate hearing from you and learning about how your garden grows.

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Eating fresh, young sweet peas directly from the garden – or better yet, in the garden – is a treat that few people have the opportunity to experience. Not so for the home vegetable gardener in north Florida. Sweet garden peas (English peas) grow well here. The key to success is timing.

Sweet peas are a cool weather crop in north Florida. They must be planted in January, February or early March because the plants will wither away and die as soon as it gets hot. I like to sow seeds between mid January and early February.

Varieties recommended for Florida are Wando, Green Arrow and Laxton’s Progress.

Now is the time to prepare the soil and order seeds if you would like to include sweet peas in your front yard or backyard garden.

Work some compost, leaves, grass clippings or other organic material into the soil now. Add some 10-10-10 fertilizer with minor elements when you sow the seeds, about three or four weeks from now.

Many varieties of sweet peas need support. I usually grow them along a fence. Special pea fencing and netting for home gardens also is widely available. Use my handy search engine to find seeds and fencing.

Harvest your peas when they are young and still small, and eat them immediately, for a sugary-sweet flavor you’ll never get from canned or frozen peas. We rarely cook the sweet peas that I grow – in fact, most never even make it out of the garden! Those that do find their way into the house are a wonderful addition to the night’s fresh salad.

Give it a try and discover the true meaning of "garden fresh."

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“I feel sorry for people that have to buy produce at the supermarket. It really looks awful,” my wife said yesterday, after returning home from grocery shopping.

There are a lot of good reasons to grow your own vegetables and fruit. The low quality of produce found at supermarkets is perhaps the one that led me to become a front-yard farmer.

This past weekend the harvest from my front-yard farm included 5 pounds of Flavor Sweet green beans. I can’t remember having snap beans in the garden this late in the year but our mild weather and the use of row covers made it possible this season. We have been having green beans with our dinner every night since we picked them -- and I can’t get enough. Green. Fresh. Tasty. No one has ever bought beans as good as these at a supermarket!

With the beans harvested, it made room in the garden to plant beets and carrots. I planted Nantes Half Long carrots and Detroit Dark Red beets. In north Florida, root crops like carrots and beets do best in raised beds. My raised beds are not available now so I mounded up soil in my front-yard garden to make a raised double row that is 5 inches high, 24 inches wide and 13 feet long. I planted one row each of carrots and beets.

I soaked the beet seeds for a couple of hours before planting to help them germinate more quickly. And I will keep the soil evenly moist over the next few weeks. Both the beets and carrots should respond well to the moisture.

In about a month I will make a second raised double row and plant another row each of carrots and beets to extend the harvest.

I will eventually thin the carrots to 3 inches and the beets to 4 inches. I will use a small pair of scissors to remove the seedlings I am thinning out by snipping them off at ground level.  

I’ll harvest the carrots at various stages as they grow, picking one or two at a time to add to salads. I will harvest the beets when they are about the size of a golf ball; that’s when they are most flavorful.

How is your garden coming along? Do you grow a winter garden, spring garden, or both? I’d love to hear from you. Tell me what you are growing now or plan to grow this spring, the size of your vegetable garden and where you live. If you have a tip or some tried and true advice you would like to pass along, please do that too! Reaching me is easy -- just use the contact form.

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A reader from Weeki Wachee, Florida (it's north of Clearwater), writes:

I have for quite some time felt the Lord Jesus telling me to plant a garden, and I have been fighting him, but today for some reason here I am. So I ask, what is the very first thing I would need to do? I have only planted flowers, and I’m not too good at that. I have my spot picked out in my backyard, however there are several trees that my husband does not want removed. Can I plant around them? I have a ton more questions but I better stick with step one. Thank you for your time. God Bless.  Dina

I believe the real key to successfully growing your own vegetables is desire. After that, it comes down to timing and selection – what to plant and when.

Step 1- Determine what you want to grow. A vegetable gardening guide for your part of the state can be found here. It lists the vegetables that grow in Florida, the best varieties for our part of the world, plant and row spacing, when to plant for best results and how to prepare your garden for planting, among other things. For north Florida, readers can refer to my vegetable gardening guide on this page.

Next, prepare the soil. You will want to remove anything growing there now. If you have grass growing there, spray it with Round Up or a similar product and dig it up after it has died. Work in some organic material such as compost, dried leaves or lawn clippings. Composted cow manure, which is widely available, and a little peat moss, work as well. A general rule of them in Florida is to put down a 2 inch layer of organic material on top of the soil and then use a shovel or tiller to mix it in to a depth of about 6 to 8 inches.

Another option is to build raised beds.

You should wait 3 to 4 weeks before planting anything in your newly prepared garden, so you have to plan ahead.

You can have success growing vegetables near trees so long as you get at least half a day of sunlight on your garden and the roots of the trees do not interfere. Also, the closer you are to the trees the more they will compete with your veggies for water and nutrients, so you may need to watch for that.

If you prepare the soil as you should, choose veggies that grow where you live and plant them at the right time, you will be well on your way to success.

