June is planting time for summer vegetable crops. These are primarily tropical crops and cover crops that can withstand the high heat and humidity, and heavy rainfall of our Florida summers.
For tropical crops that need a long frost-free growing season, it may be helpful to check your first average frost date to determine if your frost-free growing window will be long enough. You can find your first average frost date here on this interactive map: https://www.plantmaps.com/interactive-florida-first-frost-date-map.php
Websites that offer seeds for some of these heat tolerant vegetables:
1) ECHO farm: https://www.echobooks.net/bookstore/seeds/
2) Southern Exposure Seed Exchange: https://www.southernexposure.com/
3) Baker Creek: https://www.rareseeds.com/
4) Seed Savers Exchange: https://www.seedsavers.org/
For major pest infestations the following can be used:
Organic Pest Control Methods:
1) Spray Insecticidal Soap directly on the the bugs (I do this late in the day and rinse off the next morning so the sun doesn’t burn the plants). Do repeated treatments every few weeks until they are gone. For a homemade soapy water spray, I mix up some castile soap with water and neem oil (I do 1 tsp of Dr. Bronner Soap + 1 tsp Neem Oil to a quart of water in a spray bottle, per the instructions on the neem oil bottle, but there are many recipes online for homemade insecticidal soap that would probably work just as well).
Alternately, you could buy a pre-mixed Insecticidal Soap.
These are the brands I have used, but I’m sure there are plenty of other good ones:
Pre-mixed Insecticidal Soap: https://amzn.to/36YZPBq
Dr. Bronner’s Soap: https://amzn.to/3JOD3uq
Neem Oil: https://amzn.to/36VG1P1
2) For Caterpillars/Worms I use the organic products Spinosad and/or “Bt” (Bacillus Thuringiensis). I only use them for severe infestations that can’t be controlled by routine hand picking. I spray it in the evening when bees are not active and only spray it on the affected plants. These are the ones I have used, but there are other brands that would also work (Note that these are concentrates, meant to be mixed with water following the instructions on the label): Spinosad: https://amzn.to/3IOmzRw
Bt: https://amzn.to/3uI9uV4
Here are links for many of the products I use in my vegetable garden. Note that a lot of these items, like the fertilizers and the trays/saucers, have gotten much more expensive lately (like everything else). I shop around to find the best prices on the items and if I can’t find something at a reasonable price then I will just do without or find a substitute):
7 Gallon Grow Bags: https://amzn.to/2XaJ1mp
5 Gallon Grow Bags: https://amzn.to/3ht2wNP
10 Gallon Grow Bags: https://amzn.to/3k4WpkB
14 Inch Diameter Grow Bag Trays/Saucers: https://amzn.to/3tAkzqc
16 Inch Diameter Grow Bag Trays/Saucers: https://amzn.to/3AiP724
Sustane Organic Fertilizer (4-6-4) 20 lb Bag: https://amzn.to/3lztPHJ
or
Jobe’s Organic Fertilizer (4-4-4): https://amzn.to/3EdxeV2
or
Espoma Organic Fertilizer (3-4-4): https://amzn.to/3EbvJ9P
For Berries: Espoma Berry-tone Organic Fertilizer (4-3-4): https://amzn.to/3jlD8dA
In addition to the above fertilizers I occasionally use these seaweed and fish fertilizers to give my plants a boost of nutrients. I also use some of the seaweed fertilizer (half-strength) on my seedlings right after I transplant them (Note: I don’t use fertilizers with fish in them for seedlings):
Maxicrop Seaweed Fertilizer (Powder): https://amzn.to/3uWO9ak
Maxicrop Seaweed Fertilizer (Liquid): https://amzn.to/37uA0JJ
Neptune’s Harvest Tomato & Veg Fertilizer 2-4-2 (Note: this formula is best for first few weeks of plant growth, as it encourages lots of green leafy growth. For fruiting/flowering plants, I switch to the Rose & Flowering formula after the first few weeks. Also, this contains fish and the smell attracts animals, which will dig up the plants trying to find the source of the fish smell, so I use it early in day and water it in just before dark to minimize the smell). https://amzn.to/3r8OJ40 Neptune’s Harvest Rose & Flowering Formula 2-6-4 (Note: this formula is best for later stages of plant growth to encourage more flowers and fruit to grow. This formula also contains fish so everything I said above about attracting animals applies to this formula too). https://amzn.to/3KqBino
The Following Organic Soil Amendments Add Trace Minerals To The Soil.
Green Sand (Organic Soil Amendment Adds Trace Minerals): https://amzn.to/3z5uG7B
Kelp Meal (Organic Soil Amendment Adds Trace Minerals): https://amzn.to/3tz2lFH
Dolomite Lime: https://amzn.to/3CbclIl
Row Cover (A multipurpose plant covering that can protect plants from insects, provide some cold protection in winter, and can also provide a small amount of shade): https://amzn.to/3nreXh5
Drip Irrigation: https://amzn.to/3uzbhuV
Self-Watering Grow Boxes:
Patio Pickers: https://amzn.to/3vrhHhW
Earthbox: https://amzn.to/39VfsaX
15 Comments
thanks a lot for this list!
Thanks for sharing 🙏 😎 🏖 🏝
What mulch should I buy to keep soil from drying out
Thank you. From the Florida panhandle ☀️🌸
By calabaza do you mean pumpkin?
thank you from Palm Bay Florida East Coast. great info.
who sells these seeds so we can plant them? Thank you for such great information, you give so much detail and cover so many bases, it is priceless and gives lots of people encouragement and confidence to grow a green thumb….lol!!!
Question, what ideas do you give for people who have wildlife entering their yards, like beat, bobcats etc? thank you!
Thanks! Yep….So much to learn, but the challenges are fun. It seems like some racoon "friends" got past the chicken wire last night and had a lil sweet 'tator partee and I think the bunnies got some of our baby sunflowers but the Seminole pumpkin, Brazilian spinach, moringa, luffa, herbs and mulberry are off to the races. I usually have a tray or two of microgreens going out on the porch all year. This week's pea shoots are very sweet.
What is pigeon pea like? Growth habit?
When can I plant giant noble spinach
☀️🌼👨🌾🌻🐝🌸🦋🫑🍅🥕🥬🐝
I’m back for another update of your beautiful garden. It’s amazing to see the changes in your plants over time. I look forward to watching your garden grow! I love watching my garden grow a little each day, that is my favorite part of gardening. It’s so fun to have the growth documented over the season to look back at and see progress. I love that about being a garden YouTuber. Let’s learn & grow more together!
Thank you so much for the list! I’m having a hard time with plant diseases and bugs this year. I’m in west central FL and the culprit currently is cucumber mosaic virus and pickle worms that have attacked my squash, zucchini and cucumbers😞 I’m trying to avoid toxic pesticides so I use a lot of natural remedies but I’m still struggling as I’m learning. Any recommendations/sites that have a large quantity of disease resistant seeds? Im having a hard time finding them in stock online. Any help is greatly appreciated!
That’s for info
Very informative. Thank you kindly for sharing your knowledge.