Too hot and buggy now for anything but okra and Cowpeas where you're at, since I know where that is ;-)

Set and sow mid-September and Mid-January, and forget veggies from mid-May until mid-September, other than starting pepper seed eight weeks before set, and tomato seed six weeks before set and broccoli seed around September 1st for set mid-October.

Tom

Yep, I agree with Tom. My tomatoes are really slowing down now, was picking 4 - 6 a day. Still getting a couple of peppers and some green beans (pole only, bush beans dead), onions are done for as well as strawberries and cucumbers.
Sharon

Geez....what the heck did people eat in the summer before Publix??? I'm so bummed about my watermelon. I was really, really excited about that.

I thought beans did well in the summer? I thought I was being 'smart' this year and planting Florida summer veggies? Guess not...! LOL.

And - the kicker is...I really don't like Jalapenos! Yet, thats the only thing fruiting!

Maybe playing golf is less frustrating than trying to grow vegtables in Florida!...

I'm in the same boat. Tomatoes are starting to get curled edges and slow down on production. Okra is still slow to produce and this year for the first time, I'm battling the beetles.

Hi Saintpfla

I know that it can be frustrating when you try to grow something and it does not work.

The weather has been playing games with us and so are the bugs, I have seen more bugs than any other year and different too.

The best is to plant early and protect them from the cold, also start an organic spray early on and just keep an eye on everything planted so you don't loose your crops to a pest or disease.

I have my neighbors going with veggie gardens after visiting my garden they thought it was a good idea. Now, some of them listen, others not, some ask questions, others never and plant with their own feelings (they are not experienced gardeners). After all it is easy to guess who is successful, I still share the veggies with them to make them happy.:)

I wish we were all in the same zone and follow a good calendar for growing crops, but unfortunately we don't have that, we just have to go to trial and error. Just don't give up.

Silvia

You're not the only one.... my maters are finishing up and the ones that are left have little worms in the top that I cut off.., my pole beans are still bearing but I have to brush off the bugs when I pick them... I do have great peppers and more than I can use but I have abt. 8-10 plants, some from last year that are huge and I can't figure out how come they survive...... mostly sweet bells and sweet banana , and 2 hot pepper plants.... my eggplant is producing well... not much can take the heat here in the summer, but we are lucky, we have 2 (two) growing seasons here whilst up north they only have 1 (one) !!.... sally

For the watermelon you can pollinate one yourself, just rub your fingertip around inside a fresh male flower until it has some pollen on it then rub it around inside a fresh female flower - the one with the little fruit. Goodluck

Although not really a veggie, sugarcane loves the summers here and it's a beautiful ornamental as well. It has long arching leaves that sway in the breeze. Downside is it takes 10 months to get a crop and they do get 10ft tall. I'd be glad to give you a start of them if you want, just drop me an email.

cathystpete, what do you do with Sugarcane?

SPF, I'm coming down to Sallie's Saturday, I can bring you some Red Noodle yardlong beans if you'd like to try them, they'll handle the heat and humidity BUT you will still have to spray for bugs.

Tom

Sugarcane is very sweet as the name implies. You cut the mature stalks into bite size pieces and peel them, then chew them and suck the sweet juices out. The leftover pith is disposed of. It's a popular treat in the caribbean.

Thanks everyone for listening to my gardening complaints. I know you feel my pain! LOL....My non-gardening friends just don't care about this! It's more like...'Yawn...what's the big deal? Just buy 'em at the grocery store!'.

I usually can grow tomatoes with no problems! This is the first time ever that I cannot get a tomato plant to produce. That was my ONE thing! My one, fail-proof veggie that always worked for me! (sigh...)

Needless to say, my respect for farmers has increased to just below diety-status. Clearly, I would starve to death if I had to rely on myself for food....

I forgot about planting egg-plant. I did last year and had good success. Is it too late now to start one?

Tom: Yeah, I'd love to try a new veggie...heck, maybe it will be something I can actually grow! Plus, I can give you cuttings of that Mona-Lavendar Ivy plant to try out. It's my new favorite 'low maintenance' shade-loving plant.

Okay, I'll bring you some Everglades tomatoes too, just drop a few seeds anywhere and you'll have marble-sized tomatoes all summer long...I'll call you in the morning.

Tom

Plant seeds developed for Florida .
You cannot expect good results from seeds that come from the center of the country .
Try seeds that do well in the tropics .
See if you can get some Rattlesnake beans .
Try some Rocotillo peppers : a Caribbean variety .
Tom is right . Try some of his beans .
I learned the hard way to not trust the box stores .

