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Vegetable Gardening

winter veg - zone 8b gulf coast Florida

15 years ago

I'm fairly new at veg gardening and have not planted any fall/winter veg before. I've been reading that it's time to start planting fall/winter veg. But for my zone (8b) it seems early. It's so hot out and it's raining every day (1" plus). For those in my general area, what's your typical planting time and what do you plant?

Many thanks!

JR

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Comments (11)

grandad_2003
15 years ago
JR, my guess is that you are in the same planing are as me. If so, you may want to check out the recent GW post "Fall Planting for Kids" because the comments there will apply to you. Also, after looking at the Florida Vegetable Planting Guide below, it seems to be very close to what I would follow.... in which case you would be a very slight bit early.... but come August, the planting begins.

Here is a link that might be useful: Florida Vegetable Planting Guide
grandad_2003
15 years ago
"planting area" not "planing are"
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angelady777 (Angela) - Zone 6
15 years ago
So, does that mean we should plant indoors as we would in the spring a bit early or just plant directly in the garden? I, too, am very concerned about how much the high heat here could kill my little plants.

~Angela
grandad_2003
15 years ago
Angela, I'm assuming you are asking about the broccoli and cauliflower seed planting. If so, I plant these outside but they are in seed boxes under the overhang of the roof. They receive afternoon sun for about 4 hrs. They do get a bit droopy at times in the intense heat but they seem to survive nonetheless. I have not tried planting them inside so I don't know if that would be better or not.

When planting in boxes I try to plant about 3 times what I need as the heat does take it's toll on the small plants when transplanted. If this means that I have more than I need then I can usually make a bunch of folks happy. Plants in the set out in the latter part of September can usually beat the heat.
angelady777 (Angela) - Zone 6
15 years ago
Thanks, Grandad. That's great advice. I am also going to plant winter squash, too. So far, I've been planting everything from seed indoors, then hardening them off slowly outdoors, then planting in the garden. I am getting about 3/4 of them to come up as seedlings that I plant. It is a lot of work, though, and I don't have much room indoors that has sunlight.

~Angela
jrgardner
Original Author
15 years ago
That's good advice and I'll take a look at the readings -- what are your favorites to plant - I understand lettuces do well as fall/winter plantings, but what else??
angelady777 (Angela) - Zone 6
15 years ago
Just a quick note that my seeds have sprouted outside with partial shade. I am so excited! I was running out of sunny areas in the house so gave it a whirl in the 100+ degree heat here. I was too scared not to have some shade, though, and they did come up! They're just starting to come up, so I can't say how many I'll get compared to indoors yet.

From what I understand, zones 7 and 8 or higher have no problem growing summer crops in the fall so I also am trying tomatoes. Not a single one has come up yet, but they also hate this high heat. I have some seedlings indoors to transplant if these do not come up. I've had the other tomatoes outside for over a week now, though, and nothing from the outside ones... ugggh

~Angela
pnbrown
15 years ago
In florida folks traditionally used to start toms from seed in august (I need to remind my folks to do that....), and then again around the new year. Of course the summer-started ones do have to partially shaded. The winter ones in a sunny window same as up north.
grandad_2003
15 years ago
One more comment on planting broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage and brussels sprout seeds. I plant over a 4 week or so period starting around the first or second weekend of August and going into the first weekend of September. This allows for having an extended production and also helps for if weather does not cooperate for one of the transplantings. i.e. by not having all the marbles in one basket. In recent years I've set out about 150 combined plants but this year I plan to drop back to about 120 plants. So 4 to 5 weeks of planting seems to work for me with this number of plants.
angelady777 (Angela) - Zone 6
15 years ago
Great info, pnbrown and grandad! I will definitely be planting more tomatoes and other things and doing the once a week thing as suggested in case one planting has problems. WoooHooo! I am so excited!

~Angela
sandijo
13 years ago
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