September Garden Guide: The Ultimate Guide to Florida Gardening

Wondering what you should plant in your Florida Vegetable Garden in the month of September? Check out this Florida Gardening Video where I give lots of Florida Gardening Tips to help you have a successful Florida Garden. When you are new to Gardening in Florida, you need all the help you can get so that you start a Florida Food Forest, grow a Central Florida Vegetable Garden, add color in your Tropical Garden, enjoy the best Florida Friendly Landscaping, and add Florida Native Plants.
_________
WILD FLORIDIAN GARDEN PLANNER
https://www.wildfloridian.net/planner
_________
LINK TO VEGEGA RAISED BEDS
https://www.wildfloridian.net/gardenbed

10% COUPON CODE
WILDFLORIDIAN
________
GET YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED WITH A VIDEO – BE A MEMBER!
YouTube Membership https://youtu.be/qJvuB5bq8rM

DISCLAIMER: This video and description contain affiliate links. As an affiliate associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Howdy neighbor. How is your garden growing? Me in my garden. I want to talk to you about what you can be growing in the month of September right here in the sunshine state. So whether you live in North, Central, or South Florida, this is going to be the video for you. And as always, I’m going to be using my handy dandy Wild Fidian garden planner to help keep me on track and give you the best tips each month. So let’s start first with what you could be starting by seed this month. And this is going to be for North, Central, and South Florida this month. Everyone can be starting warm weather crops by seed. So when I mean say warm weather crops, I mean things like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, corn, and beans. All those kind of crops that typically if you were looking at kind of a classic northerners, they would be starting to be able to grow in spring and then have them produce their harvest in the summertime. But for us in Florida, we’re doing our second round of warm weather crops in the year in the late summer into fall cuz technically, right, September is summer up until we get towards like the 20th to 22nd and then we get the fall equinox and then we will technically be officially in fall. So, we get to have it both ways. And if you want to argue that this is fall, you are correct. And if you want to argue this is summer, you are correct. But whichever it is, let me talk you through some of the things you should be considering starting. So, one of the big differences that I usually recommend for you guys when we’re in the September planting period, when we’re thinking about things like tomatoes, is planting the varieties, if you want them, that are bigger. And when I say bigger, I mean tomatoes that are going to be like 8 oz, 12 oz, 16 oz. I guess you could go for ones that go to 32 oz. That’s like a 2 lb tomato. But this would be the time of year because the bugs, well, they’re here, but as we go into the season later and later, the bug populations are going to drop. And that gives our plants time when they actually make that tomato to have time to finish the tomato before a critter or a bug gets to it. Now, for me, I’m a simple gal. I kind of have only a couple varieties that I’m starting this time. So, I’m starting uh purple Cherokees or Cherokee Purple seeds from Southern Exposure, and I’m doing Fourth of July hybrids. The Cherokee Purples are what would be a little bit bigger. These ones tend to get to about a pound for me. And then my Fourth of July hybrids, which were well past 4th of July, they tend to be more in that 4 to 8 oz and they kind of sit around that 6 to 8 oz time period when they’re in ideal weather. Now, you could start lots of different types of tomatoes. You could do anything with like grape tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, pear tomatoes, Everglades tomatoes. All those will work at this time, too. But if you’ve been hankering for those slicer tomatoes, this would be a really good time of year to start them. And if you guys remember last month, I actually recommended that many of you, especially North and Central Florida, get your seeds started. And some of you may be really excited because those tomato seeds came up really fast. That’s one of the cool things or I guess the warm things about this time of year is that things like tomatoes start can start as fast as 7 days. These ones actually popped up in about 5 days for me and they’re already putting on their first set of true leaves. So these leaves right here, that’s like just what pops up. And then this first little leaf here, that’s our true leaf. So these are my Fourth of July hybrids. They’ve done amazing. Now, while my Fourth of July hybrid tomatoes are looking great, my Cherokee purples, well, they’re also looking great, but they’re a little challenged because of what happens at this time of year. A couple of the little bugs, they came and they ate them. So I need to be ready to, and you should be, too. If you started your seeds last month, be prepared that it’s okay to have to restart in this month. It’s not unusual. Actually, this month in particular can be really challenging for seedlings here in Florida because of two things. One, the bugs who can come along and just take a quick little snip of our little tomato plants and boom, they’re gone. But the other thing is that we tend to get smashing monsoon rains. Now, Florida gets monsoon rains all throughout the summer. That is totally normal getting those getting those afternoon storms. September seems to be particularly good at having those days where