TEMPLE TERRACE — With food prices continuing to strain household budgets, growing your own vegetables might seem like an appealing alternative.
And in Florida, now is an ideal time to get started.
Whether it’s in a backyard, on a balcony, patio or screened lanai, or at a community garden, aspiring gardeners have plenty of options for growing fresh vegetables without needing a lot of space or experience.
In Temple Terrace, a community garden with three locations — Riverhills Park south of Riverhills Elementary, Greco Middle School at 6925 E. Fowler, and Linwood Edible Park, southwest of Linwood Park at 113th Avenue and 62nd Street — and nearly 150 members offers another option, providing residents with garden plots, tools and advice from experienced gardeners.
Florida’s predominant growing season is from September to May. Some vegetables can be grown in the summer, but the brutal heat makes it harder on the gardener.
Each vegetable has a specific time it needs to be planted. Some do better as transplants, while others need to be sown directly into the soil.
In October, for example, easy transplants include arugula, broccoli, kale, lettuce and strawberries. Seeds for carrots, onions, radishes and turnips should be planted directly in the garden.
The University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (UF/IFAS) website eliminates much of the guesswork with lists of vegetables to plant for every month of the year.
Tia Saracino, the residential horticulture extension agent at the Hillsborough County extension office of UF/IFAS, wants anyone who might be considering starting a vegetable garden to know:
“This is the time. Right now, we’re planting seeds. Every day we’re planting stuff in flats. We’re planting stuff directly in the garden.”
Community gardens
For those who aren’t ready to start a garden at home, a community garden may be the best solution for aspiring gardeners who don’t have enough space, want to gain knowledge and experience, lack the necessary tools or simply want to be social.
Twenty-seven community gardens have been established across the Tampa area, from Lutz to South Tampa and from Town ‘N’ Country to Plant City.
Membership is $20 per year and allows gardening and harvesting in common areas, as well as access to social events. Individual 4-by-10-foot raised beds can be rented for an additional $40 per year.
Mehdi Rakhshani, the garden’s president, said a community garden can solve many of the problems that might intimidate an aspiring gardener.
“We highly recommend people gardening at home,” he said. “That’s definitely a great thing, but if they don’t have the space, they’re welcome to join our community. We have bonfires and potlucks during the cool months of the year, so those are a lot of fun.”
In addition to space and camaraderie, membership grants access to tools, drip irrigation, compost, mulch and the wisdom of other members.
“We have master gardeners that are members of our garden,” Rakhshani said. “They go take classes and they have to do yearly kind of renewal and take a test. So there’s quite a bit of knowledge.”
The Linwood Park location at 11304 N. 62nd St. currently has three empty plots, and Rakhshani said more could be added if demand warrants.
Anyone can become a member, even if they don’t live in Temple Terrace.
Getting started
Saracino recommends starting small with easy plants to grow, such as green beans, collard greens, kale, cherry tomatoes and cucumbers.
The easiest way to start is in a grow box with a watering reservoir in the bottom. They are small, usually only about 1 foot wide and 2-3 feet long. They can handle only a few plants per box, which is good for a beginner.
Starting too big can be overwhelming and lead to frustration and financial loss.
To start right away, use transplants. They are started from seed in a flat, have developed their true leaves and are ready to move to the garden. Transplants can be found online, at nurseries across the Tampa area and at big-box stores.
The downside is the lack of variety. Fewer than a dozen varieties of a particular vegetable might be available as transplants, whereas hundreds of varieties of seeds can be found. Starting one’s own transplants allows a gardener to choose varieties that thrive in Florida’s climate.
“It’s not too late to plant seeds now for the cool season crops that we do in November,” Saracino said.
Seeds can be purchased almost anywhere. But seed libraries, such as those at Temple Terrace Library and New River Library in Wesley Chapel, allow library cardholders to obtain packets of seeds for free. Gardeners can also save seeds for the next growing season.
Maintenance
A plant’s watering needs depend upon its age and the type of soil.
According to UF/IFAS’s Vegetable Gardening Guide, “Young plants need frequent, light irrigation; maturing crops need more water but less often. Sandy soils demand more frequent irrigation than clay, muck or amended soils.”
Pests, wildlife and weeds are the bane of any gardener’s existence. The key to battling these annoyances is consistency, Saracino said.
“Just be persistent — or regular. Every day, you wake up and check on your garden,” she said. “Check on it once in the morning and check on it once at night.”
She said doing so teaches the gardener to read the signs plants are giving about their needs.
Different plants attract different pests, and each type of pest may require a different solution. Saracino recommends taking a picture and sending it to UF/IFAS, where experts can diagnose the problem and suggest a solution.
“In general, we recommend organic and natural products that are least toxic, because you don’t want pesticide runoff into the Tampa Bay or whatever your nearest body of water is,” Saracino said. “So just a low toxicity one would be an insecticidal soap or a horticultural oil.”
Fences, screens or garden cloth can help keep wildlife away.
Worth the time and effort
Rakhshani and Saracino both estimated the time commitment as one to two hours to set up and about an hour a week to maintain a small garden, along with regular checks to make sure plants are healthy.
“It doesn’t take a lot of effort, but it does take consistent, maybe once a week, visit to the garden,” Rakhshani said.
They both said the benefits of growing one’s own food are plentiful: fresh air, sunshine, friendship, potential financial savings, better nutrition and better flavor.
And while a small vegetable garden isn’t likely to replace trips to the grocery store, it can provide some fresh produce and the satisfaction of growing something yourself.
“It’s nice to supplement your diet and you really appreciate and enjoy the taste of the fresh grown vegetables that you grew in your own backyard,” Saracino said. “A little bit for dinner once or twice a week would be a good expectation.”
For more information, visit https://www.templeterracecommunitygarden.org/. Prospective gardeners can contact Rakhshani at templeterracecommunitygarden@hotmail.com to request a tour.