Common Florida Gardening Mistakes And Tips For New Vegetable Gardeners

In this video I share stories about my gardening failures from when I was a newbie gardener. I explain what went wrong and give some tips for avoiding the mistakes I made as a beginner.

The following links provide planting charts and information about when to plant different types of crops in Florida:

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):

or
or

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 as I explained in the video):

The Following Organic Soil Amendments Add Trace Minerals To The Soil. I like to mix at least one of these amendments in my potting mixes and raised beds:

I also sometimes use Chicken Manure Compost in my raised beds (Note: It smells very bad. I keep it outside in a big tote container with a lid). I usually get a big 20 lb bag of it from my local Ace Hardware. I also often mix some Cow Manure Compost and Mushroom Compost into my raised beds and potting mixes. (I usually get these big bags of compost from my local Ace Hardware store. They are MUCH cheaper in the store than online):

Self-Watering Grow Boxes:
or

Organic Pesticides:

[antonioeizagirre]

What a lovely and kind woman you are!. Most appreciated

[dieterkaraluz]

There is a failure I did that took me two years to discover, : I was using locally sourced horse manure and everything I planted would die or at best look very sad and not produce anything. One day a nursery owner told me that many gardeners are having problems with horse manure: some hay farmers are spraying their hay fields with herbicides to kill weeds, hay absorbs the herbicide without damage, horses eating the hay don't absorb the herbicide but return it in the manure... And you end up planting your peppers and tomatoes in herbicides. I was told it takes at least 3 years composting to get rid of the herbicide in the manure... David the Good has videos about it, and many AG extensions published articles about it but you have to know to look for it! This can also be a problem with cow manure... Ready to give up growing vegetables I reluctantly started another raised bed with commercial soil and was able to eat my first tomato in two years right before the freeze hit.

[maneemeany]

I wish I watched your YouTube before. I went trough this spring and early summer. Thank you for all great info.

[melissakelley]

Thank you I live in Safety Harbor / Tampa Florida 🙏 and I found warm on my melons leaves 🍃 like you said I cried

[chicksryd]

Thank you for sharing your tips! I am gardening during my first year here in the Florida panhandle, and I'm trying to plant all heat-tolerant plant varieties. Fingers crossed some of the plants survive through June 🤞

[Freedom-xb]

I’m in my third year of gardening here in Florida across the Bay from you. After hearing how you experienced Murphy’s Law I admire you more. My losses made me cry and want to give up but I’m not a quitter! I’m smarter than insects and bugs…always learning in gardening. Still love it immensely. Thank you for sharing 😊

[xxCrystalxx]

Thank you so much for sharing! I'm new Gardner in florida and it seems like every video out there are for northern climates. I live in Central Florida and have had trouble figuring out what to plant and how much direct sun to give them because of how hot it can get here. Hopefully this season is somewhat successful! Thank u for the tips!

[nickotasla]

👍Great channel. Check your Audio. when you're recording your audio indoors, theres a very deep bass note that plays as you're talking.Maybe thr fan or the outside Air conditioner.

[fishingpinky]

Great information...I did the same things when I first started....you will help a lot of others from the same mistakes.

[FurFeathersandFlowers]

What an excellent and extremely helpful video chock full of great information! I've tried briefly to grow veggies in the past and made some really awful mistakes, so as I tip toe back into this hobby, I've been doing a ton of research. I must admit it is very overwhelming on all the aspects to learn. Your video really cuts out a lot of the learning curve. New sub here, look forward to following along on your journey as I live on the west coast as well.

[alissaemmons]

Thanks for sharing! Appreciate your gardening wisdom and encouragement 🙂 I know how discouraging all of the gardening failures can be!

[Steve.]

Great video im in florida as well 9b. I think the most important things for new growers to understand are microbes! All that fertilizer people use does you no good unless there are micro organism present in your soil for them to break down into a form that plants can more easily uptake. You get more microbes by adding organic material (compost) and after a while you wont need anymore fertilizer for your garden, only more compost!

[angeltippit]

I finally found a channel i love. I live in west central also. Thank you!!!

[susanschmitz]

Thank you!!! Great video, this was very helpful❤

[kinflorida]

Awesome video! I'm a new gardner in north Fl. And just lost most of my tomatoes plants I started from seed after putting them in the ground..

[gunsaullus]

Love this channel! She must put a lot of work into these videos.

[FloridamanForager]

Fellow Florida gardener here, im sharing my experience on my channel as well!

[canceriangal]

I really like your channel especially this video. We are new to Florida and last year we started pepper plants in July. Safe to say none of them did well. This year we start them in February but I think it’s still not a good time. Hopefully we will see how far our plants will go and cut our losses. Also regarding diseased plant I have last year’s pepper plant which is always infested. Somehow that pepper plant is still producing. I’m thinking of throwing it away because of the diseases. Also it is away from all my other plants so that it doesn’t spread the disease