we get 2 in, 3 in, 4 in, 5 in, 6 in. One time down in Fort Lauderdale, 24 in of rain in a day. And no baby plant can handle that. Which is why I recommend you guys always carry extra seeds. Either buy an extra packet or make sure you hold on to your seeds because restarting your seeds in the month of September is totally normal. So, if you haven’t gotten your tomatoes started, but you need to get them restarted, don’t feel bad. Me, too. And here’s the thing. If you are getting your seeds started this month, and you want someone to show you step by step how to get your seed started, I just did a video this last month where I took you step by step between tomatoes, peppers, corn, squash, beans, peppers, all of it. I show you step by step. And it’s actually a video you can watch while you do it. So, if you’re looking for that kind of hands on how to get seedlings going like this in just a couple weeks, check that video out. Okay, simple, easy, those are now receded. Speaking of the seeds that I started in that video, look at these. These are some of the peppers that I started. H, but I forgot to label them. I’ll have to go back and check. I think these are the Charleston bells. But regardless, I mean, they’re looking really good and they are getting ready to be uppotted. And this may be one of the things that you need to be thinking about if you did start your seeds last month is that you’re ready to move them from these smaller containers into larger containers. And one of the things that you’re going to want to be looking for when you’re starting new seeds is that are you seeing the roots starting to get to the edges or is the plant 3 to 4 in tall? Now it’s time to move it into a bigger pot or move it out into the garden. But when it comes to my peppers and tomatoes, even though these are getting to a size where I could feel comfortable moving it out, it’s not quite the right time of year. I want to give it a little bit more time before I go and pull out my hot weather crops and keep moving along. But if you are going to consider starting peppers this time of year, really consider doing kind of your milder peppers. You can still do hot peppers, but this is the time of year if you’ve been longing for those classic bell peppers or Hungarian wax peppers or banana peppers. Get those started by seed now because they’re going to have time in this hot weather to get those seeds going really quickly. These only took about 7 days to get started from seed, which at other times of year they could be up to two weeks. I think northerners wait 2 to 3 weeks. My goodness, who’s got time for that? I lost one right here. So, let’s get this little guy receeded right now. Now, one of the choices you have when you’ve seated trays is that do you want to thin out a singular plant or do you want to try to transplant it? Now, me, I don’t have the confidence right now. I don’t have the confidence right now to separate out my seedlings. So, I am just going to go ahead and recede by putting like just a couple seeds back in. These will start really fast. So, even though they’re a few weeks behind their brothers and sisters here, we’re still well within the time. You know, I don’t really like the way this one’s been looking. I think it got squished aside. So, I’m going to throw these two little seeds right there. And actually, that brings me to one of my tips for you guys is that if you’re seeing something going wrong with your seedlings, like don’t be discouraged to restart. This is a time of year where your seeds are often starting in four, five, 6, 7, 10 days at most. So, you can really rapidly go from, oo, that doesn’t look good. I don’t know that I really want to keep like I’m not sure if it’s doing right. Just get like another tray started or just like them and then restart. I actually had to do that this summer and you probably didn’t even realize it is that in the video some of the seeds that I started well I went on vacation the week immediately after and some of them got way too leggy. You know what I did? I just cleared them out and I restarted again and boom, they’re looking good. Okay, so we talked about starting tomatoes. We talked about peppers and doing milder types. Then also you could be starting things like eggplants. Kind of finish off the nightshade families, right? So eggplant I started some ping tongue eggplants. We’re just going for one plant. So, I’ve consolidated down to my one little tray of eggplants. And if you have recommendations for any of these warm weather crops or something that you feel works really well, please share down in the comments below because all these varieties other than the Fourth of July have all come from you throughout the years. They are not things I discovered necessarily on my own, but through hearing from you guys and other gardeners. So, we got tomatoes, we got peppers, eggplants, and of course, beans. Lots of beans. And there’s so many types of varieties. Now, this yard long beans, like these summer ones, these Puerto Rican black beans, they’re not something I would get started right now. You technically could, but I wouldn’t be starting them now cuz they’re more of a summer crop, but there’s a ton of just more of these milder beans, black beans, and I I don’t know. I just grow lots of black beans, honestly, cuz we eat so many black beans in my household. But I know people grow pinto beans and all sorts of varieties. Some of the ones I’ve used historically is the Trailchair black Cherokee ones and then I’m trying the black turtle beans right now. Well, I’m going to try them in ground. And that brings me to