The end of summer often means we get a lot more than we bargained for, which isn’t a bad thing unless you don’t know what to do with it all. Learning how to preserve a summer glut is one of the key homesteading skills you learn early. Dehydrated eggplant is an excellent pantry staple and easy to use.
For me, the summer glut turned out to be eggplant last year. We were buried in the stuff. Now, I like eggplant, but it wasn’t long before we got a bit sick of eating the stuff.
Time to pull out the dehydrator!
We’ve got a Nesco American Harvester that has to be 30 years old if it’s a day. Works fabulous. I got bags and bags of dried eggplant that still remain good on the shelf whenever I need them.
Low Carb Eggplant Lasagna
Best of all, I’ve been able to integrate them into a keto / low carb menu all year. My favorite way to use eggplant is as a substitute for pasta in lasagna. Best of all, it’s so easy, you barely need a recipe.
Ingredients
Dehydrated eggplant slices
1 lb ground beef or pork
1 egg
1 quart marinara / spaghetti sauce
1 8-ounce carton of ricotta cheese
1 16-ounce bag of mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup parmesean cheese
salt, pepper, oregano, basil, marjoram
Take your dehydrated eggplant planks and soak them in boiling water for 20 to 30 minutes. If you prefer more tender eggplant, you can boil them for 5 to 8 minutes.
Drain completely and allow to cool.
Filling
While your eggplant is soaking or cooling, brown 1 lb of lean ground beef. You can also use ground Italian sausage or a combination of the two.
Once cooked, drain the beef well, and add to 1 quart of your favorite marinara sauce. This is one of my favorites, as it’s incredibly simple and delicious.
Mix one 8-ounce carton of ricotta cheese with 1/4-cup parmesan cheese and one egg. Season with salt, pepper, basil, oregano, and marjoram to taste. Mix well.
Layering
Spoon a layer of the sauce into a 9×13 baking pan, then add a layer of eggplant. Top with a layer of the cheese mixture, then a layer of shredded mozzarella.
Alternate the layers, finishing with a layer of shredded mozzereall.
Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes, until the top cheese layer is nicely browned.
No Dehydrator?
If you don’t have a dehydrator and aren’t ready to invest in one, check out this video on how to dry vegetables without one — using no electricity at all.
The Dirtpatchheaven YouTube channel has some great content on homesteading and gardening, and it’s one of my go-to channels. Check it and and subscribe if you’re interested in practical, creative, old-school homesteading skills.
Make-Ahead Lasagna
This is also an easy recipe for making ahead and meal planning. If you use a Pyrex dish, you can just wrap it after baking once it has cooled. Then, freeze the entire pan.
Defrost in the fridge or microwave and then reheat whenever you like.
Dehydrated eggplant is a super pantry staple for keto / low carb diets and it’s a great way to store and use a summer glut.
Gardening is hard work, with all the soil toil and heat and the lugging around of pots. But you don’t really think about throwing in the towel until you realize that you keep making the same dumb garden mistakes over and over.
That’s when you start to second-guess yourself.
As age catches up with me, I find my dexterity less than optimal. Put simply, over the weekend, I was beginning to think my unique gardening talent lie in knocking over multiple pots of expensively rich potting soil.
But that’s just clumsy, that’s not a stupidpower.
A gardening stupidpower is when you find yourself repeating the same dumb garden mistake over and over. Gardening stupidpowers are EPIC!
The kind where you should know better. The kind you have told yourself over and over NOT to repeat.
Gardening is fun, even with all the hard work, but when you’re growing for real production, to put food on the table, garden mistakes can cost you real money.
Common Garden Mistakes
Some of the most common garden mistakes are the result of inexperience. Planting at the wrong time of year is a pretty common one, and it’s one that most new gardeners make. In fact, it’s pretty common for experienced gardeners as well, especially as climate change seems to wreak havoc with our annual growing conditions and timings.
Another common garden mistake is buying the wrong varieties for your microclimate, just because the seeds are cheap and plentiful in your area. (Yeah, I’m looking at YOU, Marketmore cucumber!)
Another bad habit I have found myself falling into is heeding the watering advice of pro gardeners from temperate zones. In fact, I could even classify that as a gardening stupidpower, except I finally learned THAT lesson.
A lot of temperate zone garden gurus say you should water deep, not often, for best results. They say it results in stronger plants.
Honestly, in Florida, along the Gulf Coast, in sandy soil, playing tough love with your annual vegetable plants through the heat of midday does not result in them digging in deep for moisture.
In my experience, it mainly results in a lot of dead plants.
My Personal Gardening Stupidpower
I must be a water-type Pokemon, because all my gardening stupidpowers involve H2O:
Overwatering
Watering at night
Watering extensively when rain is forecast
Forgetting to water entire sections of the garden … for days…
But my really, truly epic gardening stupidpower is attempting to lay out soaker hoses AFTER putting in starts. By myself.
I’ve crushed, stomped, choked, and lassoed to death more poor innocent vegetable starts than I want to admit to. All because I’m so anxious to get their little green heads into the garden.
Hoses are bad, ‘mkay?
