The Best Vegetables to Plant in January in Florida

[@stevezelev7008]

We're near St. Augustine and got down to 25 one night. Wiped out 100 Roma tomatoes and dam near everything else. We decided to use 15 gal. tubs going forward. We can lug them inside if we have to. While there is a lot of gibberish about "climate change", we'll have much cooler winters for at least the next 15 tears. We're going into a solar minimum (look up Adapt 2030 on YT) and can expect much cooler winters. Best Wishes and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

[@Strongerbyhaleigh]

Hello from Pensacola! ❤ just found your channel and so happy to see another Floridian! I live in a small condo as a student, so I’m trying to plan what all I’m going to plant in containers this year! So excited!! 🪴

[@WildFloridian]

Yay!!! Welcome Haleigh! This is a lovely community that is all about helping and having a good time. Best wishes as you start and with your schoolwork! 👩‍🌾🦩🌺

[@meeks4756]

Hello! I'm right down the road from you in Navarre 😁 Good luck with your containers! What a great way to start!

[@oreopaksun2512]

Some thoughts about growing food in containers, after my first fascinating year: get the largest containers you can afford/move around. 5-10 gallons would be minimum for plants like tomatoes/peppers, and you can companion or interplant around the base. Select dwarf varieties. Grow herbs and aromatics that you use; they don't give pounds and pounds of food, but they make every bite better, and you use it more when it is growing right outside your door. Jacqueline's suggestion of green onions is a no-brainer, and a great confidence booster for a first garden. Check around your school; there may be a food gardening group or a minimal waste group that is composting and gardening. I recently learned that Eckerd College started up a farm on campus, and they offer lots of advice, (and unofficially of course, free plants and such). Best wishes for an exciting growing year.

[@HeatherHarrisfit]

I just downloaded your seasonal calendar. Thank you for such an awesome freebie!! I’m gonna check out your planner too! I usually have some scraps of paper and sloppy notes in a comp book 😜

[@Bdozack]

Good morning. I am looking forward planting. Thanks for the encouragement and tips

[@kimberlyd317]

Wow this weather this year…it’s 47 in central Pinellas as I watch this one 😂

[@WildFloridian]

Woke up to 49 this morning 🥶

[@chayasuperfood]

Good job @Wild Floridian sending support from Indonesia

[@AnanasDoktor]

Gutes neues Jahr wünsche ich aus Deutschland, hier ist es diesen Winter nicht billig mein tropisches Warmhaus warm genug zu heizen.

[@oreopaksun2512]

Happy New Year, Wild Floridians, all! Jacqueline, I will use your freebie planner for 1Q23 until the hardcopy comes out. Too lazy to print and bind. Lol Got fortunate with the Xmas freeze; most of my containers did fine by moving under cover, and wrapping with sheets (even papayas and Dwarf Cavendishes). Onion family and all brassicas did fine with NO care. Only plants that completely melted after frost were basil. I even have some Seminole pumpkins, taro and tomatoes and peppers going strong and flowering. Microclimates...its real! Another plug for Elise at Urban Harvest: if you can pick up live plants in St Pete, Elise has reasonably priced transplants, especially herbs and brassicas (usually 3-4 babies in one pot for $4; the broccoli I got from her in November are 18" or taller in containers, and survived the freeze fine) and she will probably have more tomatoes, peppers, etc soon (prices have increased on these like everywhere else, but her plants thrive here in Florida). They will give you a jump start on the long-season crops.

[@tammybinfl4755]

I have been growing tomatos even with crazy weather. Have lettuce, arugula, and strawberries as well doing great in St. Pete. I have started my tomatos and peppers seed starts. Excited about keeping something producing all year...thank you for all you give to us!

[@legauxmc]

Started my onion, turnips, beets, herbs and a few others Thank you for your encouragement

[@andreabeu8834]

In Orlando, I just covered most of our plants and they came out pretty well. A bit of leaf damage on some and the cucumber that was still going but on its last leg didn't make it. As for coverings, I have a stack of sheets, draperies, and tablecloths that I picked up from Goodwill. Definitely a good, cheap option when the freezes come. Just make sure that you have enough to cover everything that you would want. I realized that I had forgotten to get more when I expanded my garden so I had to make do with what I had and luckily everything still made it.