another tip is there are some plants that I would lean towards more starting in trays and there’s some plants that I would say put them directly in the ground. Things like tomatoes, peppers, eggplants I find start better in trays. Things like beans, squashes, and I’m learning corn are better to direct sew, but you can start all of them in trays. I have started beans before in trays. See behind me. I’ve started pumpkins in trays. Don’t have any going right now, but will be again. And I’ve started corn in trays. And actually, my corn up front. Well, I need to go and back fill some of the holes. But instead of starting some more in trays, I’m going to actually grab some seeds and we’re just going to go direct sew them right now. All right, let’s see how many. One, two, three, four. So, I got one I need to put right there. And then I probably need to back fill right there. That one looks like it’s falling over. Okay. So, in the middle I had peaches and cream hybrids. So, these are ones I started in trays and then I put them as a transplant. And some of them look good, some of them look like they’re going to fall over. And so, we’re just going to go ahead and put them in. And I’m that’s my biggest recommendation for you guys is just get stuff going. Sometimes it’s just not going to be perfect and that’s okay. Just go. Tell you this bed was looking good for about a week and then we had like 4 in of rain. Everything flopped over and then died. We’re going to go back and reed this one. This is also the peaches and cream. And I’m wondering since some of them seem to have like a pretty decent sized tap routt, maybe they needed to go directly in if we’re going to have this much rain. See, I think I’m doing how many rows? One, two, three. That spot. I’ll just This guy’s What do you think? I think we need to add a couple. This is the uh bodacious ones. Okay, so we’ve replanted those. Next up, let’s talk about other things that we need to be considering doing besides just starting seeds. Okay, so we’ve talked about starting tomatoes, peppers, corn. We talked a little bit about eggplants and beans, what you can plant in trays, what you should do directly in the ground, and really the big divide. If you’re kind of wondering what to plant in ground and what you should lean towards trays, besides the list, I tell you, it really comes down to seed size. If the seed is small at this time of year, if you put it directly in ground, the odds are less likely you’re going to get a plant that you want in the place that you want it because the smashing rains are going to move seeds around. And when they’re teenytiny and very thin like that, there’s an increased chance that like a millipede or some other bug is going to come around and just bite it. So tiny seeds need a little bit more protection. The bigger seeds tend to put out bigger sprouts very quickly, which is why we lean towards putting them in the ground, right? It’s because they’re going to pop up 4 days from now and they’re already going to have roots like this long in a week. So getting them directly into ground can be a really good thing just but you can do it both ways as long as you monitor a lot. That’s kind of the big thing is like if you have it a tomato plant that you put in the ground, you’re just going to want to baby it a bit more. And what I did with the corn is as soon as I saw that the roots were like hitting the bottom of the tray, I was like, “Boom, we’re just going to get them out there.” So, if you’re willing to adjust fast, doing it in the other method that’s nonp preferred, if that makes sense, can be a way that you can get things going in a more controlled method. So, that can be kind of the difference of inground versus in a tray. Now, one of the reasons that I am tending to start a lot of my warm weather crops in trays at this time of year is not just because they need a little bit more protection, but also because I’ve got these big old hot weather crops sitting in the beds. You remember I told you guys this months and months ago when we were getting the hot weather crops going, I said there’s going to be a time of year where you’re going to have to decide, are you going to time it out so you can finish your hot weather crops or are you just going to get rid of them once you’re ready to start transplanting your warm weather crops? Now, for me, I would prefer to get some rosels and some cranberry hibiscus. Okchra, I’m not as, you know, I only need a little bit to snack on during the summer, but otherwise, I think I’m pretty satisfied at this point. So, for me, I’m going to be holding on to these probably for another month in my beds. But you may not have done that, and you may want to know what other things you need to do in preparation for your warm weather crops. One, it’s time to pull weeds. I don’t know about you, but there’s definitely some stuff getting into mine. whether it’s these Chinese crown orchids or spurge or I don’t know there’s so much stuff that’s popping up at this point. So pulling weeds is a really good idea. The second thing is is that if you have existing beds is topping them off with new soil or compost. If you make your own compost that’s phenomenal. Go ahead and put that. For those who don’t you might need to buy some bag soil and just the other thing is is that the next step depends on whether you’ve grown in them before. If you’ve been growing crops before, even if you skipped over summer, you’re going to want to add nutrition back on. So, this could be through just doing compost or you could make a um a compost tea or you can get something like I call it