Garden hoses all seem to have a personal vendetta against humanity and its agriculture.
I have often wondered if hoses want nothing more than to lay in the shed, rolled up comfortably, undisturbed. I wonder if they resent being dragged into the sunlight. Perhaps they’re in pain? Does watering hurt them?
Because they will seemingly do as much damage as possible to any and every plant they come near, no matter how careful you are. If there’s any way for a garden hose to take out your flowers, herbs, or vegetable plants, it will find that way.
Soaker hoses aren’t much better, but at least you should (conceivably) only have to place them once. I don’t really like using irrigation hoses. I like to hand water — it’s meditative. So, I often decide not to bother with putting down my soaker hoses and just start adding in my little plants as they grow big enough.
And inevitably, three weeks later, I decide that I really need to put down the soakers because I’m just flat out tired of dragging the hose around every morning or even just tired of the time it takes.
And yet again, this year, this last weekend, I made the mistake of trying to wrestle them into a reasonably even distribution across the garden beds after I had already planted a few of my fall starts.
Anyway, this year, there will be far fewer summer squash than originally anticipated.
What’s Your Gardening Stupidpower?
Many philosophers say that you’ll keep repeating the same mistakes until you finally learn the lesson they’re meant to teach you.
So, how are you educating yourself in the garden this year?
September heralds the beginning of the main gardening season in the South — at least for Florida. The temperature finally tapers off enough that cool-weather plants can survive the heat of midday. And bonus points: it’s still fine enough for warm-season crops. Fall gardening is the prime reason Floridians can garden at all.
What to Plant in September in the Southern Garden
If you’re wondering what to plant this September, don’t tarry when it comes to sowing summer vegetables. It’s still not too late to start tomatoes, eggplant, summer squashes, and tropical spinaches, like Okinawa spinach.
Depending on your zone, if you can get these warm-season vegetables well established before your first cold snap, you can usually overwinter them by covering them whenever nights drop below 35°F.
With night temperatures in the 70s, you can also start planting those brassicas, which is a relief. Some, like broccoli and cauliflower, take quite a long time to grow, so the earlier you start them, the better.
I’ve found a lot of success with the Piracicaba broccoli, which is a heat-tolerant, non-heading variety. I’ve grown it as late as May, here in 10a, and unless you really feel the need for big broccoli heads, the flavor and quality are superb. Best of all, these guys really deliver! They can take some time to start producing, but once they do, you’ll get tiny little broccoli heads for months and months and months.
Speaking of Strawberries
Halfway through September is when you should decide whether or not to grow strawberries this year. Summer has not been kind to last spring’s plants, and I only have myself to blame.
I’m normally a lot more attendant on helping my strawberry plants get through the Florida summer. I use organic fungicides and relocate them to keep them from scorching. But this year, with the addition of the nursery and the chickens, they fell to the bottom of the priority list.
Many nurseries will have bare roots on sale, and some will even have starter plants as well. Check back later in October, as I’m sure I’ll have some on offer this year. And if I don’t, there are many local nurseries near you that can assist.
Grow ALL the Veg!
A quick list of veggies you can start in September includes cabbages, both the Asian cabbages like bok choi and Napa, and the boring old round-head types.
You can also start some of the sturdier leafy greens, like mustards, arugula, kale, and chard. Depending on your zone and microclimate, it may still be a tad too hot for lettuces, except for those bred specifically for hot climates, like the Hawai’ian Manoa and Israeli Jericho Romaine.
It may be worth the risk if your family eats a lot of lettuce, as mine does. Especially if you do loose-leaf types with a cut-and-come-again approach, including succession sowing.
Fall Gardening in Florida Offers So Much
Along with both cool and warm-season vegetables, the fall gardening season is also an amazing time to plant flowers.
Why flowers?
They’re pretty, they add color, they offer charm and beauty.
They’re also a critical boost to local wildlife, likes bees and butterflies, wasps and other beneficial insects.
I’m really pretty dreadful at garden planning. I’ve tried — but I always forget to write things down, or I can’t find my notepad, or I’m covered in dirt and can’t find a pen.
Usually the latter.
This year, I made it impossible NOT to plan by creating a Florida Garden Planner and publishing it on Amazon. This, I figured, would mean no more excuses for NOT planning ahead.
I’ve been gardening in Florida for several years now, and I can tell you that a successful harvest requires a few key paradigm shifts:
Be willing to try new fruits and vegetables that are not currently familiar to you.
Learn the right season to plant each of the vegetables you enjoy.
Take advantage of the year-long growing season by planning ahead for succession planting.
My hope is that this garden planner helps you do all three of these things.
From extensive research and my own experience, I’ve provided a list of various edibles you can plant out each month.
As you can see, September is a pretty busy planting month for Florida.
Inside the Garden Planning Journal
I’ve also added some record sheets so you can track each of the varieties you grow to see which ones do best in your garden. I love cherry tomatoes, but this year I’m trialing Sweeties vs. Gardener’s Delights to see which ones I prefer.
I’ll log their germination time, requirements, days to maturity, and the weight of the harvest.
