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Month-by-Month in North Florida: What to Plant in October

Shasta Daisies
October in North Florida is the time when summer plantings are finished, and it's time to plant your winter crops, and some perennials and bulbs for spring blooms. It's also the last chance to plant strawberries, although you can still plant quite a few herbs. It's the best month to plant fruit trees and shrubs, so if you have been thinking of one, plant it now.

Vegetables to Plant in October

This is the month to plant all those leafy greens you are always hearing your should eat more of, as well as root crops like carrots, onions and turnips. You can still plant strawberries until mid-month, so if you don't have yours in yet, do it now.

* last month to plant these crops
** Only plant until the 15th

Arugula Beets Broccoli Brussels
Sprouts		 Cabbage
Carrots Cauliflower Celery Chinese
Cabbage 		Collards
Endive/
Escarole		 Kale KohlrabiLettuce* Mustard
Onions,
bunching		 Onions,
bulbing		 Radish Spinach Strawberry**
Swiss
Chard		 Turnips


Ornamentals to Plant in October

With cooler weather coming up fast, annuals will start to fade, but if losing a few doesn't matter to you, plant whatever you find in your local garden center. A few hardier oranmentals you can add to your garden this month are

FoxglovePetuniaShasta Daisy

Bulbs to Plant in October

All the gingers can be planted this month, ornamental and edible.

There are a few varieties of Daffodil that do well in North Florida, but a warning: they may not bloom consistently in the lower sections of 9a. But if you are in 8b or upper 9a, here are a few you can try.

'Carlton''Fortune''Silver Chimes''Thalia''Sweetness'

Plant Thyme Now for Beautiful Spring Blooms

Herbs to Plant in October

October is a wonderful time to plant herbs. Some of the more tender herbs may need to be planted in containers to bring in during cold spells, but most can be planted right in your herb garden.

AniseBasilBorageChervilCoriander
DillFennelGarlicGingerLovage
OreganoParsleyRosemarySageThyme

October is a lovely, cool month to work in your North Florida garden. Don't forget to gather the falling leaves for your compost pile or to use as mulch! If you have any questions about gardening here in Gainesville or the surrounding area, post them in the comments. If you like these posts and want to see more, you can subscribe in the sidebar by email or through a feed reader.

Happy Gardening!

Garden Diary: September 15, 2017

Well, Hurricane Irma has come and gone, and I still have a living room full of plants. I wanted to do some much-needed maintenance before I put them back out, but I've been so exhausted, it didn't get done.

Everything fared well. A few plants got bent over, but I have propped them back up, and they seem to be fine now. Gladly, it hasn't rained for a few days, so maybe I can avoid losing so much to root rot.

I'm going tomorrow to be assigned my community garden plot. I've decided to rid myself of many of my plants here in favor of working more there. I do have quite a few plants I can actually take there, like some of my edible hibiscus and of course, sweet potatoes next summer. I'll be buying a lot of starts for the community garden, because I'm not having much luck growing things from seed. I'm not going to plant tomatoes at all. I don't eat that many, and honestly, I'm just tired of fighting all the pests and diseases they get. I'll be planting mostly greens and root crops, hoping they do well -- lots of collards, turnips and mustard - my favorite greens! Not much lettuce, my least favorite green.

As for here, I"m going to sell or give away most of my potted plants, especially my tropicals. I struggle to find shade for them every year, and I'm just a little tired of having to keep so many of them in the house.. I'm thinking of clearing out my courtyard entirely and just having a few plants and ground cover. I got too carried away and now it's a mess! I'm even thinking of taking out the bananas. I want to turn it more into a place I can hang out than a place I have to work.

So that's it for now. I'll try to have some pictures soon.




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