A great resource for Florida vegetable gardeners is Vegetable Gardening in Florida. The 135-page book includes detailed descriptions of every crop grown in Florida and plenty of good ‘how to’ information. Color photographs help the gardener in identifying vegetable disorders and pests. The cost is $16.95 and it can be ordered online at http://www.ifasbooks.com. Ask for a copy for Christmas!

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It was 10 years ago. Christmas Day 1998. Among my assortment of gifts was a non-descript, somewhat dull looking 10-year gardener’s journal. A present from my beautiful wife. It was not my favorite gift. Not by a country mile. And, while my wife always warns me that I’m asking for it, I’m certain I never asked for a gardener’s journal.

By the way, on this day in 2007, I bought a new coffee maker. One of those Black & Decker ones that mounts under a cupboard. It replaced the same model I purchased on December 14, 2006, a Thursday.

Anyway, after I unwrapped that gardening journal, I knew instantly that I would never use it. After all, what’s a guy like me supposed to write in there?

On this day in 2006, a Wednesday that saw a morning low of 39 degrees in Niceville, I harvested the sweet potatoes that still remained in my front-yard garden. On this day in 2005, I harvested 16 pounds of sweet potatoes and 6 pounds of green beans.  In 2003, we attended the local Christmas Parade. The day was cold and windy but we had a great time. A year before that on this day, we began harvesting the kumquats growing in the back yard. 

Of course, the journal did have some nifty, useful looking pages -- like those that help you keep track of what you plant and when, and the amount you harvest. A written record like that could prove valuable for planning how much to grow in future seasons.

On this day in 2001, I gave my youngest son his first Hardy Boy’s book. In 2000, my wife ordered a special Christmas tree from a place up north called Fruit Haven Nursery (800-336-5594), and we were putting the house back together after having a new ceramic tile floor installed -- a job that was finished the day before.

Upon further inspection of the journal, I found some handy pages in there that could help me keep track of the growth of my fruit trees, and other pages to record insecticide and disease control applications.

That’s pretty good stuff. And maybe, I thought, I could occasionally find something to jot down in the daily journal part.

On this day in 1999, it was sunny and mild, there were big bombs being dropped on the Eglin reservation and we began to harvest the first tangerines that were growing on the small Dancy tangerine tree I had planted on April 6 of that same year (the tree was 56” tall then with a trunk girth of 3.25”.  Our harvest that year was 24 tangerines).

On this day in 2008, I asked my much-loved for only one gift this Christmas: Another 10-year Gardener’s Journal. The one she gave to me in 1998 is full up.

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Far too often we read about produce and other foods that are contaminated and pose a health risk. When my family, friends and I enjoy the fruit and vegetables from my front-yard garden and orchard, we not only enjoy the fresh flavor and wholesome goodness that only comes from eating homegrown foods, we also enjoy peace of mind: I don’t use harsh chemicals and everything in my garden is grown and handled in a sanitary manor. And with loving care, I hasten to add!

In fact, the veggies and citrus I am harvesting now have not been treated with any chemicals at all. My fall vegetables have had little pressure from pests, so I have not sprayed them with any insecticides. The same is true this year for all of my citrus trees.

You don’t have to eat produce grown half a world away from north Florida, under conditions that you know nothing about.

Be a part of the solution. Buy and eat only in-season fruits and vegetables. Seek out locally grown produce. Grow and eat your own fruits and vegetables whenever possible. Encourage your friends to grow what they eat. You can even partner with other local growers to share each other’s harvest, thereby increasing the variety of fresh fruits and veggies available to each of you.

If you have never grown fruits and vegetables in north Florida, don’t be afraid to give it a try. I will help you to be successful. The same is true if you have tried in the past but have not had much success. Come back to this page often. In addition to updating my blog with useful information, I will be regularly posting articles describing how to successfully grow specific fruits and vegetables in north Florida.

Believe me, if I can be a successful north Florida front-yard farmer, so can you!

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Days are getting shorter and nights are getting colder, but that does not stop front-yard farmers in north Florida.

This month I will be planting carrots, beets, cabbage, lettuce and onions. My December harvest will include green beans, cauliflower, broccoli, lettuce, oranges, tangerines, lemons and kumquats. If you are not yet a front-yard farmer, it’s not too late to begin in 2008!

I have already planted most of the onions I intend to grow in my front-yard garden but I have a set of Texas Grano onions arriving by mail this week (I could not find them locally). They will go into a prepared bed as soon as they are delivered. I will be planting carrots, cabbage and beets this coming weekend. I would have done so this past weekend but I don’t yet have the garden space available. I will have after I take out the green beans, which I will do following one more harvest this week.

I already have lettuce and cabbage growing in the garden. I am making additional plantings to extend the harvest.

Here are some of the cool season vegetables that can be planted this month in north Florida: beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, Chinese cabbage, kale, kohlrabi, leeks, lettuce, mustard, onions, parsley and radishes.

Lettuce planted this month will have to be protected when temperatures dip into the 20s. Onions are best planted by mid November but those set out in December should still develop medium to large bulbs by May.

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