UF/IFAS
Okeechobee County Extension Service
458
Highway 98 North
Okeechobee,
FL 34972-2578
Phone:
(863) 763-6469
E-
mail: indianco@ufl.edu
September
27, 2011
Feature Article -
for immediate release
Dan Culbert -
Extension Horticulture Agent
Strawberries and vegetable gardening
This
past Monday night the Okeechobee Garden Club met at our
office to review a presentation of Vegetable gardening.
Those in attendance ware asked to take a short quiz
on their vegetable gardening knowledge, and asked to
retake the test after the film.
Today’s column will look at the questions and
hopefully improve YOUR gardening knowledge as we fall into
Florida’s gardening season.
Sweet
strawberries for your garden
Are
you looking for a fruitful fall and winter?
Also announced at the meeting was that orders
for strawberry plants are now being taken at our Extension
office. A
local grower, Mr. M.T. Alden, announced he will have
plants available at 50c
per plant for those that want to include strawberries
in their home garden.
Plants must be pre-ordered before of Monday October 3rd – contact our
office if you are interested.
Strawberry
plants need to be planted in during the fall so that they
will produce these luscious fruits in our cooler winter
climate. It is
often hard to locate sources of strawberry plants, so we
make this annual offer to help local gardeners.
Last
year our office coordinated the sale of nearly 1000 plants
to home gardeners. The
varieties of strawberry plants offered will be Treasure
or Festival, and they typically arrive locally during
early October from North Carolina.
Basic
vegetable gardening
Besides
viewing the video, those attending the meeting were given
copies of the “the
Guide,”
a.k.a. the Florida
Vegetable Gardening Guide, a University of Florida
Extension bulletin that is available on line at: http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/vh021.
Other handouts on how
to build a raised bed garden and a list of the
Okeechobee Fair’s Largest
Vegetable Contest records were provided to motivate
gardeners to get growing.
A
Gardener’s test
Before the presentation, I want to see what the audience really knew about Florida-Friendly Gardening, so I created a short test. Want to test your knowledge? Here, then, is the test given at the meeting
1.
A good place
of a vegetable garden has well drained soil, is near a
source of water, and gets more than 6 hours of sunlight.
This
statement is true. Garden
plants need lots of sun to “produce” produce, you
don’t want wet soils, and you don’t really want to
cart water to your garden.
2.
The best
place to get locally adapted vegetable seeds and plants is
the garden centers of the big box stores.
This
statement is false, as many of the larger stores return
seeds in the fall to make room for holiday merchandise,
not realizing that our gardens have only just begun.
You may have
to order seeds from catalogs, and grow your own if you
want quality vegetable transplants.
3. When is the time to plant tomatoes in Okeechobee?
Our tomato planting season in South Florida began in August and will run until March. Planting out of season will often lead to challenges with pests. Check” the Guide” for South Florida planting seasons.
4.
When is the
time to plant collards in Okeechobee?
Collards
are also planted from August through the spring, but
planting should be finished by February to avoid pests and
beat hot spring temperatures.
5.
When is the
time to plant spinach in Okeechobee?
Here
is a cool season crop that can be started in October, but
should be finished planting by January. If you wait later,
the plant starts to “bolt” and go to seed.
6.
‘Big Boy’
is a good tomato to grow in a Florida Vegetable Garden.
False:
this is NOT a recommended variety of Tomato for
Florida gardens. A
complete list of recommended varieties is in the Guide.
Recommended Florida tomato varieties include Better
Boy Heat Wave II, Cherokee Purple and Red Grape.
7.
The best
thing you can add to Florida vegetable garden soil is:
(fish heads, pond
water, composted
organic material, or
chemical fertilizer).
Of
these soil amendments, composted organic material will do
the most to improve the long term health of the soil and
your vegetables. Make
sure it is well composted – not fresh.
8.
Flood or drip
irrigation will reduce plant disease problems.
True
– keeping water off the leaves of the plant reduces
diseases – and other pests too.
Avoid overhead sprinkling, especially in the late
afternoon or evening.
9.
Nematodes in
the home garden can be controlled by chemical pesticides.
False
– there are NO registered chemical nematicides available
for home gardens. These
microscopic sucking worms are managed through soil organic
material, crop rotation, and soil solarization in the off
season.
10.
The most
difficult pests to control in a garden are weeds.
True
(mostly): This is a bit of an opinion response, but most
vegetable gardeners spend more time and energy weeding the
garden than dealing with the other pests.
One of the best tricks is mulching that can reduce
weeds and solarization that can keep the number of weeds
lower.
How
did you do? Even
with some very knowledgeable gardeners in the audience at
the Garden club, no one had a perfect score.
But by the end of the evening, everyone there
improved their test scores by an average of 47%.
The Garden Club meets the fourth Monday night of
the month at the Extension office starting at 6 PM.
(The Orchid club meets at 7 PM.)
The next meeting will take place on Monday October
24th – why not mark your calendar now!
Additional
information on how to grow strawberries or home vegetable
gardens can be found in archived news articles on our
website. For
more information, please contact the Okeechobee Extension
office at 863-763-6469, or go to the Okeechobee
Extension web page, http://okeechobee.ifas.ufl.edu.
Local residents can stop by our office at 458 Hwy
98 North in Okeechobee.
Go Gators!
-30-
Trade
names, where used, are given for the purpose of providing specific information. They do not constitute an endorsement or guarantee of products named, nor does it
imply criticism of products not named. The Florida Cooperative Extension Service - Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is an equal opportunity/
affirmative action employer authorized to provide research, educational information, and other services to individuals and institutions that function
without regard to race, color, sex, age, handicap, or national origin. Florida
Cooperative
Extension Service / IFAS /
University
of
Florida.
Millie
Ferrer-Chancy, Interim Dean.
Last
update: 09/28/2011. This page is maintained by Dan
Culbert