The biggest stumbling block for me right now is that I was trained by very strict teachers. They told me NOT TO WRITE IN BOOKS. So, I’m STILL struggling with putting things down.
Should you decide to purchase one of these garden planning logs, you can find a link on the right hand of this post.
Feedback Please
If you have any suggestions or requests for other elements you’d like to see or use, please let me know. I’m always happy to get suggestions.
This garden planning journal includes grid sheets for bed layout, calendars for coordinating with other scheduled projects, and a week-by-week calendar for sowing, planting, and other garden projects you’d like to accomplish.
It starts in August 2021, because every Florida gardener knows that the planting year starts in August/September. It runs to December 2022, so there’s plenty of room for all your veggie garden planning for several seasons.
As for me, I’m ready to pre-order my strawberry crowns for planting in October.
What are you going to be planting in your fall garden?
You’ve seen them on YouTube, right? All those market gardeners when their beaucoup cool soil blockers? You may have even done some online shopping to see if soil blocking is right for you.
But boy, are those soil blockers expensive! Those farmer dudes must be raking it in!
(Of course, they’re not!)
But in all seriousness, a heavy-duty, reliable tool for production is going to cost you. I’ve been eying the complete Ladbrooke soil blocking system for a few years now.
Look for the Ladbrooke logo on the handles of the Mini 4 and Micro 20. The Master Grower is our full set that includes all the pieces for the well known “nesting” system of soil blocking. The Micro 20 has a new stronger, smoother design.
Truth is, I couldn’t really justify the cost.
Yes, it’s the premium brand for soil blockers, and they’re used across the world by professionals.
But I couldn’t bring myself to pay for them.
So, I did the next best thing (sort of) and got a cheap plastic one from Fiskars.
After all, Fiskers is a good brand, right? They’re my go-to for scissors and secateurs. Surely, they can produce an awesome soil blocker, right?
First, I mixed up some soil blocking mix. Soil blocks rely on a high fiber content to keep them together, so they require a large amount of coconut coir (or peat moss, if you use it).
Some of the classic recipes for soil block mix include four parts coir to two parts perlite to one part compost. Plus, a whole host of amendments.
This is kind of long, but you can watch my personal hero, Jim Kovaleski, mix up some beauties:
My own attempts gave me some trouble. Was it wet enough? Would it stick? Would they crumble?
My awkward attempts started with me shoving the soil mix INTO the blocker. Nothing like that smooth, super-efficient ka-chunk that I see on the You-Tubes.
And this is what I got.
The Downside of Soil Blocking
Yeah, they worked. They held together. Sort of.
But do you see that I get only 40 modules in a tray with the Fiskars, instead of the 72 I would have gotten with modules?
I’ll try this thing a few more times, probably for pumpkins this fall.
But I have to admit, I’m not in love with the inefficient waste of space with this “spherical” design. I could have just used Jesse Frost’s hand-made soil balls and saved myself the money.
The soil doesn’t eject from the device very smoothly, particularly with the mini-block insert.
And honestly, the finished soil blocks will not stand up if your dog stomps through them in the middle of the night.
Have you ever thought about making your own potting soil? That stuff at the big box stores is expensive, and you may not even know what’s in it.
Lately, there is a lot of controversy surrounding the use of peat in soil mixes. This is especially true in the UK, where there are so many gardeners and so little peatland. They’ll even be outlawing it by 2024.
Peat isn’t sustainable — not really. It takes thousands of years to replace. Here in the U.S., we get most of our peat from Canada, where we can assume that there is much more to be had. But it doesn’t grow back any faster in Canada.
While it seems disasterous that gardeners might someday run out of peatmoss, the really concern is that peat bogs sequester more of the earth’s carbon than any other type of vegetation. Every time a peat bog is drained and backhoe rips up a layer of peat, tonnes of carbon are released into the atmosphere.
And it’s not a trivial amount. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), peat bog harvesting results in the release of about 1.3 gigatonnes of CO2 every year. This equals approximately 5.6 percent of global CO2 emissions overall. That’s just flabbergasting.
Save Money AND the Planet by Making Your Own Potting Soil
With the UK banning peat in potting soil, manufacturers are rushing to create replacement mixes. You’ll find many brands overseas, but here in the U.S., they’re few and far between. They’re also expensive.
It may seem overwhelming to make your own potting soil, but it’s so worthwhile once you get a system in place. I can blame soil-blocking and a busted air conditioner for my foray into homemade potting soil.
I like the idea of using soil blocks. Mainly, because my seed trays were falling apart. I literally was using duct tape to hold them together. Soil blocking requires a special seed starting mix, so I was already armed with most of the ingredients for potting soil.
One of the key ingredients for potting soil is compost. That’s one that isn’t so quick to come up with — not homemade compost, anyway. I’ve been focusing a lot on soil health more than production this last year. So, I have finally managed to produce a somewhat adequate supply of homemade compost. (I also had a fresh bag of Black Kow to fall back on, just in case.)
Spare Covid masks make mixing potting soil safer too!
