here is the master list and instructions for Florida!

Here is a link that might be useful: Florida Herb Gardening Guide

Well, given your environment you'll have to consider racoons and squirrels. While you could grow tomatoes inside since you have a southern exposure if you have suburban squirrels that are not afraid of people they will gnaw through the screen to get to your tomatoes when nobody is around. Racoons won't do this unless there they are really desperate such as in a severe drought. Peppers and cucumbers will be safe, as well as pole beans and field peas...that's about the extent of my success in a caged environment.

I live in 9a, also garden within my cage and certainly am no expert but can share my experiences. I'm growing cucumbers, two kinds of tomatoes & 2 kinds of sweet peppers in containers. Also have a stacker planter with herbs: chives, basil, parsley, rosemary, thyme, sage and oregano that's doing well.

Tomatoes & peppers set fruit without pollination, but most cucumbers require it. Some people hand pollinate, but I chose a variety ("Sweet Success") that is parthenocarpic (meaning it doesn't need pollination). It's been amazingly prolific for me, but starting to slow down during the heat.

There is entire thread here called "Parthenocarpic cucumber races" that will give you more info about cuke varieties and other vegetables grown in pool cages.

Tried two new varieties of tomatoes this year: "Patio" has 14 tomatoes on it, "Celebrity" has about 10 - can't wait for them to fully ripen!!

Thank you so much for the great info so far! I am looking forward to starting a garden in the coming months (once it begins to cool down some). I think it will be a great thing to include my toddler with as well :)

Hi, Laura.

You've gotten some really good suggestions and advice here.

I am adding a link that is a companion to Tina's link - it will tell you more precisely when to plant each vegetable crop. (Scroll down for planting dates.) Unless you're in the southernmost part of 9a, you'll be using North Florida planting dates, meaning that you'll want to set out transplants of warm-season vegetables in August. If you are going to start from seeds, you need to sow them very soon.

In 9a, you probably won't be able to keep warm-season (frost-tender) vegetables going all winter. Depending on where you are in 9a, frost will kill them in November or December. (This is why it's important to get transplants out in August - so the crops have time to mature before frost.) Even if you protect them from freezing, most of them will sulk and not produce much in the cool weather from December to February. So if you're space-limited, overwintering them is probably not worth it.

Which warm-season vegetables you grow is going to depend on your willingness to hand-pollinate, how much space you have, and how willing/able you are to build supports.

Anything that forms a fruit or pod will need to be hand-pollinated, unless it's wind-pollinated. Hand-pollinating is not hard, but it can be time-consuming if you have to do it for a lot of plants. In most cases all you need is a small, soft paintbrush. There are many instructional videos on YouTube. Just search on "hand pollinating vegetable name." Also, if your cage blocks too much wind, you'll need to gently shake or vibrate the flowers of wind-pollinated veggies (peppers, tomatoes, some beans) to pollinate them. An electric toothbrush or razor work well for this. Last, as mentioned above, there are parthenocarpic cucumbers, which need no pollination. There are parthenocarpic zucchini, also.

The other considerations are space and support. Unless you get bush-types, you'll need supports for vining crops like (cucumbers, squash, melons, pole beans, long beans). Even bush types will need big containers and require hand pollination, so they are not ideal. You'll probably want determinate or semi-determinate tomatoes, because indeterminate types get really big and need strong supports.

On the other hand, cool season vegetables are in many ways more suited to a pool cage environment. They will grow all winter. The edible portions are roots, leaves, stalks, or flower buds, so they don't need pollination to produce. All of them will tolerate a bit of shade from the screen enclosure and virtually all of them will do well in appropriate-sized containers. Since they are smaller plants, you can grow a lot of lettuce, root crops (carrots, beets, turnips, radishes), and other greens in a small area. People grow broccoli, cauliflower, heading cabbage, and brussels sprouts in containers, too, but they need big containers and make big plants, so they are not as space-efficient.

Good luck!

Here is a link that might be useful: Florida Vegetable Garden Guide