When to Plant a Vegetable Garden in Central Florida

Central Florida gardeners may enjoy vegetable gardening all year-round. Spring and fall provide the perfect climate for warm-weather crops, while the mild winter is ideal for cool-weather crops. A few heat-tolerant crops thrive in central Florida's hot, humid summer.

Warm-weather crops like snap and pole beans, sweet corn, cucumbers, peppers and tomatoes need warmer temperatures in order to flourish, but lack the heat tolerance needed to survive a Florida summer. Warm-weather crops should be planted after summer's heat has passed in August and September or in March and April to beat the heat.

Central Florida's mild winters rarely include a hard frost and provide a lengthy season for cool-weather crops such as beets, broccoli, cauliflower, turnips, carrots, lettuce and spinach. October to February is the best time to plant these cool-weather crops.

Florida summers provide plenty of rain for a garden, but they also provide plenty of heat. Heat-tolerant crops like okra, sweet potatoes, cow peas, purple hull peas and black-eyed peas thrive in this warm climate and should be planted in June and July.