Soil Blocking Mix
For soil blocking (more on that another time), I started with a basic mix of:
Soil blocking relies heavily on the fibrous nature of the coir (or peat) to maintain integrity, hence the high percentage in this mix. I went with the Epsoma Bio-Tone because I didn’t want to invest heavily in bags and bags of blood meal, green sand, kelp meal, etc., that most soil block mixes prescribe.
Perlite is a unique volcanic mineral which expands from four to twenty…
I don’t really have room to store them, and I didn’t want to carry them all, either.
Seed Starting Mix
In seed trays, you don’t need such a heavy hand with the coconut coir. I modified the soil blocking mix to use as a seed starter:
4 parts coconut coir
3 parts perlite
2 parts compost
1 cup Epsoma Bio-Tone Starter Plus organic plant food per cubic yard of mix
Upgrade to Potting Soil
The best part of making your own potting soil is that once you have your seed-starter mix, you don’t have to start from scratch. Just take your seed starting mix and add more compost and Epsoma.
4 parts seed starting mix
1 part compost
1 cup Epsoma per cubic yard of potting soil mix
These formulas all work for Making Your Own Potting Soil for vegetable plants, flowers, foliage houseplants, and landscaping plants. The mix provides an excellent structure, microbiology, and some nutrition.
You can add liquid food for specific stages of growth without worrying about burning your plants.
Beautiful Homemade Potting Soil
Making Your Own Potting Soil is a Form of Freedom
One of my biggest gardening goals in the last two years is being able to break ties with the big box stores for most of my garden needs. While we have lived in Florida for several decades, the idea of “buying dirt” strikes something in my Midwestern (and frugal) soul.
I like to source as much of my garden inputs as I possibly can. (Just wait, I’ll be re-learning how to fish sometime this year, because when you live within walking distance of the Gulf, you have no excuse for buying fish emulsion).
Making my own potting soil feels like I’m that much closer to self-sufficiency.
You would think that August would be the worst month of the year to do any gardening, especially in Florida.
It’s hot, it’s humid, the daily rains pound baby plants, and the heat index regularly hits the three digits.
Weirdly, ironically, and in a typical Floridian manner, August is one of the best months of the year to get started on your fall garden.
For the most part, I defer to the UF/IFAS Gardening Calendar, but I also find it kind of lacking. While the conservative approach would be to use this as my gardening bible, they sometimes miss a few opportunities for some of the more unusual varieties.
But you know, that’s why they’re there – to provide a slow, safe approach that any gardening newbie will find useful and accessible. It’s a fabulous resource and they go far out of their way to make Florida gardening rewarding.
bell peppers and sweet peppers
Rebel Without a Pause
I don’t have a lot of land to experiment with – it’s just a 1/10th acre suburban plot. But I do have a lot of curiosity to satisfy. And a pack of seeds is only $4 at the most. So, why not push the zone and play with the calendar?
I also have to say that I live in a somewhat nebulous space, zone-wise. Clearly, around Tampa Bay, I’m in Central Florida. However, because I live on the Gulf Coast (within walking distance), I’m in a South Florida USDA zone.
Combined with microclimates, south-facing walls, shade cloth, overhead canopy trees, and the usual independent Floridian spirit, I’ll admit that I occasionally thumb my nose at institutional planting calendars.
And let’s not even talk about the planting maps on the back of seed packets.
Seed packets lie.
August is Time to Sow Seeds
Regardless of my personal desire to buck the system, even the IFAS admits that August is a good time to start sowing seeds for the fall garden. Depending on where you live in the state and the conditions in your garden, it’s time to start everything from tomatoes and calabaza squash to broccoli and cabbages.
I’ve been looking for the most heat-tolerant and disease-resistant varieties in the last couple of years and have found a few winners. In fact, even though I’m in 10A, I’ve started my broccoli already this year using the Piracicaba seed from Whitwam Organics.
I even had some sprouting in June, until my chickens decided to escape their coop and grab some lunch!
These producers really stand up to the heat. They do need some time to get going, however, so I went ahead and started seed cells undercover to give them a head start. Once these plants start producing loose brocolette heads, it’s amazing how much they deliver.
Heat-resistant Everglades tomatoes are already growing big and strong, and now that I have my official Florida nursery registration, I’m hoping to share these with others in my Etsy shop or sell locally at farmer’s markets or Facebook marketplace. I’ve planted several out already, but I want to save room for other varieties.
Other tomato varieties in the pipeline include vining cherry types like Sweeties and Gardener’s Delight. Larger varieties started include Floradade and Marglobes. Both are determinant varieties recommended for Florida growing.
I tend to prefer determinants because they don’t need a trellis. Plus, I’m short. Most of all, I often get a more satisfying yield when they produce all their fruit in a few weeks. Indeterminants seem to struggle on forever, giving me false hope when I need to just face the facts, pull the plants, and compost the remains.
On the eggplant front, I’ve got Black Beauty, white Chinese Bride, and Japan Mizuno types in seed trays. I’ve had a lot of luck with eggplant in my location and got a serious glut of Black Beauty last year.
What to Plant Where
In North Florida, you can start cool-season crops, like broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and both traditional and Asian cabbages. You can also still start warm-season vegetables, like tomatoes, eggplant, and squashes.
