Grow-it-Yourself Dining This Fall

Article By:Joan Bradshaw
Director of the University of Florida /IFAS Citrus County Extension

High prices at the pump and the produce aisle have sent home gardeners into their yards with a mission of Grow-it-Yourself dining. According to W. Atlee Burpee & Co., the nation's largest seed company, twice as many seeds were sold this year as were sold last year. If your dinner plate is in need of high quality produce, your body craves some constructive exercise, and your pocketbook could stand to save a few pennies, why not revisit the old “Victory Garden” concept in your own back yard. If you have never had a vegetable garden before, now would be a great time to devote a part of your landscape to growing vegetables. Take a little time to plan your fall vegetable garden layout by follow a few easy steps:

Garden Location
Locate the garden on a site close to a source of water with at least six hours of direct sunlight. Vegetables may also be included in your landscape among ornamental plants. Where possible, don’t plant the same kinds of vegetables in the same spot year after year. This will help with pest management in the future.

Garden Plan
Before planting, make a paper plan, including which vegetables you intend to plant, where you will plant them, and when they need to be planted. Home gardeners can use the Florida Vegetable Gardening Guide to help develop your plan.

Soil Preparation
While most gardeners plant on whatever soil is available, your gardening success will be greatly improved if you apply composted organic materials to your garden. Spade or rototill the plot at least three weeks before planting. Then, rework the soil into a fine firm seedbed at planting time. Organic materials such as animal manure, rotted leaves, compost, and cover crops improve water and nutrient holding capacity of our sandy soils. Thoroughly mix in the organics at least a month before seeding.

While you are working on your vegetable garden plot, be sure to have your soil ph tested prior to getting started. The pH of your soil is particularly important in determining nutrient availability to plants. The ideal soil pH range for vegetable gardens on sandy soil is between pH 5.8 and 6.3. Citrus County Master Gardener Volunteers offer a soil pH testing service for $3.00. More extensive soil tests can be done at the University of Florida.

Plant Selection
In September many cool season vegetables can be planted in the garden including beets, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, collards, kale, kohlrabi, leek, lettuce, mustard, onions and radish. In October, you can plant Chinese cabbage, spinach and strawberries. These vegetables are best started from transplants but many can be direct-seeded. If you seed them directly into the soil, keep the ground moist while it's still warm to give them a good start. Keep them well watered if you transplant, too. The later you start, the smarter it becomes to transplant to cut the time to maturity.

Dr. Joan Bradshaw is the natural resource conservation faculty for specialized programs in Citrus, Hernando, Pasco and Sumter County University of Florida/IFAS Extension Service.

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