shake and bake, but like shake and feed and you add that on top or use your amendment of choice. Some of the stuff you’re going to really want to add back in is nitrogen because all these plants are green and green comes from the nitrogen. So, you’ll want a nitrogen fixture, but you also will want kind of like an allpurpose allound feeder if you had successful plants before because they’ve pulled a lot of stuff out there. Everything from calciums to potassiums to phosphates from your garden. So, don’t forget, pull the weeds, top the bed off, refer in your preferred method. The next thing you need to consider doing, especially as you’re getting started into this classic crop season, is people in North Florida, beyond your warm weather crops, you could also be considering starting some of your cold weather crops. So you could be starting by seed. This be on the very early end. Things like your brasacas. So that would be broccoli, cauliflowers, cabbages, kales, and Brussels sprouts. It’s on the early side for me by about a month, but for you guys, because you’re a little bit cooler, you’re just a little bit cooler. You could get those started by seed. And that might be recommended because you want to make sure that you time it out because I think it’s like 90 to 100. I don’t know. Let me check. Cuz the idea is is to time it out before you get the potential of too cold weather for your cold weather crops. Your frost temperatures and things like your breast frost is like 90 days. So that gets you September, October, November. And then that way if we have a cold snap in December, you could have harvested potentially before then. So consider in September. Now for us in central Florida is a little still too warm. I don’t need to really worry about a frost date because we kind of don’t ever get frost here. Knock on wood mulch. Um, and then South Florida, you got a little bit longer. The other thing in North Florida is you could start getting your root crops growing. So, this would be things like I’ll call it roots and bulbs. So, things like your carrots and onions, those could also get started at this time of year. Remember, in general, roots and bulbs, you’ll want to start in place. So things like beets, radishes, carrots, you should start directly wherever you’re going to go, even though the seeds are tiny. But things like onions, you can start in trays and then transplant out the little the little scallions later on. So you have some options with those ones. Me, I’m a big fan of onions, so we will be starting them, but not this month because I’m Central Florida. I got a little bit more time. Other thing that you guys should really consider doing even for North and Central Florida is to be going and investigating slashordering your strawberry starts. We are now at about the time where having strawberry starts is going to become really exciting. If you live in Central Florida, you may just be able to drive over to Plant City where the all the strawberry growers are. I have heard though they are not ready for us until October, but it may be worth kind of scoping out who you’re going to buy them for. I know there’s a lot of local growers who are, you know, all about selling those starts to people. So, something to consider. And if you’re thinking to yourself, growing strawberries in Florida, are you sure? Yeah, cuz Florida is actually known for growing strawberries. We have a huge strawberry festival in February when loads and loads of crops Ah, dropping my peppers here. So, make sure if you do want to get strawberries that you get them in the month of September or early October so that you can get them in the ground. Get your own strawberries. Next tip for you guys in the vegetable garden is to really pay attention to how much rain we’re getting. Another inch. At this time of year, it is not unusual to get a lot and then not get any and then get a lot and then not get any. because we’re heading out of monsoon monsoon season and into drought season, we start to have more gaps between our rainstorms. But when they come, they tend to be very heavy. And another thing that plays a factor into this is tropical storms and hurricanes. One, September tends to be one of the most active months for us actually getting hit by a tropical storm or hurricane. But the second thing is is it’s generally in the Gulf and in the Atlantic a very active time for hurricanes and tropical storms. And it can kind of go both ways on how it affects us. One, if we’re on the wet side, as it passes by, even if it doesn’t hit us, can just dump so much rain. But on the other side, they can pass and we can be on the dry side and it can suck all the rain away from Florida. It’s just like it creates this very like feast or famine. So, I would highly recommend still pay attention to your water needs in the garden, especially for vegetable gardens, especially for seedlings, because while 5 in of rain in a day can smash them to death, they need kind of more of a lowle consistent amount of water. So, just because we got 5 in last week doesn’t mean your baby plants are going to be okay the following week. So, pay attention to your rain. In general, keep your sprinklers off for wellestablished plants because there still will be plenty of water in the ground. But for anything that’s a baby, a newbie, a transplant, these tiny little plants, those are the ones you really need to monitor to make sure you’re giving even water to. And even if they’ve gotten a few inches tall, do be prepared to pull them under cover if we’re about to get one of these tropical storms. And goodness gracious, if we