In Central Florida, it’s time to sow warm-season vegetables only, like tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and summer and winter squash. You can sow cool-season veg in starter trays in September.
South Floridians can start and plant out heat-loving edibles like tomatoes, tomatillos, eggplant, okra, pineapples, and sweet potatoes. September is better for cool-season starts.
Or, if you’re like me, you do you and start what you think will thrive. But hold back some seed just in case.
Weather to Direct Sow
Because August seems to be the worst for me when it comes to summer storms, I use module trays and start my vegetables undercover rather than direct sowing. Coastal living comes with some destructive weather, so I error on the side of caution. Using seed trays lets me keep seeds and seedlings protected until the weather calms down or the plants are big enough to handle the downfall.
It does mean that I spend a lot of time carrying seed trays back and forth, but I’ve seen so many early starts drowned out that it’s worth it. About two weeks ago, we got 5 inches of rain in just a few hours, and that’s just too much for my little seedlings to take.
Aside from bush and climbing beans, I prefer using starter trays. YMMV.
Gardening Goals for Fall 2021
When the weather cools down, I’ll be experimenting with Charles Dowding’s multi-sow technique for root veg. The technique advocates planting three or four turnips, rutabagas, or radishes in one cell. According to the no-dig guru, they will transplant easily and grow just fine. The goal is to twist out the largest of the clump, leaving room for the remaining roots to develop further. I’m looking forward to seeing if it really works.
August always leaves me feeling conflicted. It’s just still too stinking hot for that back-to-school, autumnal mood required. Why do they start kids in school in August? Why should we start sowing vegetables in August? The heat index of 107°F yesterday does not put me in the mood for school uniforms and cauliflower soup. So, sometimes it’s a struggle to stay on track.
But like most gardeners, I’ve got plants… I mean plans… BIG plans. Gardening plans.
What are you growing this fall in your southern garden?
Recent decades have seen an explosion in new discoveries about soil health and its impact on agriculture. On a smaller scale, home gardeners are learning how to better nurture the microbiology in their gardens for better yields. In most North American gardens, that means keeping the soil covered during fallow times. But here in the South, when gardening is a year-round affair, your best bet is to take advantage of summer cover crops.
Along the Gulf Coast, in areas like Houston, New Orleans, and all throughout Florida, winter is an excellent time for farming and gardening. Although the rainfall may be a bit scant, the pest and disease pressure drops so dramatically that it’s worth it to irrigate.
This means that many Southern gardeners may miss a chance to sow important cover crops to restore organic matter to the soil. In other areas of the country, winter is the time for keeping plots fallow or sowing cover crops like hairy vetch, sudan grass, or clover. No one wants to leave a perfectly good garden bed fallow during its most productive season. That’s where summer cover crops come in.
Summer Cover Crops Are Effortless
In the South, summer is a great time to set your garden beds to fallow mode. While you may not be able to plant cool-season cover crops like winter rye, there are great alternatives for our warmer, wetter climates. As well as restoring structure to your soil and feeding the microbiology, it’s a good time to get out of the sun and avoid heatstroke. Summer cover crops don’t need weeding or watering.
Grab a mojito or a sweet iced tea, and let the bees and bugs have their time in the sun.
Finally Got That Round Tuit
In a previous post, I wrote that I would show you how I put a garden bed to rest for the summer. Although I am running pretty late this year, I did finally start to put the beds to, well, bed.
The first step was to put The Girls to work, digging up the weeds, aerating the soil, eating some bugs, and perhaps even leaving a few nitrogen bombs behind.
Adding Amendments
After letting the chickens loose a few times on the target bed, I add a few soil conditioners and some organic matter to the bed. The first bed is particularly deficient, because it’s a new area on top of what can only be called sand, rather than soil.
Because it will be sitting fallow for about two months, I won’t be digging it in. I’m going full Lasagna mode on this one. I normally prefer a no-dig approach to vegetable gardening for several reasons.
The first is because our barren, sandy Florida soil is already sparse with worms and other organisms that I don’t want to risk them by cutting through the turf and topsoil.
The second is that our heat index is usually around 110°F and our humidity around 90%, so the less I have to do outdoors, the better.
Alfalfa Meal
I have recently discovered the many benefits of adding alfalfa to the soil. It makes a wonderful fertilizing tea. A few scoops in both potting soil or garden beds provides slow-release nutrients.
Studies have found it to be just as effective as fish emulsion and other organic fertilizers. The advantage is that alfalfa meal is a whole lot cheaper and smells a great deal better.
Alfalfa also contains a chemical called triacontanol, which acts as a growth stimulant in other plants. Studies testing triacontanol on plants found that it shortened plant dormancy and increased trunk size and bud development by 100%, and leaf and foliage production by over 200%.
This is one of my fallow beds with the alfalfa pellets.
I use pelleted alfalfa, sold for cattle and horses, at my local feed store. I like the Standlee brand in either organic or non-organic. The upside is that we can also feed it to our rabbits. For smaller areas and container plants, Down to Earth and Espomo both deliver quality organic products.