[@legauxmc]

Still on the fence for my fruit trees. I hope they survive. Zone 8, Milton, fl

[@hodgepodgefoodadventures8140]

Sauteed Beet Greens are amazing in olive oil and garlic little salt and pepper awesome!!

[@Christina-xc7on]

I felt pretty discouraged after my first season gardening in Florida, but I'm starting some new seeds and trying to learn and adapt!

[@kangtani_indonesia]

Very useful information about farming in Florida and added inspiration to my farm

[@yesidtac7863]

Gran cultivo

[@ginnabeard579]

Thank You from Cape Coral FL !!!

[@heatherbarnard5490]

First off, love your channel! I am in Jacksonville and have never gardened in my life but decided I wanted to start this year. Can you please please make a video about how to start for new gardeners? I have no idea what soil to buy or how to fill a garden bed or if I should just plant in the ground. THANK YOU!!!

[@WildFloridian]

Yay Heather! I’m excited for you! The next video on Tuesday will show how I start planning an in ground vegetable garden in my back yard. Depending on how big your garden will be will change what you may want to use. But if it is your first time, start small. There is a lot to learn and it is easy to get overwhelmed. If you did one bed (in ground or raised bed) you can use bag soil from Home Depot or Lowes. My biggest tip is start simple… there are many ways to make your garden better or cheaper. The first time around make it easy.

[@heatherbarnard5490]

Couldn’t do it without your advise! My fiancé built me a bed out of pallets and I’ve looked up how to fill it; right now we just have a lot of cardboard boxes in there and some big sticks. The house we moved into had a compost bin abandoned for years in the woods but was full of dark, mushy compost. Wondering if I should use that in the soil? Just watched your vid on 4 soil types and thought it was helpful!

[@WildFloridian]

Yes use some of that and see if you can get some other soil to fill. I have a video on how to fill beds. And I talk about how deep the soil needs to be initially… short answer 6 inches for most cold weather crops. So check that out for ideas too.

[@muriellockhoff9560]

Small garden radishes are come in

[@alexfinucane8796]

Our yard in south Saint Pete was overrun with Chinese violet, thankfully the cold weather in late December killed them back. The guanabanas and June plum though still haven't bounced back yet -_-

[@shirleyk623]

I've managed to save a few tomatoes, eggplants and peppers from the freeze. I'm planning on starting some spring seeds now. If we could get some constant sunshine that would be great. I actually have broccoli making heads other than just leaves. Yeah!!!! I can't wait until the spring 🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋

[@theannecrossett7761]

🙂

[@hunterscott2505]

It got down to 49 here in Fort Lauderdale in December. I kept my Casper pumpkin warm, my tomatoes survived, my herbs and eggplants survived. But my cucumbers and asparagus beans were cold shocked and pretty much died or stopped producing. My carrots aren't gaining any meat, my blueberries, blackberry, and strawberry didn't fruit. All my okra stopped producing

[@samelita007]

Hey, thanks for the idea of the binder. I was trying to find an economic alternative to the printing, and this would totally help

[@stephanierodriguez8064]

South Florida zone 10b here - and brand new to gardening. Don’t have any experienced gardeners I could ask either: since I am already in a very warm zone with likely no frost ever - can I plant seeds for whatever is on the planner for the month straight into a container or in the ground? Or do I also have to start seedlings and then transplant them?

[@WildFloridian]

Yes you can put seed or transplants in ground or container!

[@erikafigueroa472]

Hello Jacqueline!! I would love for you to come over to my property and help me plan my food forest!!! I’m so confused as to where to plant 😅😅Zone 9b

[@nccgolden3626]

Thank you. Love your channel n you have a great personality. So fun to watch. I purchased your planner and wanted to share with friend and wanted to let you know there are no Share buttons even they’re mentioned. Thought i let you know. Im using iphone

[@angyles1]

My winter garden is in full swing and I started my tomato/eggplant/pepper seeds on Jan 2nd. I hope I didn't do it too soon :-/ But I do have a mini greenhouse I can put them in to harden off until the outside weather is warmer. Been here exactly 12 months now so I have no idea what I'm doing lol But I know even in WA I would start them in Feb so this seemed reasonable. Maybe kinda???