get a hurricane, I mean, all bets are off at that point. And another thing to do at this time of year that you might not think about is a lot of people talk about spring cleaning. I heard someone else talking about inside your house doing fall cleaning, but I feel like that’s so true for us here in Florida. And I don’t just mean in the beds. I mean even around the beds is well, I’m sure some weeds are starting to like have gotten in and taken off over the summertime. So getting them pulled and under control and then laying down some sort of natural mulch, whether it’s wood chips or pine straw. When I say pine straw, I just mean pine needles. and I just saw a lot of them. Putting it down to suppress out future weeds is a really natural organic way to keep your soil protected from all the weeds getting in, but also kind of keeping it neat and tidy and aesthetic and easier for you to move around. Me, too. So, in the month of September, if we’re not hit by a hurricane, it’s a great time to go and lay a bunch of mulch down. One of the other things to consider doing, getting some pollinator plants in your garden and near your vegetables. Things like your tomatoes, your peppers, your eggplants, beans, and squashes all produce more when you have pollinators nearby. But the thing is is they don’t have flowers for long periods of time because what those plants are really trying to do is get you a vegetable. But these plants, well, they’re all about feeding your bees and your butterflies. So, consider adding some of these plants, some flowers nearby your garden. And actually, some of the ones that do the best are native plants. And I just recently did a native seed starting video for you guys. Again, kind of step by step with hand overhand so you could see how exactly to do this. And one of the things I’m actually starting for seed for the first time is our native butterfly weed and our native swamp milkweed. Well, intentionally starting them. I’ve got some spread in my yard without me really trying before. But I’m working on growing these. And at this time of year, this can be really important to have native milkeeds in your yard because the great monarch migration has started. They’re heading out of Canada and making their way down to Mexico. And they do come through North Florida and sometimes will make their way down into Central Florida. And even if the migratory monarchs don’t make it to your house, I’ll tell you, they never really make it to mine. If you’re that far south, you have yearround monarchs. In Central and South Florida, we have a unique ecosystem that allows them to live here most of the year. and having native milkweeds in your garden can be a helpful way to keep monarchs. So, you can help wildlife and increase the amount of vegetables you’re getting. I feel like this is a win-win. Another one that I started by seed in that video that I definitely think you guys should add is our native spotted bee bomb. Spotted be bomb is notoriously positively good at attracting bumblebees and big fat buzzing carpenter bees which are really really good at pollinating your squash plants. So if you want pumpkins, if you want butternut squash, get some be bomb near those plants cuz they will really increase your harvest. That’s how I do it throughout the years. And another thing you can do for something that’s migrating, and I’m not talking butterflies, I’m going to be talking birds, is turning off your lights. This is the time of year, especially midepptember and late September, that the birds are starting to head south for their winter grounds. And the thing is is Florida is really important to their migratory path. Many species of birds come through Florida on their way down to Caribbean and South America, but a lot of species, well, they stop right here. So, turning off your lights actually allows them to get either to Florida or through Florida because at they travel a lot at nighttime because, you know, it’s hot down here. I don’t know if you noticed. So, they can actually use less energy getting to where they need to go by traveling at night. But, there’s another bonus for you by turning your lights off at night. And it’s actually one of the reasons I never recommend putting lights on your garden beds, as cute as that can be. But remember, lights attract nighttime bugs, including moths. And a bunch of pests that a lot of you guys don’t like on your vegetable crops are moth caterpillars. So, by having lights on your garden beds or security lights that are pointed this way or lights from your patio or lai or just even light coming out of your house and hitting your plants can help attract a lot of moths to the plants that they want to eat. A lot of people through the years always are asking me about like tomato horn worms and various different caterpillar type bugs. But one of the things that Ben and I do is we keep our lights off almost the entirety of the year. And we always have them off 900 p.m. and later just to help reduce light pollution, which is better for animals and wildlife overall. Has the added benefit of not attracting these caterpillars that will go ahead and eat my plants. Is that a surprising tip? I wonder what other tips are surprising. And if you want to see even more tips about vegetables, flowers, perennial plants, and fruing plants that you could be planting in your garden in the month of September, go ahead and check out this video right here. And if you want to keep yourself on track of what to plant and when to plant it, you can go ahead and pick up your wild florian garden planner right here. Okay, I’ll see you soon.