You may have heard that Florida only has two seasons, hot and hotter. While we do stay warm year round we actually have seasons, if you can believe it! The summer is the hot and wet season, while the fall, winter and spring are our warm, sometimes cool and dry months. I’m going to share the plants I believe to be the best crops for our cooler season, especially for new gardeners.
You might wonder why I’m grouping these plants all together for these three seasons and the reason for that is because there is a lot of overlap during this time of year. For instance the tomato is a warm season crop yet we will be growing that through the heart of our winter alongside our cool season crops like peas and brassicas.
The weather this time of year is generally very pleasant with an occasional freeze here and there. Usually the first freeze of winter will occur in December or January and the last in February. You will need to protect your warm weather crops from freezes if they come.
Now, without further ado, here is a list of my favorite warm/cool season crops for Florida fall, winter, and spring.
1. Tomatoes
I absolutely love growing tomatoes. They are beautiful, productive, easy to grow, and this time of year we have little pests and humidity so they absolutely thrive. These are also a great crop for teaching your kids gardening skills.
You can enjoy your pick of varieties this time of year, from beefsteak to tiny everglades tomatoes. We love growing san marzano and thornburn terracotta. If you can, try to buy seeds from a Florida gardener or nursery. My san marzano’s for instance have been grown here for several years, meaning the seeds I’ve saved are more acclimated to our weather, soil, and sun than brand new seeds bought from an out of state seed company.
2. Strawberries
Did you know Florida has an annual strawberry festival every March? Strawberries do not do well in our summers… actually they just up and die. But in our fall, winter and spring they become a staple crop around here. Plant City, FL is the winter strawberry capital of the country with over 13,000 acres dedicated to these delectable fruits.
You can start from seeds, live plants, or bare roots. Strawberries from seed are much smaller than the strawberries we’ve grown accustomed to seeing in the store, however, they pack a punch when it comes to flavor. Absolutely delicious😋
For the larger fruits, you can start with bare roots, more economical, or you can purchase live plants. These larger strawberries will produce runners which you can use to start new plants.
Camarosa is recommended for North Florida while Festival is better suited for Central Florida. Whatever the recommendations, this is your garden and you make the rules. Experiment with all kinds of strawberries to find out which ones work best for you.
3. Cauliflower (And cabbage)
If you’ve never tried eating roasted cauliflower, you are missing out my friend. In all honesty it was only this past season that I tried cauliflower for the first time (outside of blended into a smoothie where I couldn’t taste it.) However, it is such an easy to grow crop and also visually appealing so I had to try it.
Cauliflower takes about three to four months to harvest. If planned right you can get two rounds of harvests during one season. Start seeds, whether in ground or in trays late September or October. When those are nearing maturity sow the next round of seeds. You can grow them in trays or sow under the mature cauliflower (it will be removed soon anyways and the seeds don’t need sun to germinate.)
I typically grow my brassicas with my tomatoes. Although it is our cooler season we can still reach the upper 80’s on occasion. The shade from the tomatoes will protect your brassica’s from the hotter winter days.
I’m gonna lump cabbage with cauliflower since they grow almost exactly the same. ☺️
4. Yod Fah Broccoli
This broccoli is an amazing plant. It takes our weather like a champ and isn’t too fussy at all. Classic broccoli can be a bit difficult in our climate since it will need to mature in cold weather, which can be a little scarce around these parts. I’ve tried growing classic broccoli several times, adjusting the timing with every attempt and so far nada…
However, Yod Fah broccoli produces so much from one plant without needing the cool temperatures to flower (the part of the plant that you eat on broccoli and cauliflower is the immature flower, although the whole plant is edible.) Instead of one large head, Yod Fah produces shoots. You will harvest the immature flower and several inches of the stem including some leaves.
Everytime you harvest one shoot the plant sends out several more. Like a hydra 😀
Chop this up and throw it into a stir fry and you’ve got yourself fresh winter greens from the garden. I’ve even heard people keep their yod fah broccoli going all the way to July under the shade! It’s truly one of the best crops for your Florida garden.
The florets will grow smaller over time, so when that time comes allow your broccoli to flower. The bees absolutely love it!
5. Peas
Peas are such a fun plant in the garden. And if you’ve got yourself some picky eaters, see if they won’t try peas they have picked themselves from your backyard.
I love growing magnolia sugar snap peas for their beautiful dark pink blooms. If you are low on space you can grow these up the side of a fence or along a sunny wall. They are such a beautiful plant I doubt even an HOA could find a reason to hate on them. (Although I wouldn’t put it past those power hungry gremlins… 😮💨)
Honorable Mention: Sunflowers
Sunflowers are such a beautiful plant in the garden. They attract pollinators and other beneficial insects with the added benefit of edible seeds! Although I’ve heard that the Native Americans used all parts of the plant for food.
You can have fun growing a massive mammoth sunflower whose heads reach two feet across, or you can do dainty flowers that are better suited to a lovely vase on your kitchen table. You can also grow sunflowers for their oil! In this world loaded full of hydrogenated seed oils, how amazing would it be to replace that with your own homegrown, cold processed, wholesome sunflower oil.
There are so many other crops to grow from September to May, enjoy looking through seed catalogs to find all the things you might want to try. These mentioned above are great plants for new gardeners as they are easy to go, not too finicky, and do well in our beautiful Sunshine State.
What plants do you have success with during our “winter”. Have you tried any of the plants listed above? I would love to hear all about it in the comments below!
Happy Gardening 🙂
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