Do check around and find a feed store near you to source alfalfa meal or pellets for gardening. You’ll spend half as much and most likely you’ll be supporting a small business in your community.
Kitty Litter
Yes, kitty litter — basically, clay.
If you live in an area with heavy, cloying, clay soil, you definitely don’t want to add more. However, I live about a mile off Tampa Bay, and our sandy soil drains quickly. Many thirsty plants can’t drink deep enough before it filters through.
I started adding plain, scentless kitty litter to the soil last spring and the results were truly remarkable. I found that I didn’t have to water every single day just to keep things from wilting.
I also added a small dose of Epsoma Bio-Tone Starter. While there is plenty of organic matter going into this bed, Bio-Tone contains beneficial fungi and bacteria to assist in plant growth.
Because it’s the rainy season, and because bacteria and fungi grow pretty prolifically on their own in this climate, I just added a small bit to innoculate the soil and get it started.
Compost
Over the last three years, composting has become something of a sacred mission in our house. Family members come to me with food scraps and ask me where to place their offerings.
Then, we got a paper shredder! Saturday nights are a blast now!
Composting is the single most effective way to feed your garden and reduce your carbon footprint.
My Summer Cover Crops
Yep, a cheap bag of black-eyed peas from Publix!
Last year, I planted Cowpeas that I got from the garden center in a Ferry Morris or Burpee package. They cost me about $5 and I only had enough for a small area of my garden. They grew well. The aphids LOVED them. I did not.
So, this year, I spent $1.50 on a bag of black-eyed peas from the grocery store. That way, I won’t have to feel guilty if don’t eat any of them.
More Compost, Plus Biochar
There is no such thing as too much compost.
This layer of compost also includes some biochar I made that has been charging for about two months.
Hay There!
I watered everything in well and dropped a light covering of hay to keep the soil cool, retain moisture, and try to fool the squirrels.
There has been a lot of controversy about the use of hay and straw in the garden. More specifically, gardeners are finding that some of the hay they’re sourcing has been sprayed with the herbicide Grazon or aminopyralid.
Apparently, there is no killing this stuff! If you put it on your garden as a mulch, it will kill everything you grow there for years.
If you buy manure from horses or cows that have eaten hay sprayed with aminopyralid, it too will kill everything you use it on for years.
I’ve been lucky so far. But, I’ve also been careful.
According to No-Dig Guru, Charles Dowding, you can test for this contaminant in any hay, straw, manure, or compost you buy before destroying your garden:
Time to Chill
From now until I plant out starts in September, I don’t have to think about that garden bed. No watering, no weeding, no cares, no worries. I’ve finally learned to stop worrying and love the summer.
According to experts at the University of Florida, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, other good summer cover crops for Florida and other Gulf Coast areas include legumes like Indian jointvetch, cowpeas, hairy indigo, sun hemp, and velvet beans. You can also use grain plants like sorghum and sudangrass, if you’re also looking for a huge amount of biomass at the end.
Whichever way you choose to chill this summer, feel free to give your garden a summer vacation without guilt. After all, unlike most of the U.S., we can garden all the way through the other months of the year.
Nature has such a sense of humor! In my last post, I said (confidently) not to bother with a vegetable garden in June in any part of Florida. It’s too hot, too humid… too buggy! So, I had no idea what I could advise to plant in June in Florida, since I’ve found it to be a futile endeavor.
So, what else should happen than to be blessed with a surprise crop of oncoming cucumbers — a vegetable, I must add, that I have rarely grown successfully.
This variety is a complete beast! They’re called Sweet Success, and as long as you can trellis them, they will certainly perform.
With that admission, it’s also important to note that I didn’t plant them in June. I planted this in late March and this is their second cropping after suffering a dry spell.
You may have quite a few fruits and vegetables to harvest in June if you’ve taken care of your garden or simply been lucky. But there are still very few things to plant out.
It may be that you’re finally reaping the rewards of planting three months ago — or even three years. Our bananas are getting fat, and our Barbados cherry tree is dripping with fruit.
But if you don’t have a harvest, is there anything you can plant in June in Florida?
Some Unfamiliar Names
In almost all zones in Florida, you can plant a few exotic varieties of fruits and vegetables, even in the high heat of summer. Look for Southeast Asian and Central American edible plants to expand the variety you grow and eat.
I’ve tried quite a few of them, and if I’m completely honest, there are many I don’t like. There are also quite a few that I don’t like enough to fuss over during days when the heat index is 105°F and the humidity is 98%.
Fruits and Vegetables to Plant in June in Florida
One of the reasons I don’t think about planting some of the unfamiliar vegetables I do like in the summer is because I often plant them in late spring. However, there are a few you can start in June, and even July.
And the advantage is that our summer rainy season should help get them started. So, you won’t have to stand outside in our dry April, coaxing them to life with a garden hose.
Yard Long Beans
These are one of my favorites to grow in the summer heat. They start out a bit slow, which is why I plant them in April. However, you can pretty much plant them any time of year in Central or South Florida.
