Fall/Winter Garden: grow carrots, cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, greens (lettuce, kale and collards), peas (English and Sugar Snap), winter squash, onions, beets, radish and rutabaga. This is by far the easiest season to grow, it's not quite as hot, and the bugs and weeds have backed off. I like to have this crop in the ground by late September to mid October. There's not as much of a time constraint for this garden as you can grow up until you want the garden free for your Spring garden, which for me is mid March. Star performer for this garden are the Sugar Snap Peas, I prefer 'Guisante'. Also the Broccoli and Cauliflower is important, because you really can taste the difference with the varieties I grow and harvesting fresh. I prefer 'Pericicaba' Broccoli and any of the violet varieties of Cauliflower. For some reason the white Cauliflower varieties do not set heads well for me, but the violet seems to handle our central Florida winter unpredictabililty better. Do not expect to harvest the onions during this garden, they will take until late Spring to be ready to harvest.
Spring/Summer Garden: grow tomatoes, summer squash, corn, cucumbers, green beans, and peppers. I'll start seeds for tomatoes and peppers in my little greenhouse but it's not essential, tomatoes grow pretty fast and just start your peppers from starts instead of seeds to get a head start. You can also do melons but I fight with powdery mildew here in Hernando County so I skip them. The trickiest part is timing starting your seeds after the threat of last frost. This past spring I got caught being a little too eager and was in the garden at 8 p.m. the night of a late frost putting crop covers over my tender little babies in the dark. I usually try to have my plants/seeds in the ground by mid March so that I can beat the intense heat and torrential rains of late July with my tomatoes. With tomatoes I only grow from seed. One spring I lost my whole tomato crop early due to a bacterial infection that I believe was brought in by a seedling I purchased. Tomato is king in my garden for this season, and Parks Whopper is always a great performer. Large fruit, good solids vs gel ratio, great flavor, great disease and split resistance. For cucumbers I like 'County Fair', it's a good pickling and fresh eating variety that is resistant to powdery mildew. For summer squash I like 'Fancycrook' and 'Sunray', completely for their powdery mildew resistance. Powdery mildew is my biggest issue so I aim for appropriate crops with resistance to this. By the end of July this garden is usually so overridden with stinkbugs, weeds and fungal issues that I am ripping everything out and calling it a day.
From August to October I take a well deserved rest, and so does my soil. Contrary to popular advice, I keep my vegetable garden in the same location every year. Therefore by August the soil is full of weed seeds and pathogens of every variety. This is when I take out my clear plastic sheeting and cover the entire growing surface, thus solarizing the soil. I will let the sun bake and kill the bulk of my pest, weed and disease issues. It just make sense to do this because if I left the soil uncovered I would be facing an unholy weedy mess. It must be working because I have surprisingly few issues. Giving myself a rest also works well, by mid-September (now) I'm rested up and jonesing to get a garden going again.
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