Zone 9 Spring Planting Guide
What to Plant in Zone 9 for Spring
| Crop | Month to Plant | Recommended Verities | Notes |
| Beans, Green | March-April | Blue Lake, Cherokee Wax, Kentucky Wonder | Both bush and pole |
| Beans, Lima | March-April | Henderson, Jackson Wonder | Trellis for support! |
| Cantaloupes | March-April | Ambrosia, Athena, Galia | Keep fruit of soil to avoid rot |
| Carrots | September-March | Danvers, Nates, Imprator | Raised beds work best! |
| Cauliflower | January-February | Brocoverde, Snowball | Some are green headed |
| Celery | January-March | Utah Strains are best | Soil must remain moist |
| Collard Greens | February-April | Top Bunch, Georgia Southern | Will last into warm months |
| Corn, Sweet | March-April | Sliver Queen, Sweet Ice, Early Sunglow | Keep verities separate |
| Cucumbers | February-April | Poinsett, Space Master, Eureka, Boston Pickling | For slicing or pickling |
| Eggplant | Febuary-July | Black Beauty, Ichiban | Likes warm weather, stake! |
| Mustard Greens | September-May | Tander green, green wave, Florida Broad Leaf | Easily damaged by frost |
| Okra | March-July | Emeral, Clemson Spineless | Loves hot weather |
| Onions, green | August-March | Evergreen Bunching, White Lisbon | Short day types work best |
| Peppers | February-April | Bell, Sweet, Hot | Mulching helps production |
| Potatoes | January-March | Red Pontiac, Yukon gold | Do not use store bought |
| Potatoes, Sweet | March-June | Beauregard, Vardaman | Likes hot weather |
| Pumpkin | March-April | Big Max, Jack O Lantern | Requires a lot of space |
| Radish | September-March | Cherry Belle, Sparkler | Grows VERY fast |
| Squash, Summer | March-April | Summer Crookneck, Black Beauty Zucchini | Beware of summer pests |
| Squash, Winter | March-August | Spaghetti, Butternut | Requires pollination |
| Tomatoes | February-April | Celebrity, Better Boy, Cherokee, Brandy Wine | Stake for support |
| Turnips | January-April | Purple Top, Seven Top | Roots and Tops edible! |
| Watermelon | March-April | Jubilee, Crimson Sweet, Sugar Babay | Requires a lot of space |
Many of the crops listed will also grow in the summer, fall and sometimes the winter. These are just a few recommendations that work well as fall crops!
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Thank you for the list! It is very helpful! I am planning my garden now and have picked a few vegetables from this list!
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January 2nd, 2010 at 9:42 pm
@Houston Gardener,
Glad to hear it was helpful! Keep us updated as the days go on!
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I really appreciate the list as I want to start my garden. Will these vegetables do better in a raised garden vs in the ground itself?
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January 31st, 2010 at 3:33 pm
@Fla Native,
By your name I am guessing you also live in FL. And for the most part Florida soil is very sandy and does not hold nutrients well. With that in mind I would recommend a raised be!
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Thanks again for the information. I use your spring guide faithfully for my garden.
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February 6th, 2010 at 1:41 am
@Roy Central Fla.,
No problem Roy! If you ever get some pictures of your garden I would love to see them!
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February 6th, 2010 at 3:55 pm
@Dan,
I have pics on my digital camera, do you have an email that I can attach files to?
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February 6th, 2010 at 3:58 pm
@Roy Central Fla.,
I do, I will send you an email with it! Thanks!
I live in Fl as well and am wanting to start a garden soon, however the sand in by backyard will not hold nutrients well, would mixing fertilizer with the sand help my garden grown better?
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February 8th, 2010 at 8:57 am
@allison,
Fertilizer would help a little but it is not the best solution! Your best bet would be to build a raised bed garden, if not that then to amend your sandy soil with a lot of compost and other types of humus, such as leaf mold!
Good luck!
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Thanks for this site. I live in Lower Rio Grande Valley Texas, and even Neil Sperry doesn’t cover us much! New to here (from Virginia), I have no idea how to garden in 100+ weather (Heat Zone 11, USDA zone 9-10), and at least I can adopt your information. Not much from gardeners down here! THANKS AGAIN, have subscribed to your RSS!
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February 9th, 2010 at 12:29 am
@Deborah,
It gets 100+ only a few times here, but there are a few vegetables that will do okay in that weather! Good luck with your garden!
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When do we seed snow pea’s? Thanks
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You can plant them about the same time as Beans, just make sure the temp doesnt drop bellow 45!
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Thanks for the calendar! I recently moved to las vegas- got my raised beds built and have my peas, carrots, spinach and loose leaf lettuces out.
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First off great site you have here. This will be my first garden season (except once when I was 10, and it did fairly good for an unresearched kids garden) I can’t afford raised bed yet, so for this spring/fall it will be in native soil. I have 2 question… [edited for space, answered via email]
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Dan, do you have any info/advice about growing asparagus in Fl. I grew it and it was great up North. Although I see it in the garden centers down here, I don’t know anyone who actually grows it. I know it needs a little bit of cold weather, I suppose this years cold season would have been more than sufficient.
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Just discovered your blog! Great info! I live in Ocala and doing a first garden with my 5 yr old grandsons. They picked the veggies they wanted to plant (and eat) from a Spring planting list. We have also started a compost pile for next garden. Everything is doing well except for the eggplant. After reading your info I think it may have been too cool when we planted (early March). Is there anything we can do to pep them up?
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I just cleared out my lettuce due to the hot temps. I’m in Houston, what can I plant now in that empty space?
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June 9th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
@CNancarrow,
You could try some Swiss Chard!
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Thanks for this info! i am wondering if a planting guide is for seeds or for transplants? Thanks!
Liz
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When you say “plant”, do you mean seeds or small plants? Is there some sort of handy book or website that can advise newbies? I really don’t want to read 97 books. Ideally, I want one book on central Florida to tell me what tools I need for a backyard vegetable garden, where to site the garden, how to prepare the soil, what to plant when (and which plants should be started from seed indoors in pots when), how to care for it, how to know when to harvest, and how to handle expected trouble such as pests. Sort of the beginners complete guide to successful vegetable gardening. Does this exist? Thanks
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February 24th, 2011 at 7:46 pm
@Kathy,
The guide tells when to sow the seed!
I am not sure of a Central Florida specific book, but if you join our Forum at http://www.zone9garden.com/forum there are a few of us that would be more than happy to share what we know!
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Terrific site!!
I would love to take you up on your offer of help in creating a garden in Central Florida. I’m contemplating a raised bed . . . do you put a ‘floor’ on the bed or build it on top of a section of lawn? Do you line the bottom with something like leaves first? What type of soil do you suggest I fill the bed with and how deep does it need to be to plant tomatoes, beans, carrots, etc.?
Thanks, in advance, for all your help!
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March 20th, 2011 at 2:42 pm
@Kelly,
There are a lot of questions there to answer! I basically dug up the grass and put the bed on top of that. I got soil from a bulk dealer, but any good soil will do. I would suggest no shallower than 8″!
For more help check out our Forum at: http://www.zone9garden.com/forum
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@Dan,
Thank you. 8″ sounds like a great way to start and I’ll go find soil from a bulk dealer.
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I am new to all of this but my son wanted to grow a garden and I needed some exercise. So I started a garden some seeds are coming up great is it to late to plant anything else so we can get outside together.
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Try Lasagna Gardening.
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