Note that you WILL need a trellis and you will need one a lot taller than you could possibly imagine. You’ll be rewarded with a constant flow of delicious meaty-textured beans until December for your trouble.
Sweet Potatoes
This is another one that I generally plant long before June, so I never think of it as a “summer vegetable.” Especially considering that it takes four to five months to harvest. I usually grow my own slips from store-bought organic varieties. It takes about two to three months to get healthy slips.
I usually plant to get slips started in late winter so I can start planting in March. This way, I can plant out the slips in succession, which gives me a harvest of sweet potatoes starting in July thorugh December.
However, if you can get your hands on some slips, you still have time to plant them out for harvest in November or December. The summer heat won’t faze them if you get regular rainfall.
This Caribbean veggie is remiscient of pumpkin, but can take the heat. This is the first summer I’m growing it, so the jury is still out. I planted mine out in May, but my sources tell me you can still plant it in June. It looks delicious, and I sure hope mine proves to be.
Alternatives to Plant in June in Florida
June might also be a great time to plant something other than edibles. Add some important companion plants to your garden, or draw in pollinators and other beneficial insects with herbs and flowers.
Marigolds
Tagetes patula, or French marigolds (which are actually Mexican marigolds) work in several ways to improve your garden. They’re not just cheerful and easy to grow.
Marigolds have been known to help deter root knot nematodes — something most Florida gardeners battle regularly. Planting a swath of French marigolds in your future fall tomato bed is a smart idea for summer.
They also attract bees, which is usually a good enough reason for me.
The skies over the gardens of Florida are filled with happy, frisky Monarch butterflies, looking to make more happy, frisky Monarch butterflies. What they’re looking for are milkweed plants, the singular host of their caterpillar.
There’s a lot of controversy about the use of Tropical Milkweed, since it isn’t native to the U.S., but is to Mexico and Central America. One of the key issues is that it tends to increase the chance of them getting a parasite called “OE” (Ophryocystis elektroscirrha).
This parasite is not a good thing and can result in deformed wings in adult butterflies that is nothing less the fatal. Tropical milkweed, because it doesn’t die back here in Florida, can increase the chance of them contracting this condition.
The problem is compounded by the fact that much of Central Florida and all of South Florida enjoys a year-round population of Monarchs that do not migrate to Mexico with their fellow butterflies. It’s warm enough for them to winter over here.
The advantage to Tropical Milkweed (Asclepias Curassavica) is that it germinates well and grows quickly in our subtropical climate. This means you’ll have plenty of monarch food in time for hungry catepillars. Other milkweed species — even Florida native milkweed — can be difficult to germinate and grow too slow for the current year’s brood.
The solution is very simple — cut back your Tropical milkweed to about 2 inches tall in October or November. This will cause the die-off of the parasites and reduce the infection. Also, make sure you have other nectar flowers on hand for them over winter.
But Tropical Milkweed is certainly a beneficial flower to plant in June in Florida and will bring color to your garden.
The Florida Garden Summer Lull
The gardening bug can often turn into an obsession. If you’re relatively new to gardening, you may feel compelled to keep planting through the summer. The COVID-19 lockdowns and subsequent panic over food supplies has meant a lot of new backyard growers in Florida, the U.S., and world-wide.
If you’re a long-time gardener but new to the state, you may find it weird that hardly anyone is planting corn and tomatoes and taking advantage of all this sunshine. That’s because we’ve learned to avoid heat exhaustion and sun stroke.
You may feel like you’re missing an opportunity if you don’t find something you can plant in June in Florida. There are a few things to keep you busy, but preparing for the main even in fall may be more productive.
See all the grass you’re cutting? Compost it! Rest the soil under some cooling mulch. Sharpen your tools, order your vegetable seeds, order your flower seeds, and plan your next season. If it helps, you can even start sowing starter tomatoes next month.
It’s been a tough year for Florida gardeners. Despite some perfect weather, 2020 lockdowns made it impossible to venture out to get gardening supplies. Now, with lockdowns easing and access to vaccines for all, we aren’t allowed to get them, thanks to the Florida fertilizer ban in place.
Then came winter – one of the longest and coldest winters that I can remember since I started gardening. My “winter” garden is usually bountiful because temperatures rarely dip down long enough to leave a flush of frost. Not the winter of ’20/’21, though, when it dipped below 40°F not just once or twice, but repeatedly, from early December through March, and for hours on end.
Then came the drought. While spring in Florida always brings dry weather, it seemed particularly egregious this year after watching my tropical plants frozen to the roots time and time again.
After a harsh winter and a parched spring, every Florida garden seems to need a good feed right now. However, if you didn’t manage to squeak it in during the one time it rained in May, you may find you won’t be able to feed your lawn or garden until October. So, how do you get around the Florida fertilizer ban? How do you bring your lawn back to its former glory?
Why We Have a Florida Fertilizer Ban
In the last decade, the State of Florida has encouraged residents to refrain from using fertilizers containing nitrogen and phosphorus during our annual rainy summer season. The frequent appearance of red tides, algae blooms, fish die-offs, and decimated aquatic habitats has led to restrictions.