[@frostylonewolf1700]

also i had subbed and been watching your videos, great work keep it up !

[@meeks4756]

Hello from NW FL (near Pensacola)! The freeze definitely did some damage. Fortunately, we had already harvested our broccoli and cauliflower, so we were okay to lose them. Our kale is still going strong, and the spinach and arugula are rebounding nicely. Our brussels sprouts look healthy, but the buds are still too tiny to harvest. Hopefully they will give us a good harvest before it gets too hot. I'm itching to go out there and start pruning, but I'm nervous about getting another cold snap. I remember some years ago we had a bad ice storm in February, and I'm afraid that mild weather and pruning will signal the plants to start growing too early. What is your advice on pruning after a freeze when the winter may not be quite done yet?

[@WildFloridian]

First you are doing amazing! It sounds like you are doing awesome with your cold weather crops. On pruning, general rule is wait. Especially since you are in north Florida. I’m going to do some pruning in the next month… 1) because I’m less susceptible to freeze 2) the plants are too overgrown and 3) if they die, it’s ok. That’s my thought process. Hope that helps 🥰

[@meeks4756]

@@WildFloridian Thank you! That helps a lot and confirms what I've always done to help my garden bounce back after a "harsh" winter (by FL standards, anyway 😁). Patience, patience, patience!

[@Freedom2025-x2b]

Just ❤love you!!!! Looks like you need a bit of a “care” time. Darkness under the eyes. We are selfish. We want you healthy ❤

[@WildFloridian]

Awww I appreciate you Patricia. Ben and are not getting great sleep. Teddy Bear is in his final season. And just like at the beginning of life…. He is waking up a lot in the night. We didn’t think he would make it to Thanksgiving… then Christmas… then the New Year. But we made a promise to Teddy that we would hang with him as long as he wanted to keep going. So I’ll probably look very tired for the foreseeable future. Take that as a good thing… it means our Teddy is still with us 🥰

[@sarahbhutta251]

I was just going to ask you about South FL before watching the whole video. Then you answered it. 😂 Patience, Sarah, patience.

[@sarahbhutta251]

Oh and does the planner cover zone 10b? I didn’t get it before but I’m ready to do some proper planning this year.

[@nicolehutton2438]

I have the Chandler strawberries plants. They are growing runners. Should I leave or cut off the runners? Also when should I see flowers or berries popping up? Do you know where I can purchase the "plant city" plants?

[@chrisspilker8889]

I planted blueberries in the fall. I read someplace to cut off flowers 1st yr. Do you have any advice on this issue? 2 blueberry bushes are flowering. Help🙂

[@xxdr3am3r4lif3xx]

I'm super interested in starting carrots but my beds are currently full (broccoli, collards and small tomatoes currently). Can I plant them in a container? Should I start from seed now or is it too late? I'm in zone 9b.

[@WildFloridian]

Yes you can start them now and yes you can grow them in a container! 🙌 I have a bunch growing in a 5 gallon pot. You just need the pot to be deep enough. Look for something at least one foot tall

[@shirleyk623]

I grow in 5 gallon buckets successfully, I've never done carrots but it is worth a try. Good luck 🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕🥕

[@WildFloridian]

That will work perfect for depth!

[@Hannahsunshine-]

I went to Home Depot in late Nov and asked where they moved the seeds to. The worker said "I'm gonna be honest. We threw them away" 😭 hurts my heart to hear. They didn't even put them on discount before, just tossed them for Christmas stuff.

[@WildFloridian]

OMG 😭 Nooooooo! Not even clearance or consolidate to one regional store. 😭 It hurts my heart too ☹️

[@leaanncarroll7870]

Rabbits. I use the green tops for my rabbits.

[@dulcyreck4436]

Came here to say the same thing. They do a great job at turning greens into garden fertilizer!😊

[@frostylonewolf1700]

i looked it up cabbage takes 5 gallon pots

[@caseymajor4803]

We better not… I just potted up plumerias today

[@bradjohnston8687]

Carrot-top pesto