As I learned, plant beans early and enjoy them up to May. They produce a lot and by May stop because of those bugs or hot weather. I don't even try to save them during the summer time.in the fall they do good again.
Peppers, I had the same problem and found out they didn't have enough fertilizer.the plant could stay in the same size for months. after adding 2-8-4 stick fertilizer they started growing and producing like crazy.

Try some Rocotillo peppers : a Caribbean variety.

But how hot are they? 1-500 Scovilles doesn't tell me much, that's way too broad a range. I don't like hot at all, but for most peppers to survive our buggy summers they must have some capsaicin in them or the bugs will decimate them....

Tom

If you don't like hot peppers , you are out of luck .
Any hot pepper I have planted seems to thrive in our Florida summers.
To me , the Rocotillos are not hot but medium to mild .
They seem to get hotter as the summer wears on ; intensifying the flavor .
Scraggly ugly plants but they produce very flavorful little peppers .
Check Google Images for a photo .

To me , the Rocotillos are not hot but medium to mild .
They seem to get hotter as the summer wears on ; intensifying the flavor

That's what I thought, if it ain't hot, capsaicin it not, and bugs like it a lot :-) :-(

Well I'm a bit North of you but can see that you are getting frustrated with gardening. Not knowing anything about your garden other than the problems you are having, the first thing I want to ask is, what have you done in the way of soil building and what are your watering methods?

I've taken a very no stress lazy approach to gardening the past year or so. The keys to my success have been drip irrigation on a timer and huge amounts of organic matter piled on top of the soil. I'm lucky to live near a mushroom farm and mushroom compost is a very easy way to start a garden. New areas of garden I usually start using lasagna gardening methods but being that we are in Florida where organic matter breaks down before ya know it, with a bit of mushroom compost, one need not wait a year before planting in a new lasagna bed (though corn doesn't work in a new lasagna bed.)

I've not sprayed anything in the past year. I do have difficulty with stink bugs and leaf footed bugs but when a plant gets too bad off, I pull it out. I just keep trying to improve my soil so that my plants will be strong enough to survive the pests. I often use corn meal, alfalfa pellets, coffee grounds, and lime mixed as an organic fertilizer and then seaweed extract for the potassium that the other stuff lacks.

When a garden bed is played out and the weeds are taking over, I let the chickens into it to play tractor for me.

One thing that might help would be to check the farmer's almanac gardening by the moon calendar to make sure you are not setting your plants up for failure.

As to things that might be good for planting for the heat. The okra and cow peas are good with heat but yes, they will be attacked by aphids (I generally ignore the aphids and still get some harvest.) Other heat tolerant or loving plants include jicama, sweet potatoes, peanuts, bananas, papayas, yardlong beans. Also, many of the garden plants that are hot season plants up North are actually our spring and fall plants in Florida but some will survive through summer if you give them some mid day shade and ample water. Some might quit setting blooms and fruit but then be ready to pick up again when the weather starts cooling in fall.

I must say, winter gardening is definitely my favorite since so many more of my choice foods grow better then. There still are good plants for summer.

Here is a link that might be useful: Farmer's Almanac

I'm still able to limp my tomatoes, bush beans, and Sugar Baby watermelons along with weekly spraying of Daconil for all the mildew/fungus/general blight things that start popping up this time of year. But it gets expensive to keep buying that stuff, and it won't work forever, it just buys some time. My yellow squash and zuchini are now beyond all help, spray as I might; and my strawberry plants look lush and lovely - and aren't producing a dang thing! Some things just take the summer off, no matter what we do.

Hey everyone!

Well, my Cukes have now officially gone to that 'great garden in the sky'. They were sorta 'fine' - then, in the morning wilted and died. I planted 8 cuke plants and have zero survivors.

TCLynx:
I'm spraying the surviving plants in my garden with a combo of Neem Oil and BT.

My remaining plants are okra, cowpeas (which, I just learned are also called black-eyed peas?...interesting...), jalapeno, a sugar-baby watermelon (with one watermelon now the size of a tennis ball!) and one tomato plant - no fruit.

I always lasagna method and then add a good soil mixture and loads of cow manure. I use a misting sprinkler system and hand water if it needs more.

I just tossed the blight/virus infested tomato plant #2 and will be tossing my struggling bush bean plants as well.

By the way, my thanks to Tom for stopping by with new seeds to try (ie: the everglade tomatoes sound great), the help with trimming my giant gardenia and explaining to me all about watermelon pollination!

One thing I just recently heard was that the farmers grew more tomatoes than they thought would survive so prices will be very cheap this summer. Guess it's a good thing as this will be my first summer with no home-grown tomatoes!