Zone 9 Garden » Vegetables

Lettuce Season Coming to an End

Dan — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 18:55:32 +0000

The heat of summer is coming fast here in Central Florida, and with the heat comes the end of lettuce growing season.

There are a few varieties of lettuce that will grow later in the the hot season than others but for the most part as soon as the heat reaches the 90′s the growing seaon is over. Lettuce will start to bolt to seed quickly and the flavor will go south just as quick.

So with that in mind I will be soon pulling out all of my lettuce that has provided many a good salad this season and replacing it with chard and beans.

Here is what some of my lettuce looks like today:

Strawberry harvest has begun

Dan — Wed, 16 Mar 2011 16:22:47 +0000

While walking through the garden today I noticed that a few of my strawberries were ready for harvest! I picked a total of 7! Not a bunch, but it is the beginning of what I hope will be a great season!

Looking at the rest of the plants it looks like there are going to be quite a bit of strawberries soon!

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Lettuce Still Growing Strong

Dan — Mon, 28 Feb 2011 20:17:22 +0000

Spring is in the air here in Central Florida, the heart of Zone 9. The weather has reached into the 80’s a few days and nights are in the 60’s. As spring shows its self, my final round of winter vegetables are still growing strong! These are the last plantings of lettuce I will plant until fall begins. They are rather crowded, but once it is time to thin them I will take out ever other plant and use them in salads as baby greens!

A long over due update

Dan — Wed, 16 Feb 2011 20:48:35 +0000

It has been a while since I have updated, mostly because I didn’t grow much over the winter. I did grow some broccoli that I enjoyed very much and those plants are now gone. Since pulling them I planted some lettuce and spinach which are doing well. (see above picture)

Today I also set up another raised bed garden for my strawberries. I put in 3 rows of strawberries and 2 rows of onions! I cant wait for the strawberries to start producing!

I also planted a Roma Tomatoes in a container today. It was inside until now and already had a few buds showing up that I pinched off! Once it gets established in the container I am going to let it start producing tomatoes so that I have some early!

Zone 9 Fall is Here

Dan — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 19:13:13 +0000

The heat of the summer has past and zone 9’s fall weather pattern is starting to set in. With the new weather pattern comes new vegetables to be planted!

Due to my heavy travel schedule for work this fall I am downsizing my garden and only putting a few new plants. My wife and I both LOVE fresh broccoli so I have planted 8 of those. I also planted a few onions and have some hold over peppers from the spring/summer.

What are you planting?

Today’s Harvest

Dan — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 15:50:23 +0000

The heat of summer is coming soon, and with that comes a bountiful harvest in my zone 9 garden.

Today I pulled about 25 Roma Tomatoes. I plan to make a fair amount of salsa and to can some of them. My wife and I also like to make caprese salad out of them!

I also harvested 2 large jalapeno peppers and 3 red-hot cherry peppers. These will also be used in the salsa!

Still waiting to be harvested are a few green bell peppers.

Eggplant in Bloom

Dan — Mon, 24 May 2010 15:40:18 +0000

The heat of the summer is starting to show up and with it comes eggplant! Eggplant is a heat loving plant that starts to come into its own in Central Florida as other vegetables are on their way out.

While walking through the garden today I noticed that the Eggplant that I have planted near my tomatoes is finally in bloom!

It will not be long now before I have eggplant parmesan!

A Few New Blooms

Dan — Wed, 12 May 2010 16:15:09 +0000

Better late than never right?

While working in the garden I found a few plants with their first blooms of the year.

Jalapenos

Black Berries

The jalapenos seemed to suffer from the late start due to the long and cold winter we had here in Central Florida. The plant is now fairly tall and looks very strong and healthy, and as of today, seems to be producing!

The black berries were planted early this season from cuttings. I did not expect them to produce anything this year at all, and I am considering pinching the bloom off. I would like the plants to grow large and healthy, so pinching the flower will help divert all energy to growth.

Everything else in the garden is growing very well. I harvested more green beans today, and I think it will be the last harvest from the bushes. The pole beans are just starting to set beans!

Will update again soon…

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Garlic Growing Well

Dan — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 20:04:08 +0000

In January I planted a row of garlic in one of my raised beds and it is really starting to grow well now that the spring weather has shown up. The leaves are about 10-12” tall already and growing strong.

This is all soft neck garlic that I got from the local grocery store. I would not recommend using grocery store garlic for growing at home, but I walked by the garlic and the bulb already had leaves growing from some of the cloves.

What type of garlic are you growing?

Garlic and Onions Growing Well

Square Foot Gardening – Tomatoes

Dan — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 19:06:13 +0000

Today I planted my Tomato seedlings in a 4×4 foot raised bed. I planted them one plant per square foot.

I know that is far to crowded for these plants to be healthy in humid Central Florida, but I do plan on thinning them out once they start to grow vigorously.

I planted 8 Roma (determinate) and 4 Brandywine (indeterminate) with the plan of thinning both down to half.

I also planted 4 black beauty eggplants as well!