Excess nitrogen and phosphorus have no trouble finding their way into our many waterways. These excess nutrients can lead to eutrophication, the explosive growth of free-floating algae. This excess growth blocks necessary sunlight, killing other plants, and depriving freshwater wildlife of oxygen.
Then, once the nutrients run out, the algae die off, increasing the levels of bacteria in the water, and further depleting oxygen. This creates “dead zones” in the water that can last for years.
Not only are these algae blooms bad for wildlife, they can also make our fresh water supply toxic to humans and pets. When fertilizer runoff causes large blue-green algae blooms, it can result in large levels of cyanotoxins, which can cause organ damage in humans.
It’s gotten so severe that low-lying coastal areas, like Pinellas County, are cautioning residents to not even allow grass clippings to fall into stormwater drains.
Between toxic phosphate factories causing evacuations and a record number of dead manatees, it has not been a good year for Florida waterways.
And it’s only the middle of June.
So, How to Get Around the Florida Fertilizer Ban?
I had completely forgotten about the fertilizer ban until I saw a message in one of my local gardening Facebook groups about it. I normally don’t use lawn fertilizer, but this year I decided to get some 6-6-6 to help my beloved St. Augustine Seville turf recover from the hard winter. I hadn’t gotten around to applying it since the weather warmed up, though.
Several individuals on the group were relaying where an unscrupulous person could still buy fertilizer, which counties were less restrictive, and where it could be had online.
But the truth is, you don’t get around Florida fertilizer ban.
And the good news is that you don’t really need to.
Let’s Get the Lecture Over With
Successful gardening is all about planning and patience.
(At least, that’s what I’m told by my favorite horticulturist and garden designer.)
A healthy and sustainable garden requires forward-thinking and patience with the natural processes of the garden. You just don’t rush Mother Nature. And you won’t get the best from her unless you plan ahead to meet her somewhat unpredictable nature.
So, next year, plan to buy a slow-release fertilizer and apply it in May.
Then, be patient for October.
The Upside to the Florida Fertilizer Ban
With all this rain and all these thunderstorms, your lawn isn’t likely to need any fertilizer anyway. Especially if you’ve been taking care of the soil the rest of the year.
And if you’re worried about your summer vegetable garden, all I can ask is which turnip truck you fell off of when you landed in Florida.
Because there is no such thing as a “summer vegetable garden” in Florida.
Oh, there may still be a few stoic specimens alive from the spring planting, but the only vegetables you can plant in the summer in Florida are some legumes, and they don’t need your stinking nitrogen. Almost everything you can grow in the summer here should have been planted last month.
Instead, it’s time to give the veg patch a break. Toss in some cowpeas or grow a green manure, and give it a rest.
I’m going to put a couple of my veg beds on a well-earned “bed rest” when I can find a few cool hours of the day. I’ll write about it here, and you can see how I do it and whether it makes a difference come September.
So, take a break, stay out of that heat, and let nature do its Summer Thang™.
Societal Pressures vs. Sustainable Practices
If you just have to have an emerald-green lawn because you’re hosting the family reunion barbecue or have an HOA breathing down your neck, there are a few alternatives to standard fertilizers.
1. While most lawns aren’t deficient in magnesium, a well-worn tip to green up a lawn fast is to use Epsom salts, magnesium sulfate, in a sprayer. It can improve the uptake of nutrients that are already in your soil, so you won’t have to add more.
2. Buy fertilizer without nitrogen and phosphorus. You can still do your landscape a lot of good by providing potassium (which is not restricted) and key micronutrients like iron and manganese.
3. Instead of worrying about buying fertilizer, make your own by mowing your lawn frequently and using a mulching blade. All those clippings you can’t hose down the storm drain are better used for composting in place in your soil. Frequent mowing means shorter cuts, which break down more easily in the soil.
4. Take up fishing! Who needs expensive fish emulsion fertilizer when you have over 8,000 miles of coastline to play with! Fish guts, bones, scales, and seaweed all make excellent fertilizer for your garden.
Last … and Certainly Least
If you just can’t stand the idea of going the whole summer without fertilizing your prized plumeria, well, you can always pee on it.
That’s right – even the State of Florida can’t tell you that you’re not allowed to take a tinkle in the bushes. Urine is full of nitrogen, and if you add some wood ash from your summer bonfire, you’ll have perfect tomato food, according to Scientific American.
After all – it’s organic. Just make sure you dilute it with at least 10 parts water first, and please, watch your aim. You still need to make sure it doesn’t end up in the watershed.
There’s an App for That!
So, if you’re sure you live in Florida but not sure you’re in a county or city with a Florida fertilizer ban in force, you can check the University of Florida web app. Along with an easy-to-use map of ordinances and restrictions, they also have very cool apps for finding the right plants for your zip code, designing and creating a butterfly garden, and a guide to toxic plants.
While it may seem unfair and inconvenient, the Florida fertilizer ban might just lead you to more sustainable gardening practices — like obsessive composting. It could even lead to a new hobby! (Fishing, not peeing in bushes!) If you’re out fishing, you won’t be fussing over tomatoes that won’t make it to the Fourth of July.
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